WEDNESDAY, 18 JULY 2018 "It means there is more even grazing of the sward," explains LEADON A TRUE Leadon. "The cattle fertilise it for you, and they also have a great calming influence on the horses. We try to make our foals RENAISSANCE MAN civilised, used to being in and out, easily handled." When they first came here, 20 years ago, there was no water or electricity in the stableblock; no house; and nowhere to store feed, bedding and equipment. These are now in "the Sinndar barn," as Leadon calls it, auspiciously painted in the green and red livery of the Aga Khan. "Mariann and I met riding out for John Oxx," Leadon says. "Unlike me, she was a very good amateur rider; she once beat Johnny Reid in a photo. But I did ride out there for 26 years. And I took a real shine to Sinndar (Ire) (Grand Lodge). I was standing at the top of the gallops when [Johnny] Murtagh patted him down the neck and said: 'He'll stay.' And I thought, that'll do me. I had 40-1!" Cont. p2 Des Leadon and Mariann Klay | Racing Post IN TDN AMERICA TODAY DEL MAR OPENS WITH STRONG FIELD SIZES By Chris McGrath Del Mar opens its doors for its 36-day summer meet How do you begin to describe the value of a man like Des Wednesday with large fields highlighting the opening day card. Leadon to the Thoroughbred industry? Well, since you can turn Click or tap here to go straight to TDN America. to him in almost any other dilemma--whether you need someone to address the more calamitous implications, for breeding and racing, of Brexit; or to fly a priceless stallion across the world; or, with his wife Mariann Klay, simply to prepare a foal for sale--then we might as well borrow his help here, too. Because the way he describes his working environment could equally be applied to the range and diversity of his own accomplishments. "When I talk to people who are thinking about getting into our wonderful industry, I liken it to that marvellous French culinary creation: the gateau mille-feuille," he says. "Because there's a thousand layers to it. And that creates an endless fascination." Leadon wears his erudition lightly, the easiest and most gregarious of companions round Swordlestown Little, just in the lee of Punchestown racecourse, on a summer afternoon. They say that if you want something done, you ask a busy person. In the same way, it appears impossible to feel as though you are intruding on the time of a man who puts it to such fertile use. Mares and foals graze peacefully among cattle as the shadows begin to lengthen across the paddocks. TDN EUROPE/INTERNATIONAL • PAGE 2 OF 11 • THETDN.COM WEDNESDAY • 18 JULY 2018 Leadon A True Renaissance Man Cont. from p1 to break, but her win at Listowel would have given us as much That is as close as Leadon ever expects to come to a Derby pleasure as any of the big ones." winner. This is a boutique operation, the original 55 acres of But Ajman King's success at Epsom also had an extra frisson, Swordlestown Stud's isolation annex since expanded to 90--but sealing a very special visit to London for Leadon's father: for a still adhering to the old rule of reunion of his old flying buddies. one mare and her followers per Not many of them left, now, but 10 acres. then not many in his particular "I had no real idea what stud line of work had even survived farming is," Leadon admits. the war. As a Lancaster pilot, he "Nowadays I liken it to had limited life expectancy; but haemorrhage. There's two sorts as a pathfinder into the bargain- of haemorrhage: venous -marking and remarking the haemorrhage, where it sort of target with flares--he was really leaks out; and arterial sticking his neck out. "People haemorrhage, where it spurts have forgotten how many out. Stud farming is like arterial Irishmen fought with the Allies," haemorrhage, with one big his son notes. "To preserve the difference: in arterial freedoms that we now all take haemorrhage, at least you've got Lilbourne Lad | Racing Post for granted." the blood before it's gone!" Leadon Sr. was still performing That said, Swordlestown Little has been among Ireland's top barrel rolls and loops three years ago, 70 years after five vendors of foals in each of the last five years. Graduates crash-landing at RAF Wyton with a bomb on board. After the include Lilbourne Lad (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), now standing at war he continued with a career in aviation, but it was his other Rathbarry; Ajman King (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), who completed passion that filtered through to his son. For between leading a four-timer in a valuable handicap at Epsom on Oaks day; and 1,000-bomber raids Leadon Sr. would race by motorbike from Spring Loaded (Ire) (Zebedee {GB}), who confirmed himself a the Cambridgeshire airbases to ride out for Captain Cecil sprinter of group calibre when winning under a big weight at Boyd-Rochfort in Newmarket. Ascot last Saturday. He also trained a couple of point-to-pointers himself, alongside "We set out, quite deliberately, to be niche producers of very the airstrip. "He almost got himself court-martialled once," his nice foals," Leadon says. "Mariann does a wonderful job son smiles. "Because the ground was getting firm, he had a fire educating them, and they've practice so that they sprayed done us proud. When Lilbourne beside the runway." Lad won the Railway S., we IT’S A HUGE CHALLENGE TO THIS For young Leadon, then, the danced down the stairs of the ISLAND. THE UK REPRESENTS OUR unsurprising choice was vet grandstand. Like all those school or flying school. His father moments in racing, nobody can LAND BRIDGE TO EUROPE. THAT took him up for an hour in a wipe the smile off your face for a LANDLINE HAS GOT TO REMAIN OPEN. two-seater, showed him the full week. But the little ones can ropes, and then said: "Right, give enormous pleasure too." Des Leadon on Brexit we'll go home and you tell mum One such is My Snowdrop (Ire), your decision over lunch." When a daughter of none other than Leadon came down in favour of Lilbourne Lad, who recently won vet school, his father exclaimed: at Listowel for Oxx and a "Good! Because when I handed syndicate of friends. Her veteran dam, responsible for the farm's you the controls this morning, I formed the impression you had first black-type winner in 2007, delivered this filly in the middle the ability to kill us both." of a snowstorm. Sold as a foal, My Snowdrop returned to the As a student in Dublin, Leadon wrote to Twink Allen in ring as a yearling with a reputation as something of a lunatic. Newmarket and was invited for a six-month project exploring "But when she heard Mariann's voice, she came over and put prostaglandin as a means to control the breeding cycle of mares. her head in her arms," Leadon says. "After that, she wasn't going anywhere but home. I must say she was extraordinarily difficult Cont. p3 TDN EUROPE/INTERNATIONAL • PAGE 3 OF 11 • THETDN.COM WEDNESDAY • 18 JULY 2018 Leadon A True Renaissance Man Cont. Needless to say, Leadon was also riding out--for John Winter, who had a filly named Double Finesse (GB) in his yard at the time. Later noted as dam of Mr Brooks (GB) (Blazing Saddles {Aus}), she was owned by another legend among Newmarket veterinarians, Peter Rossdale. And though Leadon did return to Ireland once qualified, doing a stint in practice and a thesis back at Trinity College on heritability of heart size, he returned for 3 1/2 years with Rossdale. "Peter was the oracle," Leadon says. Vice President, International Operations "And still is. He would challenge you, not teach you, and see Gary King how you progressed." Twitter: @garykingTDN In the case of Leadon, the progress would be giddy. A [email protected] Fellowship of the RCVS, for research into equine prematurity. In + 1.732.320.0975 1984, appointment to the inaugural team at the Irish Equine International Editor Centre, as head of clinical pathology; he is still there today, as Kelsey Riley consultant clinician. And, in the interim, an alphabet soup in the Twitter: @kelseynrileyTDN service of profession and industry alike. A cursory ample: [email protected] veterinary advisor and now vice-chairman of the ITBA; president of the British Equine Veterinary Association; and respectively European Editor president and international director of the global and American Emma Berry equivalents. Twitter: @collingsberry Difficult, then, to convey more than a fragment of his wisdom [email protected] on a panoply of vital challenges. Leadon was, for instance, a Associate International Editor natural choice as one of the envoys sent by the Irish industry to Heather Anderson Brussels this spring, in the hope of unravelling something of the Twitter: @HLAndersonTDN Brexit tangle. "It's a huge challenge to this island," he stresses. "The UK Marketing Manager represents our land bridge to Europe, and more than 2,000 Alayna Cullen mares come here from continental Europe, using that bridge, Twitter: @AlaynaCullen every year. That landline has got to remain open. Because the [email protected] knock-on effects would go far beyond the TPA [the tripartite Contributing Editor agreement].@ Cont. p4 Alan Carasso Twitter: @EquinealTDN Cafe Racing Sean Cronin Tom Frary [email protected] Irish Correspondent Daithi Harvey Regular Columnists Andrew Caulfield John Berry Kevin Blake Tom Peacock A foal sunbathes at Swordlestown Little | Racing Post TDN EUROPE/INTERNATIONAL • PAGE 4 OF 11 • THETDN.COM WEDNESDAY • 18 JULY 2018 Leadon A True Renaissance Man Cont.