WHAT a few days it was for the former Boardsmill Stud mare Juresse, the daughter of a stallion that William Flood stood in Trim for a few seasons.
That sire was Jurado (Alleged) and as a racehorse he was very sound, winning 13 times in Italy and being in the frame on a further nine occasions. His victories were over distances from a mile to 10 furlongs and the highlight came as a five-year-old when he captured the Group 1 Premio Vittorio di Capua in Milan.
At the highest level he also finished third in the Premio Roma and nine of his victories were gained in blacktype races. His best winners were Hello Bud and the Grade 2 Edward Hanmer Memorial Chase winner Swansea Bay. Hello Bud was out of a mare by another Boardsmill sire in Orchestra, and he won the Scottish Grand National and the Becher Chase at Aintree twice.
Juresse was bred by William Flood. She won over hurdles when trained by the late John Fowler and that victory was in a maiden hurdle at Dundalk 21 years ago. She was born five years after her best-known sibling, Strath Royal (Furry Glen). A late developer, he won a bumper at the age of six, seven hurdle races at seven and eight, and added a dozen chases, winning up to the age of 12.
His forte was chasing and he won the Grade 2 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby and a listed chase at the same venue.
Put to stud, Juresse struck gold with her second foal, Niche Market (Presenting). Sold a number of times, including realising €13,500 as a foal and €37,000 at the Derby Sale, he graduated from the point-to-point field to gain his biggest success at a racecourse not a million miles from where he was bred. That was Fairyhouse and he went there in 2009 for the Irish Grand National, having failed to get into the Aintree equivalent when he was one of the four reserves for the race.
Trained in Dorset by Bob Buckler, victory in the race provided the trainer with his biggest win, while it also was the launching ground for the 19-year-old winning rider, Harry Skelton. The jockey’s father Nick was even present to witness the victory.
The 33/1 shot was not one of the big race fancies, and things looked ominous the day before the race when the then eight-year-old got cast in his box and ripped a shoe off.
Juresse has now gone on to produce five racecourse winners and one further point-to-point winner. One of these is Caravation (Presenting), a full-sister to Niche Market, and this Punchestown winning point-to-pointer has been successful in a Naas bumper and now in a pair of hurdle races at Navan for her owner/breeder William Flood.
Most importantly she was placed in the Listed Coolmore EBF Mare INH Flat Race at Navan, and connections will surely attempt to win a blacktype race with her before she goes to stud.
It would be especially apt were she to do so as Flood is one of the brains behind and instigators of the Weatherbys ITBA Fillies’ Scheme, an initiative that saw the light of day with the support also of The Irish Field.
Caravation’s most recent success came two days after her niece, Fag An Bealach (Stowaway) ran out a 15-length winner of a bumper at Down Royal. Trained by Arthur Moore, the five-year-old mare was another bred by Flood, this time from Juresse’s unraced daughter Market Niche (Orchestra).
The last reported foal from Juresse is a now three-year-old son of one of the four stallions William and John Flood stand at Boardsmill, Califet (Freedom Cry).
DAMS
Caravation’s first three dams are winners, her grandam Last Princess (Le Prince) winning on the flat and over fences and she was a daughter of Lady Artist II (Artist’s Son). The latter mare was foaled in 1954, won on the flat, and she is forever remembered as the dam of two very smart racehorses in Artifice (Master Owen) and Bigaroon (Bowsprit).
Bigaroon won the Irish Cesarewitch three times at the Curragh, while Artifice was an outstanding chaser, winning the Black and White Gold Cup at Ascot and being placed twice in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham. This is also the family of the Aintree Grand National winner Amberleigh House (Buckskin).