Eight colts, the progeny of racehorse Sadler's Wells and collectively valued at between €4 million and €6 million have been attacked as they awaited this week's sales of yearlings at Goffs in Co Kildare.
The attacks, in which the colts were not hurt but were disfigured by having their tails shaved and parts of their manes cut, took place on two separate occasions at the weekend.
It is understood the first attack happened on Friday night or the early hours of Saturday morning and involved just one colt. The attacker or attackers returned on Saturday night or early Sunday morning, and shaved and clipped a further seven colts.
According to witnesses at Goffs the tails were shaved deliberately close to the bone, while the manes were hackled unevenly in what appeared a deliberate attempt to make the horses look disfigured.
Investigating gardaí based in Naas have not ruled out a grudge as a possible motive, although sources say a puzzling aspect of the attack is that the horses are the property of a number of separate owners. The only common thread appears to be the colts' sire, the stallion Sadler's Wells.
Other yearlings at Goffs were unharmed.
Sadler's Wells is currently standing at stud at Coolmore in Co Tipperary, where his owner can command fees in the region of €200,000 plus.
Last night security staff at Coolmore said the management of the stud was "away at the sales" and said questions would be handled by a public relations company, this morning.
Sources indicated that whoever was responsible was likely to have a good knowledge of working with yearlings as they can be quite high-spirited.
Gardaí are concerned by how those responsible apparently managed to return to the Goffs stables on Saturday night or the early hours of Sunday morning, after an attack had already been carried out on one colt on Friday night/Saturday morning.
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