Ronald Rauscher: global bloodstock’s man

Ronald Rauscher’s career has crossed borders and nations – several times

The leading breeder and producer, consignor and international agent, has been at the centre of international bloodstock events since the 1970s, writes Martin Stevens

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EVEN BY THE STANDARDS of a racing world that is becoming smaller and smaller, the scope of Ronald Rauscher’s life and work with horses has been remarkably international.

The renowned horseman was born in Canada to parents who had emigrated from Germany to North America due to the prevailing political and economic circumstances at home in the 1950s.

The family – who had no prior connection with racing – later returned to Germany, where Rauscher cut his teeth in the industry before taking a series of positions that has seen him ping-pong between Canada, Germany and Ireland. He has also helped set up a stud in Kentucky and overseen the export of premium racing and breeding stock to Australia and Japan during that time.

Rauscher returned to Ireland this year, relocating his business from Germany to partner Morna McDowell’s Kiln Cottage in County Cork.

The couple will run their separate consigning operations in co-operation at the yard just outside Mallow.

It is the industry stalwart’s “final move, hopefully” he says, in a reflective mood as he settles into his new life.

The reminiscing is no bad thing considering he has been hands-on with so many important broodmares over the years, and this interview appearing in a magazine due to be published on the eve of the breeding stock sales.

Going back to the start of his life’s work with horses, he says: “I started riding at pony club when I was a child in Germany, and then later I started working with a man who was breeding ponies and purebred Arabians. I got into breeding pretty quickly, and was handling his Arab stallions by the age of 12.

What really did it for me, though, was that he subscribed to a wonderful German racing magazine called Vollblut, and by some mistake he always received two copies, so he gave me the spare one. It was around the time of Secretariat, and from then on I was gone.

The newly converted racing fan Rauscher spent a summer at the Von Schubert family’s Gestüt Ebbesloh in 1975 (45 years later he would sell their Group 2-winning Champs

Elysees mare Durance for €750,000 at Arqana) and then served his apprenticeship at Gestüt Röttgen, from where Theo Grieper had just sent out the first German-trained Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner, the homebred Star Appeal.

Rauscher cut that training short to head to his country of birth to work at Windfields Farm in Ontario, when E. P. Taylor’s operation was in its heyday, fuelled by the success of Northern Dancer, who by then was based at the Maryland division.

“I had a great time there and learned an awful lot,” says Rauscher. “I was handling Northern Dancer yearlings, and worked with the likes of Halo before he was sold to Stone Farm – I still have a picture of him in his muzzle; he was a very dangerous horse – as well as Vice Regent, The Minstrel, Master Willie, and so on.

I worked with fantastic mares like Ballade, the dam of Devil’s Bag, Glorious Song and Saint Ballado, and foaled a Vice Regent filly who became the champion

two-year-old Deceit Dancer and a Val De L’Orne filly called La Lorgnette, who was also a champion and later dam of Hawk Wing.

“When you think of all those names, it’s shocking to think Windfields is non-existent now. Just completely gone.”

Rauscher might have stayed in his horse heaven indefinitely, or at least until the farm was wound down, but was led back to Germany by a girlfriend who wanted to study there.

He returned to Röttgen to do the equivalent of a masters qualification in stud work.

The death of farm owner Maria Mehl- Mülhens in 1985 prompted his next move, this time to Ireland.

“Mrs Mehl-Mülhens had owned Baronrath Stud, which was close to Goffs between Straffan and Kill, since the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and it was where Star Appeal and Strong Gale were born,” explains Rauscher. “I’d visited the property a few times and when she died, her niece inherited it and asked if I would be interested in running it, so I went there in 1986.

“The farm was fairly run down, with lots of cattle, so it was a big undertaking, but it was such a thrill to be where Star Appeal had been foaled – his dam and two of his sisters were still there. I stayed for five years, and during that time bred and raised Sternkonig, who became an important sire in Germany, and Bob’s Return, who won the St Leger.”

The next phase of Rauscher’s international odyssey was setting up Barnane Stud in County Tipperary with his then wife.

When the couple split up in 1997 he returned to Germany to advise existing client Dr Christoph Berglar and run the Union- Gestüt, which enjoyed enormous success.

During that time Berglar owned and bred the brilliant King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes hero Novellist and Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist, while Almerita was campaigned to score in the German Oaks.

Pastorius, whose three Group 1 victories included the Deutsches Derby, was also born and raised at the stud on behalf of his breeder and owner Franz, Prinz Von Auersperg.

Protectionist was later sold to compete for Australian Bloodstock, as were other German-bred stars Lucas Cranach and Mawingo, in a rich seam of cross-hemisphere commerce developed by Rauscher wearing an agent’s rather than a breeder’s hat.

He had earlier broken new ground by becoming the first German-based consignor to sell yearlings at Tattersalls, and sold Mandellicht, the dam of Manduro, to Darley for 3,000,000gns on behalf of the world champion’s breeder Rolf Brunner.

Once again, though, this good thing had to come to an end.

“We decided in 2010 that we wouldn’t renew the lease on the stud as Christoph was interested more in racing than farming or breeding,” says Rauscher. “I actually intended to do something completely different for my next chapter: buy a small farm fairly far north in British Columbia, and get into the outfitting business, taking tourists out riding and hunting.

“But then Christoph’s son Peter, who did his apprenticeship with me at Union-Gestüt, said he might be interested in running a stud in the States, maybe Florida. I said to him you’re not a breeze-up man, so why go there? Let’s go to Kentucky instead.

“So I advised the Berglar family in buying Stonereath, a very good farm that the Best In Show family came from. Peter still has the farm and he’s flying, making a great success of it.”

In more recent times Rauscher had been running his agency, continuing to advise Christoph Berglar and other clients and managing their mares, at Gestüt Bernried, the neighbouring sister stud of Dietrich von Boetticher’s Gestüt Ammerland. Amazing Grace, a four-year-old filly by Protectionist who won a Baden-Baden Group 2 and has twice finished Group 1-placed this season for Berglar, was bred and raised there.

IT WAS THE RECENT CLOSURE of Bernried, as Von Boetticher reduces his equine holdings, that prompted Rauscher to return to Ireland after a quarter of a century, relocating his agency and consignment business to Kiln Cottage. “It’s a big upheaval, not just for me but for Morna as well – I do ask her if she really wants a semi-retired old stallion on the place!” says Rauscher with a wry smile.

“It’s nice to be back in Ireland, though. It’s changed a lot since I’ve been away. I’ve visited a lot, of course, but it’s different living here. When I left Ireland in 1997, it was before the Celtic Tiger got mad in the cage, and it’s been interesting to see all the ways Ireland has changed in terms of society and infrastructure.

“In those old days you could be in Connemara and meet a sheep farmer with his dog early in the morning and stand there for an hour just talking, getting into philosophical conversations about the word, but I’m not sure that happens as much now.

“It’s much more of a modern, functioning country these days. The IDA [Industrial Development Agency] attracted a lot of people to establish their businesses here, and you see the likes of Google and Apple having headquarters in Dublin. It’s lifted the economy hugely.

“I remember when I used to mend the phone line going across the road outside Baronrath by standing on a forklift on a tractor and pulling copper wires together, because no one would come out to fix it for months.”

Rauscher has also noticed a big difference in the Irish thoroughbred industry, for better or worse.

“It’s changed a lot in the past 25 years,” he says. “Darley were there, yes, but they didn’t have a proper stallion roster.

“Coolmore was always a big concern, of course, but there were also a lot more other stallion farms then. We’ve lost a lot of those that maybe had one or two stallions, especially on the Flat side.

“In those days Derrinstown might cover 50 mares with each horse. It felt like you’d won the lottery if you managed to get an outside nomination to Marju! It’s been amazing to see what the O’Callaghan families have achieved. I remember Common Grounds being the first stallion in Yeomanstown, and now the stud is one of the industry’s major forces. The landscape has changed dramatically.”

The Irish bloodstock industry might bear little resemblance to the one that existed in 1997, but Rauscher’s expertise in breeding, rearing and selling thoroughbreds hasn’t changed.

Since his move to Mallow he has sold a Frankel filly and a New Bay colt for €250,000 and €120,000 at the BBAG Yearling Sale in Baden-Baden in September, and sold the smart German performers Arina and Virginia Storm for €380,000 and €260,000 at the Arqana Arc Sale at Saint- Cloud in October.

His consignment of around 12 fillies and mares at Deauville in December will include the aforementioned topclass filly Amazing Grace, last year’s €1.2 million Arqana Arc sale-topper Penja and Waldbiene, a Group 2-winning Intello filly from the outstanding family of Waldgeist and Masked Marvel.

Rauscher’s leading ladies

ANNA PAOLA

1978 ch m Prince Ippi-Antwerpen (Waldcanter)

Rauscher became acquainted with Gestüt Röttgen’s German Oaks winner during his formative years at the operation. She was sold to become a foundation broodmare for Sheikh Mohammed in his early years in the sport – she left the Cologne stud on the same lorry as Strong Gale, who was on his way to Rathbarry Stud – and became the ancestress of numerous stars including Adayar, Annie Power, Billesdon Brook, Epaulette, Helmet and National Defense.

“I remember Anna Paola and her dam Antwerpen distinctly,” says Rauscher. “Antwerpen was big, tall, framey and raw boned, but Anna Paola was rangier, rather more refined and with a little more class. She had a lot of her sire Prince Ippi about her. “He was a big outcross, with his sire being Hungarian. “She was with Theo Grieper, who trained Star Appeal to win the Arc from Röttgen, and she was quite early. She beat the colts to win the Preis des Winterfavoriten going away, although like most German horses she wasn’t precocious, she just did it through class at that age. She went on to win the German Oaks, but that was it, and Robert Acton did the deal to buy her for Sheikh Mohammed.

“It’s amazing to see the legacy she has left, on an international scale, too, with a horse such as Helmet in Australia. Amazing Grace is also descended from her, so all of a sudden she’s back in my life again. You see traits in horses and I think I’ve seen that before!”

MANDELLICHT

1994 br m Be My Guest-Mandelauge (Elektrant)

Rolf Brunner struck while the iron was hot by engaging Rauscher to sell Mandellicht, his Listed-placed daughter of Be My Guest, who’d produced 2007 world champion Manduro, at that year’s Tattersalls December Sale.

The mare, who had earlier produced German Oaks third Mandela, was sold to Darley for a cool 3,000,000gns.

Rauscher remembers Mandellicht as an unlikely blue hen, saying: “She was by Be My Guest, who wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and

she came from a family that was only okay. She was also quite small – though not insignificant – so for her to produce Mandela and Manduro was just ‘wow’.

“He sold her in-foal to Mr Greeley at the Keeneland November Sale in 2007, and she made $1.4 million to Katsumi Yoshida and became a really significant mare in Japan, producing World Premiere, World Ace and Weltreisende.

“Just as I got off the plane in Frankfurt after arriving home from selling Mandela at Keeneland, the owner of Mandellicht rang me and said I had to get Mandellicht into that winter’s sales. Luckily Tattersalls were happy to take her, and she was a late entry in the days before wildcards and her page was just a little leaflet inserted into the catalogue that year.

Mandellicht selling at Tattersalls for 3,000,000gns in 2007 Photo: Tattersalls

“There were some nerves, consigning the dam of the highestrated horse in the world at the time, especially as I had an inkling when she came to me to be prepped that she didn’t like shipping and that she might colic on the way to Newmarket.

“She did, of course! It was just a little bit of compaction, and with a bit of oil and relaxant and some walking she was fine again, but it had to be her!”

PRIVATE LIFE

1997 b m Bering-Poughkeepsie (Sadler’s Wells)

A useful daughter of Bering from the Wildensteins’ brilliant ‘P’ family of Pawneese, Peintre Celebre and Policy Maker, Private Life was bought as a broodmare prospect on behalf of Union-Gestüt for 225,000gns at the end of her racing career. Berglar bred the dual German Group 3 winner Persian Storm from the mare, but sold her on to Blandford Bloodstock for 70,000gns four years later.

Private Life went on to produce all-time great stayer Stradivarius for Bjorn Nielsen, but there are no hard feelings, as Rauscher says: “She did well for us, as we sold her first foal, the Fantastic Light colt Perfectionist for 175,000gns and her second foal, Persian Storm, for a sale-topping €300,000 in Baden-Baden.

“But she then had a very nasty foaling Union Stud, in which her Pivotal filly died, and we left her untouched that season. We got her in-foal to Azamour the following year, but we weren’t so sure about that mating so Christoph and I debated whether we should sell her and we agreed we’d see what we could get for her.

“Tom Goff bought her, so that was her gone, but they had to wait a long time to breed Stradivarius from her – he was her last foal, in fact. It’s been a pleasure to watch him, it’s made up for losing her.

“Private Life was a strong mare, quality all right; a bay with a lot of white on her. She had her own head, though. If she wanted to go somewhere with you and you didn’t want to go with her, she made sure she won the battle.

“She could be a bit ignorant – maybe that was a bit of Bering, or more probably Arctic Tern, coming through. Sea The Stars must have ironed out some of her mental kinks and helped her to produce a horse as good as Stradivarius.”

NIGHT LAGOON

2001 b m Lagunas-Nenuphar (Night Shift)

Christoph Berglar’s homebred mare was a champion two-yearold filly in Germany and has developed into a tip-top broodmare, producing 12 winners from as many runners – the first eight, including the champion Novellist, for Berglar and the latter four, including this season’s Irish Oaks heroine Magical Lagoon, for Barronstown Stud or Coolmore after being bought for $1.4m from the Fasig-Tipton November Sale of 2014.

“Christoph’s first racehorse in training was Narola, and he sent her to Barnane Stud for her breeding career. That’s how my connection with him started. We bred and raised Nenuphar from Narola, and she became a Listed winner and later the dam of Night Lagoon, who we bred at Union-Gestüt, where we stood her sire Lagunas.

“We sent Night Lagoon to Montjeu first and she produced a pony. The mare herself was really small, but then the family is like that. There’s an influence in German pedigrees called Tuttlinger, who was tiny, and that lack of size comes through time and again in his descendants, so we were always aware of that when mating her.

“Novellist, her fourth foal by Monsun, was special from day one. I was always convinced he was going to be top-class and so was Brendan Hayes at Knocktoran Stud, who foaled him. He rang me to tell me he was one of the best foals he’d had in years. I saw the foal a week later and, yeah, he was just all class.

“All the way through. He was small, but bulky and strong, and really strongly set.

“I later went to see Novellist at stud in Japan for two successive seasons, when he was a six and seven-year-old, and it was amazing to see how much he’d grown in that short space of time at that age. It goes to show how late-maturing some horses with those stout German pedigrees can be.

“We later sent Night Lagoon to some US sires who didn’t really suit her, and we sold her in-foal to War Front.

“The resultant colt wasn’t very good, and she’d been quiet for a few years, but then she goes back to Galileo and pops up again with Magical Lagoon this season! It was amazing and I was just so pleased for her.”