Bomber Boosts Rags To Riches Page

[Wandering Eyes]

When Lancaster Bomber (War Front) won the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at The Curragh on the weekend, it was the 4-year-old’s first stakes victory and also his first win since he broke his maiden at Leopardstown just under two years ago. Despite not being a serial winner, the Coolmore colt had racked up just short of €1-million in prizemoney prior to his much-deserved success last Sunday courtesy of some honorable placed efforts in top company, when he was often deployed as a pacemaker for a more illustrious stablemate. Five runner-up slots in Group or Grade 1 races, including at two at the Breeders’ Cup and a more recent third to Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 Al Shaqab Lockinge S., serve notice as to the massive talent the colt possesses.

Even more interesting is the tale behind his dam Sun Shower (Ire) (Indian Ridge {Ire}) and his half-sister Rainfall Radar (Rebuttal), two horses who have clocked up thousands of airmiles before finding their current respective homes. Bloodstock agent and breeder Hugo Merry is the man who binds the whole story together, and when Lancaster Bomber won last Sunday he became the second Group 1 winner for his dam Sun Shower, who Merry purchased for Indian clients for €10,000 at Goffs in 2008. She was carrying to Strategic Prince (GB) at the time, but had left behind a 2008-born Exceed And Excel (Aus) colt who would later be known as Excelebration (Ire), a regular follower of Frankel (GB) who eventually was rewarded for his class and consistency when winning the G1 Prix Jacques Le Marois and the G1 QEII S. at Ascot before retiring to the Coolmore roster.

“I bought Sun Shower in Goffs for Nirmal Singh of Hazara Stud in India,” Merry told the TDN. “She is from a great Ballymacoll family, so we sent her to India and then a couple of years later up pops Excelebration. Obviously she then became quite a valuable commodity, so I bought her back for many multiples of what we paid for her on behalf of the Coolmore partners and she went straight from India to America, where she was bred to War Front. That is how Lancaster Bomber came about.”

He continued, “Obviously I have been following Lancaster Bomber since he began racing and it was great to see him finally getting his turn on Sunday. You couldn’t have a more durable, brave horse than him, I would think, and he thoroughly deserved it.”

At the time of her purchase by Coolmore, Sun Shower was in foal to the Indian-based stallion Rebuttal (Mr. Greeley), and part of the deal was that Merry and his Indian partners would retain ownership of the foal in utero whenever that was born.

“I actually also bought Rebuttal as a breeze-up horse. Brian Meehan trained him and he was just beaten in the [G1] Middle Park S., but he got injured after and was never quite the same again. He turned out to be a very successful stallion in India but died prematurely, unfortunately.”

When Sun Shower produced a filly by Rebuttal, Merry and his partners were delighted to have a half-sister to such a prominent, high-class horse in Excelebration, who was about to embark on his first season under the tutelage of Aidan O’Brien, having been previously well-placed by Marco Botti to win the G1 Prix Du Moulin at ParisLongchamp in 2011.

Having been conceived in India, the filly, subsequently named Rainfall Radar, was born and raised at Ashford Stud in Kentucky until she was weaned, after which she boarded a plane bound for Merry’s farm, Kilshannig Stud in Cork. When she came of racing age, Rainfall Radar was sent to trainer Joe Murphy in Tipperary and, despite showing ability, she never managed to get her head in front, much to the frustration of her owner.

“She was in the frame 11 times from 17 starts and she was desperately unlucky not to win one but that’s life,” Merry said.

Regardless of her success or lack thereof on the track, Rainfall Radar was assured of a breeding career given the exploits of her two Group 1-winning siblings, and Merry can count himself lucky again that he did not let the hammer fall in someone else’s favour when he offered her in foal to Gleneagles (Ire) at Tattersalls last year. Merry bought her back on that occasion for 180,000 gns, and since then he has welcomed another female to the family. “She foaled a very attractive filly by Gleneagles this year and she is back in foal to Caravaggio,” he said.

While Merry made the decision to buy back Rainfall Radar last year, the story of Sun Shower also highlights the vagaries of Thoroughbred breeding, and how so often in this game one man’s misfortune can lead to another man’s gain. For that reason, one must spare a thought for fellow breeders John Tuthill and Kevin O’Donnell, who both passed Sun Shower through their hands before any of her sons hit the big time.

So what now for Rainfall Radar? Merry is a breeder as well as well as a horse trader and has forged a successful career from selling horses around the world. He was also co-owner and co-breeder of G1 Darley Irish Oaks and G1 Longines Prix de l’Opera winner Covert Love (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}), who he sold privately to Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farm when she retired from racing. “The team in Goffs have approached us to see if we would offer her in the London Sale, but I haven’t decided yet what to do, it’s still under consideration,” he said. “The fact she has a filly foal means we might retain that and sell the mare at a later date; we have plenty of options.”

Whatever Merry decides to do will likely be the wise decision, as he has a lifetime of experience in the bloodstock world. As well as having a number of blue chip international clients for whom he sources horses for, his picturesque Kilshannig Stud outside Fermoy is home to around 45 mares. “We’ve bred a lot of good horses here over the years, obviously Covert Love was very good to us and I’m really enjoying the breeding side of things,” he said. “However, the biggest problem I find is replacing the aging mares or the ones who are no longer good enough. It’s hard to buy the fillies that you’d like to be breeding from.”

While a statement like that comes from the breeder within Merry, one gets the impression the trader in him will win out when it comes to deciding the future home of Rainfall Radar.

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