Bond Thoroughbreds fillies bought for €1m-plus at Arqana to be trained by Paddy Twomey

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This time Martin catches up with Charlie Bond following some notable buys at the Arqana August Sale  - subscribers can get more great insight from Martin every Monday to Friday.

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Bond Thoroughbreds spent more than €1 million on three beautifully bred fillies at the Arqana August Yearling Sale in Deauville over the weekend, as part of a concerted effort to restore the black and yellow silks of the late Reg Bond to their former glory.

The haul, signed for by Jason Kelly, comprised a Night Of Thunder filly closely related to Debutante Stakes winner Vespertilio who cost €500,000; a daughter of Siyouni and Listed runner-up Thrust Home who cost €340,000; and a daughter of Lope De Vega and Listed scorer Birch Grove from the immediate family of sprint star Shaquille who cost €240,000.

Bond, who parlayed £350 compensation for an industrial accident into a multi-million pound tyre wholesaling empire, was inextricably linked with the Yorkshire racing scene.

He owned Yapham Mill Stud in his home town of Pocklington and based his horses with trainers across the county – chiefly Bryan Smart, who sent out stakes winners Captain Gerrard, Misu Bond and Monsieur Bond for him, and the retained Geoff Oldroyd, who saddled Monsieur Bond’s daughter Ladies Are Forever to seven black-type successes.

Meanwhile it was David O’Meara, aided by Kelly as assistant trainer at the time, who gave Bond his finest hour in horse racing when Move In Time, a homebred son of Monsieur Bond he co-owned, landed the Prix de l’Abbaye in 2014.

But in a significant change of direction, the three fillies purchased in Deauville in the past week – who all happened to be consigned by Ecurie des Monceaux – will be trained by Paddy Twomey at his Athassel House Stables in Golden, County Tipperary.

“I’ve got a ten-year plan in place for Bond Thoroughbreds, which involves getting some really nice fillies together to get black type hopefully, before coming back to the stud to become broodmares,” says Bond's son Charlie. “To find those sorts of serious horses you really have to be looking in the top end of the market.

“We’ve already got the 140-acre stud at Yapham Mill and the right person in charge of it in Karen Daddy, who does a brilliant job, and now we want to make sure we’ve got the right mares there too.

“So I’ve been looking through the catalogues and earmarking some pages I like – I followed racing with my dad from a young age, and I’ve always loved pedigrees – and cross-referencing them with Jason’s ratings and statistics.

“We were keen to have horses with Paddy after all the success he’s had in the past few seasons, and he flew out to Deauville to see the yearlings for us and picked out the ones he liked from our list. So it was a team effort, really.”

The late owner-breeder Reg Bond's passion and interest is shared and honoured by son CharlieCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Bond says that the ten-year plan for Bond Thoroughbreds will see the Yapham Mill Stud broodmare band expand from its current level of eight mares to around 15, with an associated increase in quality.

The operation will also be more commercially focused, going down the road of selling the colts and racing the fillies it breeds.

“The board of directors within the tyre business are involved, and around three-quarters of them now stay behind after each meeting to discuss Bond Thoroughbreds,” he continues.

“They all take a keen interest and although they sometimes ask odd questions, as they’re still not that knowledgeable about racing, having that outside input and fresh perspective is really useful for running the stud more like a business.

“I think it’s the right time to do it, as I can see foreign investment continuing to come into the industry, especially from emerging racing nations in the Middle East like Saudi Arabia, and we want to be in a position to be able to take advantage of that.”

Picking the brains of Kelly, a renowned shrewdie who purchased the eventual £2.2m earner Lord Glitters as an unexposed four-year-old in training at the Arqana Summer Sale of 2017 for €270,000, is another part of the process.

“You’ve got to move with the times, and take advantage of all the stats and technology available and that’s what Jason brings,” says Bond. “He’s over all the racing results, pedigrees and percentages to find advantages, and hopefully he’ll take us to another level.

“For instance, in the past we used a lot of new sires, but Jason has encouraged us to go to proven ones now, as he’s demonstrated how important it is in developing black-type horses. It might cost more at the outset but hopefully we'll get it back and more when we sell.”

Bond Thoroughbreds has also been making some notable private purchases as part of the bid to improve its stock. The team seized the opportunity to buy blue-chip yearlings signed for on behalf of Saleh Al Homaizi last year but re-offered to market due to non-payment.

Go Big Or Go Home, a Lope De Vega half-sister to brilliant sprinter Battaash who initially cost 1,800,000gns at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, made her debut for Bryan Smart over the minimum trip at Beverley last Thursday and showed promise when staying on into fourth after a slow start.

Jason Kelly in action at ArqanaCredit: Zuzanna LUPA

“Bryan’s two-year-olds have been running pretty green on their first outings and improving big-time second time out, so in the circumstances we were pleased,” says Bond.

“She’s got a lot of ability, and she had a nice introduction on a track local to Bryan. She’ll be out again soon, over six furlongs I expect, as Jason Hart couldn’t pull her up last week. I think she went all the way round to the seven-furlong start with him.

“She’s just the sort of filly with a top pedigree and a bit of speed, with the ability to get black type, that we’re trying to get.”

Bond Thoroughbreds also dipped into the unpaid Al Homaizi horses for Lady Nunthorpe, a Mehmas half-sister to Norfolk Stakes second Walbank who originally cost 450,000gns, and colts Air Force One (a son of Starspangledbanner first ‘sold’ for 600,000gns), and Bondy (a son of Kingman and Best Terms who had made 450,000gns).

A more inexpensively sourced Bond Thoroughbreds two-year-old filly could get black type and book her place in the upgraded broodmare band sooner, though.

Boardroom, a Showcasing full-sister to the operation’s Norfolk Stakes third Project Dante who was bought by Kelly for 70,000gns from the Tattersalls December Foal Sale, ran second to subsequent Deauville Listed winner Graceful Thunder on debut at Beverley last month and comfortably broke her maiden at Thirsk three weeks ago. She is set to run next for Oldroyd in the Listed Julia Groves Roses Stakes at York on Saturday.

“She’s shown a lot of ability from day one and just ran into a good one on her first start before winning on ground she doesn’t really like,” says Bond. 

“Geoff thinks five furlongs on better ground will be perfect for her, though I personally think she needs six going by the way she hits the line, and we were going to supplement her for the Lowther. But at the end of the day he’s done a fantastic job with her and wanted to stick to five, and I'm happy with that.

“She’s from a really strong sprinting family, and her dam has bred four winners from four runners now, two of them with black type, so hopefully she’ll get her own black type now.”

The gleaming new filly purchases should eventually retire to Yapham Mill Stud, where they will join mares from some cherished families developed by Reg Bond, who passed away in March 2021.

A pedigree that is particularly dear to his son’s heart is the one that stems from foundation mare Forever Bond, a Danetime half-sister to smart sprinter Ratio who was bought as a yearling for just 15,500gns and never made it to the track, but bred eight winners headed by Haydock Sprint Cup third Hoof It and the prolific Ladies Are Forever, both by Monsieur Bond.

“Keeping the breeding going is 100 per cent a tribute to Dad, and so maintaining the Forever Bond line is important to me,” says Bond. “She was one hell of a mare, and passed on a lot of class and toughness to her progeny. She was even named the Racing Post’s broodmare of the year once, which was unbelievable when you think of all the mares in top operations she was up against.

The filly by Night Of Thunder purchased last week by KellyCredit: Zuzanna LUPA

"Ladies Are Forever had her first winner this year, Doctor Khan Junior, but she had a few Muhaarar foals in a row early in her stud career, and they’ve taken a bit of time and are only starting to come forward now.

“She’s got a lovely Blue Point two-year-old colt called Pocklington who’s with Geoff and could be out next month. He’s shown good ability at home and has been running well with Boardroom. The dam is in foal to Night Of Thunder now. She’s had a slow start but we expect her to get a lot more winners before long.

“We’ve also got a lovely full-sister to Ladies Are Forever called Airwaves, who won her first two races. She has an amazing Mehmas yearling colt who’ll go into training with Geoff. He’s really strong, and a bit like his grandad Monsieur Bond: chestnut with a big white face."

If the cheaply bought Forever Bond can do what she did with mostly inexpensive matings, there ought to be a blue hen or two among Bond Thoroughbreds’ pricier recent purchases.

The omens are good for the ten-year plan coming to fruition.

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Pedigree pick

No fewer than three of the Aga Khan’s homebreds contest the seven-furlong fillies’ maiden at Leopardstown on Thursday (4.35).

The pick of the trio on paper is the Dermot Weld-trained Ezeliya, a daughter of Dubawi and Blandford Stakes winner and Irish Oaks third Eziyra, a Teofilo half-sister to Cork Listed scorer Eshera.

Eziyra is in turn out of Eytarna, a Listed-placed Dubai Destination half-sister to four Group 1 winners – Ebadiyla (Irish Oaks and Prix Royal Oak); Edabiya (Moyglare Stud Stakes); Enzeli (Gold Cup); and Estimate (also Gold Cup). This is the family of Taghrooda, to boot.

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