Owner-breeder Michael Foley, who has nurtured the pedigree of Rockingham hero Genesis for 40 years now, shares what success in the valuable handicap meansBlazing a trail in Sunday's Rockingham at the Curragh, the Mick Mulvany-trained Genesis (Prince Of Lir) provided Michael Foley, one of the last remaining Corinthian owner-breeders left in Ireland, with by far his biggest day in the sun.That €100,000 Irish Derby day victory came exactly 40 years after Foley was first introduced to the pedigree after his father purchased the foundation mare Frivolity, who hailed from the same family as Classic winner Pidget. That transaction came the same year as Michael married his wife Ruth, meaning Sunday's big-race victory with Genesis, the fifth generation the County Carlow-based farmers have nurtured, proved a timely anniversary present for the pair. “It was our 40th wedding anniversary this year and we have been breeding ever since we got married,” Michael commented. “We're just normal country people who have a passion for breeding and racing. We really enjoyed Sunday. We appreciated it also. There are people there who win races every day of the week who probably wouldn't bat an eyelid if they won the Rockingham. That's just the way racing has gone. We're only trying to pick up crumbs from off the table but got a slice of cake on Sunday and sure we were only delighted to get it!”Success in the Rockingham was masterminded by Mulvany, who is enjoying one of his best-ever seasons with nine winners on the board already. Sunday's win in one of the oldest and most prestigious handicaps in the Irish racing calendar also means that Mulvany is well on course to smash his best-ever prize-money haul given he has now amassed €281,798 this term. Mulvany rightly deserves the plaudits but another man, Foley's close friend and neighbor, Joe Foley, has been an instrumental figure in the Genesis success story given the pedigree has been largely influenced by Ballyhane Stud stallions.Foley, who is no relation to the stallion master, said, “We've bred from reasonably-priced stallions the whole way through. Joe Foley is a good friend and neighbor so we've always supported him. But we've been operating at the bottom end of the Flat market, I suppose, and have had good luck through the years. My Dad bought a mare called Frivolity, who was by Varano and out of a half-sister to Pidget, who won the Irish 1,000 Guineas and the Irish St Leger. I can remember my father telling me that there was blue blood in the pedigree, that it was a great pedigree, so we've been breeding from that line for 40 years now. In fact, one of Frivolity's first foals was a horse called Bagenalstown Boy, and he won a few races for Jim Bolger. The poor chap who used to ride him in his races was John Hayes, and unfortunately he only died a few weeks ago. John worked all of his life with Jim Bolger and he won three races aboard Bagenalstown Boy. That was the first winner I ever bred and thankfully we've enjoyed plenty of winners out of the family ever since.”He added, “We actually have a National Hunt side of the family as well as a Flat side. On the Flat side, we went to one of Joe's stallions, Darnay, and we got a mare called Lesoto Diamond, who won a 1m6f maiden at Leopardstown. We retired her and bred from her and we got only one surviving progeny, which was Diamond Rio, who produced Genesis. Diamond Rio was by Captain Rio, another Ballyhane Stud stallion, and she also bred a good horse called Dandy Warhol (Dandy Man), who we sold to America. We've a couple of nice horses coming along out of that mare. We've a two-year-old by Elzaam, a yearling and a foal by Sands Of Mali and she is in foal to Sakheer, who is the new horse down there in Ballyhane. Myself and Joe go back years. Sure our local is The Lord Bagenal, which is better known as being Willie Mullins's pub, and of course we popped in and met Joe after the Rockingham on our way home on Sunday. We didn't stay too late, though!”It is through Foley's late father Desmond, and his grandfather Michael, who was also involved in the running of Gowran Park racecourse before the 1900s, that Foley's love for the thoroughbred stems from. The smaller owner-breeders are few and far between these days and Foley's big-race success very much represented something of a blast from the past.“There's plenty of history there,” he explains of his unwavering love for the breeding game. “We've had horses in the family down through the years and even had horses here on the farm ourselves. We have our own yard and employed a trainer in the past. In the end, it didn't really work out, so we decided to send them off to Mick Mulvany. We actually had three horses out of the one mare with Mick at one point. It's not a cheap game and the good horses help pay for it all. We've been lucky enough to sell a horse nearly every year. Without that, you'd be out on the road. I got to know Mick through a fellow breeder and friend of mine called Frank McNulty. He had horses with Mick and he recommended him highly and sure Mick is having a great year so it has all worked out brilliantly.”He concluded, “Mick dropped the horse to five furlongs in the Rockingham and, to be honest, I was kind of against him doing that. But Mick told me 'this horse has speed' and he was right. Sometimes you take a chance and it works out. We put the cheekpieces on him and that helped too. He's as genuine as they come but he doesn't like getting bullied or intimidated so it worked out great with him getting out and making most of the running on Sunday. We'll have to keep him over five and six furlongs now and the plan is to go for the Scurry Handicap on Irish Oaks weekend. He's a proper sprinter.”The post ‘We’re Only Looking For Crumbs Off The Table But On Sunday We Got A Slice Of Cake!’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.