Harry Eustace: ‘We’ve Kept Our Powder Dry For Tattersalls Ireland’

[Wandering Eyes]

Harry Eustace's eyes light up as soon as the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale is mentioned. And why wouldn't they? It was at that sale where the 37-year-old's Group 1 winners Docklands (Massaat) and Time For Sandals (Sands Of Mali) were sourced and the Newmarket-based handler openly admits to having 'kept powder dry' for the action at Fairyhouse next week. 

“We've had a lot of luck out of Fairyhouse, particularly with the filly [Time For Sandals],” he explained. “It's a sale that I have always worked hard at because it can be the last chance of buying the horses you really like. Once we get to the Orby and Tattersalls Book 1 and 2, things can become a bit bonkers quite quickly. We look at as many horses as we can and try to buy as good of a page as we can but I am pretty happy to look at anything, really. That approach has worked pretty well for us thus far.”

That's one way of putting it. Docklands and Time For Sandals put Eustace's name in lights on the world stage at Royal Ascot this year. After Docklands edged out Rosallion by a nose in a thrilling tussle for the Queen Anne Stakes, Time For Sandals ousted Arizona Blaze by just a neck to win what appears to have been one of the hottest Commonwealth Cups in recent years given there has already been two subsequent Group 1 winners to emerge from the race. Neither Docklands nor Time For Sandals cost the sun, moon and the stars, either. 

Docklands was sourced by Blandford Bloodstock's Stuart Boman on behalf of OTI Racing for £16,000 [when the sale was held in England due to Covid] while Eustace, along with close friend David Appleton, who works in the nominations department at Darley, sourced Time For Sandals for just €35,000 at Tattersalls Ireland two years ago. Not only are both horses excellent advertisements for Eustace's talents as a trainer, but they also illustrate how good horses can come from anywhere and how they may not be by a sire who happens to be the flavour of the month. The real skill is having the ability to sniff them out. 

Eustace commented, “When you look back through the winners at the big festivals, including Cheltenham and particularly Royal Ascot, of course there are the obvious ones and plenty of homebreds, too, but, of the horses who went through a sales ring, they could be by any kind of sire. I think the luxury of a trainer buying at the yearling sales compared to an agent or anyone thinking commercially is the fact we can ignore sire-power and fashion to some extent. You can become very narrow-minded about stallions quite quickly in this game. I mean, Australia is a very good example of a stallion who gets very good racehorses but has not always been the most fashionable despite the fact he always comes up with a good one – and this year he had Lambourn and Cercene. If you were happy to buy a yearling by Australia, you could have bought yourself a very nice horse without having to pay quite as much as if it was by something more fashionable. So these horses are there but they get pigeon-holed quite quickly. If you can forgive that side of the page, well then the hope is that you can find one.”

He added, “To be honest, Docklands was bought by Stuart Boman, who put him up to Terry [Henderson, OTI Racing]. I can't claim any part of that success – that was all Stuart and Terry. Docklands wasn't a typical Terry type of horse but he did seem to have a rock-solid temperament and a very good walk. If he was by another stallion, he would have made a bit more, certainly. Whether it's breeding, owning, pinhooking or training, everyone dreams of being associated with these types of horses. To have two is something we are not taking for granted. Funnily enough, the more time goes on, the more the realisation dawns on us about what we achieved. It's incredibly hard to win a Group 1 race and to have had two Group 1 winners from 50 horses is incredibly special. Doing it with two yearling purchases from Tattersalls Ireland was incredibly satisfying.”

In the case of Time For Sandals, who has been put away for next season following a fine effort in the Sprint Cup at Haydock, Eustace and Appleton unanimously agreed that they couldn't leave Ireland without the filly. She was their nap of the entire sale.

Eustace recalled, “Sands Of Mali was a very good racehorse and probably didn't get the credit for what he achieved on the track. If he had gone to Tally-Ho Stud or somewhere like that, the chat around him may have been different but there was absolutely no reason why he couldn't be a very good stallion. And actually, Time For Sandals has not a bad pedigree a bit further down. She was a very good physical but lacked a bit of a walk. I am sure that's why she got knocked by plenty of people but we liked her so much physically that we waved the walk. She walks fine but she doesn't have a big, exaggerated walk. But she is a sprinter at the end of the day and we factored that in at the yearling sales. I didn't see her the same time as David did but both of us felt that she was the absolute nap of our respective lists. We were delighted we could get her.”

David Appleton [right] with Harry Eustace after Sands Of Mali won at Royal Ascot | Racingfotos.com

Appleton likes to keep a low profile but Eustace is keen to point out that, without being able to call on his services at the yearling sales, that proverbial needle in the haystack would be even harder to find. While Appleton has no designs of being a bloodstock agent, his success speaks for itself, given he was involved in the pinhooking of Queen Mary winner Leovanni and even purchased Group 2-winning sprinter Azure Blue on behalf of a partnership that comprised his parents and former boss Alex Elliott's parents.

“David works in the nominations department at Darley and what that means is he gets out and looks at the Darley stock all-year round,” Eustace said. “He knows the vendors and the breeders particularly well and he has a real natural eye for a horse. It works very well being able to bounce things off David because we're trying to find the best horse we can for the right money. That in particular is what he is excellent at helping us with.”

Docklands might be a Group 1 winner but, according to Eustace, there has been minimal interest in the horse who has won close to £1 million in prize-money with regards to a second career at stud. With that in mind, the trainer has some ambitious international targets for his stable star beyond the QEII on Champions Day at Ascot. 

Eustace explained, “I know Richard Kent [who bred Docklands and stands his sire Massaat at Mickley Stud] would love him but his real value lies on the track, to be honest. After Ascot, the plan is to go to Japan for a Group 1 over a mile in November. Charyn actually ran [and finished fifth] in that race last year and I think the tempo of Japanese racing would really suit Docklands. He loves racing and, although the standard is high in Japan, the thing he really needs in his races is tempo. That's why Ascot suits him really well and why turning tracks don't. But Japanese racing seems to be end-to-end and Docklands is hardened up – he's travelled before – so I could see him running a very good race in that.”

It seems a pretty obvious suggestion that, the more sales a trainer attends, the likelier he or she is to come across a horse capable of propelling them onto the big stage. There is a direct correlation between the trainers who hit the sales hard and those who have success and Eustace is in that group. Not only has he been a regular at all of the major yearling sales since taking out his licence in 2021, but he has been pinhooking foals for the best part of a decade alongside fellow trainer James Horton. That combination happened to be behind the pinhooking of this year's Group 1 Phoenix Stakes hero Power Blue (Space Blues), who sold to Robson Aguiar [under the banner of Drumloose Stables] for £44,000 having initially been bought for €30,000 as a foal. 

James Horton and Harry Eustace | Goffs

“I just don't think as a trainer you can ever look at too many horses at the sales,” Eustace said. “The more you look at the better. Most definitely, if David had sent me a Sands Of Mali filly and I hadn't seen her in the flesh for myself, I am not nearly as positive that I would have bought her. We were particularly strong on her because both of us loved her. It's hard for me to be as enthusiastic about a horse on film or in a picture because it's less natural. That's why I like to go to as many sales as I possibly can. It determines the next year to 18 months, how each yearling sale goes for you as a trainer. It can be hard to get away from the horses at the yard but, when you look back, you will have worried more about not going to the sales. I am fortunate that I inherited a great system from William Haggas, for whom I was assistant to, and I have some very good staff as well. Without that, I wouldn't be able to attend all of the sales that I do.” 

He added of his pinhooking prowess, “James Horton and I, we were both working as assistants 10 or 12 years ago and basically felt that we were working very hard within the industry but didn't have much skin in the game as it were. As everyone knows, pinhooking foals to yearlings is probably the easiest entry way into the game with a view towards the timeline and being able to gauge costs. We got a group of friends and families together and we gave it a go. Hannah Wall and Luke Barry, in particular, were very good to us and we had some good touches which was very fun. We actually sold Power Blue as a yearling last year. Of course, we were all standing there wondering how we didn't get more for him but hindsight is a wonderful thing! But he is the best horse we have ever pinhooked by a long way. I think pinhooking has been an invaluable exercise, really, because the foal sales seem to be a less stressful time for buyers and vendors alike. It also provides you with an opportunity to get a feel for some of the younger stallions and things like that.”

Eustace says he has intentionally kept his powder dry for a sale that has served him so well. The brief is a simple one; try and find the next Group 1-winning star. Easy, right?

He concluded, “We've bought three yearlings so far this year but we don't tend to buy many at Donny or at the Somerville. I suppose, a lot of that is driven by when my brother [David, trainer] was in Australia and when we were dealing with a lot of people from that part of the world. But we don't have a huge amount of yearling orders on a yearly basis so we try to buy a type that gives the owner as risk-free an exit strategy as there is. That's why we tend to buy a three-year-old type who will stay a mile or further and why Tattersalls Ireland really suits us. Donny and the Somerville attract a certain type of yearling whereas at Tattersalls Ireland, you can get all sorts – it's a real mix of types and pedigrees. That's why it really suits us. You can find a bit of an angle and use your imagination. We've hopefully kept a bit of our powder dry for this sale for obvious reasons and we'll see what happens thereafter. But every year, by the time we get to Book 1 and 2, everyone wishes they tried harder to buy earlier in the yearling sale season. A lot of people are aware of that so we're going to try and get a few more on board before then.”

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