A Classic Nursery

Some 4,000 miles away from Newmarket on the first Saturday in May, the 2,000 Guineas was being played out in a quiet corner of a Kentucky barn. There was a moment of pride and satisfaction for the Mayer family who brought Ruling Court into the world, then it was back to work with the mares, the day continuing in its usual rhythm at Nursery Place.

If nothing else was ever said about the Lexington farm, 2,000 Guineas day would be enough to encapsulate the farm and its ethos. Owned by the Mayer family since 1792, the land is today under the custodianship of John Mayer, who operates Nursery Place with sons Griffin and Walker. The method is very much a hands-on approach, aided by the fact that each of the 40 or so mares fall under some form of Mayer ownership. In a world where various outfits, particularly in Kentucky, are dealing with increasingly large numbers, it’s an old school method – but as any true stockman will tell you, one that will always stand breeders in good stead. Nursery Place is testament to that.

“I got to watch the race in the barn,” says John Mayer thinking back to 2,000 Guineas day. “We had three more mares to check with the vet but thanks to modern technology, we were able to watch it on the phone. It was a nice few minutes, special regardless of whether Ruling Court does anything else or not. And then we were back at it.”

I’ve always loved the old English families

There’s long been an international outlook to Nursery Place, enabled in part by its appreciation of mares with a leaning towards turf. Ruling Court, as a son of the High Chaparral mare Inchargeofme from the extended family of fellow Derby hopeful The Lion In Winter, is representative of that. Bred in partnership with Robert Manfuso and brother-in-law Happy Broadbent, the son of Justify is the third foal out of his dam, a Grade 3-placed three-time winner for connections.

“Tom [Goff] and Richard [Brown] have both helped me for years,” says Mayer. “I’ve always loved the old English families, the depth to them. To be fair you could buy a turf mare here much easier than a dirt mare. It’s changed so much recently because there’s a much better turf programme in America now.

“But I love those deep female families and with Inchargeofme, the family has been filling out around her. It’s a great family going back to some really good mares and there are a lot of fillies working around her so you also have the opportunity for it to grow.

“I bought her in the Keeneland January Sale as a two-year-old. When I went to see her, I kind of fell in love with her. She’s just a picture for me of what a mare from one of those old English families should look like. She’s got the length, a beautiful head and eye, she’s correct and she’s grown up to be about 16.2 hands high so she’s a good-sized mare. Paul Shanahan was looking at her at Keeneland at the same time as me. I said to him ‘Paul where did all this come from’ because my impression of High Chaparral, Cape Cross [sire of granddam Inchmina] and Nashwan [sire of her third dam Incheni] was that they were solid types of horses. He said ‘John, High Chaparral is out of a Darshaan mare and he was one of the most beautiful horses you’ll see’. That comment stayed with me.”

But it was really love at first sight

Inchargeofme arrived at that January Sale in 2015 having not long before passed through the Tattersalls October Sale in Newmarket, where she had been bought back by breeder Gary Chervenell for 52,000gns. The fact, however, there was plenty going on under her first dam Inchmina gave Nursery Place the impetus to follow her into the ring, where Mayer successfully bid $80,000.

“The Coolmore team owned a lot of those horses out of Inchmina,” he says. “Paul said that her brother Johann Strauss was meant to be a really nice horse but had issues – and he was Group 1-placed [when second in the Racing Post Trophy]. And the horse coming behind him was a Camelot called Mythical. He was meant to be ok too and also ended up being Group 1-placed [when third in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud]. As I understood it, she’d been galloping a little bit at Blackwood Stables. But it was really kind of love at first sight.”

With the yearling sales having passed and a plethora of breeze-ups on the horizon, unnamed two-year-olds aren’t generally a common sight at those Kentucky winter breeding stock sales. The more cynical among us might look at such an entry with suspicion. But there were no such concerns with Inchargeofme; it was decided to try her on the track, for which connections were rewarded when she earned black-type and banked nearly $140,000.

“I’m not a great guy to go to the races with them,” says Mayer. “But she was too athletic and so I thought I’m just going to try her. We sent her to Florida to pre-train and she looked there like she might be ok. We needed to be on a grass circuit so we sent her to Shug McGaughey and she showed some talent, won at Delaware and Gulfstream. But then she needed some time out and we brought her back home.”

Inchargeofme had run fourth in the Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes at Keeneland during the spring of 2017. Armed with the knowledge that she was up to competing with credit at that level, Mayer opted to give her another try.

“I’d had a lot of luck with Charlie LoPresti,” he says. “Actually my son Walker worked with him when he had Wise Dan [American Horse of the Year]. The filly was starting to do really well at the farm, gaining weight and looking good, so I said to him let’s send her back and try to get some black-type. And she went on to run third in the Mint Julep – on the very same day as Justify won his Triple Crown.”

He adds: “It was a good race but she came back two weeks later and a was bit off. That was ok – I said no problem, we’ll stop with her.

“I’d had some calls already about her and I thought she was worth a bit, so I thought let’s just put her in the sale at Fasig-Tipton and see where we are.”

Catalogued to the 2018 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, a high-powered boutique affair that precedes the marathon Keeneland November auction, Inchargeofme returned home on a bid of $235,000.

“She went through and thank the Lord, we bought her back!” says Mayer. “Next day, Paul Shanahan was looking at some our foals over at Keeneland and he said ‘you know I really like that mare of yours. She’s pretty and I think she’d work well with Justify’. And that’s what we did.

“We wouldn’t normally use a lot of freshman stallions – we used only two this year. I’ve chased the market with them before and it’s been good to me, but the reality is that there’s going to be only two or three good ones that come out of each crop. And you’re trying to take care of your mares the best you can. So we try generally to use stallions that produce racehorses. But in this case, using Justify early on worked.

“The first one  that we had out of the mare was a very nice colt and he made $475,000 as a foal to MV Magnier. He went to Ireland but unfortunately got hurt as a yearling.

“After that horse sold so well, we thought we’d go back to Justify.”

Ruling Court is just a beautiful horse, one of the truly best we’ve had on the farm in a long time

The result was Ruling Court, a colt more in the elegant mould of High Chaparral rather than his rugged sire. Highly regarded throughout at Nursery Place, he is another example of a horse becoming entangled in the market’s desire to adhere to a perfect vet report. Offered during Book 2 of the Keeneland September Sale, he was picked up by $150,000 by Irish pinhooker Norman Williamson, for whom he went on to sell at Arqana the following May to Godolphin for €2.3 million – a record for an European breezer.

Just over two months later, he made a winning debut at Sandown for Charlie Appleby before running third behind The Lion In Winter in the Acomb Stakes at York. So far this year he is unbeaten in two starts, his win in the 2,000 Guineas having preceded a bloodless victory in the Listed UAE 2,000 Guineas on the Dubai World Cup undercard at Meydan.

“Ruling Court was a better model that the mare’s first Justify,” says Mayer. “He is just a beautiful horse, one of the truly best we’ve had on the farm in a long time.

“We were going to put him in the November Sale as a foal but he had sesamoiditis and so we thought ‘well we’ll give him time and sell him as a yearling’. But it didn’t get much better.

“It’s a great testament to giving them time. It was there in all four ankles. One of them was moderate and the rest very minor – but they were there. And he also had a little stifle lucency.

“It’s a great lesson for all of us. Those pictures are a moment in time right then, they don’t tell the true story of what can happen given time. But Norman’s vet said ‘yes it’s worth a punt’. I know you have to jump through the hoops with these horses but they’re young and a lot of these things can change – and for the better if given time.”

Inchargeofme has a yearling filly by Ghostzapper – incidentally the damsire of Justify himself – set to head to the Keeneland September Sale. Following her is a colt from the first crop of Up To The Mark, a champion turf horse by Not This Time who stands at Lane’s End Farm.

“The Ghostzapper filly is made more like the mare, she’s very nice,” says Mayer. “The Up To The Mark colt is more like Ruling Court. And the mare has gone back to Justify.”

There is undeniably pride in producing a horse like Ruling Court but it won’t change Nursery Place’s understated style. Despite the select numbers through its hands, good horses come off the farm regularly, ranging from Kentucky Derby third Steppenwolfer to multiple Grade 2-winning miler Gotta Have Her and Wiseman’s Ferry, a high-class juvenile for Aidan O’Brien who later found fame as the sire of Wise Dan. The farm also housed Peter Robsham’s excellent producer Pretty Discreet, a Grade 1 winner herself who foaled the Grade 1 winners Discreet Cat and Discreetly Mine.

“We’ve had some good horses come off the farm but yes, Ruling Court means a lot,” says Mayer. “I can’t imagine doing all this and not foaling all the mares, not meeting the vet everyday, not walking the yearlings. That’s the beauty of the game, you can play it on so many levels, and it’s still very much a puzzle I enjoy playing every day.

“We’ve been able to do it all with our family. And the guys here at the farm have been here for a long time. One has been here 35 years and the newest guy came here five years ago. So it’s very much a hands-on deal.”

He adds: “My family came here from Virginia in 1792. It was the first tree nursery in the state – it’s always been called Nursery Place and there were always horses here.

“It’s in the middle of big hunt country and my grandfather was a Master of Hounds. He was a big believer in farming – cattle, sheep, corn, wheat. He said you never know what market is going to be good or bad but rarely are they all bad at the same time. He farmed a pretty big operation, about 5,000 acres. That’s what I grew up doing. I love farming and but I couldn’t figure out how to make a living from it while raising a family – and I hate saying that.”

Raising horses commercially was not then part of the operation but Mayer had an affinity for the animal, especially when it came to sport as a former polo player and steeplechase rider.

“When I got out of school, I worked for Ted Bates at Wimbledon Farm,” he says. “Ted was an incredible horseman. Back then they had over 140 mares there along with stallions like Relaunch, Sensitive Prince, Tim The Tiger – it was kind of the heyday.

“I did that for a year and then like most young men, thought to myself ‘I got this’, took 90 acres and started building a barn. But we’ve managed to keep it going. It’s good.”

Nursery Place today consists of 1,000 acres, ample room for the 44 mares and their followers.

“We’re able to move horses around, rotate the land and let it rest when it needs it,” he says. “It’s all about the land. I was always taught that if you want to know your farm, you mow your farm.

“We plant 150 trees here every year. It really is a special place. You’re taking that last mare to the paddock in the morning, the sun is just coming up and I’m listening to the turkeys across the way.

“We know the year. We’re foaling and covering mares and then from 1 June we’ll start walking the yearlings, just easing them into it and getting them built up. It gives you a bit of time and if you can stay relaxed and don’t fall behind the ball, then the horses stay relaxed.

“I just want horses that have been here on the farm, ones that have been through the programme. And when you come to sell them, you know the horse – you’re asked a question at the sales and you don’t have to go to a book or ask someone else.”

As for Ruling Court, his career for Godolphin will continue to be celebrated from afar; the promise of Epsom or Royal Ascot won’t bring the family over to Britain, not when there are foals to monitor and yearlings to be walked.

“It’s never been an easy game anyway but it’s become a little more difficult,” he says. “These horses are gifts. I’d love to say ‘we did this’ and ‘we did that’ but they’re gifts. We just try to stay out of their way.”

 

Another triumph for Hascombe and Valiant Stud

The emergence of Ruling Court is another feather in the cap for Anthony Oppenheimer’s Hascombe and Valiant Studs’ remarkable family stemming from Miba and her granddaughter On Show.

The line has provided the Oppenheimer family with its share of highs for the best part of seven decades, among them Miba, a 1962-foaled daughter of Ballymoss who won the 1965 Pretty Polly Stakes for Sir Philip Oppenheimer.

While one branch of the Miba line yielded the Group 1-winning siblings Summoner and Compton Admiral, Ruling Court is a descendant of Miba’s daughter African Dancer, whose accomplished three-year-old campaign in 1976 took in a win in the Park Hill Stakes and third in the Oaks. Incidentally, this same branch of the family is also responsible for The Lion In Winter, who could still take his chance against Ruling Court in the Derby for Aidan O’Brien.

The family owes much of its importance today to Miba’s daughter On Show, foaled in 1978 by Welsh Pageant. She won once at Nottingham for Harry Wragg but left behind three influential daughters in Balnaha (by Lomond), whose daughter Balisada landed the 1999 Coronation Stakes for Oppenheimer, Waterfowl Creek (by Be My Guest), the dam of Lupe Stakes winner Maid Of Camelot, and Inchmurrin (by Lomond), the champion Italian three-year-old filly of 1988.

Inchmurrin gained something of a fan following on the track in light of her diminutive stature. She was written up by Timeform as being ‘tiny, almost miniature’ – yet she went on to win six races for Geoff Wragg led by the Child Stakes, then a Group 2 and run today as the Falmouth Stakes. She was also second to Magic Of Life in the Coronation Stakes.

Inchmurrin left behind eight winners at stud including a top-notcher in Inchinor, another who was living proof that lack of size is not always a drawback when it comes to being a racehorse. Having found only Zafonic – twice his size – too good in the 1992 Dewhurst Stakes, Inchinor enjoyed a good season at three when carrying the Oppenheimer colours to victory in the Greenham and Hungerford Stakes. Timeform described the son of Ahonoora as being ‘pony-sized’ but went on to say that ‘what he lacks in size is more than compensated for by toughness and gameness’. Inchinor later stood at stud in Newmarket and was just gaining recognition as a sire of note when dying at the young age of 13. Among the Group 1 performers he left behind was the aforementioned Summoner and Notnowcato.

Inchmurrin also foaled Listed winner Ingozi, subsequently the dam of Canadian Grade 1 winner Miss Keller and ancestress of St Leger hero Harbour Law, as well as Inchyre, the ancestress of King George winner Poet’s Word. Another daughter, Inchmahome, is also the granddam of last year’s Acomb Stakes winner The Lion In Winter.

It is another daughter, Incheni, from whom Ruling Court descends. By Nashwan, a horse who would have put size into the family, she was campaigned by the Oppenheimer family to win the Listed Lord Weinstock Memorial Stakes at Newbury as a three-year-old. On the face of it, she was a disappointing producer at stud but her first foal, Inchmina, didn’t take long to remedy matters by producing the high-class Ballydoyle pair Johann Strauss and Mythical for Gary Chervenell. Now thanks to Inchargeofme, the family has truly returned to Group 1 heights.