Rathasker Keeping Good Company

RATHASKER KEEPING GOOD COMPANY 
By Aisling Crowe 
A stockman’s knowledge and understanding of land has helped turn the Burns family’s Rathasker Stud into one of Ireland’s leading independent stud farms, and with foals in its arsenal by the likes of its successful first-season sire Fast Company (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) and the first crop of Born to Sea (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), the Co. Kildare nursery has much to look forward to at next week’s Goffs November sale. 

When Paddy Burns–the father of current Rathasker master Maurice Burns as well as Lodge Park Stud’s Seamus Burns and Newlands House Stud’s Patrick Burns–moved from Northern Ireland to Kildare in search of a stud farm, he had strict criteria that any potential property would have to meet, and many farms were considered but very few fulfilled the brief. In 1984, he found what he was looking for in Rathasker. 

That knowledge has informed the work of his sons, and the philosophies the breeder imparted to his children guides how they run their farms, explained Maurice Burns, who owns the 300 acre Rathasker Stud outside Naas, a stone’s throw from Goffs’ Kill Paddocks. 

“My father taught us all not to be afraid to take risks and to be independent thinkers,” he said. “Our family all have the same philosophy. We believe that you need class, speed and soundness to produce good racehorses. I’m a great believer in nicks and reasons for doing things that work.” 

Rathasker has been standing stallions for over 25 years, and the stud saw its efforts come to full fruition this year with leading first-season sire Fast Company. The 9-year-old is third on the first-season sire lists in Britain and Ireland by winners and prize money, and has a Royal Ascot winner in that crop–Baitha Alga (Ire), successful in the G2 Norfolk S. 

The Burns family is intrinsically linked with influential sire Ahonoora (GB), the sire of the Paddy and Seamus Burns-owned Park Appeal and the damsire of Lodge Park-bred New Approach, and that lineage is expressed in Rathasker homebred Es Que Love (Ire), the son of Rathasker resident Clodovil (Ire), who through his damsire Inchinor (GB) traces back to Ahonoora. The winner of this year’s G2 Lennox S. at Goodwood, he will return home to join the Rathasker stallion roster for 2015. 

Bungle Inthejungle (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), the second new recruit to the Rathasker team for next season, also has a connection with a famous Ascot race that the family has been lucky in. Like former Rathasker resident Mujadil, he won the G3 Cornwallis S. 

Rathasker’s draft at the Goffs Foal Sale next week is sure to attract plenty of attention. Not only will the farm send foals by its successful first season sire, Fast Company, but it will also see the eagerly awaited debut of Born To Sea’s first crop of foals. 

With one of the best stallion pedigrees around, as a half-brother to multiple champion sire Galileo (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells), champion 3-year-old and leading second-season sire Sea The Stars (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) and Group 1-winning sire Black Sam Bellamy (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells), the 5-year-old–who won the Listed Blenheim S. on debut and was second to Camelot (GB) (Montjeu {Ire}) in the G1 Irish Derby–also has champion sire King’s Best and Tamayuz (GB) in his immediate family. Born To Sea has a lot to live up to, and Burns will give him the best possible opportunity of adding to his family’s unparalleled influence on the breed. 

“A lot of good stallions weren’t necessarily the best racehorses, and the best racehorses don’t often turn out to be champion sires,” Burns noted. “A lot of stallions do seem to come in families–if you look at Invincible Spirit and now his half-brother, Kodiac (GB), has come along. Similarly, Camacho (GB) (Danehill) sired plenty of stakes winners last year, and his half- brother Showcasing (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) is proving very successful with his first crop. Galileo is probably the best sire in the world and Sea The Stars is an emerging force, so there are a bunch of good genes there for Born To Sea and hopefully he will have the luck he needs.” 

Those genes will be on display next week, as eight of the 22 foals the farm will offer at Goffs are by Born To Sea, while 10 are by Fast Company. The farm’s Classic winner Clodovil (Ire) (Danehill) is responsible for three of the draft, and only one is by an outside stallion–an Intense Focus filly. Burns picked out some of the standout lots from a bunch of foals he describes as a good, level group, beginning with lot 86. 

“On day one we have a Fast Company (Ire) colt out of Betty Fontaine (Ire) (Mujadil),” Burns said. “We raced the mare ourselves and she was rated 93 so was a useful racemare. She won twice over six furlongs as a 2-year-old and was fourth in the G3 Princess Margaret S. at Ascot in 2011. It is a family we know well and this colt is her first foal. He is a fine, solid, good-walking individual and a nice commercial horse.” 

Burns went on to point out lot 404, a Born to Sea colt. 

“Lot 404 is by Born To Sea out of Eastern Glow (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}),” he said. “This is her second foal– she has a yearling filly by Dutch Art (GB). He is a youngish foal, being born in April, but already looks a scopey type. He is a nice correct model and looking at him, he has the size and scope to go on for next year,” Burns added. 

Both Eastern Glow and Betty Fontaine are catalogued to sell at Goffs a couple of days after their sons, along with the dam of another foal Burns has highlighted from the Rathasker draft. Betty Fontaine is in foal to Choisir (Aus) as lot 1388, while Eastern Glow is believed to be carrying her second Born To Sea foal (lot 1084). Princess Banu (GB) was covered by seven-time Group 1 winner Rock Of Gibraltar (Ire) and is cataloged as lot 1081 as part of a nine-strong mare draft from the farm for the Breeding Stock sale, which takes place Nov. 21 and 22. 

“Another of our Born To Sea foals is among the pick of our draft,” Burns added. “Lot 578 is out of Undulant Way (GB) (Hurricane Run {Ire}), and his yearling half- brother by Makfi (GB) was bought as a foal by David Redvers. He is a lovely, powerful colt and very elegant- moving. He has a good shape to him and is a nice horse.” 

The final day of the sale sees Rathasker consign another colt by Fast Company (lot 986) out of an Oasis Dream (GB) mare who won as a 2-year-old. 

“He is a really good, strong 2-year-old type with a bit of length about him,” Burns explained. “He is the first foal of Princess Banu, who is a useful mare from a family that is blessed with speed. This is a pure five and six furlong pedigree that goes back to Tina’s Pet (GB). It’s a fast family and he looks to be the early maturing type. I like him, the lads like him and the farrier does too, so hopefully we will all be right.”