ROBERT and Jackie Chugg have been hugely successful breeders and sales consignors for many decades now. Their Little Lodge Farm has been a potent nursery for winners, and they were back in the limelight last weekend, though on this occasion with one of their ‘old-timers’.

The 10-year-old Cogry, a son of King’s Theatre (Sadler’s Wells), won the Grade 3 BetVictor Chase at Cheltenham for the second year in a row, and now more than half of his nine lifetime wins have been gained over fences. He has also been runner-up in the Scottish Grand National and placed in the Midlands Grand National.

Cogry is the best runner from Wyldello (Supreme Leader) and she was also bred by Robert Chugg. She was leased and trained by Alan King to win a bumper and a hurdle race and she was runner-up in listed bumpers at Sandown and Aintree and this was important for her career at stud. She was already a full-sister to a smart racemare in Marello (Supreme Leader) who won three bumpers and eight hurdle races for Mary Reveley, notably landing the Grade 2 Long Distance Hurdle at Ascot.

Wyldello died last year but she could still add a few more winners to her tally. She has a four-year-old Malinello (Malinas) yet to run and a two-year-old colt by Walk In The Park (Montjeu) who sold as a foal for €47,000. Marello and Wyldello are also own-sisters to the listed hurdle runner-up Ravello Bay (Supreme Leader) and to the unraced Carmello whose daughter Karello Bay (Kahyasi) was a listed bumper and hurdle winner.

It is very interesting to look closely at this family, all descending from Camello (Pampered King) who was born in 1965. There are nine blacktype National Hunt winners in the family and all but two are mares. Cogry and a listed hurdle winner in France are the exceptions. The Chuggs saw the value of National Hunt racemares long before it became fashionable, as it is now.