Quartet Of Blackbeard Foals Fetch Six-Figure Sums

Blackbeard’s first foals made a fine impression at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale, where they sold for up to 300,000gns and produced an average price of 115,900gns, having been bred from a debut fee of €25,000.

Liam Norris purchased the first crop sire’s most expensive foal, going to 300,000gns for a filly from Awbeg Stud. Half-sister to this season’s multiple Group-placed juvenile Barnavara (Calyx).

“She is a beautiful filly,” Norris said. “She is out of a nice young mare, and has bred two who are rated 104 and 95, with one in Hong Kong. It is a nice family and there is a bit happening, so you can't really go too wrong.”

Awbeg Stud’s Paddy Fleming added: “Blackbeard seems to be on fire today. The mare has come from nothing and has done so well to produce what she has. The filly was sold for a client.”

Later in the session, Harry Sweeney’s Paca Paca Farm bought a Blackbeard colt from Castletown Stud for 190,000gns. It matched the price paid by Glenvale Stud for another son of Blackbeard, this one offered by Fittocks Stud

“He is a lovely horse, a beautifully balanced horse with lovely action,” Ciaran ‘Flash’ Conroy commented after outbidding David O’Callaghan. “His half-brother has been very good, and this foal is quite similar and has a similar hind leg. The Blackbeards seem to be nice types.”

Nine lots later, Castlehyde Stud secured a Brook Stud’s Blackbeard colt for 155,000gns. The bay was bred by Joyce Wallsgrove, who later explained her decision to choose Blackbeard.

“I said to Dwayne that I am going to bite the bullet and send her to Ireland. I work for Newmarket Racecourses and I had seen him there [winning the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes, 2022]. I really liked him then and he stuck in my mind.”