By Brian Sheerin
Promising three-year-old Edge Of Mali (Ire) (Sands Of Mali {Fr}), who chased home Irish 2,000 Guineas entrant Currawood (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) on debut at Dundalk, has been sold to continue her career in America.
The six-figure sale represents a remarkable upswing in value for trainer Claire O'Connell's filly, who was sold for 3,000gns by Clipper Logistics at last year's Tattersalls July Sale.
It was Joe Foley, long-time advisor to Clipper boss Steve Parkin, who saw the merits in what was at the time an unraced two-year-old. The sale of Edge Of Mali comes hot on the heels of Copacabana Sands (Ire), another nice prospect by Sands Of Mali, finishing an unlucky fifth in a 1,000 Guineas Trial at Leopardstown. The Ballyhane-based sire also has two entries in Saturday's G3 Fred Darling Stakes and Foley has hailed the young stallion as the best he has ever had through his hands.
“We're very proud of how Sands Of Mali is going,” Foley said. “In fairness, in spite of all the drama that has surrounded him in recent times, he's standing up for himself, is doing it the hard way and is definitely the best stallion that I have ever had. He is fully booked and lots of good breeders are on him. He has a good reputation and he deserves it.”
Foley added, “He looks like a serious stallion to me. His first crop features Copacabana Sands, Clarie's filly and now Time For Sandals (Ire) and Ellaria Sand (GB) are exciting runners in the Fred Darling on Saturday. That's not even mentioning the Royal Ascot winner from last year [Aint Nobody (Ire)] as well.”
Edge Of Mali was pre-trained by Andrew Lynch and Riona Teggart at Kilbrew Stables on behalf of Clipper Logisitics before being offered under the hammer at last year's July Sale. So impressed was Lynch by what he had been seeing from the filly in her early development, he told Foley to go and buy her. The pair partnered up on the filly and have now been rewarded ten-fold for their faith.
O'Connell explained, “Everyone is delighted–Andrew and Riona from Kilbrew Stables used to break all of the Clipper horses and, when she came up in the July Sale, they got Joe Foley to buy her for just 3,000gns. She was very big and just needed a bit of time. We love Sands Of Mali and actually have a mare in foal to him. We think he upgrades his mares. Andrew did all of the pre-training and, when he brought her up to me, I didn't have to do much with her at all. It's a great result.”
Sands Of Mali | Ballyhane Stud
Edge Of Town (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}), the dam of Edge Of Mali, was also offloaded by Parkin's Rathbride Farm for just €1,000 at the Goffs November Sale. It is well-documented that the High Court rejected an application from Parkin to have Sands Of Mali removed from Foley's Ballyhane base after the relationship between the pair broke down. However, Foley insists that he never had anything to hide, and that he was happy to sign for Edge Of Mali at public auction, given he always believed that the filly could go on to show her true colours on the track.
He explained, “When I bought the filly, a few people asked why I put my name on the docket. My reply was, 'why not? It's a public auction, I know more about the filly than anybody else, so why wouldn't I?' I'm not sneaking around corners hiding and pretending to do anything because I've nothing to hide. I loved her as a yearling, and that's why I nominated her for the Bronte syndicate, who were going to race her last year until various circumstances changed. When she was put up for sale, of course I was going to be interested in buying her. In actual fact, she wasn't the only one that I bought.”
He added, “Andrew had pre-trained her for the previous owners and he liked her. That's why we both clubbed together and bought her at the sales. Andrew kept her and did a great job prepping her before she went to Claire, who readied her for the race. In fairness to Andrew, he always said she was a good filly-he said she could be Stakes-class. I'm also delighted for Claire who put the finishing touches on the filly before Dundalk.”
Edge Of Mali is understood to have been snapped up by California-based trainer Jeff Mullins on behalf of the Rancho Temescal ownership group. There is something of an irony to that sale given it was Mullins who raced River Boyne (Ire), a colt that Foley pinhooked by his late stallion Dandy Man (Ire), to a good degree of success.
And while Sands Of Mali has just 24 yearlings coming through this year, Foley reports many of the top breeders to have stood up and taken notice of what the young sire–whose fee is private–has achieved to date.
He said, “Sands Of Mali has only got 24 yearlings coming through but he's going to have a big crop of foals this year as he covered 115 mares last year. He also has a solid crop of two-year-olds, albeit only 40-something, and the first of those was quite eye-catching at Redcar the other day.”
Foley added, “There have been some very good reports already about some of those two-year-olds. So the smallish crop of yearlings this year is as a result of him missing 17 days of a crucial part of the breeding season due to an accident. There will be a lull but nowadays people are clever enough to judge a stallion on his merits for good or for bad.
“Obviously fashion comes into it but there are a lot of very clever people who can analyse this game properly. Farhh (GB) is a perfect example. He doesn't have a lot of runners but he has a lot of high-class horses and is a very good stallion. Even though Sands Of Mali has a small crop coming through, lots of people are able to work out that he is a good stallion.”
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