How eschewing fashion and some help from an old friend enabled a breeze-up maestro to hit a rich vein of form as a breeder

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Here, James Thomas speaks to breeze-up maestro John Cullinan, whose all-round expertise has also been seen to great effect in breeding circles of late – subscribers can get more great insight every Monday to Friday.

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When John Cullinan scaled back his involvement in the breeze-up market it might have seemed fair to assume we’d find his fingerprints on fewer notable winners this year. However, that has proved anything but the case.  

The prominent pinhooker and master of Horse Park Stud has shown another string to his bow by breeding not one but two fillies who have captured the headlines for different reasons, namely A Lilac Rolla and Perfect Part. 

To make the feat all the more impressive, neither of the pair’s dams cost a fortune. Cullinan concedes to “mixed feelings” about the bargain nature of Perfect Part’s story, as that theme continued when she was sold through Roger Marley’s Church Farm Stables at the Doncaster Breeze-Up Sale in April.  

The daughter of Mehmas cost owner Keith Brown just £10,000, but proved that valuation to be all wrong when she made a winning debut for Brian Ellison in the prestigious Hilary Needler Trophy at Beverley on Saturday.  

Moreover, her sales ring appearance isn’t the only time she has been underestimated in the market, as she registered a cosy half-length victory at gigantic odds of 125-1.  

Cullinan could have softened the sales ring blow had he availed himself of that generous starting price, but there is an unequivocal response when quizzed over whether he backed the filly on Saturday. “I certainly didn’t!” he says. “Long-priced winners are very unusual for me. It’s usually short-priced losers!” 

He continues: “She was sold for buttons so I have mixed feelings about it. Had I known that she was capable of winning a Hilary Needler Trophy on her first start I wouldn’t have sold her for that kind of money, but there you go. These things happen.”  

Cullinan suggests that conditions – both weather and market – had something to do with his homebred realising such a derisory sum.  

“There’d been plenty of rain around so conditions were very tough when she breezed,” he says. “A lot of horses, not just her, were compromised and she clearly acts on quick ground, so it’s easy to see why she didn’t figure up at the top of the times in Donny. She did a nice breeze visually though and I understand she was quite busy afterwards. 

“Unfortunately that interest vaporised after people sat down to do their homework on the clocks that evening. She was around the 60th fastest of nearly 200 horses, so it wasn’t as if she was out with the washing. But, I believe more so than ever, the emphasis this year has been on the horses who figured in the top ten or 15 per cent, which has meant a very soft middle and bottom market. It was very tough going for a lot of vendors and she obviously fell into the overlooked category.”  

Perfect Part is the fourth foal out of Queensbrydge, and the second bred by Cullinan after he acquired the winning daughter of Dutch Art for 32,000gns back in 2020. In a bid to give the mare a leg up, Cullinan opted to send Queensbrydge to his old friend Mehmas in the season after he broke the record for number of winners by a first-season sire.  

His final tally of 55, ten of whom gained black type, saw his fee at Tally-Ho Stud increase from €7,500 to €25,000.  

Mehmas: Cullinan is a big and longtime admirer

“I needed a proven horse because the mare had a couple of foals with no action, and what better horse to get you a two-year-old winner?” says Cullinan. “That mating didn’t take a huge amount of working out. Perfect Part wasn’t the biggest and the mare isn’t over big, so she probably needs a bigger stallion than Mehmas ideally. But the way I looked at it, if he imparted his ability, temperament, durability and tenaciousness, then that would do me.”  

Cullinan knows better than most about the qualities that Mehmas possesses, having been involved in pinhooking, prepping and selling the son of Acclamation as a breeze-up horse.  

The young Mehmas was picked up for 62,000gns when offered by Croom House Stud at Book 2 of the October Yearling Sale, and transferred to Richard Hannon and Al Shaqab Racing when knocked down to Peter and Ross Doyle at 170,000gns at the Craven Breeze-Up Sale six months later.  

“Mehmas has been a very lucky horse for anybody who’s had anything to do with him,” says Cullinan. “From the breeder, ourselves, the Hannons and the Doyles, the owners, Tally-Ho. He’s been a marvellous horse.  

“I remember saying to Tony O’Callaghan when the news came out that he’d be standing at Tally-Ho that he has an unbelievable constitution, no shortage of ability and is sound as hell, all of which contributes greatly to being a successful stallion. It’s been great to see him deliver.”  

Although Cullinan had an early insight into Mehmas’s talents, he says the horse rather hid his light under a bushel during his younger days.  

“We do a lot of slow work with them and you’d hardly have known he was in the place, so I can’t claim much credit,” he says. “When I sent him to Roger I said, ‘I don’t know how you’re going to get a tune out of this guy because he’s so laid-back’. After a couple of weeks Roger said he could see what I meant; he was just so relaxed that he’d never strike you as a quick horse. But as soon as we gave him a squeeze we had a completely different opinion of him. We thought the first time might have been a fluke so we gave him another bit of work and he confirmed he had loads of ability.

“If memory serves he was the 17th fastest for the first furlong [in his breeze] and then the quickest from the two furlong to the one pole, then the quickest by even further on the gallop out. So the further he went the quicker he was going, and the lower he was getting to the ground. Visually he looked very good and the figures backed that up too.”

Mehmas was a model of consistency during his sole season in training, winning four of his eight starts, including the Group 2 July Stakes and the Richmond Stakes, in which he gave a certain Blue Point a beating despite conceding 3lb. He also showed he was among the very best of his generation by placing in the Coventry, National and Middle Park Stakes.  

“He ran within a few weeks of being bought at the Craven,” says Cullinan. “He didn’t wait around. I remember we had a drink with Richard Hannon the day the horse was sold and he said, ‘I suppose you’re going to tell me this guy needs a break?’. So I said, ‘No, run him.’ And he did, they ran him as soon as he’d been named.  

“He always ran very committedly with a low head carriage and covered a lot of ground. He had a real battling attitude, as he proved against Blue Point at Goodwood when he had to carry a penalty. He seems to be passing those qualities on to his stock. He’s done everyone proud.”  

Queensbrydge (centre) was a dual winner and dam of last Saturday's Hilary Needler winner Perfect PartCredit: Mark Cranham

Also doing people proud is Queensbrydge, who won twice for Robyn Brisland and was beaten just a nose into fourth in the Group 3 Sirenia Stakes at two. Cullinan explains that this type of profile is very much what he looks for in a broodmare prospect. Queensbrydge also has a yearling filly by Shaman on the ground and is in foal to the Irish National Stud’s up-and-comer Phoenix Of Spain.  

“She was unlucky to miss out on black type, she’s by Dutch Art, correct and with a lot of quality,” says Cullinan. “She’s not the biggest in the world but I didn’t worry about that because I find it easier to mate handier mares than a big mare anyway. She was a little bit of a gamble but she wasn’t a huge amount of money. I buy commercial mares and hope they deliver. When they don’t I move them on and if they do I’ll upgrade them. There usually has to be a weakness somewhere to suit my budget, and one way I’ve tended to do that is by buying them in foal to unfashionable stallions.”  

That was also the case when Cullinan landed on Mejala in the same sale as Queensbrydge. The Shadwell castoff had plenty going for her as she had bred three winners, including the Listed-placed Mutaaqeb, and was a sibling to no fewer than five black-type performers herself, most notably the Listed scorers Sudoor, Ethaara and Mudaaraah.  

Despite those credentials, the 14-year-old cost Cullinan just 12,000gns when she was carrying A Lilac Rolla in utero.  

“I bought the mare carrying to Harry Angel, who at the time wasn’t particularly popular, but he’s got going now all right,” says Cullinan. “A Lilac Rolla has been a great source of pride. I had a very ordinary bunch of homebreds that year but she was the standout among them.”  

A Lilac Rolla was sold to Amanda Skiffington for €40,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale and proceeded to win her first three starts for Paddy Twomey and the Mutual Admiration Society Partnership. She resumed at three with victory in the Priory Belle Stakes before running a stormer in second to Fallen Angel in the Irish 1,000 Guineas. 

Sadly, Mejala died while delivering her next foal, a filly by Shaman, but Cullinan has retained the now two-year-old in the hope that A Lilac Rolla can add to her Group 3 victory and Classic second.   

“I’ve retained her and will hopefully race her,” he says. “She was a bit backward for the breeze-ups but I’d already decided to keep her anyway. She had a break and got some May grass and she’s back in now and hopefully she’ll be running in later summer or early autumn. It would be nice to have a daughter of the mare, particularly if A Lilac Rolla goes on to win a Group 1.”  

The Group 3 Ballylinch Stud Priory Belle Stakes goes to A Lilac Rolla and Billy Lee.Credit: Patrick McCann

Cullinan says his breeding hot streak is made all the sweeter having seen the other side of the coin all too often. It is a situation virtually every breeder will recognise as they search for the next star name.  

“It’s nice for it to happen because we’ve had plenty go the other way,” he says. “It’s tough going for breeders nowadays. The market is very polarised, costs are high, stud fees are high and fashion is ruthless.  

“When you see what Kodiac, Dark Angel, Siyouni and now Havana Grey have done, there have been breeders who have made great money by getting those horses right. You never know who the next one is going to be, but that’s what keeps all breeders going. Most mares don’t deserve 20, 40 or 60 grand stud fees, and most breeders can’t afford it anyway – me being one of them.”  

Cullinan will at least have more time to commit to figuring out where the next Dark Angel or Havana Grey will come from having taken a significant step back from the breeze-up side of his business. He says “the way the wind was blowing in racing” partly informed his decision, with headwinds coming in the form of rising costs for all participants, falling prize-money and racecourse attendances, as well as the market impact of Brexit.  

There were other factors closer to home, as he explains: “I had a couple of bad years with a lot of horses left over, so I couldn’t afford another bad year. Secondly, I got particularly busy in my other life workwise [in industrial refrigeration]. So I couldn’t afford the time at the sales, I couldn’t afford to buy anything I liked and then I couldn’t afford the time over the winter watching what was going on.  

“That’s why I’ve had only a minor involvement this year. The stakes are so high now. Years ago we were buying breezers for 15 to 25 grand, whereas recently we’ve had horses that have cost six-figure sums as yearlings. When you get mishaps with horses like that, it’s costly.”  

Cullinan certainly isn’t ruling out returning to the breeze-up sector in the future and says he’ll review his position later in the year. Given the nature of trade at this year’s sales, he is entitled to feel like he picked the right time to reduce his risk.  

“The breeze-ups this year were very unforgiving,” he says. “It’s a very easy market to over-supply. People tend to forget that the majority of trainers buy the majority of two-year-olds as yearlings. They’ll buy breezers only when all their yearlings have found owners and have been paid for. The reduced activity in the domestic British market seemed to make the middle and lower market very soft.” 

But the doom and gloom of market woes are best left for another day. While A Lilac Rolla may have Group 1 aspirations away from Royal Ascot, Cullinan can still look forward to cheering on Perfect Part.  

The Queen Mary Stakes-bound filly is not the only link between Horse Park Stud and the royal meeting, as the Wicklow farm is also where dual King’s Stand Stakes (now named the King Charles III Stakes) winner Sole Power is seeing out his well-earned retirement.  

Sole Power: 'He’d have been no good as lead horse for the breezers"'Credit: Mark Cranham

“He was a fantastic flagbearer for the Power and Lynam families and was never short of creating excitement on the racecourse,” says Cullinan. “He took a while to switch off because he was such an exuberant individual. He’d have been no good as lead horse for the breezers, I can tell you!  

“He’s in complete retirement now and enjoys the company of the other pensioners. He looks a long way from a stripped and fit racehorse – he’s as fat as myself now! – but he’s happy and healthy. He enjoys himself and gets carrots every day.”  

After a fine run of form on the breeding front, here’s hoping Sole Power isn’t the only resident at Horse Park Stud living the good life. 

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“Through no fault of the sponsors, but owing to a confluence of local and international developments in an evolving sport and industry, the Irish Derby currently finds itself at a lower ebb than at any time in the last 63 years, a shadow of past glories, a cringing embarrassment to a racing jurisdiction that can justifiably claim to global eminence in many facets.” – Alan Sweetman on the waning importance of the Irish Derby. 

Pedigree pick

All eyes on Wednesday will be on the Unibet/EBF Maiden Fillies' Stakes at Kempton at 5.40 as John and Thady Gosden take the wraps off the blue-blooded Zilfee. 

The Juddmonte homebred is a daughter of Sea The Stars and the 11th foal out of Concentric, making her a half-sister to none other than Enable.  

The top-class daughter of Nathaniel won 15 races during a simply brilliant career, most notably going back-to-back in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 2017 and 2018. She was narrowly denied a famous hat-trick when edged out by Waldgeist in 2019.  

Enable also debuted on the all-weather, with a commanding success over a mile at Newcastle coming on her solitary two-year-old outing.  

Moreover, Enable is not Zilfee’s only noteworthy sibling, as she is also a sister to the Listed-placed Derab and a half-sister to the Group 2-placed Contribution as well as the Group 3-placed Entitle. Concentric also has a two-year-old brother to Enable on the ground, named Concert Tour, a yearling colt by Dubawi and a filly foal by the same sire too.  

Enable’s own breeding career is also well under way, and we could see her first foal hit the track later this year as the Kingman colt Encompass is registered in training with the Gosdens. The 11-time Group/Grade 1 winner produced a filly by Dubawi last year and returned to the Dalham Hall Stud kingpin in 2024.

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