JOHN Nallen is some fair judge of a horse. We know how well he has done producing Gold Cup and Grand National winners, but he has also been proving a dab hand with more forward types, and in the recent past has had two three-year-old academy hurdle winners worth noting.

When researching these two, I dug a little further and found an even more telling tale. In Book 1 of the Goffs Orby Sale in 2023, in a little over two hours, he spent €194.000 on four yearling colts, one by Sea The Moon (Sea The Stars), two by Study Of Man (Deep Impact), and one by Golden Horn (Cape Cross). All had excellent female lines.

Three of the quartet of now three-year-olds have since won, the other was placed, while one of the winners landed a listed hurdle last month.

Minella Academy (Sea The Moon) is the latest winner, and this €52,000 buy, bred by Yeomanstown Stud, readily won the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Academy Hurdle at Cork by eight lengths. He is clearly the apple of Nallen’s eye, and afterwards John used words like ‘a proper horse by a good sire’, ‘jumps and stays’, and ‘plenty of toe and plenty of gears’, but whether he will be sold on is a question yet to be answered.

The Lanwades stallion Sea The Moon has sired five smart Group 1 winners on the flat, but has also shown that he can get quality with his jumpers too. His son Allmankind is a Grade 1 winner as a juvenile hurdler and a novice chaser, while his tally of blacktype winners under National Hunt rules comes to seven presently. Many of these have enjoyed their biggest win in juvenile hurdle races, and perhaps Minella Academy will add his name to that roll call.

Minella Academy is the sixth winner from six runners out of Timely (Pivotal), but the first to win over jumps. His dam is a half-sister to the classic winner Aussie Rules (Danehill), to the dam of dual Group 1 winner Coronet (Dubawi), and to the grandam of the Group 1 St Leger winner Galileo Chrome (Australia). This is an incredible female line, famed in recent times for producing the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Alpinista (Frankel).

Minella Yoga

Earlier this month, Nallen won another academy hurdle, this time at Fairyhouse, with Minella Yoga (Study Of Man), who had the Gordon Elliott-trained favourite 13 lengths back in third. Costing €35,000 at the Orby Sale, the Niarchos Family-bred three-year-old Minella Yoga found himself back in a sale ring 10 days after winning, this time at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Sale where he was the second-best lot. He sold to Highflyer Bloodstock and Paul Nicholls for £360,000 on behalf of owner Michael Geoghegan.

“This horse was very impressive; he is a big raw-boned horse with size and scope and could be anything,” said Nicholls. “We were determined to try and buy him if we could. Micheal wanted a hurdler. He is one we can run over Christmas, and I see him as a chaser down the line.” Minella Yoga is the fifth foal, runner and winner for Yoga (Monsun) who is now owned by Tally-Ho. Yoga is a half-sister to Saddex (Sadler’s Well), a Group 1 winner in Germany and Italy.

The third purchase on that September day by John Nallen was Minella Boss (Golden Horn). Bred by Kirsten Rausing, who ironically stands Sea The Moon and Study Of Man, he is the least successful of the four yearlings acquired that day. Bred by Annemarie and Aidan O’Brien’s Whisperview Trading, he raced twice at two, and on his debut was well-beaten into second at Galway by Aidan O’Brien’s Trinty College (Dubawi), a subsequent Group 3 Royal Ascot winner and Group 1-second.

Next time out Minella Boss went to Haydock and finished third. After two more starts for Nallen, Minella Boss joined Oliver McKiernan and has since made his debut over hurdles at Navan, finishing mid-division.

Minella Study

Finally, we have Minella Study, another son of Study Of Man. Also bred by Kirsten Rausing, he made his debut in the same race at two in which Minella Boss was second at Galway. It wasn’t until he made his hurdling debut on his fifth run that he showed his real worth, winning a three-year-old maiden at Tipperary in July.

Now with Adam Nicol, Minella Study made just his second start over hurdles at the end of October and remains unbeaten in that code, landing the Listed Wensleydale Juvenile at Wetherby, and he has a bright future.

Minella Study and Minella Yoga are flying a flag for their sire who has had few starters over hurdles, but those that have run have shown lots of ability. It is worth noting that at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale on Monday, John Nallen bought another four colts, and the most expensive of these, at 50,000gns, was a Study Of Man from Mount Coote Stud.

This latest buy is a half-brother to four runners, all of them winners. Two of the four have won listed races, Intello Kiss (Intello) in Italy, and Many Tears (Showcasing) at Dundalk. Their third dam was the Group 1 Oaks winner Love Divine (Diesis), and she bred a classic winner, Sixties Icon (Galileo), who won the St Leger and enjoyed success as a stallion.