Austin Curran may work full time at the head of his building material supplies firm Topline Currans, but he is clearly a dab hand at breeding classy racehorses too.
Having picked up Shadwell cast-off Naseej nearing six years ago, he can now count himself as the breeder of two black-type winners from the mare, including recent Italian Derby hero Goldenas, a son of the in-form Golden Horn.
On his background with horses, he said: “I’ve been breeding for over 20 years and started off with a filly I had in training who had won a few races when she was trained by Aidan O’Brien. I started from there; at the most I’d have five or six mares at one time.”
There is a theme of quality over quantity for Curran as among Blackberry Road Stud’s broodmare band in County Waterford are relations to black-type winners and dams of useful performers.
He said: “I have Rockrunner, she’s a half-sister to a Hong Kong Group 3 winner, and has a nice Inns Of Court foal, as well as Jayla, who’s the dam of last year’s Queen Mary Stakes eighth Carmela.
“I also bought a filly out of Godolphin’s consignment to last year’s Tattersalls December Mares Sale, she’s a daughter of Night Of Thunder called Labiba and she’s now in foal to Persian Force.”
If the purchase of Labiba follows along the same successful lines as Goldenas’s dam Naseej, then Curran will have plenty more moments to enjoy in the future.
The unraced Naseej – a daughter of Medaglia D’Oro out of a Monsun full-sister to Group 1 winners Schiaparelli, Samum, Salve Regina and the dam of German Derby hero Sea The Moon – was a shrewd bit of business when selling to Emerald Bloodstock for 18,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale.
“I bought the mother of Goldenas at the December Sales in 2017, she was part of the Shadwell draft and had a nice page,” said Curran. “She was a bit light on top but was by Medaglia D’Oro, which was something that attracted me to her.”
Still only nine, Naseej has produced two black-type winners from as many foals and runners. Her first is Awtaad filly Prichi, a close relation to Goldenas who was picked up by Razza Latina and Fabrizio Cameli for £18,000 at the Goffs Sportsman’s Sale in 2020. She landed the Premio Criterium Femminile at two and was also second in the Premio Nogara at three last year.
Curran said: “The people who bought Goldenas had bought the first foal out of her, which was Prichi, who was a Listed winner at two. Goldenas was probably a bit backward as a yearling, and Golden Horn wasn’t hitting the heights at the time, so they weren’t really interested in having him at any of the sales.
“He was a foal share with Darley and we sold him at the Goffs Autumn Sale – the same people bought him.”
Naseej has, meanwhile, headed for pastures new, namely Germany, although her story has chapters left to come, with a yearling filly by Mehmas and a covering by Coolmore’s No Nay Never.
Curran added: “The day after Prichi won her Listed race I was up at the Goffs November Foal Sale and got a call asking if the mare was for sale. That was the first time that selling her had entered my head.
“I hadn’t thought about it before that. It was Tina Rau who called and she said she had a German client for the mare. I kind of put her off a bit but she came back to me later on in the week and we agreed a price before she came over to see her.
“She was in foal at the time to Mehmas, her first two foals were Prichi and Goldenas before she missed a year. She then produced a filly by Mehmas and they covered her by No Nay Never before she was exported to Germany.”
Read more
‘We had help from above the ring as well’ – high emotion as Blue Bresil filly sets British record at £210,000
‘We always look to what he would have done’ – Khalid Abdullah’s legacy lives on with Juddmonte’s sensational run