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

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

RECIPIENT last year of an ITBA 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. Now, he has only gone and extended that record by winning the race for a fourth time, and taken his world-record earnings to more than €24 million.

His 20 victories include 11 Group 1 races, three Group 2 wins and a pair of listed successes. His record is truly phenomenal, and owner 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 their 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

He was bred by the Egan family’s Corduff Stud and American Tim Rooney. Corduff’s father and son duo James and David, along with the latter’s wife Henrietta, took a Connolly’s Red Mills/The Irish Field Breeder of the Month award previously for Romantic Warrior.

PAUL CUNNINGHAM

The Jukebox Man (Ire), 2018 g. by Ask out of My Twist, by Flemensfirth

THE Paul Cunningham-bred, Harry Redknapp-owned The Jukebox Man won at Kempton Park on their Boxing Day for the second year in a row.

Last year the Ben Pauling stable star landed the Grade 1 Kauto Star Novices’ Chase, and on just his second run since then, The Jukebox Man beat a high-class field in one of the best finishes you are likely to see in the Grade 1 Ladbrokes King George VI Chase. This was only the gelding’s fourth start over fences, and his unbeaten career in that code includes a triumph in the Grade 2 John Francome Novices’ Chase at Newbury.

In March 2024, The Jukebox Man came agonisingly close to winning the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, beaten a head, and was third in Grade 1s at Aintree and Newbury.

He won a point-to-point for owner John Phelan, who paid €3,000 for him as a foal at Goffs, and then sold him for £70,000 at the Goffs UK Tingle Creek Sale to Highflyer Bloodstock.

The Jukebox Man is one of a small handful of blacktype winners by the largely disappointing Ask, who died in 2024.

This season however, his runners also include the very progressive Thistle Ask, and he won a Grade 2 chase at Kempton a day after The Jukebox Man starred at the same venue.

The Jukebox Man is the only winner out of his unraced dam, and he has revitalised a relatively quiet branch of his family.

DEIRDRE CONNOLLY

Affordale Fury (Ire), 2018 g. by Affinisea out of No Greater Fury, by Choisir

UNTIL his win over the Christmas period, Affordale Fury was probably not as well appreciated as he should have been.

A graduate of the point-to-point scene where he was a winner, he was successful on a single occasion in a bumper and over hurdles, and was runner-up twice in Grade 1 company over the smaller obstacles before having his attention turned to chasing.

Affordale Fury was recording victory number three over fences when landing the Savills Chase for owner Philip Polly, trainer Noel Meade and jockey, Sam Ewing. This win puts the newly-turned eight-year-old firmly in the picture for the Gold Cup at Cheltenham in March.

Bred by Deirdre Connolly, Affordale Fury was sold from Ballynoe Castle Stud at the 2021 Tattersalls Ireland May Sale to the well-named Dreamers Bloodstock for €8,000. The following March, carrying the colours of Cassie Parle, the gelding made a winning debut at Ballycahane in a four-year-old maiden appropriately sponsored by Tattersalls Ireland. He was then bought to join Meade.

Galway was where Affordale Fury made a winning racecourse debut in a bumper, and three weeks later he returned to capture a maiden hurdle. He lined up at Cheltenham for the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, and at odds of 150/1 he ran second. It was Galway again for a winning chase debut, while he prepped for Leopardstown by chasing Envoi Allen home in the Grade 1 Champion Chase at Down Royal and winning a listed chase at Thurles.

DALE ADAMS

No Drama This End (Ire), 2020 g. by Walk In The Park out of La Segnora, by Turgeon

PAUL Nicholls could not hide his delight after Newbury’s Grade 1 Challow Hurdle over the Christmas period. He won with No Drama This End, a horse he later mentioned in the same breath as Denman.

Just turned six, the grey No Drama This End carries the familiar McNeill Family colours, and they race the gelding with Chris and Giles Barber. After his penultimate win, Max O’Neill said that he believed No Drama This End was potentially the best the family has owned, and suggested that we might see him next in the Challow Hurdle – and so it came to pass.

Bred by The Irish Field contributor Dale Adams, alongside her husband Gary, No Drama This End sold three years ago from Ashwood Stud at the Goffs Arkle Sale for €26,000 to Will Biddick, and that recently-retired champion rider turned him into a sale star after the gelding won his only start in a point-to-point. Biddick sold him on for £160,000 to Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls.

New Year’s Eve 2024 saw No Drama This End win a bumper at Warwick, and we next saw him contest the Grade 1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper, finishing nine lengths off the sensational Bambino Fever.

Nicholls chose October’s Grade 2 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham for No Drama This End’s hurdling debut, which he won in style.

He added a second Grade 2, at Sandown, and in a race won by Lossiemouth in 2021. Again, he was impressive.