A Big Year on Many Levels for Bearstone Stud

[Wandering Eyes]

There's a growing sense of anticipation at Bearstone Stud with less than 11 weeks to go until the start of the British Flat season on turf, with the first foal out of the farm's most notable graduate, Glass Slippers (GB), having recently turned two.

The Dubawi (Ire) colt in question will be the third generation of this family to have been bred and raced by Terry and Margaret Holdcroft, who founded the business back in 1979. They bought the colt's great grandam, the winning Fairy King mare Ocean Grove (Ire), for around 20,000gns at Tattersalls in December 1996. Ocean Grove went on to produce seven winners, including the Listed scorer and G3 Ballyogan Stakes runner-up Eastern Romance (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), while it was her very first foal, Night Gypsy (GB), a winning daughter of the former Bearstone stallion Mind Games (GB), who gave them Glass Slippers.

What Glass Slippers his since given to everyone involved with the Shropshire farm cannot be summed up in words, according to stud manager Mark Pennell. Trained by Kevin Ryan, she won seven of her 21 career starts, notably registering a trio of top-level victories in the Prix de l'Abbaye of 2019 and the Flying Five Stakes and Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint of the following year. She added two further Group 1 placings to her record in 2021, before retiring home to Bearstone as the winner of around £1 million in total prize-money, at the end of a top-class sprinting career which still feels like yesterday for those closest to her.

“She was a great flagbearer for the stud through Covid and kept everybody's chins up,” Pennell remembers. “You start breeding with a mare like that and you think, 'God, it's going to be three years up the road before we have one on the track'. Then the next thing it's here–it all comes around so quickly.”

Sure enough, the debut appearance of the first foal out of Glass Slippers is likely to be just a matter of months away, especially as the Dubawi colt is said to be a proper two-year-old type. Bought back by his breeders for 380,000gns at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, he has since been put into training with Kevin Ryan, who navigated the career of the dam so expertly.

“We're very pleased with him,” says Pennell. “Kevin is quite confident that he's going to be a two-year-old. He's certainly built like one–he's short-coupled, and perhaps a little bit on the small side, but he's strengthened up and grown since he's come back from the sale. Kevin said he's more than big enough now and he's pleased with how he's done. It's early days for him to tell us anything, but he's done everything we've asked of him.”

As for Glass Slippers, she too continues to do everything asked of her, making life easy for the team at Bearstone and providing plenty more to look forward to in the years to come.

“She's such an easy mare to deal with, an absolute dream,” Pennell adds. “She's got a Frankel colt now, a very nice yearling. We're very pleased with him and he'll go to the sales next October. She's in foal to Havana Grey at the moment and she's booked in to go to Blue Point this year–it's exciting times.”

 

The Euros strike at the @keenelandracing – Glass Slippers wins the @BreedersCup Turf Sprint for @kevinryanracing and @tomeaveswigan! #BC20 pic.twitter.com/LGmgy27lBw

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) November 7, 2020

 

This next chapter in the life of Glass Slippers is far from the only source of excitement for her connections in these early days of 2025. It's a big year as well for her sire, the five-time Group 1 winner Dream Ahead, who joined the Bearstone stallion ranks ahead of the 2022 breeding season, following stints at Ballylinch Stud in Ireland and Haras de Grandcamp in France.

The sire of four individual Group 1 winners, with Al Wukair (Ire), Donjuan Triumphant (Ire) and Dream Of Dreams (Ire) joining Glass Slippers on that list, Dream Ahead reportedly covered over 100 mares in his first season at Bearstone, leaving Pennell eager to see what the first British-bred crop of juveniles can do when they take to the track in 2025.

He continues, “It's almost like having a new first-season sire in a way. He disappeared off to France and was sent a lot of staying mares out there. If you look at all of his best horses, they were all produced out of sprinting mares. We've supported him strongly with all of our top sprinting mares and we've had some really nice yearlings. We've kept about half a dozen of the nicest we had to put into training with the likes of Tim Easterby and Kevin Ryan.

“We had a very nice filly we sold at Doncaster who made £60,000. The fillies actually sold better than the colts. For what reason, I don't know, because he's had three Group 1 colts and one filly. Overall, we were very pleased and I think he's standing at a very commercial price [£6,500]–I think anybody who uses him this year will be doing themselves a favour.”

Whilst Dream Ahead wasn't done many favours last year, with only 29 mares heading his way, Pennell remains optimistic that the emergence of a standout juvenile this year could see the stallion back on the rise again.

“I think people are just a bit dubious when they go off abroad and come back,” he adds. “I don't know if people are waiting to see what happens [with his first crop of British-bred runners], but he's a great outcross for a lot of mares in this country and we've had some good breeders who have come back to him. The dam of Dream Of Dreams, she's been twice.

“We'll see how he goes. I certainly think our sprinting mares will suit him and I'd be amazed if he doesn't get some good horses out of this crop.”

Dream Ahead is one of three stallions on the Bearstone roster, along with the G1 Dewhurst Stakes and G1 Lockinge Stakes winner Belardo (Ire) and the G3 Phoenix Sprint Stakes hero Washington DC (Ire). That pair will be standing at fees of £5,500 and £3,500, respectively, in 2025, offering decent value in challenging times for those breeders operating at the lower ends of the market.

“Belardo had 50% winners to runners in 2024 and he was the leading sire of winners in Europe standing at under £15,000,” says Pennell. “He's had 36 stakes winners and performers, so he's done no wrong at all. Again, it was a quiet year for him last year [when covering 19 mares] and we were disappointed to be honest. I think they're generally milers and they do improve at three, so we're expecting another good season because he had a good crop of runners last year.

“Washington DC has got [the G3 Abernant Stakes winner] Washington Heights and Kevin is quite sure he's going to win a big one. From very small books of mares he's done exceptionally well. He was a little bit disappointing in his first and second seasons, but he seems to have cracked on and held his own ground. He keeps finding a few winners and his top yearling last year was 60,000gns, which is pretty good from a £3,500 nomination fee.”

He continues, “A lot of people have been paying 10 or 15 grand for these stallions and they're just not getting their money back. That middle to bottom market is absolutely on the floor at the moment and I think people are being a bit more careful with what they spend this year. It's difficult and we struggled ourselves a bit last year [at the sales]–it's been tough for everybody.”

One highlight of last year for the team at Bearstone was watching the success of Bradsell (GB) on the racecourse, a colt bred and raised at the stud. His dam, Deborah O'Brien's Russian Punch (GB) (Archipenko), is one of around 30 boarders at Bearstone, which is also home to around 60 mares belonging to the Holdcrofts.

“He was amazing, when you think he came back from a bad injury as well and still won two Group 1s,” Pennell says of the new recruit to the National Stud. “We've actually bought a breeding right in him and we're going to be supporting him as well. We went to see him and he didn't look like a horse who had just come out of training. He already looked like a stallion–he's a real solid man and a great-looking horse. Hopefully, he'll produce them the same.”

As for where the next Glass Slippers or Bradsell is going to come from, it's impossible to know, but Pennell is happy to nominate a two-year-old in training with Richard Fahey as a horse who could give the ever-enthusiastic Holdcrofts something to shout about in 2025.

He adds, “Terry is out on the yard every day. He's still busy with his main business as well, so he's still full on and amazing for his age how he just cracks on and does so much. Margaret enjoys seeing the foals and getting around and having a look at everything. They follow everything, absolutely everywhere. Margaret never misses an entry and she keeps track of all of our winners.

“I think we bred 67 winners last year from the stud and we're around that 65-70 mark every year. We breed a lot of winners and a lot of them are by our own sires who we stand. This year we've got a particularly nice Dream Ahead colt with Richard. That's a half-brother to Washington Heights. He's a very, very nice horse and we think quite highly of him.”

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