The Big Interview: Cathal Beale

The TDN's Alayna Cullen checks in with Cathal Beale, six months after his appointment as CEO of the Irish National Stud. (Click here for video).

AC: Cathal, you've been in your role now as the new CEO of the Irish National Stud for six months. How has it been going for you?

CB: Excellent, it's been a whirlwind. It's been a very busy six-month period. Luckily, we've been able to acquire two new stallions, which was probably job number one. And then we also launched our mare syndicate this year as well, so it's been a busy, hectic period for the first six months.

AC: I'm going to get to those two new stallions and the mare venture in a bit, but first of all, you know the Irish National Stud quite well, you're a graduate of the program here. You're also a graduate of the Godolphin Flying Start Program. How do you think those two courses have helped you in your new role?

CB: Well massively, certainly from the education point and the output that's given at the Irish National Stud, it's been a huge help. To be a graduate of the course, but also as a client in my former job for seven years, you see the foaling unit and many of the stallions and then to come back as an employee before I took over as the CEO, it's been a big help to know the business and know the people and know where everything is in the place. Godolphin Flying Start, obviously, was a fantastic opportunity for me to travel and to work with some of the best stud farm managers in the world, with placements at Pin Oak Stud and in New Zealand as well. It opened up so many doors as it does for everyone. Those two courses are fantastic groundings for anyone with a future in the industry.

AC: You mentioned being a client of the Irish National Stud in your previous job as a stud manager. You worked with stud master Dermot Cantillon. How do you think he helped you and what were the biggest lessons you learned from him, having been involved with Forenaghts and Tinnakill?

CB: I think the biggest thing is selection of bloodstock and mares and what's value and what's not. Pedigree, pedigree, pedigree was drilled into me for a long time. He's had so many successful mare purchases down through the years and bred so many good horses. That was the fundamental thing I took from my time with Dermot.

AC: So coming into the Irish National Stud, what do you think was the biggest challenge you faced?

CB: Well it's a huge role, and it's a public role, so it's very difficult to establish yourself and I suppose following on from someone like John Osborne who has been such a legend of the game, is a little hard. It obviously takes a little bit of time to bed in, but we were very lucky in that the same team were in place, the same board, the same structures, and the fact that I had been here a little while as well, I had seen it from various different perspectives. I was very fortunate in that there was plenty of continuity. We didn't have to come in and recreate the wheel or do anything overly complicated, it's just a matter of keeping things on track and business as usual. The first job and the biggest job and the biggest revenue driver for the business is stallion acquisition.

AC: You've mentioned the stallion acquisition and the team and you along with that team have now acquired two new, very exciting stallions. For you though, how did you find the process of going out to source stallions?

CB: It was very difficult. Every stud master will tell you there's a very limited supply of the type of animals that you can attract and the type of animals you want to attract. Obviously, if you look at the winners of Classic races throughout the year and all the big Group 1s, this year was especially difficult because a lot of fillies and a lot of geldings happened to win Group 1s, so there was an especially limited pool of stallion prospects out there. Many of them are already tied up as well by the bigger players who have racing arms, such as Darley and Coolmore. It's very difficult competing at that level. We were very happy to acquire two really top-class prospects.

AC: Decorated Knight (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) and National Defense (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) are very exciting. We'll speak about National Defense first, as he was the first stallion that you announced. What attracted you to him and how did he come onto your radar?

CB: Well, we've always followed him, since he won his maiden by six lengths as a 2-year-old. He came back in his third start as a 2-year-old to win the [G1] Jean-Luc Lagardere by 4 1/2 lengths and he was just so impressive that day. I think every stallion master in the world would have been very keen on him at that time. It's a race that has been won by some really top-class stallions over the last four years in Dabirsim (Fr), and of course Gleneagles (Ire), who was subsequently demoted. It's an obvious place to start. We've always tried to find the next son of Invincible Spirit (Ire) that we can get, so he just has such a natural fit for everything we want to do here: speed, precocity, ability, by Invincible Spirit and from a fast family. He ticked all the boxes and then when we went to see him, he was such a good physical as well. It was really important to get him and we were happy to have done so.

AC: New stallions obviously change a little bit physically, they let down a bit. He's been here the longer of the two. How has he done physically since he arrived?

CB: He arrived in good shape and he's put on plenty of condition since. It takes a year, year and a half, for horses to properly let down and become stallions, and he's only a 3-year-old, rising four. It'll take him a little bit of time, but I think he's been extremely well received and anyone who has seen him can look ahead to what he's going to become in a year's time and see that he's just a very well balanced horse, very good mover and very good looking.

AC: What do you think is the type of mare that would suit him if you were giving advice to breeders?

CB: Well I think he's very open, he's bred on the Mr. Prospector cross, which has been so successful with Invincible Spirit and out of a Kingmambo mare, so it's the same cross as Kingman (GB), Lawman (Fr), and many other Group 1 horses. I think there's eight or nine Group 1 winners bred on that same cross. Anything that breeds out of that cross will be very useful for him. I think he'll do well with Danehill, he'll be inbreeding back into Danzig that way. I think those are the type of crosses, but anything with a bit of speed and precocity and a bit of substance will suit him down to the ground.

AC: And your second stallion, Decorated Knight. I think he's probably got, arguably, one of the best pedigrees in the stud book today, how did the partnership with Blue Diamond come about to stand him here at the Irish National Stud?

CB: Well they've been long-term clients. They've used Invincible Spirit and they've kept a couple of mares here down through the years. Like everybody else, we had a conversation with them and luckily we both liked what each other was saying and what we wanted to do with the horse. He's such a huge horse for us to get. By Galileo, who's undoubtedly the stallion of the generation that I've been part of anyway, and he's a three-time Group 1 winner. I think unarguably, he probably has the best pedigree in the book. His dam cost €1.3 million carrying him. He's a homebred for Blue Diamond which makes him a very important horse for them and we're very aware of that. Going back to his pedigree, he comes from the family of Giant's Causeway, Gleneagles, Happily (Ire), Coolmore (Ire), so many Group 1 winners, including four Group 1 winners at two on the page, so he doesn't lack speed, he doesn't lack ability, and he certainly doesn't lack pedigree. And when you come to see him, he's just a physically imposing, beautiful-moving horse.

AC: His racing career, he really stepped into the limelight this year for Blue Diamond and for trainer Roger Charlton, too. How would you sum up his career as a whole?

CB: Well I think he progressed as he went along and he was extremely tough and durable. He started his season last year in February and continued to progress all year. There is only one other stallion in Europe that won three Group 1s this calendar year. I think that's a fantastic achievement in itself. He danced every dance. Not only did he win his three Group 1s, but he was second in the G1 Prince of Wales's S. as well this season. He's been ultra-tough, ultra-consistent, and his race in the G1 Irish Champion S. is what really made us take note, when he came from the back with an unbelievable run and huge acceleration to go from last to first in the space of two furlongs. He just ticks all of the boxes and his race record, three Group 1 wins, it takes a bit of doing to do that.

AC: Blue Diamond has announced some very exciting mares that are coming to visit him in 2018. How is his book shaping up?

CB: It's filling fast, Blue Diamond have been extremely supportive. They're sending 21 of their top mares, so it's very exciting and people can read about those on our website. We're going to send seven or eight of our own top mares as well. That puts us in a very good place to begin with and then nominations and breeding rights have been coming in quickly over the last few weeks. So far, it's a very exciting book of mares to send to a very exciting horse.

AC: I don't think we'd be able to come to the Irish National Stud and not speak about Invincible Spirit, who is the sire of your new boy, National Defense. He's coming up to his 21st birthday, how's he doing?

CB: He's in great shape. He's doing fantastically well and he had another busy season. Last year he covered 120 mares. He shows no signs of aging but that said, we have limited his book to 100 this year just to prolong his career for as long as we can. He's had another fantastic year, plenty of Group 1 horses, a Group 2-winning 2-year-old, and his sales results, especially in the backend were phenomenal. His sales average, for foals sold, was over €250,000, off of a €120,000 nomination. And the only mare carrying to him, at a sale, sold for €600,000. He continues to just do it. He's been a phenomenal servant and we hope to get another few years out of him, please God.

AC: You've hit the ground running in your role here and you mentioned earlier about the new breeding scheme that you've launched here which TDN reported on in November. You've now bought the mares, how has it all gone for you so far?

CB: Great. It was very difficult sourcing the mares, as everybody knows, it was a very strong market so we just had to hang in there. We're delighted with the six mares that we've acquired. That information is now on our website and it'll be available for everybody to have a look at. It's a first come, first serve scheme. It's been well subscribed and I think it'll sell out pretty quickly. The six mares were purchased for just over €400,000.

The way it works, as people have heard before, we're selling 25 shares. We'll retain 25 shares and put in three Invincible Spirit nominations, two Decorated Knights, and a National Defense for us to claim our equity in the project. The idea will be to sell the foals every year and liquidate the entire thing at the end of four years. It's just a great way for people to get involved in equity in top-class bloodstock that they otherwise wouldn't be able to get near. We'll have social events and all that sort of stuff attached to it. I think it'll work very well and we're very excited about it really. It's not something that's been done before and fits well with our ethos and our brand here. We already offer a €2,000 racing club where people can come and lease two racehorses in training. I suppose we see this as the natural step up from that, to actually acquire equity within a portfolio of mares.

AC: Aside from new ventures, I'm going to bring you back to the Irish National Stud breeding course, which we spoke about with you already. What's your role going to be within the course? Will you be implementing new schemes going forward for that program?

CB: Well I suppose what isn't broken doesn't need to be fixed to a degree. It's been a fabulous course, with over 1,000 graduates over 45 years. If you go to any quarter of the globe, you'll find a graduate or somebody who knows a graduate of the Irish National Stud course. This year alone, we had a fantastic couple of days at Royal Ascot where Con and Amy Marnane, who are both graduates, had Different League (Fr) (Dabirsim {Fr}) win the G3 Albany S., as well as graduates Luke Lillingston and Sam Hoskins, from different generations, team up together with the Hot to Trot Syndicate [to] win the G2 Queen Mary with Heartache (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}). That week encapsulated all that's good about the course, different generations coming together.

There are so many other stories throughout the year of graduates going on to produce Group 1 winners, train Group 1 winners, and obviously myself taking over here as well. It's been a great year for the course and you always look to try and improve, diversify, make things a little bit better and we do look at the course at this time of the year just to see how we can tweak it and make things a little better if possible. We'll invite 27 students this year from every corner of the globe: China, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Britain, Belgium, France, and of course Ireland. It continues to be oversubscribed every year and continues to be something that young people aspire to get on to.

AC: Finally Cathal, what does a job well done, as CEO of the Irish National Stud, mean to you?

CB: Survival. I think obviously the first thing was to acquire the new stallions. The second thing was to set up a few new ventures. The third thing was to sell our yearlings and to get to the end of the year without anything major going wrong. From here it's about getting out and meeting all of the breeders. It's about further diversifying our revenue profiles, increasing our tourism, increasing our education output and trying to acquire more stallions as we go on. I suppose the ultimate goal is to find some replacement for Invincible Spirit over the next few years, to develop the broodmare brand, to open things up to new people. There's a lot going on, and a lot that can be done and a lot being done. We look forward to 2018 in order to get some of those things over the line.

AC: Well Cathal, on behalf of TDN, thank you very much for your time and keep up the good work.

CB: Thank you.