Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“What have we let go of here?" wondered Colin and Melba Bryce in May 2021, just after they had witnessed a filly, they'd bred at Laundry Cottage Stud, easily record her maiden win at Goodwood.
She was having just her second start but the filly christened Via Sistina impressed with the way she let go over the final stages, racing clear to put 5.5l on her rivals.
In doing so she put on display a length and style of stride that her breeders had noticed from the early days, Colin noting that she just seemed to “float” over the ground.
Colin and Melba Bryce | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
Colin remembers taking the filly to the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale with little expectation. The daughter of Fastnet Rock had been seen by the sales companies and by agents and nobody was particularly taken by her.
In fact she didn't look at all like a sales horse, Colin noting that the only reason she made into the sale was due to the respect afforded to her sire and his Coolmore Stud home.
A big, ungainly foal
It was a bid of just 5000gns (AU$10,400) that secured the filly for agent Stephen Hillen and his wife Becky in whose colours she would race.
Hillen was later quoted describing his purchase as “a giant; she looked like a moose at the sales, big and backward.”
Stephen Hillen | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
Such comments came as no surprise to her breeders, Colin admitting that he took a risk sending the well-related Nigh (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a half-sister to the dual Group 1-winning sprinter Kingsgate Native (Ire), to Fastnet Rock.
“We sent her there before of the Danehill/Galileo cross but we knew with her being a substantial mare, and with Fastnet Rock also a large type of horse, that we were running the risk of getting a big, ungainly foal.”
“And that is just what we got!”
But there was always something about Via Sistina, the filly with the “lovely” temperament and that flowing action.
Fastnet Rock
“I remember her being walked at the sales, she really was a big camel,” Colin laughed, “she was three horses in one body!”
“But the way she strode out, she was so light on her feet, and I remember saying to a few people that maybe we should just keep her and give her time.”
But the sale went ahead and Colin and Melba were delighted that it was the Hillens who purchased her.
“They took the risk and got the reward and it could not have happened to nicer people,” he said.
“They (Stephen and Becky Hillen) took the risk (purchasing Via Sistina as a yearling) and got the reward and it could not have happened to nicer people.” - Colin Bryce
Such a lovely mare
Via Sistina's dam Nigh first came into her owner's lives when she belonged to someone else, sent to Laundry Cottage Stud to foal down to Camelot (GB) before a visit to Charm Spirit (Ire).
Everyone at the farm had been impressed by the mare and by her foal and when she appeared the following December in the Arqana catalogue it seemed fateful.
“The girls at the farm said, 'You've got to get her, she was such a lovely mare',” Colin recalled.
And so Nigh became a member of the Laundry Cottage Stud broodmare band. Unfortunately she lost her Charm Spirit foal whilst her colt by Camelot did not amount to much but she certainly put everything she had into her daughter by Fastnet Rock.
Colin and Melba have thoroughly enjoyed watching Via Sistina go from strength to strength, thrilled by her first big-race success in the G1 Pretty Polly S. at the Curragh in July last year whilst they consider her brave second in the G1 Champion S. at Ascot to be a real highlight.
“We didn't actually know who to cheer home that day," Colin said, "King Of Steel or Via Sistina.”
And why would that be?
Because the couple also bred King Of Steel's (USA) high-achieving sire Wootton Bassett (GB), making that quinella a memorable one.
Via Sistina (Ire) winning the G1 Champion S. | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Little stud, big day
“We were very proud, a little stud having such a big day!”
Breeding from only around half a dozen or so mares a year and ending up with two such high quality horses is, in Colin's own words “astonishing really.”
He is often asked what the key to their success is and whilst he knows that luck plays a big part, he likes to think that they work hard at making luck more likely to happen.
“Everything we do is about trying to put the odds in our favour in what is a very difficult business," he said.
“Everything we do is about trying to put the odds in our favour in what is a very difficult business.” - Colin Bryce
“We have very good land, each horse is handled from day one; they are looked after very well and that certainly helps. We watch them closely, if we have to intervene during the developmental stage, we do what is best with the horse. We try to get them into the right sales and to the best trainers.”
Without the budget of the bigger studs, the couple try to buy smart, seeking out mares who may not have impressive close up black-type but who are still from good families.
“A mare may have a quiet dam, but those families who have the will to win, they always come good again.”
Laundry Cottage Stud | Image courtesy of Laundry Cottage Stud
In the process of upgrading their mares and their covers, Laundry Cottage Stud share the load with breeders on the same wavelength, breeding in partnerships of three or four people they know well.
Racing on in Australia
They were delighted when Via Sistina headed to Australia, excited to have more of her career to follow.
“If she'd stayed here, she probably would've gone to straight to stud, but there is such good programming and such great initiatives in Australia to race on.”
“If she'd (Via Sistina) stayed here she probably would've gone to straight to stud, but there is such good programming and such great initiatives in Australia to race on.” - Colin Bryce
Tattersalls have been sending framed mementos of each of Via Sistina's wins to her breeders and with her five wins in Australia, all at Group 1 level, “The photos have been piling up!”
And just recently a nice surprise arrived, a mounted miniature W.S Cox Plate, a trophy that “takes pride of place in our office.”
The significance of that win is not lost on Colin who described the Cox Plate as “a storied race, one of the races of the world.”
Via Sistina (Ire) winning the G1 WS Cox Plate | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
There is more to look forward to with Via Sistina whilst there is bound to be years of enjoyment ahead with Wootton Bassett, another remarkable international success story.
Sold as a yearling for £46,000 (AU$91,500) and becoming one of the best of Europe's juveniles with an unbeaten run of five races including the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp, Wootton Bassett did not come up at three.
Which led to him making his stud debut at Haras d'Etreham for €6000 (AU$9900).
“He didn't get many mares during his first year,” Colin said, but Laundry Cottage Stud were happy to support him though in time coming to regret the offer from the stud's Nicolas de Chambure to take a big stake in the young horse.
But they remain grateful for the job done with the stallion; “There is no doubt that Nicolas styled his career, he made him the horse he is today.”
“There is no doubt that Nicolas styled his (Wootton Bassett) career, he made him the horse he is today.” - Colin Bryce
The classic upgrader
And that's some horse, the now Coolmore-owned Wootton Bassett (whose first Australian progeny are this season's 2-year-olds) represented by 13 Group 1 winners amongst his first 57 stakes winners. He is the classic upgrader and the signs of something special were, as with the case with Via Sistina, there early.
“He was the most laid-back foal you could imagine,” Colin recalled.
“He was just soooo chilled!”
“He (Wootton Bassett) was the most laid-back foal you could imagine. He was just soooo chilled!” - Colin Bryce
And impressive as well, Colin remembering that a Flying Start classmate of his daughter Gina visiting on one occasion and declaring that “he is the best yearling I have seen anywhere.”
Unfortunately Wootton Bassett did draw some criticism at the sales. “He was a bit back at the knee but the gentleman who bought him had enjoyed success with two others out of the mare and he was keen to get him.”
Wootton Bassett | Standing at Coolmore Australia
Colin and Melba are immensely proud of the achievements of Via Sistina and Wootton Bassett and the successes are certainly well earned with a small but dedicated team at Laundry Cottage Stud working hard.
Melba has always had horses in her life with Colin full of admiration as he notes that “she'd get up at 6am every day to feed her horses before school.”
“She was always right into horses and she is the key animal husbandry informant in everything we do. She still gets up at six, she is outside all day and doesn't get back to the house until it's dark, she is the work horse!
Melba Bryce | Image courtesy of Laundry Cottage Stud
“She is very good with horses, she sees things I'd never see,” said Colin who'd had little to do with horses.
Having a lot of fun
“I was a non-horse person, I spent all my working life in the city. My only connection with them was as a youngster in Scotland, we lived half-way between the Ayr and Hamilton Park race courses and we'd enjoy a day at the track.”
Years on and Colin is enjoying a much more horse focused life. One he and Melba enjoy with family, their children Calum, Ailsa and Gina (a well-known racing presenter on Sky Sports and BBC Radio) and her husband Alex Elliott all involved in the running of the stud along with staff members Sophie, Charlotte and Melissa who Colin affectionately describes as “three lovely young ladies who are all horse mad!”
Key parts of their success are the size of their operation (“we don't ever want to be too big”), the hands-on approach to their horses and the fact that the atmosphere at Laundry Cottage Stud is such a happy, relaxed one.
“We have a lot of fun!” Colin said.
