Two Irish Powerhouses Combine in Normandy

The Hyde family's Camas Park Stud and Ciaran 'Flash' Conroy's Glenvale Stud combined forces for the first time at the 2016 Arqana August Yearling Sale and it proved to be an inspired move as they sold seven yearlings for in excess of €1.2 million. Their joint-consignment averaged €172,857 which comfortably exceeded the overall average for the sale, so it is little wonder that they return with a larger draft of 12 yearlings this weekend.

Tim Hyde Jr. explains why both operations came together at Deauville for the first time. “We always had various partnerships over the years and so it was a natural progression to combine forces at Arqana in order to run the consignment together. Two heads, or in our case three, are better than one and it worked very well last year.”

He continues, “From a staff point of view it makes a lot of sense as well and it also helps from the logistics perspective of getting a draft of select yearlings from Ireland to France. It also means that we can then work together on the yearlings once we get there. The 12 yearlings travelled by boat via England, where they stayed for one night, before arriving at Deauville last Monday. They then had a few days' rest, which is important to allow them to acclimatise to their new surroundings, and they start showing then from Thursday onwards.

For Camas Park Stud and Glenvale Stud, the number of yearlings bred at each farm means that it makes sense to spread the horses out across a number of sales.

Hyde Jr, says, “Deauville has been an emerging force over the last few years and it's now a truly international sale so we felt it was important to be represented there. Buyers come from all over the world, people like to go to Deauville and people like to buy there. Their recent graduate record has been exceptional, with the likes of Almanzour (Fr) (Wotton Basset {GB}), National Defense (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire})and Qemah (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) etc., grabbing the headlines and this year's Epsom Derby winner Wings Of Eagles (Fr) (Pour Moi {Ire}) further solidified Arqana's reputation as a source of the finest yearlings.”

Hyde Jr. runs Camas Park Stud, alongside his father Timmy, on 350 acres of prime limestone land in the shadow of Tipperary's iconic Rock Of Cashel. Upon entering the family home, one's eye is instantly drawn to a superb portrait of Timmy's father Tim on Workman (Ire), winner of the 1939 Grand National. Six years later, the Irish Champion Jockey won a Cheltenham Gold Cup and Timmy Hyde emulated his father at Prestbury Park when he won a Cathcart Chase on Kinlock Brae (Ire). Tim Hyde Jr., who is also a vet, rode some 45 winners on the fiercely competitive Irish circuit, including the prestigious Champion Bumper at the Punchestown festival, so it's little wonder then that the home of such outstanding horsemen became synonymous with top-level racehorses on both sides of the Atlantic. Graduates include Soviet Star, Indian Skimmer, Dancing Rain (Ire), Al Bahathri, Fame And Glory (GB), Alexandrova (Ire), No Nay Never and even Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, who was bred by Camas Park's USA wing Summerhill Farm and sold as a weanling. Johannesburg was also pinhooked by the Hydes in the USA, while G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Carnegie (Ire) was raised at Camas Park and sold privately from the farm to Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

This year has seen another stellar season for Camas Park Stud, with highlights so far coming via the globe-trotting Highland Reel (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), his full-bother Idaho (Ire)) (Galileo {Ire}), Irish Derby winner Capri (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and and Joseph O'Brien's first Epsom Derby runner, the Group 2 winner Rekindling (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}).

The seeds for the relationship between Camas Park Stud and famed Irish horseman Flash Conroy's Glenvale Stud were not simply sown last year, however, as like most successful partnerships in the horse business, the roots of this particular tree run deep, in this case to the early 1980s.

At that time, Timmy Hyde had made a name for himself as a renowned pinhooker of foals and Camas Park Stud was the perfect place for a young Conroy to cut his teeth in the horse business. 'Flash' takes up the story: “I worked for Camas Park Stud in the 1980s and we had some great years. I was very lucky to learn my trade with Timmy and I was with him when he bought a Shergar colt in 1983 for what was then a European record price for a foal [325,000gns]. Reoffered the following October, he set a further European record as yearling when he was sold for 3.1million gns. Subsequently named Authaal, he proceeded to Classic success in the Irish St Leger [and he followed that up with two Group 1 wins in Australia via the Underwood S. at Caulfield and the Queen Elizabeth S. at Randwick]. I dealt with so many good horses at the time, the likes of Indian Skimmer, Soviet Star etc. and they were just great days.”

Conroy went on to explain how his formative years with Hyde helped him make a name for himself in the industry. “I have a huge respect for Timmy and he's been a big influence on my career. He was very good to me and he kindly shared his knowledge with me when I worked for him and then he helped me when I started off my own business too. We became very good friends and we've been involved in various partnerships over the last 20 years or so.”

Conroy established Glenvale Stud in 1990 and since then he has amassed an enviable graduate list of his own with recent Group or Grade 1 winners including The Last Lion (Ire) (Choisir {Aus}), Alice Springs (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), The Wow Signal (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), Magic Hurricane (Ire) (Hurricane Run {Ire}) and Leading Light (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in addition to Royal Ascot Group 2 winners Telescope (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Thomas Chippendale (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) and Waterloo Bridge (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}). This week's G2 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano winner Eminent (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) has kept Glenvale Stud's name in lights this season, as has last Sunday's Curragh G3 Phoenix Sprint winner Washington DC (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}).

“It's great that after all these years we can both consign yearlings together at Arqana and it worked out very well last year. We have a very nice bunch of horses again for this weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing how they get on” adds Conroy.

Among the draft's highlights at Arqana this weekend are lot 85, a New Approach (Ire) three-parts-brother to the brilliant but ill-fated dual Group 2 winner Permian (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), who was only just touched off by a nose in the G1 Juddmonte Grand Prix de Paris at Saint-Cloud. Hyde Jnr. describes him as “a lovely horse from the family of Miesque. He's a great, big strong horse with great quality and action”.

Camas Park & Glenvale Studs also consign one of only two Scat Daddy yearlings in the select sale. The son of GI Yellow Ribbon S. runner-up Flip Flop (Fr) (Zieten) (lot 155) is a half-brother to 2017 stakes winner Qurbaan from the family of Japanese Derby winner Deep Brillante (Jpn). “Qurbaan has been a consistently decent horse in France for Francoise Rohaut winning five times already including stakes races at two and another this year as a 3-year-old. This Scat Daddy is a very nice yearling that is typical of his sire,” Hyde Jnr. explained. Interestingly, the latest Group 1-winning Scat Daddy juvenile, Keeneland Phoenix S. winner Sioux Nation, is out of a grand-daughter of Green Desert and this colt is bred along similar lines, being out of a grand-daughter of Green Desert's sire Danzig.

He continues, “Our Galileo (Ire) filly (lot 84) is a half-sister to a Royal Ascot-winning 2-year-old in Big Audio (Ire) and a full-sister to a Group 2 winner–who also won at the Royal meeting–from the family of G1 Prix de l'Abbaye winner Gilt Edge Girl (GB). She's a very nice type as well.

“We consign a colt and a filly from the eagerly anticipated first crop of No Nay Never (lots 31 and 126) and they both have great strength and quality. We have two colts (lots 28 and 262) and two fillies (lots 36 and 78) by Camelot (GB). His first crop have pleased trainers so far and look like they will start to push on and do very well over the next few weeks. Another nice type is our Dream Ahead filly (lot 170) out of a half-sister to Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and Irish Derby winner Hurricane Run (Ire). We also have a very good colt (lot 70) by French Guineas winner Lope De Vega (Ire) who will be popular, and another particularly nice horse (lot 135) from the first crop of Epsom Derby winner Ruler Of The World (Ire).”

While Camas Park Stud and Glenvale Studs have both established their own unique identity on the European sales circuit, it is quite evident that the combination of two such potent farms at Deauville means that their joint consignment could well be fertile grounds for purchasers looking to unearth the next Highland Reel, Alice Springs or Capri.