'She's Bouncing': Prolific Sparks Fly Set for French Return

Fans of the film Withnail and I, which surely includes every reader of TDN, will be all too familiar with Withail's immortal line: “We've gone on holiday by mistake.” 

Dave Lowe could claim similarly that he became a breeder by mistake. As mistakes go, however, it has been one with a joyous outcome, for Lowe is the owner/breeder of one the most spectacularly progressive fillies in training.

Sparks Fly (GB), a daughter of Muhaarar (GB), is out of a mare whom Lowe raced in partnership with friends. Named Stepping Out (Ire) (Tagula {Ire}), she won three of her seven races for Tom Dascombe and when injury curtailed her career, Lowe couldn't bear to part with her. 

“I had no intention at all to breed from her. I had this idea that my daughter might ride her one day,” he says. “If you look at her page though, it's not bad. Everything her mum has bred has won.”

Indeed, Stepping Out's dam Teodora (Ire) (Fairy King) was a winner herself and bred eight winners from eight runners, and her 12-year-old daughter is continuing in a similar vein. Three of Stepping Out's first four foals have raced and are multiple winners, all trained by Dave Loughnane. Baby Steps (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}) came first and won four of his 56 starts and, remarkably, was in the first three on another 30 occasions. Caroline Dale (GB) (Lethal Force {Ire}) was next and was third in the G2 Queen Mary S. before winning twice. Rated 92, she is now one of five broodmares owned by Lowe, all of whom board at Kinsale Stud in Shropshire. Like her mother, Caroline Dale is currently in foal to Oasis Dream (GB).

Sparks Fly is to date the best of them all. From her debut in January she has now won eight of her 14 races, first winning off a mark of 59 in April, and now rated 107 following her 12-length romp in the Listed Prix Isola Bella at Saint-Cloud under Laura Pearson. She has run every month this year bar August when the ground was too firm, and is scheduled to have one last hurrah for the year back in France. 

If you've spotted something of a sprint theme here, it is because Lowe has attempted to emulate that noted queen of speed, Fiona Denniff, and he had good reason. Lowe owned the nine-time winner Kachy (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}), bred by Denniff Farms, whose victories included the G3 Molecomb S. as well as finishing runner-up to Quiet Reflection (GB) in the G1 Commonwealth Cup and third behind Blue Point (Ire) in the G1 Diamond Jubilee S. Sadly, Kachy suffered a fatal injury in running at Lingfield in February 2020.

Of his new passion for breeding, Lowe says, “I find it really exciting. And when they get to this level it's like dreamland. I don't claim to know lots about it. When I picked Muhaarar as a stallion it was really because I was looking around to see what other people were using at the time, and I noticed that Fiona Denniff was using Muhaarar. And I thought to myself that if she was using him he couldn't be that bad.”

He continues, “To date, we've not sold any of the offspring but there will come a time when we have to because we now have five broodmares.

“When Kachy passed on in 2020, Sparks Fly was born two months later. At that point I was at an all-time low, thinking that I hated this game, it was a real lull. And then she came along. And the way she won at Saint-Cloud, how far she won by, really reminded me of Kachy.”

Based in Wigan himself, Lowe has not just his broodmares in Shropshire but also his horses in training, at Loughnane's yard at Helshaw Grange. Sparks Fly, who is nominated for the ROA Special Merit Award, and who has won one more race this season than her fellow nominee Quinault (Ger), will remain in training as a four-year-old. 

Lowe says, “Dave thinks she'll be even better next year when she fills out. He's done a good job with all the family and he doesn't rush them, it's not a production line. Sparks Fly wasn't ready as a two-year-old so he just put her away, he knew there was no rush.

“And then when she ran in January she was as green as grass. It's unbelievable to look at her now.”

Sparks Fly now holds an entry back at Saint-Cloud on Friday in the Listed Prix Tantieme over her favoured trip of a mile, and where she is likely to find the underfoot conditions to her liking. 

“The last time she ran I didn't even scream because she was so far out in front I knew two furlongs out that she had won it. I was stunned more than anything,” Lowe admits. 

“I think she likes the routine, she races with her ears pricked and she gets on with Laura so well. If the ground is right it's tempting to go again with her. She's bouncing, absolutely bouncing.”