Fast horses and conviviality. Words associated with both Royal Ascot and the June 17 Goffs London Sale could easily be a motif for the Bansha House Stables operation of Con Marnane, for whom this week has been the perfect outlet.
Memories from last year pervade through Givemethebeatboys , the auction-topping colt who made £1,100,000 (approx. US$1,395,585) to Bronsan Racing when offered to a who’s-who of the global racing community in the grounds of Kensington Palace and the following day a storming fourth in the Coventry Stakes.
Givemethebeatboys, who cost just €11,000 (approx. US$11,777), did not get into a breeze-up sale so instead went into training with Jessica Harrington, going on to win the Marble Hill Stakes in the family’s yellow and black livery. The son of Bungle Inthejungle returns to Royal Ascot for a shot at the Commonwealth Cup (G1) and epitomizes the many smart purchases that the Tipperary-based Marnanes manage to sniff out on an annual basis.
While Con Marnane has a large squad of juveniles that go through the breeze-ups, he works in a different and more macro way to many of his contemporaries. This year the family had an open morning to show off their wares to potential buyers and they have raced many other horses before trying to trade them, seen most famously when Different League landed the 2017 Albany Stakes for French-based Matthieu Palussiere. Another filly bought for a relative pittance—an €8,000 foal—she ended up making 1,500,000gns (US$ 1,998,092) from Peter Brant and Coolmore at the end of her juvenile campaign.
“We’ve sold a lot of very good horses at this sale,” says Marnane. “We had Real Appeal, who has won group races, and that year we sold Forever In Dreams and she was second in the Commonwealth Cup a few days later. So it’s been very lucky for us, but we’re sellers and it’s a great sale.”
This time around, the focus will be on Rock N Roll Rocket, who is a homebred out of the Kheleyf mare California Tee and was the first winner for Starfield Stud-based Far Above when striking at Cork in mid-May.
Like Givemethebeatboys, he is trained by Harrington in a family connection which has been strengthened by Marnane’s daughter, Olivia, riding out for the elite trainer during her studies in Dublin.
“He’s a very nice horse,” says Marnane. “He won well at Cork first time out and then we shouldn’t have run him the next time at Tipperary. I made the mistake, I just thought he needed more experience, then the ground came up very soft and they couldn’t walk on it.
“He’s back perfect again. He wants good ground and he’s a very fast horse. A couple of the horses that were behind him at Cork are going for the Windsor Castle and the plan is that race for him.”
The tenth renewal of this sale, which is held in association with Privat 3 Money, gets underway at 5pm local time.
It was given a remarkable boost June 16 afternoon when Sparkling Plenty , one of the entries, won the Prix de Diane (G1). Should owner-breeder Jean-Pierre Dubois confirm her for sale by showtime, the Kingman filly should easily reach seven figures.
“She’ll go back to Calas (trainer Patrice Cottier’s base), she won’t be traveling over but we’ll see whether she still goes through the ring,” Dubois replied when asked in the post-race press conference. “We’ll reflect on it tonight.”
