Lesson Well Learned At Normandie Stud

In an age in which the demise of the owner-breeder has given rise to a commercially driven bloodstock industry, often to the detriment of the development of families, it is refreshing to spend an hour talking to Philippa Cooper.

It is somehow appropriate that the former teacher is completely self-taught when it comes to breeding matters and as the 20th anniversary looms for her Normandie Stud, it is safe to say that Cooper has passed her exams with flying colours. She has bred and raced three Group 1 winners – Duncan (GB) (Dalakhani {Ire}), Fallen For You (GB) (Dansili {GB}) and Sultanina (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) – with the Irish St Leger winner Duncan being the first and arguably the most special as a grandson of Cooper's first mare purchase Agnus (Ire) (In The Wings {Ire}). Her passion for breeding was sparked quite by chance, while looking for a farm which would double as a nice retirement home for the National Hunt horses she raced with her husband Nicholas.

“We had Eulogy and I'm Supposin and we wanted to put them out to grass,” she recalls. “Richard Rowe found us a place in Sussex near to his yard which was up for sale. I had an epiphany when I went round there and I saw the mares and foals – I just fell in love with them.”

The former Boxalland Stud near Billingshurst became Normandie Stud – a name inspired by Cooper's past as a French teacher – in August 1997.

She continues, “I bought my first mare just after I bought the farm and kept on the boarders. I knew nothing about pedigrees but I decided to learn about it just as one would embark on a degree. I learnt everything I possibly could: I read catalogues, I watched the racing channel. People say, 'How did you do it?' But how do you learn French, how do you learn a language? You just go and study.”

Though she would perhaps bridle at being described as such, Cooper is now very much an industry figure. Her pink and white silks, which have this season been carried to success by Listed winner Loving Things (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), Nigel (GB) (New Approach {Ire}), Fallen For A Star (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and Queen Of The Stars (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), are instantly recognisable, and she recently served a stint on the board of the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association. Her husband is now President of the Racehorse Owners Association. Nevertheless, Cooper still considers herself something of an outsider – a fact that she feels has been to her advantage.

“I think it's helped me coming from outside and having the patience you have to have with children, and the discipline. Being a teacher couldn't have helped me any more,” she notes.

“I'm passionate about breeding issues but the politics just leave me cold. I'm not a politician and I'm not diplomatic – I say what I think and feel. Nick's great at it as he's very diplomatic and he doesn't get stressed about these things. He's really enjoying it and I'm delighted for him but I keep well out of it. He doesn't get involved at all in the breeding side but he loves the racing. For me the racing is a means to an end – I race in the hope of getting a nice filly and retiring her to the stud.”

Despite this intention, every owner-breeder must undertake a certain amount of pruning of stock in order to keep numbers under control and to introduce new bloodlines to the herd. It is ten years since Cooper offered any Normandie yearlings for sale, her withdrawal from the market being prompted by disappointing returns for her later-maturing individuals. But this year marks a return to Tattersalls, with Cooper offering three colts, all in Book 1, and three Book 2 fillies through the Norris Bloodstock consignment.

All three colts sell early tomorrow [Tuesday], with the first into the ring being lot 8, a Shamardal colt out of the unraced Deborah (GB) (New Approach {Ire}), a daughter of the Group 3 winner Danelissima (Ire) (Danehill) from the good stallion-producing family of Intense Focus, Sholokhov (Ire) and Soldier Of Fortune (Ire). Two members of the same family sell a little later as lots 39 and 40, the first of whom is a Dubawi (Ire) colt out of the G1 Coronation S. winner Fallen For You. The young mare's half-brother, by New Approach, follows him through.

“I don't own a country or an oil well and it has come to a point where I have to be realistic and to bring some money back into the stud,” states Cooper, who has retained nine yearlings to race herself, including a rare Al Kazeem filly from the great Normandie matriarch Dolores (GB) (Danehill), dam of the Group winners Duncan, Samuel (GB) (Sakhee) and Gretchen (GB) (Galileo {Ire}).

“I'm selling the best,” she continues. “Edmond Mahony came over and I asked him to choose the best for the sales. That was it. There's no point putting horses in that won't sell as people will just think I'm trying to get rid of what I don't want.

“I'll be racing the ones that need more time. People don't want to give them time really and I don't want them to think when they come to see my draft, 'Oh Normandie Stud, we're going to be waiting forever', because they are actually horses that look like they could be back-end 2-year-olds – they are not backward types.”

Cooper makes no secret of her attachment to her horses but with a plan in mind from when this crop of yearlings was born, she took steps to make the parting less difficult.

“I have totally accepted that the horses are to be sold, particularly the Dubawi. I don't know what he's worth or what he will sell for but I just can't take the chance of racing him myself when I know that I need to bring money back in,” she admits.

“From when they were foals I didn't allow myself to get so emotionally involved with them. It was a question of having to detach myself. Normally my horses are all over me but these won't know me so well so it won't be so traumatic.”

By high summer, the cream of the Normandie crop left Sussex for Granham Farm in Marlborough, the new base of Liam and Jenny Norris of Norris Bloodstock, who are noted within the industry for producing small but select drafts to the highest standard.

“Jenny and Liam are experts at preparing horses,” she says. “Jenny is amazing and I like to support women in our industry – but when I say that the women have to be as good as or even better than the men and Jenny's attention to detail is just fantastic.”

While some of the stress associated with selling the yearlings has been offset by signing up the Norris team, Cooper will nevertheless face a difficult time when she sells 12 mares at the December Sale under her own Normandie Stud banner.

With no attempt to hide her feelings, she says, “I'm already getting myself into a state over it as I love my girls so much. But I have to sell some as I now have 32 mares, so 12 have to go.”

From her 2007 draft at the December Sale she sold the Machiavellian mare Tyranny (GB) carrying a colt foal by Dansili who would become known as Zoffany (Ire).

She continues, “The mares have been successful and I've become very undisciplined about selling, I should really sell each year. It's obviously a double-edged sword when you sell something and they go on to do well but I am delighted for the breeders who have done well from it and it hopefully means people will come back to you.”

With some well-related yearlings to sell first, including a trio of fillies by Nathaniel (GB), Poet's Voice (GB) and Oasis Dream (GB) next week, the 20th anniversary of Normandie Stud in 2017 is almost certain to be marked with yet more success for its graduates, even if some will be racing in the colours of other owners.

“It's almost a bit like being a teacher – they are your pupils and you want them to go on and do well,” says Cooper.

Her class of 2015 faces its first big test this week and, emanating from such a proven nursery, should graduate with distinction.