Into the spotlight

SUCH HAS BEEN THE pervasive influence of Peaky Blinders over culture and fashion in the last decade that mention of Isaac Shelby conjures up images of Irish actor Cillian Murphy as Thomas Shelby and wearing the gang’s distinctive peaked cap.

However, the equine version, the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains runner-up, is named not for the fictional outlaws but for the man who was the first, and fifth, governor of Kentucky.

Historical connections that are apt for the Newsells Park Stud sire whose first crop is set to sparkle in the sales ring this winter – the farm’s own history predates Kentucky’s statehood by 700 years and the stud farm was established on the estate a century ago by Sir Humphrey de Trafford, who bred Classic winners Parthia and Alcide, as well as Approval.

Isaac Shelby was bred by Elaine Chivers out of the Heliostatic mare Kentucky Belle, who surely inspired her son’s gubernatorial nomenclature. He won the Group 2 Superlative Stakes and Group 3 Greenham Stakes for trainer Brian Meehan and Sam Sangster’s Manton Thoroughbreds before his agonising defeat in the final seconds of the ParisLongchamp Classic in the colours of Wathnan Racing.

His sire Night Of Thunder was beginning to consolidate the early promise of his stallion career, one which has since scaled the heights and reached the peak with champion sire honours last year. It is a feat that the 2,000 Guineas and Lockinge Stakes victor looks more than capable of repeating over the next few years, emulating both his sire and broodmare sire.

Julian Dollar, general manager of Newsells Park Stud, was monitoring Isaac Shelby’s career from an early stage with a view to him joining the Hertfordshire farm’s roster of Nathaniel, A’Ali and Without Parole.

“When he won the Greenham and he was still owned by Sam Sangster, I expressed an interest in the horse,” explains Dollar.

“Then he changed hands and I rang up Olly Tait and that was in the early days of Wathnan’s existence.

“I thought Olly had bought him for Twin Hills [Tait’s farm in New South Wales] and I considered a reverse shuttle partnership with Newsells and Twin Hills, but Olly explained that he had bought Isaac for Wathnan.

“I was still very interested in doing something with the horse and we followed his career closely.

“When it became clear that Isaac Shelby was retiring I rang Richard and told him I still would really like to do something. Isaac is a son of Night Of Thunder, was very nearly a Classic winner and he was a very good Group winner at two so he had a lot of credentials that I liked.

“Physically he is a nice horse, and we were very pleased to get a plan together to stand him at Newsells with Wathnan.”

From the fourth crop of Night Of Thunder, Isaac Shelby made a juvenile winning debut at Newbury on the final day of May 2022. The colt was so highly regarded by Meehan that his second run came in the Superlative Stakes (G2) at Newmarket’s July meeting when he proved those expectations were well-founded with a smart success.

He reappeared at three in the aforementioned Greenham Stakes, a race that is also remembered for Chaldean unseating Frankie Dettori at the start, and was an impressive winner from Charyn before that agonising close defeat in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (G1) in which Marhaba Ya Sanafi’s stamina reserves held out just a bit longer than those of Isaac Shelby’s.

Fourth to Paddington in Royal Ascot’s St James’s Palace Stakes (G1), Isaac Shelby then added runner-up finishes in the Group 2 Lennox Stakes and Prix Daniel Wildenstein (G2) to the CV.

The latter ended up as the final run of his career – an injury sustained in the French race failed to respond to treatment. After every chance was given for the colt to resume his racing career, it was announced in November 2024 that he was to be retired to Newsells.

A striking chestnut with a handsome profile, one of the qualities which so impressed Dollar, after the colt’s break from racing and absence from the public eye, the stud manager was keen to quickly reacquaint breeders with Isaac Shelby in late 2024, a decision that he now reflects on a little ruefully.

Dollar states: “He is a great-looking horse and we were so keen that people would see him that we took him to Longholes [in Newmarket] that December [during the Tattersalls December Sale]

“He’d damaged his right-hind fetlock and that’s what stopped him training and ultimately was the reason for his retirement from racing.

“He was obviously okay when we took him to Newmarket, but I am kicking myself still because he didn’t show himself very well – he wasn’t walking as well as he might as he had missed a lot of exercise.

“I don’t think he showed himself as he could have and we didn’t get as much support in his first season as I had expected or would have liked and that wasn’t great,” says Dollar, still remonstrating with himself over that decision.

Now with the jolting start fully behind him, fully recovered and having successfully come through two covering seasons, Isaac Shelby is physically in his prime. He certainly turns the heads of those who have come to inspect the Newsells stallions and Dollar is proud to show him off to viewers.

“The horse has just come on physically since then and has let down into the most magnificent looking stallion, and he has a great walk.

“It is a very competitive world under that £10,000 price bracket [Isaac Shelby’s fee is £7,500]; it is not easy for any stallion but I think he stands out as he is such a good-looking horse, and of course is by Night Of Thunder.

“When you have a stallion in the cheaper end of the market, he must look perfect, just like a nice yearling really.”

Dollar adds: “If you’re an owner-breeder and you’re racing a horse to become a stallion, you know the individuals back to front. When you are buying them as a stallion prospect it is hard to know what their temperament is like and it is more of a punt; thankfully I’ve no worries on that score with Isaac.”

A great attitude is an attribute Dollar, who has been working at Newsells for 20 years, has come to appreciate and value increasingly. Luckily it is one with which Isaac Shelby has been blessed and possibly one inherited from his sire and grandsire.

“That’s the thing with Isaac Shelby,” he comments, “as well as coming so close to being a Classic winner, probably his biggest quality is his temperament.

“I am beginning to think that this must be the biggest quality for the Night Of Thunders in general. Everybody knows that Dubawi throws horses with a good temperament, and I haven’t seen any cracks in Night Of Thunder’s stock.

“Everyone I’ve come across, every yearling I’ve dealt with, has just the most exceptional temperament.”

And Dollar has experienced success with Night Of Thunder’s progeny both on the track and in the ring with Night Of Thunder’s progeny figuring among the millionaire yearlings that Newsells has sold at Tattersalls – a top price of 1,050,000gns at the October Book 1 Sale in 2025, one of eight yearlings and foals by the sire sold by the farm achieving an average price of 290,625gns.

This year’s Oaks winner Thundering On, whose broodmare sire is Night Of Thunder, was bred and raised on the farm for her owner-breeder Shapoor Mistry.

“I’ve worked with a fair few stallions over the years – at Cheveley Park, in America and at Newsells – but I have never worked with a stallion who has a temperament like this horse has.

“I think that could be one of the best qualities of his offspring because every breeder we have spoken to has said how lovely his stock has been to deal with and how easy they are to work with,” he adds.

That implacable and willing attitude is invaluable for those working with youngsters on the farms and is coveted by trainers. With feedback from breeders reporting Isaac Shelby’s first crop of foals to resemble the sire in that trait as in others, it bodes well for their future careers.

Dollar speaks with authoritative experience when he says: “It’s hard when you have a horse at a sale who doesn’t want to show very well, wants to misbehave or just won’t settle.

“It makes a horse very hard to sell so I am hoping that as his stock are so amenable, commercially it will really help Isaac Shelby.

“I hope that will also make them very trainable. I know from speaking to Brian Meehan what a joy Isaac was in training and I think that is critical to any stallion’s success. If you have a stallion who is producing progeny with great temperaments and who are easy to train, then that is going to make their lives as racehorses a hell of a lot easier.”

In all the other ways that stallions need their foals to excel, Isaac Shelby’s progeny have been hitting the mark in every category.

“The foals are cracking foals – good, strong and well-made with great walks,” Dollar says.

However, that has created something of a double-edged sword for Newsells and other breeders. Attractive foals warrant a place in the sales with breeders hoping that the buzz surrounding the impressive first crop will improve the balance sheets at home, so a significant proportion of Isaac Shelby’s foals have been catalogued for the Tattersalls December Foal Sale.

“It is a testament to the Isaac Shelby foals that so many of the breeders did want to bring them to the foal sale,” explains Dollar, adding: “It’s sort of bittersweet too, there are a lot of them coming to Tattersalls and in a way you don’t what a huge number of foals in one sale, as this business is all about supply and demand.”

Dollar understands that dilemma because it is one with which he, and the Newsells team, has grappled. The inclination is to wait until the yearling sales, but commercial imperatives cannot be ignored and positive foal sales offer a brilliant opportunity to showcase Isaac Shelby at a crucial point in his stud career.

There are three foals by Isaac Shelby due to be sold at the Goffs November Foal Sale, while Newsells is set to offer three of the 26 catalogued by him in the Tattersalls December Foal Sale.

“I want to show off nice Isaac Shelby foals and I always feel with a first-season sire that it is important to show they are nice babies.

It’s a tricky one because I’d like to keep them as yearlings, too, but we are offering some as foals to showcase his stock.”

The king of the roster

The Newsells kingpin Nathaniel, who added two new Group winners to his roll of honour this summer, has 16 foals listed in the Tattersalls December Foal Sale and six to be offered at Goffs.

From analysis of his recent covering books, the future is going to be even brighter for the 18-year-old whose record as a source of Classic winners is outstanding.

“All stallions have peaks and troughs in their career, but the crop of two-year-olds who are running for him now and showing promise are his first crop bred after Desert Crown won the Derby [2022],” says Dollar.

“I am expecting a good couple of years coming through with him. The numbers he has had and the quality of mares he’s received on the back of that Derby success are really encouraging.

“It’s almost like breeders have accepted that Nathaniel is a decent stallion, whom they can send a decent mare.

“For years it was almost like there was a debate over that. But, when you add up nine Group 1 winners, three Group 1 winners from a single crop, the winners of the English, Irish and French Oaks, a winner of the English Derby; not many stallions can produce that level of quality.

“It’s just nice that people have stopped questioning as to whether he is a good stallion or not.”

When Dollar speaks of the King George and Eclipse winner who has sired the indomitable Enable in addition to Desert Crown, Lady Bowthorpe, Channel and You Got To Me amongst others, the horseman comes to the fore. Dollar’s love for Nathaniel and for horses is clear.

“We are very lucky to have him at Newsells,” Dollar reflects. “I do this job as I just love horses. I have to say I am a farm sort of person, I love being on the farm and working with horses, seeing the babies develop, spending time with the horses. The sales are exciting, nerve-wracking and stressful but fundamentally I love horses and I am very fond of Nathaniel.

“I run the breeding shed and I am there for every cover. I have got to know him over the years and like when I had horses of my own, when I was competing [eventing], they become very much part of your soul. Nathaniel is a very important part of my life and the life of Newsells in general and long may he continue to live and thrive.”

The tribute continues: “He’s a special character, as a racehorse he gave everything he could every time and I think his stock are the same.

“That obviously comes through Galileo, they are such triers and that’s what made Galileo such an incredible stallion and a bit of Galileo has rubbed off on Nathaniel and his stock.

“I think you see that in Frankels and that’s Nathaniel as a personality, once he knows what you want him to do he will try his best and I love that.”

That Galileo heart is also evident in fellow Newsells sire Without Parole (Frankel), whose own strength of character and adaptability has evidently been transmitted to son Zavateri, judging by the three-year-old’s achievements and tough-running attitude seen on the racecourse over the past two seasons.

Those Galileo genes are also perhaps responsible, at least in part, for Isaac Shelby’s equanimity as the great sire features up close on both sides of the young stallion’s pedigree.

In addition to being Night Of Thunder’s damsire, Galileo is the sire of Isaac Shelby’s own damsire Heliostatic, who is a Group 3-winning older brother of the Irish Derby and Coronation Cup victor Soldier Of Fortune.

The pedigree does limit Isaac Shelby’s horizons to a degree.

“Isaac is inbred to Galileo and being by Dubawi it does reduce your options, but with Dubawi and Galileo flowing through him, two of the greatest stallions we’ve seen for a long time, that is no bad thing, is it?” Dollar remarks.

With those powerful bloodlines, Isaac Shelby certainly has the potential to be the first thought of when hearing the Shelby name in future rather than the fictional TV character.

Pinhooking success

THE LAST FEW HOURS of this year’s Tattersalls October Book 1 Sale produced a resounding sale ring success for a Nathaniel yearling and her pinhooking investors.

The filly, who had been bought as a foal by agent Larry Stratton for 70,000gns at the December Foal Sale on behalf of the group of four, was sold at the yearling sale for 290,000gns, bought by Stroud Coleman Bloodstock from Tom Whelan’s Church View Stud.

After the sale the enthusiastic pinhooking quartet could not restrain their emotions nor their admiration for the filly who had been in their ownership for ten months.

“I think she is one of the nicest fillies that I have seen,” said Stratton on behalf of the excited group.

“She is beautiful and so athletic. She looks as though she will be an August two-year-old. I am such a fan of Nathaniel, and particularly of his fillies.”

Whelan, a hardened Irish consignor and trainer, was in tears after the sale.

“This is the most I have got in the ring for one of my own,” he said. “She is lovely and has been all the way through, and if I had more money and did not need to sell, I would have loved to have trained her.”

In addition to Whelan, syndicate members included his son, the jockey Ronan, who rode Christmas Day to win this year’s Derby but who was watching the sale from hospital, Chloe Pitts, former marketing executive at Tattersalls and who right back in August was singing the praises of the filly when she was in France for the Arqana August Sale, and Niall Collins, a family friend of the Whelans.

The filly was bred by Simon and Mags Hope at their Aston Mullins Stud in Buckinghamshire, and she is out of the winning Dansili mare Dubrava.

The mare’s second foal by Too Darn Hot is called Note To Self and is a two-year-old winner this summer in Ace Stud ownership. Third dam is Tante Rose, winner of the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup and a daughter of the Cheveley Park Stakes (G1) runner-up My Branch.

There is also a full-brother who is heading to the December Foal Sale from Aston Mullins (Lot 719). The Hopes can be sure there will be one set of pinhookers who will be at their stable door to inspect the latest by Nathaniel out of their mare.