Mount Coote Stud
This is a story about young friends: some who have become a little less young, but who have kept themselves from growing too old, too soon, by supporting and mentoring the next generation. Poignantly, however, it starts with a man who was himself cruelly denied his share in that gratifying, repeating cycle among horses and horsemen. Because it was his lamented friend Alex Scott who, hearing that Luke Lillingston was off to New York, made an introduction that proved critical to his career. "This was, what, 38 years ago now,"...
It is not just the horses who move fast in the world of racing. The winds of fashion, especially when it comes to stallions, are ever changing. All the while the years gallop on, and a filly you can still picture in the heat haze of an Ascot summer is suddenly the third dam of this year's champion. Drive in through the gates of Mount Coote Stud, however, and it feels as though time is standing still. Set in the famed Maigue Valley where a rich seam of Limerick limestone...
A New Bay filly (lot 644) caught the eye of Philipp Stauffenberg and he duly shelled out €650,000 to acquire the half-sister to Group 1 winner Dreamloper (Lope De Vega) during the third session of the Goffs November Foal Sale on Wednesday. Also a half-sister to G2 Park Hill Stakes heroine and G1 Prix de Royallieu second Santorini Star (Golden Horn), the April foal was bred by Y. Y. Fill. Ed Sackville was the underbidder. Said Stauffenberg, "If you look into it, there are very few foals of that quality...
Siblings to the top-class performers Emily Upjohn, Sea Of Class and Dreamloper (Lope De Vega) feature among the potential highlights in the catalogue for the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale, which takes place on Monday, November 24. Lot 75, a Sea The Stars full-brother to the G1 British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes and G1 Coronation Cup heroine Emily Upjohn, and lot 76, a Sea The Stars full-brother to the G1 Irish Oaks and G1 Yorkshire Oaks scorer Sea Of Class, both feature in the 24-strong draft from The Castlebridge Consignment....
Lot 1063, a bay daughter of Frankel (GB)--Sunny Again (GB) (Shirocco {Ger}), caught the eye of Fiona Craig, who shelled out 550,000 gns on behalf of Moyglare Stud Farm at Tattersalls on Friday. The second-highest lot of the day so far, the Apr. 4 foal from the Mount Coote Stud draft, is a half-sister to Group 3 winner Elisa Again (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}), stakes winner and G1 St Leger runner-up Berkshire Rocco (Fr) (Sir Percy {GB}), and the G1 Moyglare Stud S. third Sunset Shiraz (Ire) (Time Test {GB})....
Dreamloper's owner-breeder Olivia Hoare has admitted to being overcome with emotion ahead of a trip of a lifetime to the Breeders' Cup to see her dual Group 1-winning homebred bow out from racing on the biggest stage of all. Trained by Ed Walker to win two top-flight races at ParisLongchamp this season, Dreamloper (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) is likely to race for the final time in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile given the 5-year-old is entered up in the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale next week. The decision to...
Purveyors of Twitter will have noticed that Luke Lillingston has made his way onto timelines on an almost daily basis in recent weeks but the Mount Coote Stud operator had his name pegged into lights on Saturday when dear old Sir Busker (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}), a horse he bought for just €25,000 in 2017, bagged the G2 Sky Bet York S. Whether it's buying or breeding winners, Lillingston has enjoyed a year to remember and, not only did he source Sir Busker on behalf of Kennet Valley, but he...
The stakes-producing Talent (GB) (New Approach {Ire}), winner of the 2013 G1 Investec Oaks, foaled a colt foal by Too Darn Hot (GB) at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning at Luke Lillingston's Mount Coote Stud in Co. Limerick, Ireland. Bred by Ashbrittle Stud and Mark Dixon, he is the first foal of the season at Mount Coote. "He is very nice," Lillingston told the TDN. "He looks like a strong foal. He was only born at 5 a.m. this morning but he's good-looking and strong, and I can say both...
Whether contemplating the travails of society at large, or just the viability of our own walk of sporting life, these are certainly days that demand the long view. And few will be bringing a perspective on the October Sale to match that of Luke Lillingston of Mount Coote Stud. Next week Lillingston will be bringing yearlings to Tattersalls for a 20th consecutive year. And, while there was some overlap, his late father Alan clocked up an unbroken half-century selling there after establishing one of the most fertile Thoroughbred nurseries in...