‘When at school, I was quick – I was the winger in hockey or be it whatever sport,’ chuckles Ed Harper, Director of the hugely successful breeding enterprise at Whitsbury Stud. ‘I was always given the ball and told to run, which is ironic because I now try to breed sprinters.’
A childhood penchant for fast running has evolved into a career of breeding speedy racehorses, bringing Ed back into the folds of the family business. His parents ran this for forty years, building up all three elements, including the aforementioned commercial breeding and thoroughbred stud of Whitsbury Manor Stud. The racing stables, that is leased to Marcus Tregoning, is a yard that steeped in a rich racing history. Previous tenants include David Elsworth, who was based there for thirty years when he trained the 1989 Cheltenham Gold Cup victor Desert Orchid, Persian Punch, In The Groove, Barnbrook Again and the 1998 Aintree Grand National winner Rhyme ‘N’ Reason. Whilst training there, Ralph Beckett sent out the 2008 Oaks winner Look Here. ‘Lots of famous and amazing horses have been trained up those gallops,’ explains Ed.
The third part is an arable farm, which is as commercially run as the stud with ‘lots of straight lines and people doing their job’. Ed, 40, was born and bred at Whitsbury: ‘I was quickly shoved off to boarding school for cheap childcare as Dad was too busy to have young children around.’
Ed loves running the stud situated in the picturesque rolling New Forest hills, ensuring its future is a secure one.
Did you have a horsey childhood? I could have had a very horsey childhood but I rebelled against it. We hosted mini Pony Club camp but the more screaming Pony Club mothers I witnessed, the more I wanted to disappear from it. So, I actually didn't ride from the age of ten.
How did you get into studwork? I studied property at Reading University and was a chartered surveyor. I worked for Savills for three years and got qualified with my ACP.
I then realised that that wasn't what I wanted to do. I went to do the six months National Stud diploma course in Newmarket to learn the hands-on side of the horse business. I knew a lot about the running of the business because I spoke to my father regularly. I grew up hearing every conversation around the dinner table about it but I hadn't any experience with horses because I had run away from them from a young age.
The National Stud diploma was great because it started us from zero. At twenty-five, I was one of the older people on the course, and meant I learnt the basics without any shortcuts. I left Newmarket and, for a season, I got a job at a stud called The Oaks in the Waikato region on the North Island of New Zealand. I learned even more there.
Who is your racing hero? My godfather was Liam Ward, who sadly died last year. He rode Nijinsky to win the Irish Derby. That was pretty cool to have my godfather to be a Derby-winning jockey.
Which stallion, past or present, would you most like to stand at your stud? We've already stood him. Compton Place was a stallion that kept our business afloat for ten to fifteen years that, without him, we would have gone out of business many times over. He was a hero and kept us alive during the late 90s and early 2000s – I'd love to have him back now reincarnated so I could make even more use of him.
What are the best offspring you bred so far? Chaldean – this year's 2000 Guineas winner. To breed a 2000 Guineas winner is in the stratosphere of legends. That his sire is Frankel and added to the other Juddmonte/Dewhurst winners, he's up there with the racing gods.
Who influenced you in the breeding industry? I'm one of the few people who came into the breeding industry having done something completely different. Most people, especially from England and Ireland, have always been in it, therefore I felt like a bit of an outsider. So, I came at it from a different view – or that I can see things differently. Like my father always saw himself as a farmer rather than a horseman, so we both had seen ourselves as outsiders. Yet, this has helped us to have fresh eyes on breeding issues.
Describe your typical year: From January to May, I would count-for-count probably have the busiest stud in the country with over 550 mares through our covering sheds. Two weeks before the covering season starts in February on St Valentine's Day, we will have already started foaling from mid-January. Once the foaling and covering starts, we are manically busy until the end of May.
We have four stallions here, the busiest ones covering in the region of 150 mares a season. It's all action every day of the week. In the office, the phone goes every five minutes – someone booking a mare in, someone organising a walk-in or to pick up a mare to go back home. There's only four of us in the office so it's all hands on deck and heads down until the Guineas, which tells us we're nearly there at the end of that season.
We take a breath in June. Whilst I'm glued to Royal Ascot, I try to send the team away on holiday because pretty soon after that the first yearlings come in for yearling prep for the Doncaster and Somerville Tattersalls yearling sales. We give yearlings eight to ten weeks of preparation prior to their date with destiny in the sales ring. We gradually bring more yearlings in for prep as space is freed up at every sales. The yearling sales at Somerville and Fairyhouse sales to Book One, Book Two and Book Three take up our summer and early autumn.
Then as the summer comes down on the last yearling sold, we start foal preparation. This is a six-week period where we would prep between thirty and forty foals for the sales. A lot of hand walking means the team all lose about half a stone in weight; foals are mighty strong and they're loving life but they are quick learners. Strangely, I think a foal is more intelligent than a yearling – I equate it to a ten-year-old child wanting to learn everything, assuming everything is learned and that the teacher is right compared to a yearling, which is like a teenager; they've got their own views on life. Therefore, foal prep seems to be a bit more straightforward.
At the end of November, a few massive lorries turn up to take the foals to the foal sales in Newmarket. That week at the foal sales is just the busiest week – we send half the staff there whilst the other half stay to look after the mares and stallions. We take on the same number of outside staff, which takes our team to ten at the foal sales, all needing accommodation, food and organising.
Everyone at home takes a sigh of relief when the foals have sold. Yet, as we're one of the few commercial stallion studs in the country, a week later is the starting gun for sending out nomination contracts. There's no December off as we pile back into the office and it’s very busy on the admin side of things.
Basically, June is the only quiet month of the year!
Do you have a favourite mare? I try not to have favourites because livestock have a habit of kicking you in the backside. Although that said, the mares we have by Compton Place would probably sneak into favouritism – we have about five remaining and they're just lovely to deal with, have amazing natures and a habit of breeding good racehorses.
What are the best aspects to Whitsbury Manor Stud? A mixture of two things: it's amazing land – rolling Hampshire chalk and in terms of dry, healthy land to raise horses on, it can't be beaten. It’s 400 feet above sea level, right on the top of the chalk downs – the horses thrive on it.
Also, I came home to take over the running of the stud in 2009-10 and it took me around ten years to put together a really good team of people. There's no point having good land with a team that doesn't know how to manage it or vice versa. It's the two coming together, which works well.
What are the best aspects to working in the breeding industry? My favourite thing is on a summer's evening when everyone's gone home after work, I have a wander round the paddocks and see the foals, and it's a lovely experience when you're looking at healthy foals. It's not so fun when one is coughing or has another sort of issue but when that happens, you have to work with it. When you're walking through a paddock of lovely foals in the evening sunshine, that's pretty special.
Describe your stallions: HAVANA GREY (pictured below) is the new superstar.
SERGEI PROKOFIEV, named after the Russian composer. He is the only commercial son of Scat Daddy standing in Britain and in the past three years, he's been very very popular, covering 150 mares every year. We are anticipating his first yearlings going to the sale and being very well received. We have lovely yearlings by him and our clients are telling us they have lovely yearlings by him but it will be at Doncaster sales at the end of August that will be the first test for this first crop.
SHOWCASING is really the horse that turned our business around. He started off at a fee of £5000 and still wasn't that popular at that low fee – he pulled himself upwards on his own talent, he sired no end of superstars including 330 and counting black type horses. Six sons of his that are now at stud, a champion miler in Raasel who was trained at Whitsbury, Mohaather, a champion sprinter in Quiet Reflection and countless other very good horses, so he really has elevated our business. He's also started to have a very good reputation as a broodmare sire so is the gift that keeps on giving. He really has changed the game for us.
Showcasing
LOPE Y FERNANDEZ: We are the majority shareholder and own him in partnership with Coolmore, the National Stud and Nick Bradley Racing, and he is a bit of a new venture for us as he's standing at the national stud, not at Whitsbury. We support him as if he was standing at home with the value of him being in Newmarket; he does have the benefit from a different pool of broodmares in the east of the country. He's not so much directly competing with our stallions here but we do send him a lot of measures, about twenty-five Whitsbury mares this year. He is a beautiful looking horse and his first-year covering was last year so we’ve got some stunning foals.
Favourite racecourse: Salisbury - it's on the doorstep, only a couple of miles from the end of the farm.
Which race would you really like to breed the winner of? The July Cup. We probably are the only ever stud to stand three July Cup winners simultaneously. In the late 90s, we had Cadeaux Genereux, Compton Place and Sakhee’s Secret all standing next to each other. It's just our marquee race – we had the second a couple of years ago in Dragon Symbol so hit the crossbar there but it's my goal to breed a July Cup winner.
Favourite meal: Fruits de Mer in Deauville.
Favourite drink: A Sprigster – it's made locally.
Favourite snack: When I'm at the sales, I’ll eat anything to keep myself going. I'll always keep an apple in my pocket.
Favourite holiday destination: The South Devon coast is nice, and it's not as busy as Cornwall.
Favourite book: I like reading autobiographies of sports people ranging from Andre Agassi to Sir Alex Ferguson, to get into the minds of successful sportsmen and women.
Favourite movie: Shawshank Redemption.
Favourite music: Debussy piano concerto.
Other hobbies: Anything competitive and sporting. I love watching sports. If the Ashes are on, I’m glued to that; If the Olympics are on, I’m glued to that and if the Six Nations are on, I’m glued to that. If it's top-quality sport I can't leave it alone.
*Many thanks to Old Gold Racing for the help in securing this interview. They published it first in their fabulous newsletter Racing Weekly. To sign up, go to https://mailchi.mp/2f6ba62d6182/racing-weekly-lead-capture
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