When the McCalmont family’s Norelands Stud bought a 5-year-old mare Gaelic’s story (Giant’s Causeway) for $120,000 through BBA Ireland last week in Keeneland in January, it has reverted to a Group 1 family it has played a role in growing.
Harry McCalmont now runs Norelands, which adjoins Ballylinch Stud and was established in 1912 largely as a base for mares visiting Ballylinch’s famous The Tetrarch stallion. Harry McCalmont’s father, Major Victor McCalmont, purchased Gaelic Tales’ seventh dam, Agars Plow (Ire) (Combat {GB}), as a foal in 1952.
McCalmont said: “Agars Plow won the Irish Oaks about a week after I was born, so long ago in 1955. “One of her daughters was Mesopotamia (Ire) (Zarathustra). {GB}), who won the 2nd division championship in England and Ireland and won Chesham by about 12 lengths. She is the sixth dam of Gaelic Tales. ”
Mesopotamia would go on to be an influential producer, and among her descendants raised in the Norelands was the Dane (Ire), a great-granddaughter of Mesopotamia. The Dane was kept by the McCalmont family and broke her maidenhood and was shortlisted at Leopardstown at level two for coach Michael Kauntze shortly after Victor McCalmont’s death in 1993. The Danes took part. joined John Hammond in France in a 3-year campaign in which she won the listings and finished third in the G3 Prix de la Nonette before shipping to the US for the G1 Queens Cup Elizabeth II at Keeneland. Denmark was purchased by Sheikh Mohammed for $1.55 million at Keeneland in November 1996 on a pony in Gone West.
The best Danish-made horse for Sheikh Mohammed was the third Blixen of the Listed Flame Of Tara S. (Gone West), the horse that later became the dam of the G1 World Cup champions Dubai Africa Story ( GB) (Pivotal {GB}) by Godolphin. Blixen also captured the winning horse in the Storybook (UAE), which happened to be the son of Halling, the great-grandson of Mesopotamia. By the time Storybook retreated to the parking lot, she had been sold to War frontJoe Allen’s owner. Storybook is the dam of three stake horses as well as Gaelic Tales, who was sold to Phoenix Thoroughbreds for $100,000 in Keeneland in September 2018. Gaelic Tales has failed to find a winner’s siege for 10 times. started, but has been booked six times. She retired early March 2021 and was covered by Coolmore’s first season Classic winning male Tiz Law (Organization).
Meanwhile, the McCalmont family is on the hunt to restore Mesopotamia’s line to their fields. They even succeeded once, finding a mare in Arqana a few years ago, but she died in a boating accident shortly after returning home.
“My father had a lot of families,” says McCalmont. “After he died, we had a few left in the family and for one reason or another we lost them – they died or were sold. I’ve been trying to get back to that family for several years and really can’t. ”
Hope was rekindled when McCalmont’s son Hamish was flipping through Keeneland’s January catalog and landed in Gaelic Tales.
“Neither of us were in Keeneland, so I asked Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland to come see her,” McCalmont said. “He really liked her, said she was a beautiful mare, so we bought her. So let’s hope all goes well. ”
McCalmont said Gaelic Tales will likely be a foal in Kentucky and bred there before moving back to Ireland.
“She is in the pony to Tiz Law, who might actually be a backward American male,” he said. “So we would probably take her down to Kentucky and then cover her with something that would be more in line with the European scheme, because it’s a very European family. Then we will probably bring her back to Ireland later this year when she comes back with the pony.”
As she embarks on her parenting career, Gaelic Tales certainly has stellar precedent in her pedigree. The legacy of the Mesopotamia hybrid Norelands is still growing to this day, and there are Group 1 winners and champions in Great Britain, Ireland, France, New Zealand and the United States, including 1973 Irish champion Welsh Garden ( Ire); 1990 G1 Middle Park winner S. Balla Cove (Ire); 1995 G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest and G1 Sprint Cup winner Cherokee Rose (Ire); the aforementioned Juddmonte International and Coral-Eclipse winner Halling and World Cup winner Dubai Africa Story; G1 Irish 1000 Guineas Just The Judge Winner; Guineas winner 2020 G1 2000 Kameko, and many more.
