THE first division of the Goffs Punchestown Four-Year-Old Maiden at Quakerstown last April was won by the J.P. McManus-owned Harry Lowes, trained and ridden by Derek O’Connor. That son of Walk In The Park (Montjeu) beat another by the Grange Stud sire, Mighty Park, with the rest 10 lengths and more in arrears.
The winner has since won for Dan Skelton, though he was disappointing on his two most recent outings. That said, J.P. was suitably impressed after his win between the flags that he purchased Mighty Park from Donnchadh Doyle, and the Monbeg Stables man had himself bought the gelding at the 2024 Derby Sale for €105,000. Mighty Park was sold through Luke Barry’s Manister House Stud.
While one can but surmise about what J.P. paid for Mighty Park, he will have been pleased with the five-year-old’s first start in his colours, running out a facile winner by 38 lengths of a two-mile maiden hurdle at Fairyhouse, the fourth year in a row that Willie Mullins has saddled the winner. The runner-up, at a distance, was a smart sort in France, and the rest of the field of 16 were strung out – the sixth horse home finishing nearly 80 lengths behind the winner. It is certainly not rocket science to name Mighty Park as a horse to watch.
Fifth winner
John O’Brien in Co Limerick bred the winner, and this is a family that really came to life under his care. Mighty Park is the fifth winner for his point-to-point winning dam Knotted Midge (Presenting), who had originally raced for J.P. McManus after her sale for €18,000 at the Goffs Land Rover Sale 22 years ago. She won as a six-year-old by 30 lengths in the hands of no less a magical pilot than JT McNamara. Knotted Midge made a super start at stud, her first two foals winning Grade 1 races.
Both Grade 1 winners were trained by Nicky Henderson, and the first of them was Beat That (Milan). He accounted for Cole Harden and Don Poli to land Grade 1 races at Aintree and Punchestown. Those victories came in the Sefton Novices’ Hurdle at Liverpool and the Irish Daily Mirror Novice Hurdle in Ireland. As a 10-year-old he regained winning ways, after a more than four-year barren period, and won three chases, ending his career with a success at Warwick.
Beat That was followed by Might Bite, a son of Scorpion (Montjeu), and bred on the same line as Mighty Park. He made a brilliant start to his career and won 10 of his first 16 starts. He added the Grade 1 Betway Mildmay Novices’ Chase at Aintree to his victory the previous month in the Grade 1 RSA Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham, and then rounded out that year with a win in the Grade 1 King George VI Chase at Kempton.
Winning ways
Runner-up to Native River when starting favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Might Bite was back to winning ways when slamming Bristol De Mai by seven lengths at Aintree in the Grade 1 Betway Bowl. Sadly, he was never the same horse again after that, even after wind surgery. There have been two other winners for Knotted Midge since then, hurdle and chase winner Bite That (Milan) and point-to-point and hurdle winner Love Bite (Milan).
Knotted Midge is a full-sister to Drombeag (Presenting) who won the Christies Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham for Enda Bolger, so the family has two Cheltenham Festival winners in the most recent generations. Could there be a third in due course? Drombeag and Knotted Midge are out of the unraced Bula Beag (Brush Aside) and she also bred graded-placed chaser Dushybeag (Dushyantor).
Bula Beag is a half-sister to the bumper, hurdle and point-to-point winner Bula Vogue (Phardante) and at stud she is dam of the Grade 2 Cork-winning chaser Jamies Choice (Flemensfirth), and grandam of the Limerick Grade 2 chase winner Spyglass Hill (Morozov).
NAVAN’S concluding bumper at the weekend has been a happy hunting ground for Gordon Elliott, and his choice for the race this time was Low Kick (Montmartre). who now sports the colours of Gigginstown House Stud. He was purchased at last May’s Goffs UK Spring Sale by Mags O’Toole for £170,000, and this was after he placed in a point-to-point and an Aintree bumper for Wetherby-based Jack Teal.
On his Irish debut, Low Kick faced his biggest challenge from another runner in the Gigginstown silks, The Irish Avatar (Poet’s Word). This exceptionally good-looking gelding was bred by Louis Kennedy at Mountain View Stud in Tipperary, and first came to attention when he sold as a foal to Joey Logan for €85,000 at Tattersalls Ireland. Reoffered at the Derby Sale, he left no profit, in spite of selling to Colin Bowe for €100,000. Despite finding one too good for him on his sole run between the flags, The Irish Avatar sold to Harold Kirk for £200,000 last year at Tattersalls Cheltenham.
He cost £30,000 more than the runner-up at Navan, and put nine lengths between himself and the second. Now, The Irish Avatar is being spoken of as a Weatherbys Champion Bumper hopeful at Cheltenham, and maybe he can at least go on to be as good as his dam, who carried the Gigginstown House colours herself to five of her six wins.
Ironically, Dinaria Des Obeaux (Saddler Maker) was trained by Gordon Elliott, and she was sold by Michael O’Leary carrying You Did (Mount Nelson) for €42,000 at Goffs to White Bloodstock.
Good start
You Did got his dam off to a good start last year when he twice won over hurdles, and now The Irish Avatar has made it two winners from two runners and two foals for Dinaria Des Obeaux. Her third offspring is a full-brother to The Irish Avatar, a €75,000 foal who was bought at the Derby Sale in June by Aiden Murphy. There is also a two-year-old full-brother, a €33,000 foal, and Dinaria Des Obeaux’s 2025 filly foal sold to Gerry Hogan in December for €52,000.
That filly was the best of her sex sold on the opening day of the Goffs December National Hunt Sale. Among Dinaria Des Obeaux’s six victories, one of them in France, were wins in a Thurles Grade 2 novice chase for mares, and the Grade 3 Winning Fair Juvenile Hurdle at Fairyhouse. She placed in a Grade 1 juvenile hurdle at Leopardstown.
Gerry Hogan was clear about the Jukebox Jury’s attraction. “It’s all about the sire. She’s a lovely filly, a great mover, and is bought for resale down the line. She is for a chap who likes to buy a few fillies each year, and she is particularly nice. I really liked her. She has a good pedigree and a great action. She has a lot of potential. Jukebox Jury fillies speak for themselves!”
While Jukebox Jury certainly played his part, it is clear that Dinaria Des Obeaux is making her mark as a broodmare. While she has a French female line, it is not wall to wall blacktype. Indeed, she is the only runner in five generations to earn any, and she is the only winner out of Indiana Jaune (Le Nain Jaune), herself a six-time winner over jumps in France.