THIS year’s Galway Festival had many memorable moments, but none to rival that of young Dan King bridging a very long gap back to when the same rider was aboard the winners of both the Galway Plate and Hurdle in the one year. The modesty displayed after each success further endeared him to many, and he is certainly a man to watch for the future.

Both victories came on Irish-bred winners, and each had some Galway connection. The Hurdle winner was bred locally by owner Ray Grehan at his Whitefriar Stud, while the Plate winner King Alexander’s dam, Pale Face (High Chaparral), was purchased by Margaret Joyce of Cahermorris Stables as a foal at Goffs, but sold at a loss when she was reoffered at the next year’s Orby Sale.

Pale Face cost Glen Devlin just €5,000 as a yearling but she didn’t race until the age of four. Trained by Dessie Hughes, she made six starts over hurdles that year, and while credited as having been placed three times, she was never better than fourth in any of her starts in maiden hurdles.

At stud she had just five foals, the last of which, a five-year-old son of Poet’s Word (Poet’s Voice), has not been named. The others all raced. While her first offspring placed a few times in point-to-points, he is the only runner she had that didn’t win.

Cool Survivor (Westerner) was her second born, and he sold as a foal through Emily MacMahon’s Lambertstown Stud for €15,000 at Tattersalls Ireland to Pat Fenlon’s Brandon View Stud. Monbeg Stables’ Cormac Doyle sent him out to win a point-to-point at the first time of asking in Cork, after which he sold for £175,000 to Gordon Elliott on behalf of Gigginstown House. Cool Survivor had talent, but failed to build on two wins over hurdles, one a listed contest, and he died after his final start, pulled up in the Irish Grand National. He once started joint favourite for the Martin Pipe Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

King Alexander, a son of former Boardsmill Stud stallion Mount Nelson (Rock Of Gibraltar), was next for Pale Face, and his Galway Plate triumph was his first in a blacktype race. He too was sold from Lambertstown Stud by his breeder, the Monaghan-based veterinary surgeon John Finlay, this time for €14,000, and resold from Billy Fogarty’s Arglo House Stud at the Goffs Land Rover Sale for a profitable €60,000 to Kevin Ross Bloodstock. Originally listed as being in training with Harry Fry, King Alexander moved to Nicky Henderson before he made his first start.

Winning debut

That run was a winning debut, in a Warwick bumper, and he was immediately sent over hurdles. He placed second twice, had wind surgery, and promptly won three of his next four starts, falling at the last when challenging on the other occasion. Afte two more unplaced runs, King Alexander moved across the Irish Sea to Closutton, and in January 2025 made a winning start for Willie Mullins over hurdles at Fairyhouse.

King Alexander had his attention turned to chasing last season, placed a few times before winning at Gowran Park, and ran well to finish fourth at Cheltenham in the Grade 2 Golden Miller Chase. He disappointed afterwards at Punchestown, but put in a career best performance to land the Galway Plate for his absent owner, John Neocleous.

At Limerick in February, Paul Gilligan sent the seven-year-old Survivors Sister (Mount Nelson), an own-sister to King Alexander, out to win a handicap hurdle at Limerick. While she may not be as talented as her year-older full-brother, she is now a most attractive breeding prospect, regardless of what else she does on the racecourse. There are not many wining siblings to two blacktype National Hunt winners about.

Back story

I mentioned earlier that John Finlay bred the Galway Plate winner, but he had a most interesting tale to relate about how he acquired the dam, Pale Face. He pointed out that he breeds thoroughbreds with a couple of others in his veterinary practice, though he is best known for his involvement in the sport horse sector, breeding show jumpers. Still on a high after the Galway Plate win, he told me the back story.

“I went to the Castleblaney sales one Saturday to sell a Connemara pony, and I saw this animal being led about, not in the greatest of condition, and I enquired about her. The man told me she was a thoroughbred by High Chaparral, a sire who stood for €30,000 at Coolmore and whom I liked. I could hardly believe it and I bought her for €360. Other than her sire, I didn’t know anything about her pedigree.

“We ended up having some success with her offspring, selling them all as foals at Tattersalls Ireland. We did very well with the last one, a Poet’s Word, and he sold to Kevin Ross and Chris Jones, and they later resold him. Sadly, we lost the mare and her foal, another Poet’s Word, the following year, and now we have none of the family. That’s so often the way with horses, but we enjoyed the win and the journey. We sold her two blacktype winners through Emily MacMahon.”

Smart runners

This is a family that for the last half a century has shown itself capable of producing smart runners under both codes. King Alexander’s fifth dam, the American-bred Out Ruled (Court Ruling), was a stakes winner there, She bred a stakes winner on the flat, while her son Green Highlander (Green Dancer), was also a stakes winner, but he did so over hurdles. Their half-sister Obertura (Roberto) made her way to England, won her first three starts at three for Guy Harwood, and went to stud after being unplaced on her only other run, in a Group 3.

Obertura, King Alexander’s fourth dam, had seven winners, the best of which was the multiple US stakes winner Berillon (Rousillon). However, she had two others who are worth highlighting. Josh Gifford managed to get Burn Out (Last Tycoon) to win one of his 24 starts, but it was in the Grade 2 Martell Champion National Hunt Flat Race at Aintree. His half-sister Doubles (Damister) was owned and bred by Juddmonte’s Khalid Abdullah. She won six races, one in England and five in France, and placed in a listed contest at Bordeaux. Doubles is King Alexander’s third dam.

Both codes

The family has enjoyed success under both codes more recently, and the grandam of this year’s Galway Plate hero is Trebles (Kenmare). She carried the Juddmonte silks to a win in France before selling to Rathasker Stud, and went on to have four winners, the best of which is the German Group 2 winner Sehrezad (Titus Livius).

What a loss Mount Nelson was at the age of 15. He was such a versatile sire, getting a star such as Penhill over jumps, while his Group 1 winners on the flat include the leading sprinter Librisa Breeeze. In addition, he is the broodmare sire of last season’s Grade 2 National Hunt winner and Grade 1-placed Alexei (Tai Chi). At two, Mount Nelson won the Group 1 Criterium International at Saint-Cloud, and bounced back to his best at four when he won the Group 1 Coral Eclipse Stakes.