One such purchase that made headlines in North America often prompted the question, “Who is Ace?” Puca’s ticket, signed by the Raging Torrent Syndicate, only led to more questions about who was involved in the purchase and operation.
Curran spoke to BloodHorse ahead of Day 2 of the recently completed Tattersalls December Mare Sale, where Ace spent $3,422,180 on six pieces on the opening day of the sale and $3,783,580 over two days (excluding sales believed to have been made by Ace under different names or by affiliated groups – more on that later).
Curran discusses his start in the industry, plans for Puca and how Ace wants the industry to talk about it.
Blood Horse: How did you get started in the industry?
Paul Curran: I have been working directly and indirectly at the operation for four years now. I come from a breeding background. My father and I breed a few horses and a few mares at home. So I caught the bug that way and quickly started working on it. With my university degree in equine science I got exposed to the bloodstock side and was given a brilliant opportunity to work at BBA Ireland four or five years ago. That’s how I met (Yulong Investments chairman Zhang Yuesheng). Since then the thing has evolved a lot, and in a huge way, in a great way. I started working directly for him about two years ago now and have seen the exponential growth that has happened in the meantime. It was really good to watch. I see how driven he is, and not just here, but internationally, as you can see. We have had a strong presence in America in recent years. It has been an incredible journey, one that is only just beginning for him, especially for us here in Europe.
BRA: Puca, when you bought her, you said you really weren’t sure what the plans were, but she would stay in the United States. Has there been more clarity since then?
PC: After that we made a decision quite quickly. It was clear that she was very interested in purchasing her at the time. We thought she would make a lot more money than she did. We were sitting in (near) the sales ring and we saw a price that we thought was a little weird. So we got involved and we got her pretty quickly. We were very happy with the price we got for her. At that point we had no immediate plan; we were just happy we bought her. … We will probably cover her with some outside stallions. Yes, she was signed up as Raging Torrent Syndicate. That’s a bit of a marketing ploy on behalf of our stallion, and I think we did a good job. We have a lot of people talking about it. But the immediate plans were to return her to Brookdale Farm, back to Fred and Sarah Seitz, who have done a fantastic job. They keep our mares in Kentucky. They are really good people, and she is safe and sound there. We haven’t decided on a stallion yet, but we’re probably looking at one, the Gun Runner or Into Mischief lines. Obviously Good Magic is very well represented in the family (with full siblings Mage and Dornoch), so he could be an option there. But the plan will probably be to use a few outdoor stallions for two or three years, hopefully then we think we can earn something back on the mare and the purchase price. And then maybe think about covering one of our stallions, Raging Torrent, in particular.
BRA: You were surprised how low the price was for her? Did you originally plan to participate in the bidding, or was it one of those things where halfway through you were like, wait a minute?
PC: The latter. Halfway. That whole sale at Fasig, I thought a lot of the prices were a little undercut from what we thought they would be. We were not involved prior to the sale. (But) we quickly took action. We saw what price she deserved, and we only bid once, and we got her. We were very happy to see what we got her for. … The original plan was, obviously, look and see. We knew what she was. We knew she was a phenomenal, phenomenal mare. We thought she would probably be out of our budget for her, but she wasn’t, and we ended up purchasing her. That was very nice to pick her up for the price we got. Look, there’s no such thing as value when you buy a mare, right? I think we got her for a good price, let’s put it that way.
Puca will be sold at Fasig-Tipton’s November sale
BRA: You mentioned the Raging Torrent Syndicate at the November sale and the Carl Spackler Syndicate. Who is involved in these syndicates, and is there any difference from Ace?
PC: Nothing at all. You see it in everything we do here. We would like to rename some tickets. There is no one involved but ourselves. It’s a complete purchase. Just purely from a marketing point of view. We have done it here before with our own stallions. Happy Vega. It was Lucky Vega Syndicate. Sometimes we like to just write his name down. That’s it.
BRA: Ace recently got a new name. Can you tell us more about the evolution of the Ace brand?
PC: It’s clearly something quite new. We purchased what was originally called Dullingham Park Stud in March this year. Before that we had no property. In July we bought Willingham House Stud, which is home to our broodmare band, and we have expanded since then. We have numerous properties in the area. But again, when we bought Dullingham, there was no other brand than what we were originally used to: Yulong. The thought process was that we needed to look at something new. We are a newly imposed entity entering the bloodstock game and breeding world. A family member, Harris Li (Zhang’s son-in-law), the owner of the company, came up with the name, and he is our general manager here. We work with him every day. He’s very passionate about the game and very passionate about developing this side of Europe and America into a huge entity. There is no real background to the name. We rebranded it and stamped it with pretty much everything we’ve used before, the same color schemes and things like that. So it’s very similar. So you see our horses running in the same color. So nothing changes except the name. It’s all quite transparent.
BRA: What does the operation look like now?
PC: Brilliant. We have a stallion operation, probably from last week, looking at one of the most exciting young stallions in Europe at the moment, to have runners in two years’ time. We’ve had a fantastic week (at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale) with the foals and a key average of £70,000 (for) Shaquille from a stud fee of £15,000, which is insane. The operation is looking pretty good at this point. And a new location, the stud farm itself. It is a beautiful building and there are many new people coming to work for us. We have Ben Shoare, who has just started as a nomination manager from the stud farm. We have some phenomenal people: Lilly Sahla does our marketing, (race secretary) Claudia Metaireau, and Ben Hyde is our stud manager. We have a very young team, a very good, passionate team. It’s an exciting project and it looks like it will only continue to expand. It’s a pleasure to be part of it, and a lot of people are talking about us. It’s fun to watch it grow and see it from its infancy.
BRA: You mentioned Yulong. What is the relationship between Yulong and Ace?
PC: Ace stands for Yulong stallions. That is our sole task: to endure them. We have a number of broodmare farms in the area and also manage the mares for them there. It’s closely related, but simply put, that’s what Ace does.
BRA: Ace made a big impression (on day 1 of the Tattersalls December Mare Sale). How important is it for Ace to have a really high profile?
PC: It really applies in all aspects, from racing, blood relations to the breeding world. It is very important that we are marketed well, and that we are on everyone’s minds and on everyone’s lips. I think we’re doing the right thing. It’s good to go into the sales ring and get the support of the team to buy the mares and the horses. It is very important to us that our brand is treated well and shown to the world. It is important to have a good brand.
Paul Curran, left, at the Keeneland November sale
BRA: What’s next for Ace? The next goal?
PC: Just to keep expanding and also to stay at a healthy level of expansion. Obviously we don’t want to blow out as quickly as a balloon. We want to experience nice, gradual growth, and so far we have succeeded. We’ve only been around for eight, nine months. We have already seen a huge expansion, not only within the blood group, but also within the team. We would like to expand through our broodmare side. Internationally, of course in America, we have two new stallions there (Raging Torrent and Carl Spackler). It is very important that we can support them properly, which we already did at Fasig and Keeneland in November. Just steady, easy, gradual expansion. And obviously the end goal is to have some good horses on the track. That’s what we do here. That’s what we grow at home; the goal is to have some very important horses on the track.
BRA: With the stallions you have in the United States and Puca, are there any thoughts, or even plans, that you might need to acquire properties in the United States?
PC: Not at the moment. We have some very good people around us in America. We work very closely with Bill Farish and Lane’s End, and David Ingordo helps us a lot with that as well. We have some really good people we work with, some very healthy relationships – the Seitzes in Brookdale – some wonderful people who make our lives a lot easier. We don’t have to worry about taking care of the horses and things like that. We know they are safe. So right now that’s not an immediate plan. … We are very grateful for the help and support we receive. Even our trip to Kentucky was really good, and we really enjoyed it. Everyone was very nice to us, from the sales companies to the buyers and sellers. We enjoy going out there and will spend a lot more time there.
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