'It’ll be a lovely way to remember him' - Whytemount's presence continues with Derby Sale draft

"There’s that lovely thing – a society grows great when old men plant trees the shade of which they know they will never sit in"

That is the most memorable of the profundities Anne shares with Tony during their chats on a graveyard bench in the poignant comedy-drama After Life, the two having bonded in grief over the deaths of their spouses.

This year’s Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale, which begins on Wednesday at 10am, will be the first to take place without Whytemount Stud’s Ronnie O’Neill, who died last October, but the Kilkenny man’s influence is writ large throughout the catalogue.

Not least in the homebred Affinisea geldings that Whytemount Stud consigns on the opening day of the sale, a new approach instigated by O’Neill three years ago but one he sadly did not live long enough to see tested and proven.

Whytemount was all about family and above all, a family farm. Ronnie and his wife Linda, their sons John and Paul, daughters Charmaine, Debbie, Rachel and Lorraine, were all vital to the success of the enterprise. The operation in Kells, County Kilkenny, is in the safe hands of Linda, Debbie and John, who explains why they are among the vendors this week.

He says: “We normally sell as many as we can as foals but my father started keeping two of the best foals to sell as stores and these are the first two that he picked; they were the best foals we had on the farm. Hopefully it pays off; it’ll be a lovely way to remember him.”

His late father certainly knew the trees to plant to provide future shade. The first Whytemount horse on offer (lot 14) benefited from the ultimate pedigree update this year when his half-brother Lecky Watson triumphed in the Grade 1 Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. Trained by Willie Mullins for the Byrne family, the son of former Whytemount sire Valirann was a homebred for the O’Neills just like the Supreme Novices’ and Champion Bumper hero Champagne Fever. This one cut different.

The Affinisea out of Cyclone Lorraine shows himself offCredit: PAT HEALY

“It was a great day,” O’Neill says of that March afternoon. “We thought going there that he had a great chance because he had taken very well to fences and the step up to three miles was a massive help to him. We were all delighted and it was great for the place as we have his mother and three sisters here and it’s a massive boost to his half-brother going to the sale.”

Not that there are any physical resemblances between the two. He exclaims: “They are polar opposites! Lecky Watson is a flashy chestnut and this lad is the stamp of Affinisea – he’s a big black horse, jet black with no markings. You couldn’t get two horses to look more different to each other.

“We struggled to sell Lecky Watson as a foal because he was a flashy chestnut but we always liked him, he’s an imposing horse. He is 16.2h, a gorgeous horse and I think he will ring a few bells.”

A gorgeous horse with the pedigree to match. Not only is he a half-brother to a Cheltenham hero, he is from the family of one of the most famous National Hunt mares of this century.The gelding’s second dam Anno Mundi is a Red Ransom half-sister to Annie Power, whose five Grade 1 victories include the Champion Hurdle and the Aintree Hurdle.

She is the dam of two winners from her first two runners, headed by Mystical Power, successful in the 2024 Grade 1 Punchestown Champion Novice Hurdle and Top Novices’ Hurdle for Mullins.

Ronnie O’Neill bought Anno Mundi for just €9,500 as a four-year-old and she bred the Grade 2 winner Giantofaman and the Grade 2-placed Stowaway Shark in addition to Anno Whyte. She died while foaling the latter.

The Stowaway filly, a full-sister to the black-type pair, was bottle fed and the only one of Anno Mundi’s four foals who didn’t win. Stowaway is Affinisea’s predecessor at Whytemount and was developed by Ronnie O’Neill from an overlooked Dubai Sheema Classic and Great Voltigeur winner into champion National Hunt sire and the busiest stallion in Europe.

Lecky Watson: Cheltenham winner is a recent Whytemount starCredit: Edward Whitaker

Although the son of Slip Anchor died a decade ago, his influence is felt strongly in the sale catalogue and at Cheltenham.

“Stowaway had three winners in Cheltenham this year as a broodmare sire – Lecky Watson, Bambino Fever and Air Of Entitlement – and both of our horses at Fairyhouse this week are out of Stowaway mares," O'Neill says. "Stowaway's stock have a great affinity with Cheltenham; they perform so well there. He was leading sire there twice and his mares are passing on that liking for Cheltenham.”

Their other Stowaway mare with a son in the sale (88) is from a family that is Whytemount and O’Neill through and through. Cyclone Lorraine is a full-sister to Hidden Cyclone, who was trained by John’s brother-in-law Shark Hanlon to win 17 races, with six of those victories in Graded contests. 

Hidden Cyclone was also placed eight times at the highest level including in Cheltenham’s Ryanair Chase and while Affinisea and Stowaway are the marquee names in his breeding, it is the unheralded Shanhanndeh and Coolcanute who are the most meaningful names on the page.

“His fourth dam is the very first broodmare my father bought and Shanhanndeh is the first proper stallion we had here so in him you have the three stallion lines as well. It’s a fair testament to my father; the longevity of the pedigrees, the success of the stallions and to have two nice horses going to the sales,” the Whytemount patrician's quietly proud son adds.

“He is a solid, bay horse and a great mover with lots of size to him. They are two of the nicest horses we’ve ever had going to the store sales; they are typical Derby Sale horses.”

At the recent Arkle Sale, Ballyreddin and Busherstown sold the top-priced Affinisea gelding who is very closely related to lot 88 and was bred by the O’Neills and sold at Tattersalls Ireland’s November National Hunt Sale for €40,000 to Joey Logan. The gelding, bought for €82,000 by Jonjo and AJ O'Neill's stable, is out of Hurricane Linda who is an unraced full-sister to Cyclone Lorraine.

Studying the catalogue for the Derby Sale, O’Neill’s influence is quickly apparent. There may be only two Whytemount lots among the 449 horses catalogued for Part One but Affinisea is listed as the sire of 20, while Stowaway features strongly as a broodmare sire, with many of his daughters from families developed by Ronnie O’Neill.

“We were delighted with how they went at Goffs. Any that we sold as foals came back and made two or three times the price so that’s important. Anyone who bought off us was well rewarded," John O'Neill laughs.

"Affinisea has been very busy. I don’t think there will too many busier than him this year. He won’t break his 2022 record of 382 but he has covered more than 300 mares. He thrives on the job; the more mares he gets, the better he gets.”

Stowaway and Affinisea have, at different points, been the busiest sires in Europe and both rose from obscurity, possessing a quality that Ronnie O’Neill perceived which others didn’t. His family miss him but life looks back for nobody. Trees won’t thrive without care and attention.

“It’s very tough,” John says softly, "but you have to keep things going. The foal sales were only three or four weeks after he died and we had foals to prepare and sell, but people were so lovely and kept coming up to me with their condolences at the sales.

"This is our first store sale without him and it’s going to be hard, we’ll do our best to keep his legacy going.”

Whytemount is not about one horse or one person and this is an industry which attempts to defy the laws of physics by existing in the present and the future. It’s one way of saying that Affinisea is not alone at Whytemount. He is just one of three sons of Sea The Stars who reside at the Kilkenny farm with Amo Racing’s Derby, Ascot Gold Cup and St Leger runner-up Mojo Star the youngest addition to the line-up.

Whytemount Stud remains a thorough family affair for the O'NeillsCredit: PAT HEALY

“Mojo Star is getting very good foals and we are delighted with him,” O’Neill says of the seven-year-old’s first crop. “We supported him ourselves last year and this year too, and Amo supported him as well. We are looking forward to presenting his foals for sale later this year. I think he’s one who is going to be very popular."

Behesht, an Aga Khan-bred who Ronnie was determined to repatriate from American, completes the trio.

"They stamp all their stock – they get big, good-looking individuals and they tick all the boxes for National Hunt sires. We sold some great foals by Behesht last year who went to really good homes which is so important for a stallion,” he adds. “You have to keep the whole thing going; you can’t rest for a minute. You have to keep looking to the future the whole time.”

Ronnie O’Neill planted trees in whose shade he can no longer sit but his family and National Hunt breeding will do so for years to come. That is a lovely thing.

Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale Part One Factfile

Where Tattersalls Ireland Sale Complex, Ratoath

When Tuesday and Wednesday at 10am

Last year’s stats From 371 lots offered, 292 sold (79 per cent clearance rate) for turnover of €13,969,500 (down 13 per cent year-on-year), an average of €47,841 (down 11 per cent) and a median of €38,000 (down 12 per cent).

Notable graduates Brighterdaysahead (sold by Lakefield Farm, bought by Gordon Elliott Racing for €310,000), Kopek Des Bordes (sold by Sluggara Farm, bought by H Kirk/ W PMullins for €130,000), Final Demand (sold by Castletown Quarry Stud, bought by Ballycrystal Stables / Joey Logan for €230,000), Lecky Watson (sold by Glen Stables, bought by H Kirk /W P Mullins for €60,000), Honesty Policy (sold by Glenwood Stud, bought by Suirview Stables for €35,000).

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