Glidawn Standing The Test Of Time

An early fascination with Thoroughbred pedigrees has led Waterford farmer Gerry Burke to quietly carve out a very successful niche over the last three decades from his Dungarvan-based Glidawn Stud. Pinhooking foals is a pursuit fraught with pitfalls, but it has served Burke extremely well since he began trading bloodstock while still a teenager. Burke, though, is first and foremost a farmer, as he explains, “I'm a full-time farmer, I rear calves but I also try and pinhook about 20 foals a year. I've been doing it since I was 17, which is quite a while, 30 years in fact.”

Burke, unfailingly modest and polite, is getting ready for another round of battle as he puts the finishing touches to a batch of four yearlings for this week's Orby Sale at Goffs. He has been a regular at the foal sales in America for the last two decades and his Orby draft this year reflects another 2015 shopping spree at Keeneland, as Glidawn offers colts by Exchange Rate (lot 57), and Haynesfield (lot 254). He also offers a filly by City Zip (lot 452), while the quartet is rounded off by lot 246, a European-bred colt by Dragon Pulse (Ire) (Kyllachy {GB}).

Explaining his affinity for the U.S. market, Burke says, “I've been going to America for the last 20 years; I've been very lucky there. In no way have I been competing at the top end but I think I've gotten some great value there over the years.”

It's always beneficial both for business and also your own confidence as a pinhooker to unearth either a significant sales horse or a successful racehorse early in one's career, and Burke achieved such a milestone relatively early in his endeavour when he bought a filly foal by Woodman (Mr. Prospector) at Keeneland in 1996 for $40,000. Re-offered at Goffs the following year, the yearling was bought by BBA Ireland for Ir£85,000 (approx. €110,000). Sent to trainer Barry Hills, she was named Hula Angel and she won the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas at The Curragh in 1999. It was a pivotal moment for Burke, as not only did she make a profit in the ring but she also gave him the impetus to step his operation up a gear.

“I was very fortunate in that one of the first foals I bought from America was Hula Angel. That gave me plenty of encouragement to return. Unfortunately there haven't been too many more like Hula Angel since but it's still been good to me,” he said.

Pinhooking a foal in America to sell in Ireland adds an extra layer of logistical issues with shipping and quarantine. These obstacles are much easier to overcome once you know the right people.

“Over the years I have made some great contacts in America, initially John Phillips of Darby Dan was very good to me and Peter O'Callaghan of Woods Edge Farm has been a great help. I've been lucky to have built up good relationships with people like that, as without them you can't get the job done. Also the likes of BBA Ireland and Peter Kelly of Emerald Bloodstock are a great help. They all work hard and provide such a professional service.”

Burke has enjoyed some great touches in the ring with fillies so it's not difficult to understand why he tends to gravitate towards them at the foal sales. “I like to buy well-bred fillies if I can. I do buy colts also but I tend to focus more on the fillies,” he admits.

Another successful foray with a filly was when he forked out 26,000gns for a Dubai Destination foal at Tattersalls in 2005. Returning to Goffs the following year Burke hit the jackpot when selling her for €360,000. While a maiden success at Kempton was the pinnacle of her racing career, the filly, named Ever Rigg (Ire), has left a lasting legacy on the Thoroughbred breed through her son Postponed (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). Burke also set tongues wagging a few years later in 2008 when he bought the only progeny of the late George Washington (Ire) (Danehill) as a foal in Goffs for €280,000. It was a brave pinhook and it proved worthwhile, if a little nerve wracking, when she was sold at Tattersalls the following year for 320,000gns to Julie Wood. Named Date With Destiny (Ire), she made her mark, scoring on her debut for Richard Hannon and getting stakes-placed before retiring to stud, where she has also made an impact, producing the promising Jon Kelly-owned Beautiful Morning (GB) (Galileo {Ire}).

“I was fortunate to be in the position to be able to buy her and it was very satisfying when she won first time out and even more so when she got stakes-placed,” recalls Burke. “It was nice to see Newsells Park Stud buy back into her as they have had a lot of success with that family. They've done a proper job with her. Anyway, the story continues and it's nice to have had an involvement with it.”

Back to the present and Burke is hopeful that his latest batch of U.S.-bred yearlings will appeal to the market at Goffs. Last year he sold a Munnings filly to China Horse Club for €130,000 and he admits that a highly successful 2015 on the track for that sire had a bearing on the auction price. “We had a good sale last year, we were lucky that Munnings had a fantastic year, whereas he's been a bit quieter this year. Fashion tends to dictate so much and having something by a popular sire at the right time is very important and can make you look cleverer than you are,” he said. “I like all four of my bunch this year, they each have a European twist to them and I think there is something there that should be of interest to different tastes, and I just hope they go to good homes. I'm a big fan of Exchange Rate. I think he was a wonderful stallion, he did it the hard way and he was very capable of siring a high-class horse.”

Burke will go to the Orby Sale with a successful 2016 pinhook already under his belt. He proved he can work his magic with colts as well as fillies when he offered an Intello (Ger) (Galileo {Ire}) colt at Arqana last month. The 15,000gns foal purchase at Tattersalls grew into a €140,000 yearling when bought last month by Peter & Ross Doyle Bloodstock. “He was a nice colt from a good family. Intello is a beautifully bred stallion, by Galileo out of a Danehill mare. The yearling was just one of those horses that developed and went the right way. He went forward from day one–some do and some don't, but it all came together with him.”

Burke is keen to stress that he has made plenty of mistakes over the years when it comes to selecting foals that he thinks will develop into sought-after yearlings. “I continue to learn every day. I was fortunate when I started out that I met some very good people who took an interest in what I was doing and I got some very good advice that I have not forgotten. But it's important to remember that while plenty of horses go the right way, so many also go wrong. That's what makes this game so exciting, the uncertainty of it all.”

Minimising those errors and getting it right more often than getting it wrong is the key to staying afloat, and it's quite clear that Gerry Burke has 'getting it right' down to a fine art.