'Her Brother State Of Rest Made Rapid Improvement At Three': Teme Valley Racing's Tranquil Lady On Oaks Quest

Richard Ryan knows a thing or two about Epsom, having spent many years there as assistant trainer to the late Terry Mills. He also knows a good deal about buying horses, with his apprenticeship served under the man who is generally considered a maestro in this field, Richard Galpin. These two strands in Ryan's bloodstock armoury have now entwined in the prospect of an Oaks runner for Teme Valley Racing, for which he is both buyer and racing manager. 

Remarkably, Tranquil Lady (Ire) (Australia {GB}) is the second of two group winners in two years from the same immediate family for Teme Valley Racing. Her year-older brother State Of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) carried the claret-and-gold-hooped colours with distinction across the globe last year to win the Saratoga Derby followed by the Cox Plate–quite something for an operation named after a peaceful part of the English countryside in Shropshire. 

No sooner had State Of Rest been sold on for an Irish-Australian partnership which secures his future dual-hemisphere stud career at Newgate Farm and Rathbarry Stud than his sister stepped up to present herself as a genuine Classic contender. 

“She put her best foot forward in the Blue Wind S.,” says Ryan of the filly's four-length win in Group 3 company following a seasonal reappearance in the Listed Salsabil S., in which she was fourth. 

“Her first run was almost a typical first run, where the vagaries of the way that race was run just caught her out on the day. Her asset is looking like stamina, so it was quite a clear decision that we take in Epsom, Ascot or the Irish Oaks. The gap that now exists between Epsom and the Irish Oaks means that you can do the two.”

Bought from her breeder Tinnakill House Stud for £160,000 in the year the Goffs Orby Sale was relocated to England, Tranquil Lady returned to Ireland to take up residence alongside her brother at Joseph O'Brien's yard, running three times as a juvenile for a win and some black type when listed-placed at the Curragh in October.

Ryan continues, “She's a daughter of Australia and her brother State Of Rest made rapid improvement at three. It led us to believe that it was always likely that she was going to change physically and indeed she did. She is developing more of a top line by the week. We just hope that the performances come with that visual impression.”

Having spent 19 years with the Mills stable and a spell with David Elsworth, along with stints at Juddmonte and Whitsbury Manor Stud after cutting his teeth at Harthill Stud with Neville Dent, Ryan is well placed to understand the delicate balancing act which trainers are required to perform at this time of year. Members of the Classic generation are still very much in the development stage, and a button being pressed too soon or too hard can take its toll on the remainder of the season. It was a lesson, if not learned but reinforced, last year with State Of Rest, who raced for Teme Valley at two and three.

“It was a very frustrating 2-year-old year in which the wider public didn't really get a chance to appreciate how useful he was,” Ryan recalls. “He was incredibly unlucky in a number of top stakes races. He got forced wide in the Tyros, and arguably should have been very close there. He got drawn very wide in the Ballyhane and had to pull across the back of the field then run along the rail from an impossible position. Arguably he could have won that. Then he lost a shoe early in the Champagne S. and nearly won that. It was a tale of misfortune really at two, and Joseph never lost faith in the horse.”

He continues, “He was very bold about him going into his 3-year-old season and we were keen on our chances in the Irish 2,000 Guineas, which he was being trained for, and then a small muscle strain in his quarter, which is very insignificant in a horse's wellbeing, prevented us from seeing out the race plan at that time.

“But Joseph was absolutely adamant that this was a very high-class horse and that we should be patient that it would all come right. And indeed how right he was.”

State Of Rest would reward both owner and trainer for their patience with his top-level wins in August and October, and this season, for the State Of Rest Partnership, he travelled to France to win the G1 Prix Ganay before being beaten just half a length when third in a highly competitive running of the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup.

“He's a unique horse in a couple of respects, let alone his ability,” says Ryan. “He has a constitution almost as rare as hens' teeth. He had a 60-hour non-stop journey returning to Joseph's yard from Australia and he bowled down the ramp like he'd just gone round the corner. He had a roll, shout, buck and a kick and Jospeh had to canter him the next day because he was so fresh.

“As well as being immensely talented he's mentally strong. You have to have the mind if you're going to be great.”

[State Of Rest] has a constitution almost as rare as hens' teeth; he had a 60-hour non-stop journey returning from Australia and he bowled down the ramp like he'd just gone round the corner.

This no doubt helped when State Of Rest had to face the stringent testing regime brought in last year by Racing Victoria for overseas runners at Melbourne's Spring Carnival.

“It mustn't be underestimated how much he had to handle in what was asked in getting down to Australia and being able to compete on even remotely level terms,” Ryan notes. “The veterinary checks and tests were verging on the ridiculous, but we stuck to our task. He virtually had to give up three or four days of exercise completely to be boxed to two different venues because of the high-tech equipment that was required for full-body scans. He had to maintain a decent level of fitness and then travel and train completely on his own for a month. To then show Group 1 top-class form off the back of it was a testament to the horse and to Joseph's staff that they were able to achieve it. It was a unique year when the goalposts were moved so far, and Newgate were aware of what he had achieved.”

He adds, “We have retained some breeding rights and we enjoy cheering him on. I hope he continues to do well for his new owners. I am sure he is a long way from finished for this season. That uniqueness in terms of his ability, toughness and soundness must surely stand him in great stead as a stallion.”

It is not just these two siblings to have represented Teme Valley Racing in stakes company in recent seasons. Gear Up (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) won the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud in 2020 after landing the G3 Acomb S. Last year Bayside Boy (Ire) (New Bay {GB}), owned in partnership with his breeder Ballylinch Stud, beat the Queen's Reach For The Moon (GB) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) to win the G2 Champagne S. and then finished placed in the Dewhurst and the Vertem Futurity. Another with Classic pretensions this season is French Claim (Fr) (French Fifteen {Fr}), the dual winner who was recently placed in the Leopardstown Derby Trial. By a relatively unheralded French-based sire, French Claim was recruited by Ryan at the Goresbridge Breeze-up Sale for £36,000.

“I had the benefit of a career path that was mapped partly by Joss Collins from an early meeting as a teenager, and I stuck virtually religiously to that with the aim of getting along in the racing industry,” says Ryan, whose judgement has been regularly vindicated by the select number of horses he purchases. 

“I was trained by one of the best as a young lad in Richard Galpin. The bigger thing now is that you have to have an eye with the global markets in your mind, and as we have a strong eye on commerciality at Teme Valley we are not afraid to trade at the right time. So you have to have a global eye, and that being for strong, well-made horses that have good attitudes and that you think will remain sound over a long period.”

I was trained by one of the best as a young lad in Richard Galpin.

He adds, “That takes away some of the luxury of going with your gut sometimes on a slightly lesser individual that you believe may well have the attitude to overcome those vagaries of its physique. The idea is to try to combine a strong physical with the attitude that gets the job done. Pedigree is secondary almost. Once I like the individual I've then got to like the pedigree and feel that it is capable of producing a stakes-level horse.

“Budget ties your hands and can make you more imaginative with your decisions but if you stay loyal to the parameters that you have in your mind then you put all your years' experience at the coal face, and with the various people you've been around over the years, and try to make credible decisions.”

That he has clearly been doing well for Teme Valley Racing which, contrary to popular belief, is not a syndicate but a private individual.

“Teme Valley is the brainchild of a man who had a long-held ambition to be involved in the higher echelons of Flat racing after many years as an owner in National Hunt racing,” Ryan explains. “We hatched a plan and the last few years have been the culmination of that plan.”

And both owner and agent appear to have much still to look forward to this season. Lively ground and a wide draw scuppered Bayside Boy's chances in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains, but Ryan says of his thirteenth-place finish, “That's one to completely draw a line through. He'll probably go to Ascot for the St James's Palace but we have half a thought for the Jersey. We have some reputation rebuilding to do with him but I feel confident that will happen as the season goes on.”

The Paddy Twomey-trained French Claim has later-season big-race targets. 

 “He is a very impressive individual and he breezed well with good manners in a style that I like to see,” Ryan notes. “He has exceeded expectations and has given the trainer great cause for enthusiasm. We feel the best is yet to come. The ground was a little quicker [at Leopardstown] than we would have liked for his trial. We wanted more of a test of stamina. The Derby was under consideration at one point but his action may not lend itself to Epsom. He's not ruled out of the Irish Derby yet, as that can often be wet and a proper test of stamina. But we are thinking something like the Grand Prix de Paris on the way to the St Leger. That's our loose theory at the moment.”

Then, with a range of trainers that includes O'Brien, Twomey, Varian, Clive Cox and William Haggas, Ryan points to a group of juveniles starting out on the path to becoming full-fledged racehorses. The first to come to hand among that group is Hellsing (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}), the winner on debut of a maiden on Irish Guineas weekend for Ger Lyons.

“Ger was very pleased with the horse for a long period,” he says. “As a big horse his future lies over seven [furlongs] and possibly a touch more. He has always shown a fair bit of talent and we had half an idea when the hammer came down that he would be a type for the Goffs Million, as he was bought at the Orby Sale. That's still a strong consideration but it won't be the be-all and end-all in terms of stifling any considerations at stakes level.”

Ryan warns, “We've got an awfully nice bunch of 2-year-olds for this year.”