FOR four of the last five seasons, Affinisea (Sea The Stars) has held the distinction of being the busiest stallion at stud in Ireland and Britain. He will cover this season, at Whytemount Stud, at €7,000, and he would appear to be worth every cent of that fee.

Getting his first Grade 1 winner from his first crop when Affordale Fury won the Christmas Chase at Leopardstown, Affinisea has quickly doubled that thanks to Sixmilebridge, a member of his second crop. This seven-year-old won the Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown on Saturday.

In spite of the late Ronnie O’Neill establishing a fine reputation for spotting sire talent, the well-bred Affinisea covered an average of around 110 mares in his first two seasons at stud. This was not an insignificant number, but is should also be remembered that his fee those years was about €1,500. Great reports of those first foals lead to a huge upswing for his third and fourth seasons, when he averaged about 200 mares, but for the most recent five seasons he has upped the ante to an average of 320 mares.

Support from breeders is one thing, but that needs to be translated into success on the track, and profit in the sales ring. On both fronts, Affinisea is hitting the mark, and in addition to his two Grade 1-winning geldings, he has three blacktype-winning mares. They include Grade 2 winners Hollygrove Cha Cha (over hurdles) and his first blacktype winner, Only By Night (over fences). The latter mare also won a listed bumper, as did Avakate who went on to win a major hurdle race at Colonial Downs in the USA.

Astute judge

Sixmilebridge was bred by Barbara Hanna and sold through Fiona McStay’s Moygannon Stud as a foal for a mere €2,000 at the Goffs December Sale. The astute judge Peter Nolan signed the purchase slip, and catalogued the gelding as a three-year-old, but he failed to appear in the ring.

After two runs in point-to-points, unseating his rider at the first on his debut, and running second next time out, Sixmilebridge was sent to the Goffs Aintree Sale where Ben Pauling and Highflyer Bloodstock paid £100,000 for the then four-year-old.

Winning a bumper at Sandown first time out for Pauling and his owner, The Megsons, Sixmilebridge tackled the Grade 1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper at Cheltenham, but was a huge disappointment. Wind surgery and a change of trainer followed, joining Fergal O’Brien, and Sixmilebridge made five starts over hurdles, first past the post on three occasions. They included a Grade 2 hurdle at Cheltenham, but he lost that race following the finding of a banned substance.

Rocky start

After a somewhat rocky start to his career, this season Sixmilebridge has had his attention turned to chasing, and is unbeaten in three outings. Many will point to the fact that he has only faced seven rivals in those races, and benefitted from the early departure of Kitzbuhel on Saturday, but he could do no more than win this race, and Cheltenham will establish his place in the novice chaser rankings.

Moygannon Stud was listed as the purchaser of Sixmilebridge’s grandam Zayniya (Machiavellian) as an unraced three-year-old 21 years ago. She had an attractive pedigree, was bought to breed flat runners, but things did not go to plan. Zayniya had three foals, two runners and one winner, Zwiastun (Alhaarth), a three-time scorer in Poland. Her only daughter was Luck Or Logic (Haatef) and she never faced the starter.

Luck Or Logic had just three foals, a filly who was never named, Sixmilebridge, and a full-brother to the Grade 1 winner who showed nothing in two point-to-point starts.

Fillies make their mark at Leopardstown

BRIGHTERDAYSAHEAD (Kapgarde) stole the show on what transpired to be the first day of the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown, gaining her tenth win in 14 starts, and recording her fourth top-flight success. This win pushed her winnings past the £500,000 mark. This €310,000 Derby Sale graduate from John Bleahen’s Lakefield Farm is worth her weight in gold, and has been reviewed on these pages many times.

Restricted to their sex, the opening and closing races on the same card were won by Cousin Kate (Maxios) and Moonverrin (Well Chosen), both with stories to tell. Last year Hugh Mulryan’s sudden death caused great sorrow, and there was a poignancy to the victory of Cousin Kate in the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Paddy and Maureen Mullins Mares Hurdle. The winner races for Hugh’s father Liam, and was purchased by the young man at the 2024 Goffs Arkle Sale for €50,000.

Bred by the former Irish international soccer player Kevin Doyle, Cousin Kate is the third blacktype winner for her dam, all three of them being fillies. This fantastic achievement is all the more remarkable as they are the first three offspring of the Grade 1 winner Augusta Kate (Yeats). That mare has two sons by Crystal Ocean (Sea The Stars), a three and two-year-old, and a yearling filly by Jeu St Eloi (Saint Des Saints). Last year Augusta Kate was covered by Poet’s Word (Poet’s Voice)

Doyle bought Augusta Kate, carrying the Cheltenham listed bumper winner Baby Kate (Champs Elysees), for €85,000. He leased Baby Kate but sold Amen Kate to Bryan Cooper at the 2023 Derby Sale for €75,000. She won a listed hurdle at Thurles late last year and is thought to be Cheltenham-bound. The Leopardstown winner is Augusta Kate’s third foal.

Fine career

Augusta Kate enjoyed a fine racing career. She won five times, two of her three bumper successes were in listed races, while her pair of hurdle wins included victory in the Grade 1 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse. This is a family in which fillies and mares do well. Augusta Kate has bettered the next three dams who all bred a blacktype winner each. She is out of Feathard Lady (Accordion), an IR900gns foal who was never beaten, her seventh and final victory coming in the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle at Sandown.

Moonverrin, owned and bred by Ned Morris, was a fortunate winner of the Coolmore-sponsored mares’ bumper, but when her time comes to be a broodmare, the catalogue page will simply say that she is a Grade 2 winner. She is blacktype winner number 11 for her veteran, but still active, sire Well Chosen (Sadler’s Wells), and one of just two fillies in that group.

With this important win, Moonverrin is listed first among the four winners out of Belsalsa (Kingsalsa) when you look at the pedigree page. However, her siblings include Mulcahys Hill (Brian Boru), and he put in a career-best performance when beaten a short-head in the Grade 1 Challow Novices’ Hurdle at Newbury. Belsalsa has been keeping regular company with Well Chosen over the years, and has a four-year-old full-sister to Moonverrin, along with a two-year-old daughter of another Kedrah House Stud sire, Rich History (Dubawi).