LIAM WALSH

I’LL Sort That (Ire), 2020 g. by Sandmason out of Tuscarora, by Revoque

HOPEFULLY the next time we see the Naas Grade 1 Ballymore Novice Hurdle winner I’ll Sort That will be at Cheltenham. It is not every day that you can purchase a Grade 1 winner for €3,500, and it even took a private deal to secure the sale.

Pat Crowley was the man who sourced I’ll Sort That. In January the gelding enjoyed a fairytale win for owner David Needham, and trainer/rider Declan Queally. It is hard to believe that I’ll Sort That made his debut in a Cork maiden hurdle at odds of 100/1, and was beaten 23 lengths into seventh.

Queally had I’ll Sort That ready for an early campaign over hurdles, and we saw the gelding at Listowel in late September when he was an easy winner of a maiden hurdle.

Victory in a novice hurdle at Galway set I’ll Sort That up to challenge for the Grade 3 For Auction Novices’ Hurdle at Navan, and he showed what a battler he is with another victory. Now he has continued to build his reputation and took his hurdle tally to four at Naas.

The win was special for the Walsh family at Beechlane Stables in Wexford. Bred by Liam, I’ll Sort That is out of Tuscarora who was obviously one tough cookie. She went on to race 81 times, all but once on the flat, and she won nine times and placed on 29 occasions.

BARBARA HANNA

Sixmilebridge (Ire), 2019 g. by Affinisea out of Luck Or Logic, by Haatef

BARBARA Hanna is one of those unsung heroines of our industry. She will be familiar to so many, as, modestly, she describes herself as “the girl who ran a foaling service in Co Armagh for 22 years. She profiled Sixmilebridge, winner of the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown, as “an exceptional foal, a great mover, and it pained me to sell him for €2,000 at Goffs.

“I had to let him go because the others I brought down didn’t sell, and Goffs needed to be paid for their services. No one pulled him out to see him, but he showed himself well before entering the ring. If you could mention Fiona McStay and Ronnie O’Neill that would be great. Two breeders that I have the utmost respect for in the thoroughbred breeding world.”

The story of Ronnie O’Neill’s success with Affinisea is well-told. Sixmilebridge was sold from Fiona McStay’s Moygannon, and it was the astute judge Peter Nolan signed the purchase slip. After two runs in point-to-points, unseating his rider at the first on debut, and running second next time, Sixmilebridge was sent to the Goffs Aintree Sale where Ben Pauling and Highflyer Bloodstock paid £100,000 for the then four-year-old.

Luck Or Logic had just three foals, a filly who was never named, Sixmilebridge, and a full-brother to the Grade 1 winner who showed nothing in two point-to-point starts. It is a great story of perseverance.

JAMES & DAVID EGAN (above), Corduff Stud and T.J. Rooney

Romantic Warrior (Ire), 2018 g. by Acclamation out of Folk Melody, by Street Cry

RECIPIENT in January 2025 of an ITBA national award, Romantic Warrior gave that evening an added boost when he prefaced it with his 18th racecourse success. This was in the Group 1 Jebel Hatta at Meydan, and followed a record third victory in the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup.

He has extended that record by winning the race for a fourth time, added a win in the Group 1 Stewards’ Cup, and taken his world-record earnings to more than £25 million.

His 21 victories include a dozen Group 1 races, three Group 2 wins and a pair of listed successes. His record is amazing, and Peter Lau Pak Fai and trainer Danny Shum have a true legend in their care.

The Group 1 Hong Kong Cup is not the only race Romantic Warrior has won multiple times in the country. He was first past the post on three occasions in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, and also annexed the Group 1 Hong Kong Gold Cup.

In Japan, he captured the Group 1 Yasuda Kinen, and in Australia his Group 1 Cox Plate win was in their most prestigious race. He was second in the Group 1 Saudi Cup

Romantic Warrior was bred by Corduff Stud’s father and son duo James and David Egan, with their long-time friend, American Tim Rooney.

SHEIKH MOHAMMED, Godolphin

Imperial Emperor (Ire), 2020 g. by Dubawi out of Zhukova, by Fastnet Rock

WHILE a grandson of Dubawi, Ghaiyyath’s son Opera Ballo was winning the Group 1 Jebel Hatta, the turf feature at Meydan, the Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge on dirt, run on the same card, was won by Imperial Emperor, his seventh and most important win in 13 starts. He is the first top-flight winner for Europe’s champion older mare, Zhukova, a half-sister to Ghaiyyath.

This is a female line that has had a long association with the Weld family, Dermot training many of its better members, and bred by his late mother Marguerite. In 2015, John Ferguson paid €1.1 million as a foal for Ghaiyyath, and at the end of that colt’s two-year-old season, Godolphin bought his then recent Grade 1-winning half-sister Zhukova for 3,700,000gns. She had landed the Man O’War Stakes at Belmont.

Zhukova’s first four foals are winners, and three are stakes horses.

Imperial Emperor is the best, and after two wins at Newmarket, and being gelded, he seemed to lose his form. Sold for the equivalent of about €70,000 in 2024, he has blossomed in the care of Bhupat Seemar, and won and placed in the Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge, and won two other Group 2 contests. He has winnings of £1 million for his new connections.

Zhukova and Ghaiyyath are out of Mrs Weld’s Nightime, a member of Galileo’s first crop and winner of the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas.