Con Marnane ready to roll once more at Goffs London Sale after last year's £1,100,000 spectacle

Fast horses and conviviality. Words associated with both Royal Ascot and Monday's Goffs London Sale could easily be a motif for the Bansha House Stables operation of Con Marnane, for whom this week has been the perfect outlet.

Memories from last year pervade through Givemethebeatboys, the auction-topping colt who made £1,100,000 to Bronsan Racing when offered to a who's-who of the global racing community in the grounds of Kensington Palace and the following day a storming fourth in the Coventry Stakes. 

Givemethebeatboys, who cost just €11,000, did not get into a breeze-up sale so instead went into training with Jessica Harrington, going on to win the Marble Hill Stakes in the family's yellow and black livery. The son of Bungle Inthejungle returns to Royal Ascot for a shot at the Commonwealth Cup and epitomises the many smart purchases that the Tipperary-based Marnanes manage to sniff out on an annual basis. 

While Con Marnane has a large squad of juveniles that go through the breeze-ups, he works in a different and more macro way to many of his contemporaries. This year the family had an open morning to show off their wares to potential buyers and they have raced many other horses before trying to trade them, seen most famously when Different League landed the 2017 Albany Stakes for French-based Matthieu Palussiere. Another filly bought for a relative pittance – an €8,000 foal – she ended up making 1,500,000gns from Peter Brant and Coolmore at the end of her juvenile campaign.

"We've sold a lot of very good horses at this sale," says Marnane. "We had Real Appeal [£265,000 in 2019], who has won Group races, and that year we sold Forever In Dreams [£430,000] and she was second in the Commonwealth Cup a few days later. So it's been very lucky for us, but we’re sellers and it’s a great sale."

This time around, the focus will be on Rock N Roll Rocket, who is a homebred out of the Kheleyf mare California Tee and was the first winner for Starfield Stud-based Far Above when striking at Cork in mid-May. 

Like Givemethebeatboys, he is trained by Harrington in a family connection which has been strengthened by Marnane's daughter, Olivia, riding out for the elite trainer during her studies in Dublin.

Rock N Roll Rocket (left): the first winner for Far Above is bound for the saleCredit: Patrick McCann

"He’s a very nice horse," says Marnane. "He won well at Cork first time out and then we shouldn’t have run him the next time at Tipperary. I made the mistake, I just thought he needed more experience, then the ground came up very soft and they couldn’t walk on it. 

"He’s back perfect again. He wants good ground and he’s a very fast horse. A couple of the horses that were behind him at Cork are going for the Windsor Castle and the plan is that race for him."

Aside from cheering on a prospective purchaser at the races, Marnane has a further vested interest.

"He's the first foal out of that mare; we raced her in France and she was a good, fast filly," he explains. "I just liked her an awful lot and if he could win the Windsor Castle, she’d be very well made!

"I have a full-sister yearling and a full-brother foal because I liked this one so much. He’s a real speedy, good-looking two-year-old type, and that’s what I love."

Givemethebeatboys chased home Bucanero Fuerte in the Phoenix Stakes and Vandeek in the Middle Park and has certainly proved to be more than a juvenile flash in the pan with his efforts at three, with a successful reappearance in Listed company and particularly when going down only to Bucanero Fuerte by a head in the Lacken Stakes at Naas.

"I’ve still got a share in him," says Marnane. "They broke the track record last time at Naas, a lot of very good horses have run there and we’re thrilled to even have a horse good enough to go for the Commonwealth Cup. 

"I’ve been second in it twice, with Sands Of Mali and Forever In Dreams; you never know, it might be our year."

Givemethebeatboys was a winner at Navan this springCredit: Patrick McCann

It was otherwise a time of profound grief for Marnane, whose wife Theresa had been diagnosed with cancer and died just before the end of last year. The Marble Hill Stakes was run in her memory and Givemethebeatboys still carries her banner. 

The family nature of Bansha House is now reflected by new two-year-old runners appearing in the name of Olivia and Amy, the latter being a vital lieutenant in sourcing the horses as well as a consignor herself, who was recently honoured with the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association's Next Generation Award. 

It perhaps makes Marnane even more proud of one of his most impressive equine graduates.

"He was a special horse and he’s proved it since," he says of Givemethebeatboys. "He's been third and fourth in a Group 1, won a Listed race this year and been second in a Group 2. You won’t get a better-looking horse and he’s a real trier."

The wet spring and prevailing poor weather has held up plenty of the Bansha squad, which are split between Harrington in County Kildare, Kevin Ryan in North Yorkshire and Florian Guyader in Chantilly. 

Marnane has quiet hopes for another Harrington-trained Bungle Inthejungle juvenile, Flash The Cash, who was a punchier €95,000 from Book 2 of Goffs Orby but was brought back from the Goffs UK Breeze-Up unsold.

"It was a disaster," he says. "When she was breezing, some people walked across the track. She just looked at them, avoided them and ran sideways. 

"She has a beautiful pedigree; I had her full-sister Funny Money Honey, who won a Listed race and was third in a Group 3. We couldn’t get her sold, she was in season the first day she ran at Cork and then really ran a lovely race when she was third at Navan. We think she’s very good and she’s going for the Queen Mary."

There were better results from the breeze-up circuit, including another interesting prospect set to be in action.

The Goffs London Sale has the most spectacular of settings

Marnane reflects: "We got on fine. It was a difficult year with the soft ground but we have a very good horse going for the Coventry on Tuesday. Columnist is a lovely Ardad colt with Richard Fahey [bought from Goffs UK by Blandford Bloodstock on behalf of Wathnan Racing for £170,000]. He won at Chester first time out and was very impressive. 

"So we’ve a very exciting week in store, there are about seven or eight we had here who are running."

All that remains is for this Royal Ascot stalwart, who was behind other smart names such as Fleeting Spirit, Prince Of Lir and Rio De La Plata, to finish his packing. 

"I don’t do too much of that," he says laughing. "All I need is a black hat and a white shirt and away I go." 

The tenth renewal of this sale, which is held in association with Privat 3 Money, gets under way at 5pm. 

It was given a remarkable boost on Sunday afternoon when Sparkling Plenty, one of the entries, won the Prix de Diane. Should owner-breeder Jean-Pierre Dubois confirm her for sale by showtime, the Kingman filly should easily reach seven figures.

"She’ll go back to Calas [trainer Patrice Cottier's base], she won’t be travelling over but we’ll see whether she still goes through the ring," Dubois replied when asked in the post-race press conference. "We’ll reflect on it tonight."

Sunday's Diane winner Sparkling Plenty still features in the catalogueCredit: Goffs

Dubois had offered Sparkling Plenty in the ring as a yearling but she was not sold at €600,000 at Arqana. The legend of the trotting world bred Stacelita, the 2009 winner and an aunt of Sparkling Plenty and last year sold a very close relative, last year's Prix du Moulin heroine Sauterne, for $4,200,000 at Fasig-Tipton.

Reminded of whether this would persuade him to keep this filly, he replied enigmatically: “That’s a thought…"

A catalogue of more than 20 contains breeding rights, Royal Ascot entries and an unraced Kingman filly out of supermare Laurens, who is expected to be on the site rather than sold in absentia like those individuals set to be running.

Among the other juveniles, the Adrian Keatley-trained Listed winner Francisco's Piece was a bit of a plunge horse in the betting for the Coventry last week, while Sumbe's three-year-old Territories gelding Lazzat has looked a star in the making, taking his unbeaten streak to five in this month's Group 3 Prix Paul de Moussac. 

Trainer Jerome Reynier suggested that the Golden Eagle in Sydney could be an end-of-year target, which would have pricked up the ears of the numerous Australian visitors that will be over for this week. 

For all that Wathnan Racing has tended to conduct most of its business privately, the big-spending Qatar entity could easily be open to adding to its squad from the horses on offer, while John Stewart, the Kentucky-based financier who has been making similarly lavish investments in racing worldwide, is also expected in Britain to see his runners at the meeting.

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