I PARKED next to Finny Maguire on Sunday at the Dublin Racing Festival, and should have taken it as a good omen. The young man’s father and my brother rode together and were great friends back in the day, and he gave me the impression that his mount in the bumper, Moonverrin for Martin Hassett, was not without a chance.

Having found a €10 note under the cushions of the sofa a day earlier, the decision was made to spend it on a lotto ticket. How much better it would have been to put it on Moonverrin, a winner, if a tad lucky to do so, at 20/1. Finny mentioned to my niece Jenny, as we queued to go into the races, that he would not be at the meeting on Monday, as he was booked to ride for Harry Derham at Kempton. I noted the fact, and parked it.

Imagine how I felt when I checked the results from Kempton late on Monday night, only to find that his mount, the five-year-old gelding Lover Desbois (Beaumec De Houelle), had run out a commanding bumper winner by almost four lengths in a field of 14, justifying favouritism on his second start. I see that the gelding has an entry at Newbury, where he made his debut in what turned out to be a hot bumper, and this is on March 21st in the valuable Goffs Hundred Grand Bumper.

In spite of some reports that this was the rider’s first winner in Britain, in fact that came in the China Southern Sanya Amateurs’ Derby at Epsom on the Peter Chapple-Hyam-trained Medalla De Oro on August 27th, 2018.

Gerry Hogan

Back to the Kempton winner. Bred by Guittet-Desbois Farm in France, Lover Desbois was sold to Gerry Hogan Bloodstock (a name that keeps cropping up and associated with good value winners) as a foal at Arqana for €25,000. There was not a lot of profit when he sold on at the Goffs UK Spring Store Sale from Galbertstown Stables for £45,000. This was after he was led out unsold in the ring at £50,000, after which Ed Bailey and Harry Derham negotiated a private sale.

Lover Desbois is the second foal out of Rose Hever (Doctor Dino), and the less said about the first, the better. Rose Hever only raced seven times, and she was victorious four times. Three of her wins were over hurdles, and her final run, her only time over fences, also resulted in success. Rose Hever’s five foals to date have all been colts, and she has some well-bred youngsters yet to represent her.

This is a flat female line that suddenly found itself going down the National Hunt route. This was thanks to Rose Hever’s unraced dam Hever Rose (Dashing Blade). She was a full-sister to a pair of listed-placed multiple winners in France and Germany, but all of Hever Rose’s three winners gained their success over jumps in France.

High hopes

Hopes were high that the former Haras de Montaigu great, the champion sire Martaline (Linamix), would be successfully followed by his Grade 1 winning hurdle son Beaumec De Houelle. He joined his sire in 2019, and his first crop are six-year-olds. Former Auteuil champion, and already sire of several blacktype jumpers, Beaumec De Houelle is standing at €5,000 in 2026.

Trained by Arnaud Chaillé-Chaillé, bred by the late Franck Leblanc, and carrying the colours of JDG Bloodstock Services for five of his six starts, Beaumec De Houelle managed to win five times, all at Auteuil, including the Grade 1 Prix Cambacérès Hurdle for three-year-olds, the Grade 2 Prix Georges de Talhouët Roy Hurdle, the Listed Prix Le Parisian Stanley Hurdle and the Listed Prix Robert Lejeune Hurdle. His only defeat came in the Grade 3 Prix Aguado Hurdle in which he finished third.

Beaumec De Houelle is the best runner out of Zandalee (Trempolino), a four-time winner over jumps and a blacktype performer at Auteuil where she placed in a couple of listed races, the Prix Sagan Hurdle and the Prix d’Iena Hurdle. She is also grandam of the German champion three-year-old Sisfahan (Isfahan), winner of the Group 1 Deutsches Derby at Hamburg in 2021. This is also the immediate family of Crambo (Saddler Maker), successful in the 2023 Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot.

Popularity

In addition to his popularity in the sales ring, Beaumec De Houelle is getting a steady number of blacktype performers, though most have been hitting the crossbar. Three of his 16 sons and daughters who have blacktype have won such a race. His winners are Mamisuz De Houelle in the 2024 Grade 2 Prix Magalen Bryant Hurdle at Auteuil, Lovely Guy who has won two listed hurdle races at Pau and a listed chase at Compiegne, and the Naas listed hurdle winner Letos.

His blacktype-placed performers include Grade 1 runner-up Bellodam (in Italy), La Pinsonniere who was second in a Grade 2 mares’ hurdle at Newbury, and the Grade 2-placed duo Melisse Du Mathon and La Marquise, the latter earning it in the Aintree Mares Bumper.

Those placed in Grade 3 races are Polo Et Marie, Willy De Houelle in a juvenile hurdle at Fairyhouse, and Lord Blagny.