INS Mares' Syndicate Comes Full Circle

The Irish National Stud makes it a priority to provide positive experiences for those looking to gain entry into-or increase their investments in-the Thoroughbred business. Two years ago, it kicked off a new initiative when purchasing six mares to begin its first mares' syndicate, and next week at Goffs the Irish National Stud offers the second round of foals out of four of those mares.

Love Street (Kitten's Joy) was bought for 70,000gns at Tattersalls December in foal to Awtaad (Ire). The colt foal she produced provided an immediate return for the syndicate, fetching €95,000 as a foal last year, and Love Street's Invincible Spirit (Ire) colt foal (lot 715) is expected to be one of the stars of the draft next week. The second Invincible Spirit colt they will offer (lot 624) is out of Boldarra (Giant's Causeway), a €62,000 Arqana December purchase two years ago. Starbright was bought for €36,000 from Goffs November in-foal to Dragon Pulse (Ire), and that filly did well too to bring €35,000 as a foal. Starbright has a colt from the firs crop of the Irish National Stud's National Defense (GB) to sell next week as lot 15. The stakes-placed Neuquen (Ire) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}), the most expensive of the mares purchased at €100,000 in foal to Gleneagles, saw that colt sell for €40,000 last year and has a colt from the first crop of Irish National Stud stallion Decorated Knight (GB) to go through the ring at Goffs as lot 220.

“We're very excited, I suppose especially about the two Invincible Spirit colts,” said Irish National Stud Chief Executive Officer Cathal Beale. “They're both really nice colts and hopefully they sell really well for the syndicate.”

Expanding on the makeup of the syndicate, Beale said, “There are about 13 or 14 of them involved in the syndicate from all parts of the globe. It's something we tried two years ago where we sold shares at a nice level to have a portfolio of mares. These were people who maybe wanted to get involved, but didn't really have the farm or the means with which to do it. We were basically offering an entire package where you could come in, dip your toe in the water and we'd look after all the background details in terms of buying the stock, mating the stock and selling the stock on their behalf. It was a nice way for people to get involved in the business, and there were some people already established in the business that bought in.”

The business plan of the first mares' syndicate was to buy six mares for €400,000 and put €400,000 worth of nominations into them for a €800,000 package. This fall's breeding stock sales will also kick off the Irish National Stud's second mare partnership, where Beale said the model has been tweaked a bit.

“I suppose what we learned was that [the first syndicate] was a little bit expensive for people at an entry level to get into, so we said, let's do a slightly different version this time and do four mares for €500,000, and charge less for a share.”

Shares for the second mares' syndicate will be available at €5,000.

“I suppose for this next one we're looking for more entry-level people, those who are looking to buy a foal or a percentage of a foal on their own to say look, this is actually a really nice way of getting involved and taking a lot of the risk off the table and letting us do the work, but being very much involved in the whole process from start to finish,” Beale said. “They also get membership to INS Racing, where we'll have six horses in training on their behalf also, so they'll get a really good look at the entire industry for their five-grand for four really nice mares.”

Beale stressed that providing creative opportunities to get new faces into the game is not only important, but the responsibility of everyone in the industry.

“I think it's incumbent on all of us,” he said. “The battle is on to get the story out there and ensure racing remains relevant. It's up to all of us in the industry to be coming up with ideas.

“We had 135,000 people come through the gates last year, and our job is to make sure they leave knowing a little bit more about the industry, and that they get a bit of fun out of it. Having something at every level is really important, whether it's €12 for an admission ticket or €399 for INS Racing or €5,000 for this new mares' syndicate, we think it's really important for us to be involved with these innovations to try to get the message out that racing is a great sport. The battle is on for us to talk to Joe Public and try to engage those people as much as we possibly can.”

While team INS will be busy recruiting the class for their next mares' syndicate-both equines and humans-they'll also be hard at work promoting the stock of their two first-crop sires, French champion 2-year-old National Defense (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Decorated Knight (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), a triple Group 1 winner over middle distances whose dam is a full-sister to Giant's Causeway and Coolmore's excellent producer You'resothrilling.

“We're excited with the first Decorated Knights and the first National Defenses,” Beale said. “There are some really nice foals catalogued for both stallions so it's very exciting for us not just with our own foals but with the Decorated Knight and National Defense foals. We've seen almost all of them and we're very excited by how the market is going to react to them because we think they're lovely foals.”