Derby entries galore from our 2014 yearling draft

We're finally at the end of a long sales season and we've restocked for next season's yearling sales with six cracking foals from Goffs and Tattersalls, so the work has already started again. We were delighted with how our yearlings sold in August and October and were even more delighted to discover that four of the six colts now have Derby entries for 2016. Of course William and I always strive to select quality foals in the first place and then Jenny does a wonderful job of nurturing them through an important formative year, but to think that 75 per cent of the colts we sold this autumn were considered worthy of a Classic engagement by their new owners and trainers is a real boost. We wish all of their connections the very best of luck with fulfilling that dream, and having already been involved with Dancing Rain, it would be lovely to think we could have a Derby winner to join the Oaks winner. The final sale of the year saw us head to Deauville with both our buying and selling hats on. At Arqana's December Sale the previous year, William and I bought a Dubawi mare in partnership named Plebeya and this time around we offered her first foal, a smashing colt by Tin Horse (pictured above), for sale through La Motteraye Consignment. Gwen and Lucie did a super job for us, as always, and we were pleased to sell the foal for €24,000, especially as he was bought by that very good judge, Con Marnane. On the buying front we selected a strong colt from the first crop of the Irish St Leger winner Jukebox Jury for a new client, Dan Tunmore. Jukebox Jury stands in Germany and I've only seen a handful of his foals so far but I've been impressed with those I've seen and feel that he'll be a stallion worth following in the years to come. We've finalised the matings for the farm's mares and right now I'm in the final stages of making decisions on which stallions my own mares will visit. Come the new year, I'm looking forward to welcoming Villabella's foal by the first-season sire Dabirsim and Nut's Rajsaman foal. As ever with horses, there's plenty to feel hopeful about and I can't wait to see what our homebreds and pinhooks get up to on the track next year. In the meantime, I wish you all a happy Christmas, a peaceful new year and lots of luck with your own horses. Liam