Dragon Symbol ex Goodmorningolive colt

Race entries

Our next Donny Rocket in the making?

Even the day before the Goffs  UK Premier Sale started, Richard Hannon had marked our card that we should be buying lot 129 - he’d even written the word “Timmy” on his catalogue page, as you can see from this horse’s photo gallery across his catalogue page, meaning not only did he want to buy the horse but also he knew that this colt was precisely the sort of horse that “Timmy” (Tim Palin) of Middleham Park Racing would buy from him - a Donny Rocket - as Richard asserts “This colt even reminds me of Shouldvebeenaring” (a good moving grey) who we bought from this very sale for £40,000 in 2021 and who now stands as a stallion at Irish National Stud. 

It’s fair to say that when Richard and Ross Doyle purchased this colt for £62,000 (before sales commissions and race entry fees), Richard was a little disappointed that “Timmy” and the team elected not to take the horse on behalf of MPR. 

Richard Hannon & Tim Palin speak most days about the 16 or so horses MPR have at the Hannon yard, and barely a conversation went by in the last week or so without Richard reminding Timmy of what a “smasher” the Dragon Symbol yearling is and that MPR really could regret not buying him “from what I see of him on the lunge down here.”

Lest we forget, the horse had made our main list, and we loved him at the sale; the only reason we didn’t put our name to him at the sale was that we’d already purchased lot 4 by first-season sire Dragon Symbol. Not buying this colt, given we loved him at the sale and the provenance that Richard affords both ahead of the sale and subsequently, could be a decision we’d live to regret - so we’ve taken the plunge and agreed to take him and add him to the MPR yearling roster (2yo’s for 2027) - in Richard we trust! Richard has agreed to take a share. 

The colt is actually out of a mare – ‘Goodmorningolive’ (a daughter of Havana Grey) - who we actually owned at MPR. She was a real beauty. We paid 85,000gns for her and sent her to Hugo Palmer. Unfortunately, she fractured a sesamoid when showing up well in her early gallops in the spring, and fortunately we were able to save her and presented her for sale a few months later, where she was bought to visit Dragon Symbol. The very shrewd Finbar Kent, son of Mickley Stud's Richard Kent, purchased this smashing individual as a foal to thankfully re-offer him as a yearling. This stunning colt is Goodmorningolive’s first progeny, and it’s fair to say Richard, his team and now us have fallen in love with him. It’s not like us to be indecisive regarding a sale’s purchase, and we almost certainly would have purchased him on the day at Donny if we didn’t already have lot 4 on the board.  

We’ve redressed the balance since, and hopefully he proves another Pershaada, whom we purchased from Richard Hannon’s website on Richard’s recommendation a few days after the sale. 

 He’s a strong physical but a beautiful mover at the same time, as Richard alludes. He’s from a family with umpteen outpourings of 2yo black-type talent - it’s one of the reasons we bought Goodmorningolive in the first place - horses such as Brocklesby winner and Molecomb placed Show Me Show Me and Group 2 Mill Reef winner and Acomb Stakes runner-up Toocoolforschool - it’s every inch a top pedigree for 2yo prowess. 

Goffs Introduce New Harry’s 750 Series

 Hopefully, we’ll be working back from some of the top 2yo races in the 2027 calendar - or at least that’s the hope. Fingers crossed.