ENTERING his third season at the Cashman family’s Glenview Stud, Jeu St Eloi (Saint Des Saints) has proven popular with breeders, and the stallion covered more than 350 mares in the first two years since his move from France.

His first Irish-conceived foals hit the market last year, and included fillies who sold for €85,000 and €80,000 respectively at Tattersalls Ireland and Goffs. In the summer, at the Derby Sale, Harold Kirk and Willie Mullins spent €125,000 on a three-year-old daughter of his from Clifton Farm. It comes as no surprise that his daughters should sell as well, and better, than his colts, as his best runner so far has been the dual Grade 1 juvenile hurdle winner Kargese.

February has been a good month for Jeu St Eloi, with two new blacktype winners, and Kargese going down by a neck in the Grade 1 Goffs Irish Arkle Novice Chase to Romeo Coolio. Kaline Des Boullat and Karia Des Blaises are the pair of new winners, at Auteuil and Thurles, taking their sire’s tally of blacktype winners 13, and Jeu St Eloi has a five-year-old son who is a horse to note for the future.

This is Look Me, bred in France by Haras de l’Ombre, and the bumper he won on Saturday for Willie and Patrick Mullins was captured by the duo six years ago with Ferny Hollow. Could this one be as good? On ratings, he has a lot yet to do, but he has improved from his previous run, last April, when he was runner-up, beaten half a length by I’m Slippy, in what was the last staging of the Tattersalls Ireland George Mernagh Memorial Sales Bumper.

Clifton Farm

Then, Stuart Crawford trained Look Me, but Simon Munir’s and Isaac Souede’s gelding has since joined Mullins. I mentioned Hugh Bleahen’s Clifton Farm earlier, and it was from him that Highflyer Bloodstock’s Anthony Bromley bought Look Me as a three-year-old at the Derby Sale for €45,000. It was something of a leap of faith for both Bleahen and Bromley to buy Look Me, given that he is the fifth and final produce of his dam, and only one of the others has ever run.

Look Me is out of the unraced Ria Rosa (Subotica), and her only other progeny to race was the filly Greace (Saddler Maker). She made a single start, on the flat at four in Machecoul, where she was fourth of the six runners over 15 furlongs, beaten more than 40 lengths! It is fair to say that much of Look Me’s ability is down to his sire.

That said, Ria Rosa has three successful siblings, two worth mentioning. Quitto Bleu (Agent Bleu) won six times over jumps in France and placed at Auteuil in a listed hurdle race. When Hugh Bleahen bought Look Me, he was likely putting a lot of hope in Grand Soir (Cokoriko), another half-brother to Ria Rosa. This point-to-point winner sold in December 2021 for £160,000 to John McConnell and won three hurdle races the following year.

Popular Tigron finally gets a good one

MAJOLIQUE caused something of a surprise when, on her debut last May at ParisLongchamp, she beat Frankel’s daughter Velikaya over 10 furlongs when both fillies were making their debut. This was a maiden for unraced three-year-old fillies, and Majolique was the unconsidered outsider of the seven runners. Velikaya went on to win twice, and was stakes-placed on her last run in 2025.

Meanwhile, the Joel Davis-bred Majolique changed hands and was acquired by Kenny Alexander, joining Willie Mullins. She reappeared at Naas last weekend in a listed juvenile hurdle and had anything but a clear round, yet she won by four lengths and has ability. There was talk after the race that she could go for the Grade 1 at Aintree won by another Alexander runner last year.

Majolique is a first blacktype performer for Tigron (Lion Cavern). That now 25-year-old raced 124 times for 15 wins between the ages of two and 10, becoming popular with racing fans. Popularity is one thing, and toughness and soundness is to be admired, but it was still something of a surprise that Tigron went to stud at the age of 11, for €800 at Haras de la Croix.

Corine Barande-Barbe’s charge could tell the story of French racing in the first decade of the 2000s. Making almost all of his starts in Paris, and earning prizemoney on 75 occasions, which amounted to over €400,000, Tigron won the hearts of the public, especially with his striking chesnut colour and plenty of white. Effective from five to 10 furlongs, he was precocious and raced 10 times at two.

Promising debut

In his first season Tigron made a promising debut with a second-place finish in a maiden at Chantilly in May, and ended the year running third in a listed race at Saint-Cloud, the Prix Saraca.

Three years later, he came close to winning a blacktype race when second in the Prix Jacques Laffitte at Maisons-Laffitte, and the same season was third in the Listed Grand Prix de la Riviera at Cagnes-Sur-Mer.

Last year Tigron stood for €1,000, still at Haras de la Croix, but he has been poorly supported over the years, and his 10 crops of racing age have averaged about four foals in each. That said, he has sired lots of winners, many of them multiple scorers, and he did get a runner who landed a Grade 3 AQPS race too.

Majolique is the first foal out of Voix Romaine (Cokoriko), owned and trained by David Berra to win one of her seven starts over fences in France, and she was in the first four another five times. Following on are a three-year-old gelding Palace Romain (Palace Prince) and a two-year-old filly, Oeuvre D’Art (Mkfancy). This is a family that Willie Mullins had some prior knowledge of, having trained Voix Romaine’s half-brother Gelee Blanche (Samum) to win over hurdles at Tramore and over fences in Downpatrick.

Gelee Blanche is among five winners out of the unraced Voix Du Coeur (Martaline). Another was Holetown Hero (Buck’s Boum), a €120,000 Goffs Land Rover Sale purchase who twice was successful over hurdles with Paul Nicholls. A more recent son of Voix Du Coeur is the four-year-old Maharaja (Karaktar), who sold to Highflyer Bloodstock in November at Arqana for €150,000.

Retained

Maharaja had run four times, been listed-placed at Auteuil, had not won and pulled-up on the last of his four outings. He was sold to dissolve a partnership, but significantly was retained by two of the partners, Simon Munir and Isaac Soeude. This suggests that they think quite a bit of the gelding, and he could add further lustre to the pedigree in due course. Voix Du Coeur had five winning siblings, among them Special Envoy (Linamix). He was runner-up in the Grade 2 Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury to Inglis Drever.

The fourth dam of Majolique is the outstanding Pawneese (Carvin II). Fifty years ago she was the best three-year-old filly in Europe, and in a stellar season won the Group 1 Oaks at Epsom by five lengths, ran away with the Group 1 Prix de Diane-French Oaks by almost a dozen lengths, and crowned her year with a rare French victory in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Two of the best stayers of the past few years descend from her – Group 1 Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist (Monsun) and seven-time Group 1 winner Stradivarius (Sea The Stars).