LISTEN up. Do you want a Cheltenham winner? Then you need to tell your agent or trainer that you want them to search for a mare. The first day at this year’s Cheltenham Festival saw seven races, five of which had a mare competing in, and they won three of them. Only seven mares ran on the day, and two races had none in the field.

This remarkable record saw a 1-2 from the three mares who competed in the centrepiece, the Grade 1 Champion Hurdle, victory for Kargese in the Grade 1 Arkle Chase, the only member of her sex in the field, while the sole mare taking on the geldings in the final race of the day, Holloway Queen, won by more than five lengths, with the rest strung out like the washing.

How impressive was Lossiemouth taking her Cheltenham Record to four wins in as many starts, and apart from one fall, she has won 14 of her 18 races, and been runner-up three times. Her Tuesday win was her tenth Grade 1, and all but four of her starts have been at the highest level. Hats off to her connections for taking in the Champion Hurdle this year.

Lossiemouth has been reviewed many times. Bred by Elevage des Vallons and Ian Kellit, she failed to sell as a yearling at €14,000. She is a daughter of Great Pretender (King’s Theatre), a listed winner on the flat and over hurdles in France. The 27-year-old commands a career-high €10,000 fee this year. He is also well-known for the likes of triple Grade 1-winning chaser Greaneteen and three-time Grade 1-winning hurdler Benie Des Dieux.

The Champion Hurdle heroine is one of two winners out of Mariner’s Light (Gentlewave), herself one of 10 winners out of Lady Glitters (Homme De Loi), the best of which was Lord Glitters (Whipper). He won almost £2.2 million, was successful in four countries, including at Group 1 level in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot and Jebel Hatta Stakes in Meydan.

Arkle Chase

Kargese won the County Hurdle last year, but stepped up considerably on that form to win the Grade 1 Singer Arkle Challenge Cup Novices’ Chase. She is the first top-level chase winner for her Glenview Stud-based sire Jeu St Eloi (Saint Des Saints), and she was also the sire’s first Grade 1 hurdle winner.

Bred by Thierry Cypres, who additionally bred the Arkle third Lulamba, Kargese is not the first high-class National Hunt mare in the family. Her dam Rive Gauche (Shaanmer) is half-sister to the grandam of Grade 1 Cheltenham Festival winner Vroum Vroum Mag (Voix Du Nord). The dam of Vroum Vroum Mag is a half-sister to Grade 1 Sefton Novices’ Hurdle winner Saint Are (Network).

The day concluded with a win for Holloway Queen, bred by Victor Connolly and by his former sire Jukebox Jury (Montjeu). For good measure, the Nicky Henderson-trained mare is the only winner out of the unraced Holloden, by another Burgage sire in Shantou (Alleged). A listed winner over the smaller obstacles, Holloway Queen’s dam is a half-sister to Grade 2 hurdle winner Bywell Beau (Lord Americo), while another Cheltenham Festival winner in the family is Beware The Bear

I FIRST encountered Matthew Fogarty, if my memory is correct, when The Oozler (Montelimar) sold at the Goffs Land Rover Sale 30 years ago. He realised IR£10,500, and on his second start won the inaugural Goffs Land Rover Bumper. What a delight it was to see Fogarty in the winners’ circle after the Grade 1 Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, won by a graduate of his Golden, Co Tipperary farm.

When Old Park Star (Well Chosen) was born, Fogarty was in contact with The Irish Field to submit a photograph of the colt, and who could have forecast that he would progress to become a star of this National Hunt season. Fogarty revealed that there is lots of competition for the three-year-old half-brother by Rich History (Dubawi) who, like Old Park Star’s veteran sire, stands at Kedrah House Stud.

Hale and hearty

While Old Park Star’s dam Norwich Star (Norwich) slipped to Well Chosen (Sadler’s Wells)) last year, the 20-year-old is hale and hearty and could head for a mating with Martinborough (Deep Impact) at Capital Stud. Should she go in foal, and produce a healthy offspring next spring, Fogarty would be happy if it was a filly, as Norwich Star has had colts to date. In fact, she has been so hard to breed from that she has only had four foals to date – and two Cheltenham Festival winners.

Old Park Star is a full-brother to Chosen Mate (Well Chosen) who won the Grand Annual a few years ago. Sold at Tattersalls Ireland as a foal for €50,000 to Norman Williamson, Old Park Star was a profitable sale to Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls for €120,000 at the Goffs Arkle Sale.

SEVEN years ago at Cheltenham, Sir Erec was fatally injured when sent off favourite for the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle. He was from the first crop by Camelot (Montjeu), and the listed winner who placed behind Stradivarius in the Group 2 Long Distance Cup on British Champions Day had won his first two starts over hurdles, notably the Grade 1 Spring Juvenile Hurdle at Leopardstown.

Hopes that Sir Erec would be good enough to head to stud as a stallion were not to be. What a shame, as we might have been welcoming his stock at the store sales this year. J.P. McManus had a form of compensation on his 75th birthday on Tuesday, when Camelot’s four-year-old son Saratoga won the Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle, joining his sibling Brazil (Galileo) on that race’s roll of honour.

Like Sir Erec, Saratoga started his racing career with Aidan O’Brien, but had failed to win for Padraig Roche, putting that to right this week. Bred by the Shanahan/Hyde team of Lynch Bages and Camas Park Stud, Saratoga might have been a stallion prospect in his youth, but instead he is the sixth blacktype winner out of his winning dam, Dialafara (Anabaa).

Brazil and Saratoga both won their blacktype over hurdles, while the rest were smart winners on the level. Saratoga differs from all of his nine siblings in one regard. He is the only one of the 10 foals – he is the last – of his dam not sired by Galileo (Sadler’s Wells). They include dual classic winner Capri, Group 2 winner Tower Of London, Group 3 winners Cypress Creek and Passion (second in the Group 1 Irish Oaks), and the dam of unbeaten champion juvenile filly Commissioning (Kingman).

JOHNNYWHO is out of the weight range to guarantee he gets a place in this year’s Randon Grand National, but the gelding gave J.P. McManus a second win on the opening day when taking the Grade 3 Ultima Handicap Chase. His win made a piece of history, the first Festival winner saddled by a training partnership, Jonjo and AJ O’Neill. McManus also owned the runner-up, Jagwar.

Bred by Steven Vaughan, Johnnywho (Califet) is one of six winners for the Grade 3 chase winner Howaya Pet (Montelimar). Vaughan sold him through the Flood’s Boardsmill Stud as a foal for €25,000, and he resold two and a half years later for the same price at the Derby Sale. The family has plenty of winners, but you have to go to Johnnywho’s fourth dam Kertina (Fortina), born in 1963, to find the family’s star runner. She bred the dual Irish Champion Hurdle winner Daring Run (Deep Run).

It wouldn’t seem right to have Cheltenham without a winner by Doctor Dino (Muhtathir), and his son Madara won the Grade 3 Sun Racing Plate Handicap Chase. This €73,000 Arqana yearling purchase matched his record in France, three wins over jumps, with the same number of chase wins in Britain.

Bred by Elise Drouet and Ecurie de Cachine, Madara is the first winner for Becquascenthe (Nombre Premier), placed in a listed hurdle race at Auteuil. That mare’s four-year-old son Garrincha (Doctor Dino), full-brother to Madara, was runner-up in a listed bumper at Cheltenham on January 1st, his sole run. Becquascenthe is a half-sister to Grande Haya (Solid Illusion), a Grade 1 hurdle winner.