THERE was a sad postscript to the result of this year’s Tote Galway Hurdle.

The winner, Western Fold, was bred by Martin Dibbs, the man also responsible for the Grand National winner Comply Or Die.

Based at Clinton House Stud, Mullingar, Martin died on July 1st, 2024, in his early eighties. How proud he would have been to witness this latest big race success for a horse he bred. Martin sold Western Fold at the Tattersalls Ireland February Sale in 2020, as a newly-turned yearling, for €17,000 to Peter Nolan Bloodstock, and there was quite a profit made when the gelding was resold at the Goffs Land Rover Sale to Bobby O’Ryan and Gordon Elliott for €82,000.

Placed in a couple of bumpers, and twice successful over hurdles, once at two miles and later over three, Western Gold has now got the hang of jumping fences, and has won three chases in quick succession. He warmed up for his biggest career win with victory in the Listed Mayo Grand National Chase at Ballinrobe, and it will be no surprise if he continues to improve.

With the fashion now being so much for a French-bred horse, it is a tonic to see a horse like Western Fold emerge. He has what could be described as an old-fashioned National Hunt pedigree, with his first four dams all being by well-known jumping stallions. The four are Fieldtown (Anshan), Annie’s Alkali (Strong Gale), Lady’s Wager (Girandole) and Queen’s Wager (Even Money).

Ironically, the only other blacktype winner in those four generations appears under the third dam, and he was Katnap (Sleeping Car), a gelding bred in France out of Kittygale (Strong Gale), a full-sister to Western Fold’s grandam. Furthermore, that dual winning chaser was then sent to America and it was there that he gained his blacktype victory, in the Listed Steeplethon Chase at Great Meadow.

Done well

Western Fold’s dam Fieldtown did not race, but she has done well at stud, and particularly with her visits to Westerner (Danehill). When Western Fold sold as a store in 2022, he was a half-brother to a four-time chase winner Spring Steel (Dushyantor), and a full-brother to the point-to-point winning mare Westie Rose (Westerner). How that picture has changed in the three years since.

Westie Rose did not race on the track, but three other offspring of Fieldtown, all by of the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup winner Westerner, did and won: Western Fold, Pipers Boreen and Sir Apollo. The mare Pipers Boreen won over hurdles last year and fences this year, while Sir Apollo is a dual chase winner. Another daughter of Fieldtown, Fur Elise (Stowaway), placed a number of times over hurdles and fences as a five-year-old and is now at stud. They are among eight foals out of Fieldtown, only one of which did not race.

Fieldtown’s dam Annie’s Alkali placed in a bumper, and all six of her offspring who raced won, five of them on the racecourse and another between the flags. She crossed well with Presenting (Mtoto), producing the three-time winner Brotenstown and the David Pipe trained, four-time winner The Sliotar. Brotenstown was runner-up in a listed chase at Cork, and she has had success too visiting Westerner, one of her winners by the sire being the Robcour-owned, Henry de Bromhead-trained Look To The West, a Grade 3-placed hurdler behind Jade De Grugy, and a winner over fences this year.

Successful runners

A look at the successful runners in this family show that it has worked multiple times with similar crosses.

One of Fieldtown’s half-sisters, the bumper winner Anniesthyne (Good Thyne), bred the ill-fated Resolute Bay (Presenting), runner-up in a Grade 3 novice hurdle and three times successful over the smaller obstacles. Western Fold’s unraced third dam, Lady’s Wager, had three winners at stud, and the best was the multiple winner and Grade 3 runner-up Fairwood Present (Presenting).

This is not the first time that Westerner on a daughter of Anshan has produced the goods. The same cross is responsible for the Grade 1 Cheltenham Arkle Chase winner Western Warhorse, dual Grade 2-winning hurdler Maxxum, Grade B-winning chaser Castlebawn West, and Kupatana, a listed chase winner.

Shock winner bred to do what he did

QIRAT had us all bewildered after he won the Group 1 Sussex Stakes, his long odds reflecting the fact that he had won three times, twice at Goodwood admittedly, and his five placed efforts included just a runner-up finish in the Listed Robin Hood Stakes at Nottingham.

His trainer, Ralph Beckett, not a man to tilt at windmills, had always wanted to enter the four-year-old son of Showcasing (Oasis Dream) in the race. The fact that he was supplemented might have been done to give a helping hand to Field Of Gold, but he was a clear and deserving winner, given a peach of a ride by Richard Kingscote. Qirat is a fifth Group 1 winner for his Whitsbury Manor sire.

Qirat is the second Group 1 winner Beckett has trained out of the Group 1 Matron Stakes winner and placed Emulous (Dansili), another exceptional mare in the Juddmonte broodmare band. She won half of her 14 starts for Dermot Weld. Her daughter Bluestocking (Camelot) was rated the 2024 champion older mare in Europe, an easy call as she won the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh, Group 1 Prix Vermeille, and rounded off a stellar career with success in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Victory for Qirat at Goodwood was a second boost for the family within a week. Juddmonte sold Qirat’s winning half-sister Desirous (Kingman) five years ago for 220,000gns, but the mare was back at Banstead Manor Stud the following spring to visit Frankel (Galileo). The resulting filly was named Sand Gazelle, and she won at York last week, significantly taking the honours in the Listed Lyric Stakes.

There is likely to be more success for Emulous, responsible for four winners already, and they might include the three-year-old Dissident (Frankel) who has been placed this year, the unraced two-year-old Serenetta (Kingman), and a yearling filly by Frankel.

In addition, Emulous’s 10-year-old unraced daughter War And Peace (Frankel) has two group-placed daughters among her four winners to date, including €800,000 Arqana breeze-up graduate Cathedral (Too Darn Hot).

Emulous is the best of five winners for the French stakes-placed winner Aspiring Diva (Distant View), and that mare was among five stakes performers produced by the 14-time US winner Queen Of Song (His Majesty). The latter mare’s biggest win was in the Grade 2 Shuvee Handicap, two years before it was upgraded to Grade 1. Queen Of Song was purchased for $700,000 as a broodmare by Juddmonte in 1989.

Outstanding Dansili

Aspiring Diva bred three stakes winners, all by Juddmonte’s outstanding Dansili (Danehill). Her sibling First Sitting (Dansili) won a Group 3 at Deauville, but their older sister Daring Diva (Dansili) has made an impact at stud. A stakes winner in France, Daring Diva is dam of dual Irish listed winner Caponata (Selkirk) who was runner-up in the Group 2 Blandford Stakes.

As talented as she was, Caponata could not match the achievements of Brooch (Empire Maker), who won four of her eight starts, highlighted by a Group 2 success in the Ridgewood Pearl Stakes at the Curragh.

Brooch has gone on to great success at stud, responsible for Juddmonte’s Mandaloun (Into Mischief) who is now at stud in Kentucky. He earned over $2 million on the racetrack, and hails from one of the best families in the stud book. In 12 generations, only one female in his direct line did not produce a blacktype performer.

Mandaloun had an interesting race record. He contested the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby as a longshot, and came within half a length of landing the prize, going down to Medina Spirit. However, the ‘winner’ was subsequently disqualified due to doping irregularities. He also ran in the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes, going head-to-head with Hot Rod Charlie who was stood down in favour of Mandaloun due to causing interference.