Norris Bloodstock

Well, I have to admit, 2016 has been quite a whirlwind and that’s before we even start to think about Brexit and Donald Trump. In our own small corner of the world, we rushed home from last year’s December Sales to start packing up our home at Clairemont Stud to move on to pastures new. Those pastures at Granham Farm have given us the most wonderful start to our new business and Jenny and I couldn’t be happier with our first year consigning under our own banner as Norris Bloo

We're getting to that nail-biting time now when our yearlings are all looking in fabulous shape for their date at Tattersalls in around a fortnight's time and we just have to keep them ticking over, hoping and praying that there are no dramas with any of them at this late stage. While Jenny and her team carried on with the yearling work at the farm last week I travelled down to Bordeaux with William on the hunt for some yearlings at the Osarus Sale at La Teste de Buch. We w

At Book 1 of the 2013 Tattersalls October Sale we sold four yearlings that we’d pinhooked as foals. The first job of a pinhooker is to sell well and we were delighted with the results when the quartet we’d bought as foals for 330,000gns sold for a total of 700,000gns. Of course sales results are important for anyone in the bloodstock industry to stay in business but where it really matters is on the racecourse, so ultimately my job isn’t just about making profit for the pe

We’ve enjoyed some good results on the track this week thanks to one of last season’s yearling sales graduates and also one of our homebreds. On Saturday, two-year-old Shalaa (pictured below, red cap) made his second start at Newmarket for John Gosden and was the impressive winner of the six-furlong EBF Maiden under Frankie Dettori. Bred by Aisling Kinane and Mark Gittins, the son of Invincible Spirit was offered for sale as a foal at Tattersalls, where William and I bought h

We’ve had a hectic spell of late, both here on the farm and travelling around to the breeze-up sales. The warmer weather followed by a good drop of rain has been welcome but of course it means the grass is now growing faster than I can cut it, so plenty of hours are being spent on the mower. With all our foals now safely delivered there have been trips back and forth to Newmarket, to Juddmonte’s Banstead Manor Stud and Darley’s Dalham Hall Stud, to get the mares back in fo

It doesn’t seem long since we were in Deauville for the Arqana December Sale and we’ll soon be back on the sales beat. I’ll be off to Newmarket next week to see the stallion parade and attend the Tattersalls February Sale before William and I both head back to France for Arqana’s February Sale. Both catalogues contain a number of weanlings or ‘short’ yearlings, so anyone who is still interested in pinhooking for the autumn yearling sales – or indeed looking to find a filly ou

It’s hard to believe that we’ve come full circle and it’s time to start assessing this year’s foal crop. I’m heading off to Goffs next week where I bought a lovely filly by Dream Ahead last year who was subsequently bought at the recent Tattersalls October Sale by David Elsworth. Obviously I’m interested to see the six Frankel foals in the catalogue – who wouldn’t be? – but there are some other really interesting first-crop sires with foals this year, including the likes of S

Before I write anything else, I must first thank Jenny and her wonderful team of Rachael, Andrea, Katy, Mel, and Anne for the excellent work they did in preparing and presenting the Clairemont Stud draft for Books 1 and 2 of the October Yearling Sale at Tattersalls. After all the long months of sales prep, the last few days at the sales showing the horses before they head to the sales ring are really important. Our team worked really hard through long days and I think enhance

As ever, the sales season is a busy time of the year. I had an enjoyable day with Richard Kent at Mickley Stud this week, viewing the farm’s mares and young stock and also seeing their new stallion, Yorgunnebelucky, for the first time. It was good to see the stud’s stalwart Multiplex, too. Jenny and I are selling a strong filly by him out of our mare Nut in Book 3 of the Tattersalls October Sale (Lot 1613), whose full-sister Captain Caroline won last year. As you can see from

It’s been fantastic to see the yearling sales season start with such a bang in Deauville and we were delighted to sell our Zamindar colt well on the opening night of Arqana’s August Sale. He travelled across well, behaved beautifully through the viewing days and was eventually bought for €200,000 by Bertand Le Metayer on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Thani. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’ve always thought the colt was something special so we’ll look forward