Martin Cooney

KILDARE, Ireland--Four days of foal trade certainly whetted the appetite for a quality auction of breeding stock at Goffs on Friday, and the widely anticipated sale of the Group 1 producer Plying (Hard Spun) (lot 1185) certainly didn't disappoint when the dam of Alcohol Free (Ire) (No Nay Never) sold to Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland for €825,000. This was the most successful edition of this breeding stock session for a number of years with 13 lots making €250,000 or more; the corresponding number for the past two years was...

In life and in bloodstock, the confluence of a few small factors--decisions that may seem minute at the time--can quickly amalgamate into life-changing moments. Like, for instance, when Martin Cooney and Elaine Shaw opted to raise their hands at €21,000 during the 2018 Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale on an 8-year-old daughter of Hard Spun whose first two foals had not yet found the winner's enclosure; while, simultaneously, another bidder hesitated, and ultimately changed their mind too late. "Too late, sir," the auctioneer called, hammering Plying down to Jossestown Farm....

Martin Cooney arrived at the Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale in 2018 with a modest budget and a simple plan: "buy a mare that was in foal, and that could be a quick way to turn our money around with a bit of luck," the Fethard-based horseman said. On Cooney's shortlist the first day of the sale was the 8-year-old Hard Spun mare Plying, in foal to Starspangledbanner (Aus). A $200,000 yearling, Plying had won three times for Sheikh Mohammed and trainer Henri-Alex Pantall before being culled for €12,000 at...