GREY Dawning is a nine-year-old who has been to Aintree in April for the past four years, always contesting a Grade 1 contest.

His run in the Sefton Novices’ Hurdle in 2023 resulted in a fall, ironically the only time he has done so in his 21-race career. Twelve months later he started favourite for the Manifesto Novices’ Chase against four rivals, and failed by a head to snatch second place, and some nine lengths off the winner, Il Etait Temps. A year on, and he was again favourite for the Aintree Bowl, but had to give best to his main market rival, Gaelic Warrior.

This year, competing in yet a different race, the Melling Chase, he ceded the favourite mantle to Heart Wood, while Gidleigh Park was also more fancied. In one of the most thrilling finishes of the week, and showing huge courage, Grey Dawning finally bagged his Aintree Grade 1, holding off Solness by a neck, with Heart Wood 11 lengths adrift. He was greeted on his return by rapturous applause – how racegoers become attached to popular greys.

Grey Dawning has been the horse of a lifetime for owner Robert Kirkland, and the nine-year-old has contributed well over £300,000 to Dan Skelton’s winnings this year, already a record and set to soon surpass £5 million. It was less than a month ago that he broke through the £4 million barrier, the first to ever do so. Over the course of his career, always in the care of Skelton, Grey Dawning has won more than £680,000.

Notable wins

Consider this. Arkle won £95,198 during his racing career. The highest amount he earned in a single race was £8,230 for the 1965 Whitbread Gold Cup, while his wins included three Cheltenham Gold Cups. His winnings would be equivalent to about £1.5 million today. This Grade 1 win for Grey Dawning followed his November success in the Grade 1 Betfair Chase at Haydock Park, while at the 2024 Cheltenham Festival he claimed his first top level success in the Turners Novices’ Chase.

Grey Dawning was bred by Grange Stud in Fermoy. He failed to sell as a foal for €34,000, before being signed for by Brendan Bashford at the Derby Sale, on both occasions consigned by Timmy Hillman’s Castledillon Stud. He and his full-sister Blanketontheground (Flemensfirth), twice a winner over hurdles, are two of four winners for the unraced Lady Wagtail (Milan). At the 2008 Derby Sale she sold to William Flood for €75,000.

Those four winners are with her first four named foals, but Lady Wagtail has been an infrequent breeder more recently. She does have a two-year-old daughter by Crystal Ocean (See The Stars). Lady Wagtail’s half-brother Teaatral (Saddlers’ Hall) won the Grade 2 Long Distance Hurdle at Ascot and Kempton’s Grade 2 Rendlesham Hurdle. His own-sister Richs Mermaid (Saddlers’ Hall) also did well with Flemensfirth, producing listed chase winner Two Taffs.

Flat family

Until the emergence of Teaatral, this was a flat family, in the possession of Cheveley Park Stud, and two group winners are out of a winning half-sister to him. That mare was Pious (Bishop Of Cashel), dam of the full-brothers Penitent (Kyllachy) and Supplicant. A gelding, Penitent won a pair of Group 2 races, and was second in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret. Supplicant won the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes at two, went to stud in Britain for a year and then in France, but sired little of note.

Go back to Grey Dawning’s third dam, La Tuerta (Hot Spark) and you find a family of sprinters, stars of which include the Group 1-winning sprinters Cadeaux Genereux (Young Generation) and Ya Malak (Fairy King). The latter, a gelding, is out of Grey Dawning’s third dam, and he dead-heated in the Nunthorpe Stakes with Coastal Bluff, a head in front of Averti. Ya Malak’s stakes-winning sibling Dominio (Dominion) bred Group 2 King’s Stand Stakes winner Dominica (Alhaarth).

Grey Dawning’s fourth dam, Smarten Up (Sharpen Up), was another to dead-heat, this time in the Group 3 Temple Stakes, while her placed efforts included finishing second in the William Hill Sprint Championship (now the Nunthorpe Stakes), and third in the Cheveley Park Stakes. Cadeaux Genereux was the best of her nine winners. He was European champion sprinter at three and four.

Winning ways

Jango Baie (Tiger Groom) got back to winning ways with a 16-length demolition of Protektorat in the Grade 1 Aintree Bowl, and he has now won half of his eight chases. Last year he won the Grade 1 Arkle Chase at Cheltenham, while he was winner previously of the Grade 1 Tolworth Hurdle.

Bred in France by Andre Jean Belloir and two others, Jango Baie was sold in Ireland and England. He traded from John Bleahen’s Lakefield Farm for €30,000 to Matt Gahan at the Tattersalls Ireland May Sale at three. Beaten less than a length on his sole point-to-point run for Michael Goff, he cost Jerry McGrath £170,000 at the 2023 Tattersalls Cheltenham February Sale.

Jango Baie is one of eight blacktype winners for his sire, a Grade 3 hurdle winner in France. His dam Tenessee (Kapgarde) was unplaced eight times over jumps. From four runners she is responsible for three winners, including dual jumps winner Kador Baie (Tiger Groom), Jango Baie’s full-brother. The Aintree Bowl winner is the best runner in the family going back half a century.