'My dad gets such a kick out of it' - giantkiller Senecia a family thrill for Calluna House Stud

Senecia's downing of a few Willie Mullins A-listers over the weekend was a true family affair for Sarah Halley, given her brother trains the equine version of David and her father owns him. 

The son of Ask was sent off an unconsidered 50-1 chance against 2023 Arkle winner El Fabiolo, fellow Grade 1 winner Gentleman De Mee, Irish Gold Cup runner-up Grangeclare West and Gordon Ellliott's equally decorated Fil Dor in the Grade 2 Webster Cup at Navan. 

However, the rank outsider bought for a very reasonable sum showed plenty of grit to hold off the odds-on El Fabiolo to land his biggest win for Vincent and Laurence Halley. 

As Sarah Halley and partner Jamie Steele's son, seven-year-old Harry, said: "Dreams do come true."

Alongside Steele, Halley runs Calluna House Stud in County Waterford as part of a family venture with plenty of experience in both the bloodstock and showjumping worlds. 

They bought Senecia, who was bred by Aidan McGoldrick and offered by Sheridan House Stables, at the 2017 Tattersalls Ireland November National Hunt Sale for €16,500.

The couple reoffered the now eight-year-old for Halley's father as a store at the 2020 Tattersalls Ireland May Sale, held that year in August due to the Covid-19 pandemic, where he went unsold for €12,000. That twist in the tale worked out well for all concerned, although it probably didn't feel like that at the time. 

Halley says: "Saturday at Navan was incredible, especially as we've had the horse for so long. Plan A has always been to buy horses as foals and then sell as stores, but it just so happened that in the year Senecia was in the frame to be sold, Covid arrived and the sales were tricky. 

"We put a value on him and just decided to take him home. We always liked the horse.

Sarah Halley (centre) with her parents Lar and Pam at Tattersalls IrelandCredit: Tattersalls Ireland

"I suppose people may have knocked the sire, but those Presenting dams are incredible. We sent him down to Paul Power to break and then my brother Vinnie took over. My dad gets such a kick out of it, it really is brilliant."

Senecia is out of winning chaser and hurdler Fennis Moll, a sister or half-sister to a number of winners, and has improved the page no end with his Grade 2 victory. 

He had been pulled up on his previous start in the Grade 1 Dublin Chase, but there have been other bits and pieces of decent form in his record, including a close third – at 200-1– behind Found A Fifty and Solness in the Grade 2 Fortria Chase, also at Navan at November.

Halley thinks back to the day she first saw him and what the team liked.

She says: "He was a very correct and athletic horse, he was a big foal and is a big horse now at around 17 hands. 

"I remember putting the breaking tack on him and for about a month he fought it, there was just a bit of toughness there. He's still an incredibly kind horse, though, and has always had a very nice outlook."

Calluna House Stud started buying its own stock in 2015. It might not have the numbers of bigger operations, but it certainly appears to punch above its weight. 

Other notable horses to have passed through its hands include Venetia Williams' recent dual winner Camulus, four-time winner and US Grade 1 hurdles runner-up Pistol Whipped, and The Folkes Tiara, a Listed-winning chaser for Henry de Bromhead this season. 

The Folkes Tiara (centre): a notable graduate of Calluna House Stud Credit: Patrick McCann

"We're small and have generally bought six foals at the sales each year, but lately we have bought fewer and tried to build up a broodmare band," says Halley.

"We've got six broodmares now and sold eight stores last year. We had a nice son of Harzand [Hitintheheadlines] who Denis Murphy bought, and he won his point-to-point at Tallow [last month].

"It's great to see the four-year-olds that you sold last year come out and win."

For all their successes buying as foals and then selling as stores, the team are trying to build up their homebred squad.

Halley says: "We've got two by Vadamos, including one who is 16.3 hands already out of Henry's Girl. We sold his Mahler half-brother [Tokyo Tom] and he was second in a Tattersalls four-year-old point for Cormac Doyle. He's now with Toby Lawes and seems to be really promising.

"We're rebuilding again as it's so competitive at the foal sales. You've got 25 grand in your head to buy a colt, yet there are ten or 12 other people after him. You bring that 25 grand colt home and then you need to add 15 grand as a three-year-old for what you put into them, it's that tight. 

"Everyone knows there's a lot of French dominance at the sales. We're trying to compete with that but we're trying to keep it Irish and hope the cycle comes around!"

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