Happy Coincidence for Lacy With Keeneland Connection

Tony Lacy will likely be mixing enterprise with pleasure and delight by his duties on the Aug. 6 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes (G1) on the Curragh.

The Irish expatriate labored his means up by the American bloodstock business and final 12 months was appointed the vp of gross sales at Keeneland.

He would have returned house in any occasion for ceremonial and networking duties however has even higher impetus as one of many six declared runners, Persian Power , was bred by his household.

Lacy’s father Tom and brother Barry produced the Mehmas  colt from their Ballyheashill Stud in County Offaly. The second foal out of the unraced Lope de Vega  mare Vida Amorosa was purchased by Tally-Ho Stud for €75,000 ($92,026) as a foal from the Goffs November Foal Sale and pinhooked onwards for €225,000 ($262,878) to Peter and Ross Doyle on the Orby.

There was an instantaneous return from Persian Power as he appeared within the Brocklesby Stakes at Doncaster, streaking virtually 5 lengths clear. Second for Richard Hannon and Amo Racing to Bradsell  within the Coventry Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot, he’ll take that rival on once more contemporary from a easy victory within the Shut Brothers July Stakes (G2) at Newmarket.

“Having a reference to a runner in a bunch 1 is at all times thrilling, however having this double-tiered connection is very thrilling this 12 months,” stated Lacy.

“I am very privileged to have the ability to do that and excited for my brother and father to be cheering on a horse that has been very progressive this 12 months. My father is 86 and that is sensible for him.

“Richard Hannon has been very excited concerning the horse’s prospects from a really early stage and, this time final 12 months after I got here house, I truly noticed Persian Power at Tally-Ho when he was being prepped for the yearling gross sales.”

The second is kind of a notable one for the entire household, as Lacy defined.

“Our first connection got here after we gained the Keeneland Phoenix Dash Stakes again in 1988,” he stated. “It was a fillies’ dash again then however my father educated a filly referred to as Ingabelle, who was the granddam of Chriselliam, who gained the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) for (co-owner) Willie Carson.

“I believe that was Keeneland’s first or second 12 months to try this, again on the outdated Phoenix Park. It has been a protracted relationship and the European market is extraordinarily vital to Keeneland, so (sponsorship) is a means of giving again. Shannon Arvin (Keeneland president and CEO) was at Ascot for the race we sponsored lately; she had a wonderful time and we will be entertaining a big group of individuals there.

“So it is all interconnecting for me. Actually being a head of gross sales is a big privilege, and now to have a connection in a a lot completely different means, with a 2-year-old that is operating in a bunch 1, that we’ve got bred and has an excellent likelihood in it, may be very thrilling.”

Lacy was planning to slot in one other temporary go to to Tally-Ho to take a look on the subsequent yearling from Vida Amorosa, an Inns of Court docket  colt who was purchased by the O’Callaghan household at €80,000 ($90,939) and can also be penciled in for the Orby. Her first foal, Persian Power’s full brother Gubbass , gained final 12 months’s Weatherbys Tremendous Dash for the Hannon secure and completed third within the Unibet Richmond Stakes (G2).

“Since my father retired from coaching he is been specializing in breeding with a small variety of mares with my brother,” he stated. “It is at all times robust to breed a high-class horse on any stage however it’s definitely thrilling with a younger mare like this, with two foals and two black sort.

“Tally-Ho have been supportive from the get-go, they purchased Gubbass, after which as a result of they felt good about what occurred there, they got here again and had been adamant they wished to purchase her third foal, and he is seemingly a really good colt as properly.

“My household have additionally been supportive of the Tally-Ho stallions over time and so they’ve purchased our foals. We’re associates however it’s been an excellent enterprise and private relationship for a few years.”

As quickly as duties on the Curragh are over, Lacy should return to Kentucky as there are just a few weeks earlier than the primary lot goes underneath the hammer on the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, the primary of a frantic spell of auctions.

“We have been engaged on the September Sale from, truthfully, February or March with planning, inspections as soon as the entry course of is completed, then placement, e-book creation,” he says. “Now we’re actually within the operational side of it for the subsequent few weeks, ensuring every thing is tied down.

“Without journey restrictions, it is roughly enterprise as regular; final 12 months it was very sophisticated for worldwide vacationers and it made it very irritating.

“We have had very optimistic suggestions from a number of worldwide patrons who wish to come, each for September and the November Breeding Inventory Sale, and we’re very a lot within the planning levels for that as properly, gathering up all the ultimate entries.

“That is held instantly after the Breeders’ Cup, additionally at Keeneland, so it is a very busy 12 months for us. We projected we’ll have roughly 11,000 horses rotate by the grounds over about two and a half months between September, October, and November. The logistics are fairly unbelievable however we have a tremendous staff.

“Time definitely flies, so fortunately this was a pleasant little alternative to get house for a protracted weekend and meet up with everyone right here.”