Keeping up with the Bryces

Unbeaten Iffraaj colt Wootton Bassett reinforces the flying start made by Laundry Cottage Stud

Laundry Cottage Stud may only have been in operation since 2003 but it has already gained a significant presence in the breeding industry as a source of decent, consistent winners.

The most recent advertisement for the Hertfordshire-based operation of Colin and Melba Bryce is the unbeaten Iffraaj colt Wootton Bassett, who is trained by Richard Fahey for owners Frank Brady & The Cosmic Cases, and whose latest victory came in the valuable DBS Premier Yearling Stakes at York's Ebor meeting.

"He's done so well," says Melba. "To win three from three is amazing. He was a very laidback foal, just like all of them from that mare."

That mare is Balladonia, a daughter of Primo Dominie, who won over nine furlongs at Goodwood as a three-year-old when trained by Lady Herries. Her dam is a half-sister to the dam of the St Leger winner Silver Patriarch but Balladonia's matings with speedier types have proved to be successful for the Laundry Cottage team.

The first foal she produced for the Bryces after being purchased at the Tattersalls July Sale in 2003 was the Kyllachy colt Mister Hardy. His racing career could hardly have got off to a better start when he won the first two-year-old race of the British season, the Brocklesby Stakes, and was subsequently Listed-placed at Ascot behind Raven's Pass.

Now aged five and a seven-time winner, he is still in training with Fahey and has been joined there by two half-brothers: a Diktat four-year-old named Mister Laurel, who has won three races, and the speedy first-crop son of Iffraaj (pictured), Wootton Bassett, whose exploits have earned him a Timeform rating of 108p.

With such a prolific family, it was no surprise to see Balladonia's current yearling, a full-sister to Mister Hardy, become the joint sales-topper at the recent DBS Premier Yearling Sale, when fetching £120,000, no doubt enhanced by her half-brother's timely success in the sales race. The mare also has a Kheleyf colt foal at foot.

The Bryces have 20 mares at the 95-acre Laundry Cottage Stud which borders Knebworth Park. They include Illustrious Blue's dam Gypsy Moth, who sadly lost her Cape Cross foal last year and is currently barren.

"I wouldn't really want to go beyond this number," says Melba. "We try to cull a few every year but as the market's been bad we've perhaps held onto a few more than we would have done to give them a chance.

"I've also sent one or two to France. We've sold at Deauville and would like to take more advantage of the French breeders' premiums."

The family has four horses in training, with Michael Bell, Paul Cole, William Haggas and Amy Weaver, but tend to buy horses to race rather than racing their homebreds.

Melba explains: "We usually sell everything as yearlings - you have to do that if you're a small operation - but Colin recently bought back Wasara, a Marju filly we bred from Triennial and sold as a yearling. We did it to protect the mare really."

The Bryces are also now racing another of their homebreds, Bonnie Charlie, out of the Ashkalani mare Scottish Exile, who ran second in the G3 Horris Hill Stakes to Evasive and was sent to last year's horses-in-training sale, where he was reclaimed.

Following their recent success at Doncaster, Melba and Colin are now looking ahead to Tattersalls, where they will aim to sell six yearlings in October Books 1 and 2, including a Green Desert colt out of Coveted, an Exceed And Excel colt from Triennial and Scottish Exile's Royal Applause filly.

"It was wonderful to top the Doncaster sale but you have to be very realistic at the moment and you don't really know how you're going to do until the day arrives," says Melba.

While Melba oversees the day-to-day running of the stud, Colin, who works in London for the investment bank Morgan Stanley, is the pedigree and nominations mastermind.

"He had no interest in horses when our daughters were in the Pony Club but it's been a different story since we've been involved with racehorses," confesses Melba. "Colin goes through every catalogue with a fine-tooth comb and is now obsessed with the breeding business. He takes advice from Eamonn Reilly but he pretty much decides on the matings."
She adds with a laugh: "He keeps talking about retiring but I won't have that. The stud's my baby and I can't have him working here with me!"

Despite Melba's protestations, Laundry Cottage Stud is very much a family affair with the Bryces' three children all taking an active interest. Daughter Gina, a Darley Flying Start graduate and presenter on At The Races, still rides out when she can for Paul Cole and her brother and sister Calum and Ailsa are regular racegoers who get roped in for yard duties when they're at home.

"When they're here for Christmas, they all have to muck out before they are allowed to open any presents. That's my cardinal rule," says their mother.

With Wootton Bassett holding a clutch of fancy entries throughout the autumn, there's plenty for this energetic family to look forward to. Who knows, maybe by this Christmas, they'll all be celebrating their first Group One winner. But only after the mucking out has been done, of course.