Folland-Bowen Bloodstock has just completed its third yearling sale season since business partners Natalie Folland and Matt Bowen branched out under their own banner. The outfit already looked to be going places at a rate of knots prior to the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, but the team came away from a buoyant renewal of Book 2 toasting some landmark results.
The three-strong draft generated receipts totalling 1,140,000gns, with the group headed by a Sea The Stars colt closely related to six-time Group 3 winner Al Aasy who went the way of Godolphin at 550,000gns. The following day, Stroud Coleman Bloodstock signed at 460,000gns for the outfit’s Too Darn Hot filly.
The results prompted some emotional scenes among the Folland-Bowen team, and deservedly so. Not merely on account of the magnitude of the prices involved, but because these sorts of successes are only made possible by the kind of hard yards that usually go unseen.
We work so hard and treat every horse like they’re our own
“Even now the October Sale results feel surreal, the week flew by,” says Folland. “We’re so incredibly grateful for the support we’ve had since we set up on our own. We all work so hard and treat every horse like they’re our own; it’s very personal for us all. Being entrusted with our clients’ horses means the world to us and for the yearlings to be purchased by some of the best judges in the industry for serious prices means it’ll be a week we won’t forget.”
In some respects these results have been a lifetime in the making. The 37-year-old Folland has been involved in the industry since her school days and tailored her education around a career with horses. As well as being an equine sports massage therapist, she also gained a stud management qualification and a degree in equine science before establishing her career in bloodstock.
“I met Jenny and Liam Norris in my teenage years and worked for them around school, college and university,” she says. “I also worked the sales for other stud farms and I focused my qualifications around stud management and equine massage. I then went on to manage Elkington Stud for Jane Keir for eight years before we set up Folland-Bowen Bloodstock.”
Rather than reaching for the more familiar industry names, when Folland is asked who has proved the greatest source of inspiration in her career she points to the influence of the late Mary Bromiley, the renowned equine physiotherapist who was awarded an MBE in 2011 for her services to equine sport.
Folland is not alone in admiring Bromiley’s work, as Martin Pipe credited the success of top-class staying chaser Carvill’s Hill to her talents, while she also treated the stable’s Grand National winner Miinnehoma.
The time I spent training with Mary was invaluable
“Mary Bromiley changed everything for me,” says Folland. “Mary was the visionary who laid the foundations of the veterinary physiotherapy profession. She was an incredible horsewoman and a fantastic teacher. Mary encouraged us to look at every horse as an individual and think outside the box. The time I spent training with Mary was invaluable. She’s sorely missed by all that knew her. How we manage the horses in our care and how we work them during sales preparation is largely down to her influence.”
It was during her time at Elkington Stud in Oxfordshire that Folland met Bowen, 41, who was running a nearby farm that comprised 2,000 acres of arable farm land and 2,000 indoor pigs. The pair are no longer a couple, but the arrival of their daughter was what initially prompted them to bring their working lives closer together.
“When we found out we were having our little girl, Imogen, Matt moved over to work at Elkington Stud,” Folland continues. “We decided having two busy management roles and trying to raise a baby was going to mean both of us missing out on pieces of her childhood, and so working together was the most sensible way forward.”
The way forward led them in a new direction in 2021 when the pair left Elkington to establish Folland-Bowen Bloodstock at the historic Fonthill Stud, which sits within the grounds of the picturesque Fonthill Estate in south west Wiltshire.
The stud was established in 1952 by the first Lord Margadale, grandfather of trainer Hughie Morrison, and enjoyed a golden period in the 1970s thanks to blue hen mare Set Free. The daughter of Worden bred two winners of the Oaks in Juliette Marny (1975) and Scintillate (1979), while Julio Mariner, a Blakeney brother to Juliette Marny, won the 1978 St Leger.
More recently the farm has produced the likes of US Grade 2 winner and Grade 1 Gamely Stakes second Bodhicitta and the high-class Tropbeau. The chance to operate out of somewhere with such a storied past was too good to pass up.
“We noticed Fonthill Stud had come up for rent and we suspected that Elkington Stud’s owner, Jane Keir, may start to wind down in the coming years,” says Folland. “We were both working there together and wanted our own set up eventually, and historic nurseries like Fonthill Stud don’t come up often. We were blown away by the character of the yard and we knew instantly we wanted to be based here.”
Receiving the keys set in motion a steep upward trajectory. “We moved in on November 1st 2021,” continues Folland. “We’ve progressed so much in those three years and we couldn’t be happier with the direction that the business is heading. We have a solid team and fantastic owners that we’re very grateful for. We’re just about to expand further and sign the lease on a second local stud so we can take on more foaling and barren mares for 2025.”
As the expansion suggests, there is plenty going on at Folland-Bowen Bloodstock at present. There is a division of labour, but, as anyone who has worked in a busy stud or stable will recognise, the team putting its collective shoulder to the wheel takes priority over clearly defined roles.
We have plenty of ambitious up-and-coming horsemen and horsewomen in the UK
“We currently have 68 horses at Fonthill Stud and our surrounding grazing land,” says Folland. “Our team currently consists of six full-time and two part-time members. Everyone mucks in together and does a bit of everything, but we do all have our own set roles and responsibilities within the team too. Matt manages the land and maintenance team whilst I head the equine team.”
Up-and-coming British bloodstock operators are not exactly ten a penny, but, despite the clear and obvious challenges presented by the paucity of prize-money, Folland sees plenty to be positive about in the domestic industry’s future. And, moreover, shaping this future is something the Folland-Bowen team are already taking an active role in, not only providing guidance for their staff but also a work-life balance.
“I think we have plenty of ambitious up-and-coming horsemen and horsewomen in the UK,” Folland says. “Even in the last 12 months we’ve seen some new set-ups and younger members of the industry taking the spotlight with fantastic results.
“Staffing issues seem to be a challenge across the board but we have a young team here and we don’t shy away from teaching or encouraging people to join the industry. Over the years I’ve introduced teenagers into the industry that have then gone onto work for some of the best studs around the world and some have even set up their own businesses.
“I’m incredibly proud of everything they’ve achieved and I’m always on the end of the phone for them even now if they want to run things by me. As an industry we need to make sure we’re providing good working hours, good wages and keeping our teams engaged and progressing within industry.”
She adds, “We are concerned about the British bloodstock industry as many of the well-bred and successful horses get sold abroad. However, this year’s push to keep some of these better bred yearlings in the UK has been positive. For example, Amo Racing’s influence on the sales results was phenomenal. However, prize-money in the UK needs an overhaul to keep owners and breeders involved in the industry long term. This has been echoed for some time now by trainers, owners and breeders.”
Events at the latest edition of Book 2 are not the only results the Folland-Bowen team have had to celebrate in recent times. At last year’s December Mares Sale they sold the Group 3-placed Adaay To Remember to Tally-Ho Stud for 160,000gns on behalf of GB Horseracing, while on the track the classy Flight Plan’s all-the-way win in the Group 2 Dullingham Park Stakes is nominated as another highlight.
“Seeing Flight Plan win the Dullingham Park Stakes last year was really special,” says Folland. “Liam Norris and William Huntingdon purchased his dam, Romp, for 14,000gns for Jane Keir. Having organised the Night Of Thunder mating with Jane, our team foaled, raised and prepped him as a yearling. Seeing him produce a Group 2 win was fantastic. We also have his gorgeous yearling half-sister by Pinatubo and his dam Romp, who’s in foal to Oasis Dream, heading to the Tattersalls December Sales, which is going to be emotional because she’s been in my care for nine years.”
Romp and her Pinatubo filly are not the only Folland-Bowen offerings that catch the eye at this year’s December Sales, either. “We have something for everyone for the foal and mare sales,” Folland says of the 20-strong consignment. “There are some lovely young mares with up-and-coming pages with well-planned covers.”
We set realistic goals for the team each year to keep everyone focused
Few covers can have been better planned than that of headline act Kentucky Belle, who heads through the ring during the first blue-chip Sceptre Session. The ten-year-old is being offered on behalf of breeder Elaine Chivers, a loyal supporter who keeps a sizable broodmare band at Fonthill Stud.
The mare is best known as the dam of Isaac Shelby, winner of the Group 2 Superlative Stakes at two and the Group 3 Greenham Stakes at three, in which he beat no less a rival than champion miler elect Charyn. Isaac Shelby was also just a short neck away from Classic glory, having narrowly lost out to Marhaba Ya Sanafi in last year’s Poule d’Essai des Poulains.
Excitingly Kentucky Belle is being offered in foal to Night Of Thunder, meaning she is carrying a full-sibling to Isaac Shelby, whose own profile has been enhanced with the recent announcement that he will take up stallion duty at Newsells Park Stud in 2025.
“Kentucky Belle knows she’s special,” says Folland. “She passes on her fantastic temperament, good conformation and athletic way of going to her progeny. We’re all very excited that Isaac Shelby will be standing at Newsells Park for the 2025 season and we’ll be supporting him heavily. We also have Kentucky Belle’s yearling filly by Sergei Prokofiev heading to the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale. Sergei has obviously hit the ground running with his first crop and this filly certainly looks like she’ll follow suit.”
The December Sales draft looks set to see Folland-Bowen finish what has already been a memorable year on a high. Topping 2024 won’t be easy. But the pair would not have got this far without their share of ambition, and there is a clear determination to make the next 12 months every bit as productive as the last.
“We’re in competition with ourselves,” Folland says. “We set realistic goals for the team each year to keep everyone focused and ensure we’re constantly moving forward. We want to keep the operation small enough that the individual care doesn’t change and we want to keep building on producing high-quality, tough and sound racehorses that deliver results at the sales and on the track.”

This 550,000gns Sea The Stars colt was the highlight of Folland-Bowen Bloodstock’s sales season. Photo – Tattersalls