Sunday 6th April 2008

The Breeding Season is still in full swing and we are pleased to report that all the mares covered to date are safely in foal.

It is particularly satisfying to have had the five Maiden / Barren Mares all in foal to coverings before 4 March. The maidens Eclaircie and Spunger are in foal to Kyllachy, Charlecote to Dubai Destination, Makara to Haafhd and American Rouge is carrying to Avonbridge. The mares who have foaled and been covered again are Jardin who is in foal to Medicean, Windmill to Sir Percy and Chrysalis to Nayef. Aptina is boarding in Ireland where she has been covered by Aussie Rules.

Flora Burn had a lovely filly by Sleeping Indian on 10 March and returns to the same stallion. Baby Don't Cry's first foal was a strong colt by Motivator born on 23 March and she visits Avonbridge. Dombeya had a fine big colt by Doyen last night and she visits Singspiel. Unfortunately Fascination Street foaled early and lost her Cape Cross filly. Thankfully the mare is fine and she will be covered by Pivotal shortly. We have another four mares to foal who are all due by the end of the month.

Hillwood graduates have started the new Turf season well. Bouguereau, trained by Peter Chapple Hyam, was an impressive winner of his maiden at Pontefract. The son of Alhaarth, bought by Charlie and Tracy as a foal for 25,000 Gns and sold by them as a yearling for 65,000 Gns, is still entered in The Derby and is being aimed at a Classic Trial next. The Patrick Haslam trained Mission Impossible, another succesful pinhook, gained the second success of his career when winning the Three Year Old Handicap at Nottingham last week.

This week sees the Doncaster Breeze Up Sale and we have four two year olds selling. Unfortunately the new All Weather Gallop at Doncaster Racecourse that we were due to breeze on has not been completed on time. This is particularly frustrating for vendors who have entered horses on the assumption that they will be working on a safe and consistent surface. Instead we will be working on the Jumps course that has been raced on throughout the winter. We hope that our four will sell well but having done all their work on an All Weather Surface rather than some on grass their chances will be compromised by the late announcement that the Gallop had not been completed. The following week is the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale where we will be selling five two year olds. The photographs and pedigrees for both sales are available on the Forthcoming Sales Page.

Saturday 8th March 2008

We had a succesful day at yesterday's Goffs Breeze Up Sale at Kempton. We consigned three two year olds who all sold for around the value that we expected for them.

Lot 8, a Xaar Colt out of Mas A Fuera, was knocked down to Springwood for £18,000 and will be going in to training with John Hills. Lot 90, a filly by Falbrav ex Hasta made £25,000 to the bid of Peter Doyle and will be joining Richard Hannon. Our final offering was Lot 99, a colt by Kyllachy ex Kelso Magic, who was sold to Andrew Balding for £46,000. Their breezes can be viewed at www.goffs.com.

The general consensus was that there was a good market for an athletic individual who breezed and vetted well. However, in the era of overproduction buyers can afford to be selective and if you do not tick all the right boxes your horse will prove difficult to sell. This is a theme that we are sure to see continuing at all sales throughout the year.

Tuesday 26th February 2008

With the start of the turf flat season less than a month away the standard of racing on the All Weather courses has risen recently. Two former Hillwood graduates ran with distinction last Saturday.

Cee Bargara, purchased by Jamie Osborne for 54,000 Guineas from the Doncaster St. Leger Sale, was an impressive winner of a 6 1/2 furlong Conditions Race at Cagnes Sur Mer in France. With opportunities so limited for three year old sprinters in England he is likely to continue his career in California where his trainer expects him to win in Stakes company.

Dubai's Touch, already a winner three times at Listed level and last seen when fourth in a Group 1 at the end of last season, made a very satisfactory seasonal reappearance when beaten just a head in the Listed Winter Derby Trial at Lingfield. He will now be aimed at the Group 3 Winter Derby in a few weeks time.

Chrysalis and Aptina have both foaled. Hillwood Thoroughbred Breeding's Chrysalis had a lovely bay filly by Royal Applause. She is, therefore, a full sister to the Stakes winner Moth Ball. Chrysalis will be covered by Nayef this year. Stuart McPhee's Aptina had a chestnut colt by Ifraaj and will visit Aussie Rules.

Four mares have been covered already and the first scans are due at the end of this week. Penny Van Straubenzee's Eclaircie has been covered by Kyllachy as has Barry Marsden's Spunger. Chris Buckley's Charlecote has visited Dubai Destination and Jardin has been covered by Medicean.

Photograph's of the three two year olds for the Kemton Breeze Up Sale are now available on the Fortcoming Sales Page. We have been pleased with how they have progressed and they are due their last serious piece of work this friday before the sale on 7 March.

Friday 15th February 2008

Today is the official start of the Breeding Season and we are looking forward to a busy few months.

We already have two foals on the ground. Jardin, bought at the December Sales for Hillwood Thoroughbred Breeding, has had a scopey filly by Selkirk and Chris and Debbie Buckley's Windmill produced a strong, athletic filly by Tiger Hill. We have twelve mares to foal this year and another five maiden / barren mares who will all be being covered shortly.

As well as the Breeding side of the operation we are preparing sixteen two year olds for the forthcoming Breeze Up Sales. The first sale is at Kempton on 7 March where we are consigning colts by Kyllachy and Xaar and a filly by Falbrav. Their pedigrees will be on the Forthcoming Sales Page shortly and photographs will be available two weeks prior to the Sale.

We have a couple of shares left in The Felstead Partnership, one of our foal pinhooking syndicates, and would welcome anyone who may be interested to contact us. In a difficult market last year our pinhooking syndicates all made money and we are delighted with this year's crop at this early stage. We will be consigning over forty yearlings at the various sales this autumn.

It will be an exciting year ahead and we are looking to recruit people on a permanent basis and also temporary staff for the Sales Season. If this is of interest we would welcome Curriculum Vitae's by post or e mail.