By Emma Berry
As is the tradition at Royal Ascot, the post-race picnics have lasted long into the night this week and guests at Wednesday's traditional Irish gathering had plenty of reason to celebrate. For two small breeding partnerships in Tipperary, Tuesday's results were particularly special. The opening race, the G1 Queen Anne S., went to Ribchester (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}), bred by Mike O'Brien and Andrew Thompson, and 35 minutes later it was the turn of their neighbour Jim Mulcahy, who bred G2 Coventry S. winner Rajasinghe (Ire) (Choisir {Aus}) in partnership with his son Geoff.
“It's difficult to believe–it was really amazing,” said Mulcahy senior, a veterinary surgeon from Kilshane. “We came to Ascot hoping that he might run into a place and he surpassed all our expectations.
“The congratulations we've had from every Tom, Dick and Harry–my phone has nearly blown up. We drank a few bottles of Pimm's and then we drank a few more after that. It won't wear off for a while.”
It wasn't the first time that Rajasinghe's dam, Bunditten (Ire) (Soviet Star), had led to the Mulcahy family approaching Royal Ascot full of hope as her daughter Kurland (Ire) (Kheleyf) ran fourth in the G2 Queen Mary S. two years ago for trainer Martyn Meade, and she is one seven winners from the 15-year-old mare.
“I bought the mare from Seamus Burns five years ago and she has produced a foal for me every year ever since. Seamus was the first congratulate me. A couple of agents have been around asking if I still have the mare but there's no way she'll leave my place, she's been so good to me,” Mulcahy said of the great grand-daughter of Gwen Murless's homebred 1,000 Guineas winner of 1968, Caergwrle (GB) (Crepello {GB}).
“Speed is the key with the family and the mare needs a bit of size, which is why I went to Markaz this year, and Bunditten has a Born To Sea yearling and Ivawood foal on the ground,” he added.
Geoff Mulcahy, who runs Mulcahy Equine, a breaking and pre-training facility in Lexington, is a silent partner in the two mares at his father's farm just a couple of miles down the road from where Mike O'Brien, a key member of the Bansha House Stables breeze-up team, bred Ribchester.
“My son wasn't with us at Ascot but he's been on the phone to me,” Mulcahy said. “It was a great day for our neighbourhood. I'm very close to Bansha and Mike and I are great friends–that's even more important than breeding Group winners.”
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