WHAT a pity that Bande (Authorized) languished in Japan for years before he was sourced by Sébastien Desmontils and brought to stand in France. Bred by Kildaragh Stud, he has just turned 16, and returns to stand at Haras de la Haie Neuve this year at a fee of €3,000.

This was where Bande started his second stud career after moving to France for the 2020 season, but last year he spent the season at Haras du Mazat where he covered a respectable book of 62 mares. The change of base was in order to give mare owners in a different region access to the stallion, who covered single figure books of mares in a few seasons in Japan, but even with an almost complete lack of support there he managed to sire a pair of winners.

It is a wonder that he did not move to France earlier, given that he is a half-brother to the leading French stallion Doctor Dino (Muhtathir). The latter will stand for a second season at Haras du Mesnil for a career high of €24,000, and it is worth pointing out that he started his stud career at a fee of just €3,000. With his first French crop now five-year-olds, Bande has made a fine start with his European runners. Last year got off to the best possible start when his son Lucky Nonantais won a listed chase at Cagnes, and he has been graded-placed.

Bande won five of his dozen starts in Japan, and the highlight was a listed victory at four. The previous year he was placed in the Group 1 Kikuko Sho, the Japanese St Leger. These performances were not enough to garner a prominent place at stud, and he stood as a private stallion. Those missed years will surely be regretted given the fine start he has made in France, and he covered some 130 mares in his first season standing there.

Started well

This year has started well for Bande, and on New Year’s Day his son With Nolimit began the process of justifying the £250,000 he cost at the Goffs UK Aintree Sale last April. That was one of the three best prices on the day, given by Gordon Elliott for the point-to-point winner. Jonathan Fogarty had the gelding, whose sale history to that point was quite a rollercoaster.

Bred by Meryl Militon, With Nolimit was unsold as a foal for €28,000, unsold again as a yearling at €30,000, and finally changed hands as a two-year-old, purchased by Jerry McGrath for €30,000. Offered at the 2024 Goffs Arkle Sale, it was again a case of disappointment when he was not sold at €16,000, before ending up in the care of Fogarty. Now, on his second outing in a bumper, he has visited the winners’ enclosure at Fairyhouse on January 1st. It is clear from Elliott’s comments post-race that he sees With Nolimit as a long-term prospect, but do keep an eye out for him.

With Nolimit is the first winner for La Pampalina, a jumps winning daughter of Maresca Sorrento (Cadoudal). She is therefore bred on similar lines to her smart brother Le Beau Bai (Cadoudal), winner some years ago of the Grade 3 Welsh Grand National, a race in which he was also placed. He was a prolific winner, with two bumper wins, four successes over hurdles and six victories over fences.

Twice successful

Le Beau Bai was the best of three winners out of Dame Blonde (Pampabird), twice successful on the flat and also a winner over jumps in France. Her son Bumper (Cadoudal) appropriately won a bumper and hurdle race in England, and his full-sister Dame De Treve (Cadoudal) enjoyed success as a broodmare, with a Grade 2 chase-winning son in Roi De Treve (Martaline).

This is a French female line that has produced plenty of winners who have done well outside that country. With Nolimit’s third dam Elesbed (Amarko) is grandam of the Grade 1 French chase winner Polivalente (Poliglote). Descending from Elesbed are the likes of the Irish Grade 2 chase winners Roi Des Francs (Poliglote) and Westport Cove (Muhtathir), Grade 2 Aintree bumper winner Killyglass (Heron Island), Grade 3 Kerry National hero Spanish Harlem (Spanish Moon), and Navan listed hurdle winner Brampton Belle (Blue Bresil).

SONNY Carey ended 2025 on something of a high. He saddled The Nagger Reidy to win a handicap hurdle at Leopardstown three days after Christmas, and three days after that sent out the last Irish winner of the year when Lilannbee (Order Of St George) continued her progression, and won the bumper at Punchestown in the colours of his wife, Mary Kilduff. She owns the five-year-old mare in partnership with Kevin Cooke.

Lilannbee was bred by the Minton’s Mill House Stud and the late Niall Farrell, and she is the third winning offspring of the unraced American Creek (Califet).

That mare was acquired by David Minton’s Highflyer Bloodstock in France for €20,000 as a four-year-old. Her first winner was Mill House Creek (Great Pretender), successful in a bumper, while an even better runner is Classical Creek (Walk In The Park). He was due to run in the Grade 1 at Naas yesterday, and is a point-to-point, bumper and hurdle winner.

With a win under her belt, and her sibling Classical Creek looking to be so highly-regarded, Lilannbee is a valuable racing and breeding prospect, but hopefully she will do plenty of the former before she goes to the covering shed. She also has some tasty younger siblings in the wings, including a four-year-old half-sister by Nathaniel (Galileo) and a three-year-old son of Golden Horn (Cape Cross). The gelding was bought last summer by Joey Logan and Dan Astbury for £48,000.

Five winners

American Creek is a half-sister to five winners, two of them with blacktype. Familiar in this part of the world is Hammersly Lake (Kapgarde).

A winner in France at three, he moved to England and compiled an honest record of seven wins over fences for Nicky Henderson and Charlie Longsden, and he was runner-up in a Grade 2 at Cheltenham. He was the best runner for his dam Loin De Moi (Loup Solitaire), and among her five victories was a listed chase win.

This is a family that time and again produces high-class winners. Lilannbee’s third dam, like her grandam, was a listed chase winner. Lointaine (Lyphard’s Wish) was also successful in a listed hurdle at Auteuil, and her best offspring was Present Bleu (Epervier Bleu). His moment of glory came in Italy where he landed the Grade 1 Gran Premio Merano.

Another Grade 1 winner descending from Lointaine is Feu Follet (Kapgarde). A hugely popular runner in France, he won 14 times and his biggest success was in the Grade 1 Prix Alain du Breil du Printemps Hurdle at Auteuil. Later he was placed in the Grade 1 Grande Steeplechase de Paris. I would like to say that another of Lontaine’s descendants, her grandson Far West (Poliglote), came close to a Grade 1 win, but I cannot.

That said, he was runner-up to the brilliant, but ill-fated, Our Conor in the Triumph Hurdle, but his six wins did include a Grade 2 juvenile hurdle at Cheltenham.