By Emma Berry
For the Marnane family, the story of Different League (Fr) started almost exactly two years ago, when Con Marnane bought a weanling daughter of Dabirsim (Fr) at the Arqana December Sale for €8,000.
The script went a little awry at the following season's yearling sales when the filly failed to find a buyer at the Goffs UK Premier Sale and was retained at £14,000. That may well have been the best non-result the pinhookers will ever have as, less than a year later, in the colours of Theresa Marnane, Different League was blazing a trail down the Royal Ascot straight to win the G3 Albany S. and spark a summer of celebrations.
Unbeaten in her first three starts and then placed in both the G1 Darley Prix Morny and G1 Cheveley Park S., the star of Dabirsim's first crop has now touched down in Newmarket for her next appearance in the limelight, though this time it will be in the amphitheatre of the Tattersalls sales ring rather than a racecourse.
Selling ten lots after Ballymacoll Stud's superstar racemare Islington (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) as lot 1836, Different League is the sole horse in Amy Marnane's draft at the December Sale but she is of course one very close to the 23-year-old consignor's heart.
“She's been a huge horse for our family. We bought her as a foal, couldn't sell her as a yearling, dad broke her in and did everything with her and she runs in mum's colours–she's been the horse of a lifetime,” said Marnane on Sunday evening after watching her filly go through more than 300 shows for potential buyers at Park Paddocks.
“It will be very emotional if she changes hands. If she goes to new connections we wish them all the best as she's very special but if she comes home we'll be proud to have her running in mum's colours again. We think she's a proper 1000 Guineas contender. We're confident that she'll stay a mile, she's never keen in her races.”
Trained at Maisons-Laffitte on the outskirts of Paris by Matthieu Palussiere, Different League is a half-sister to two winners and is out of the four-time winner Danseuse Corse (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}). She has been back in Ireland since her most recent start on Sept. 30.
“She came back to Bansha after the Cheveley Park and she's been really good through prep, really straightforward. She arrived at Tattersalls on Friday morning and she's just taken everything in her stride. She's so easy to deal with,” said Marnane.
“For a filly to have 300 shows in a day as she has had today is phenomenal. She's a big, powerful filly–I could watch her walking up and down all day. She's just incredibly straightforward and there are no issues with her–the vet's happy and I'm happy. Tattersalls have done a great job promoting her and getting the international buyers in.”
For a young consignor, having one of the star names of the biggest breeding stock catalogue in Europe could be a little overwhelming, but Marnane was almost born into the sales scene and avers that there was no question of her ever following any other path.
She said, “I never wanted to do anything else. I couldn't wait to get out of school and to get into horses. From a very early age I was going to the breeze-up sales and the yearling sales and for the past few years I've been buying breeze-up horses at Keeneland. It's a passion that I don't think will be leaving me any time soon.
“I'm very grateful to mum and dad for giving me the chance. Last year at this foal sale I consigned a Frankel colt that sold to Darley Japan for 280,000gns and I've sold horses in training. This consignment is obviously only one horse but it has to top them all. Whatever price she makes, she's the one that makes the dream a reality.”
Different League's Royal Ascot victory prompted some emotional scenes in the winner's enclosure from Marnane's famously enthusiastic father and she is hoping that he'll be able to cope with the excitement of the filly's appearance in the ring on Tuesday evening.
She says, “Different League will cope well with it all–she won't need any sedative but my dad just might.”
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