MONSUN (Konigsstuhl) was a top-class racehorse and one of the greatest German sires of all time. His stallion sons include German champion sire Samum and Group 1 stallions Shirocco and Manduro.

Monsun stallion sons have made a powerful impact on the National Hunt sector with many blacktype winners, of whom superstar Sprinter Sacre (Network) stands out. Shirocco has given us Champion Hurdle heroine and five-time Grade 1 winner Annie Power, Arcadio is sire of the Grade 1 winner Flying Angel, while Getaway is responsible for the Grade 1 winning hurdler Verdana Blue.

Manduro took until the age of five to land his first Group 1 – and then he managed the feat three times. Unbeaten in five starts in his final year racing, his top-level victories came in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, the Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville and the Prix d’Ispahan at Longchamp. He won more than £1 million during an 18-race career that never saw him finish out of the first four.

At stud under the Darley banner at Haras du Logis in France at €7,000, he has already sired six Group 1 winners, two of which achieved the feat as juveniles. He is probably best known as the sire of the multiple Group 1 winning stayer Vazirabad, owned and bred by the Aga Khan.

Manduro’s best winner under National Hunt rules is a seven-year-old, also bred by the Aga Khan. Rashaan was originally trained by Michael Halford and was well down the field on his only start at Dundalk as a newly turned three-year-old before he was sent to Goffs to be sold. Colin Kidd went to that February Sale in 2015 and paid €8,500 for the chesnut, turning him out again in August after a break of more than 200 days.

Rashaan went unbeaten in his first three starts for Kidd, and his victory at Fairyhouse in the Grade 2 Keelings Ballybin Hurdle on Monday was his 13th for his present connections. That €8,500 investment has been repaid more than 30 times over, and this versatile winner on the flat, over hurdles and fences has also captured the Grade 2 WKD Hurdle at Down Royal, the Grade 3 Bar One Racing Juvenile Hurdle at Fairyhouse and the Grade 3 Ballybrit Novice Chase at Galway.

Rashaan is the most recent of five winners from the winning three-year-old Rayyana, a daughter of Rainbow Quest (Blushing Groom). She was sold the same year that Rashaan was born to David Redvers for €140,000. At the time her claim to fame was that her son Rayeni (Indian Ridge) was a Group 3 winning two-year-old who ran second to Mastercraftsman on his three-year-old debut in the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas. His form tailed off afterwards, he was sold to race in France, and he even had a spell at stud before suffering the ‘unkindest cut of all’ and was gelded.

Rayeni’s and Rashaan’s half-sister Rayka (Selkirk) never won but she is a much better broodmare and her winners to date are headed by the Group 3 Athasi Stakes winner and Group 2 runner-up Rehana (Dark Angel).

The grandam of Rashaan was the very smart three-year-old Rayseka (Dancing Brave). Her three successes that season included the Group 3 Royal Whip Stakes, while as a four-year-old she chased home Vintage Crop in the Group 1 Irish St Leger. At stud she bred Rafayda (Doyoun) who gained her sole victory on her second start when she turned the tables on Dazzling Park to land the Group 3 C L Weld Park Stakes.

Third dam Rilasa (St Paddy) was born in 1975 and she, through her various daughters, has become a very significant ancestress of many good winners, and under both rules. On the flat they include 2012 Group 1 Prix de l’Opera winner Ridasiyna (Motivator), Hong Kong Derby winner Salford Mill (Peintre Celebre), brilliant five-time Group 1 winner Laurens (Siyouni), Group 1 winner Kinnaird (Dr Devious), and multiple Group 2 winner and classic-placed Ivawood (Zebedee).