HONEYSUCKLE could be a regular feature in this column based on what she has already achieved in her short and unbeaten career which numbers just seven starts to date. Bred by Dr Geoffrey Guy at The Glanvilles Stud in Sherborne, Dorset, Honeysuckle is a five-year-old mare who sold in part two of the Derby Sale in 2017 for €9,500 to Mark O’Hare. She won her only start in a point-to-point by 15 lengths with O’Hare in the saddle.

A week later at the Goffs Punchestown Sale she made a favourable impression on Peter Molony of Rathmore Stud who gave €110,000 to secure her from Jerry Cosgrave’s Shanrod Stables.

Since then she is six times a winner over hurdles, last weekend adding the Grade 1 baroneracing.com Hatton’s Grace Hurdle to her win in a mares’ Grade 1 at the Punchestown Festival. She previously won the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Boreen Belle Mares Novice Hurdle at Thurles and the Grade 3 BetVictor Solerina Mares Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse. Her earnings now stand at €195,000.

First Royal (Lando) is the dam of Honeysuckle and her first four foals have run. The Henry de Bromhead-trained Honeysuckle is her only winner on the track, though Colorado Doc (Dr Massini) and Dunraven Royal (Black Sam Bellamy) have won nine point-to-points between them.

Her only other runner Roc Royal (Shirocco) was placed a few times over jumps in France, while her fifth offspring is Last Royal (Sulamani), an unraced four-year-old own-brother to Honeysuckle.

As his name suggests, he was his dam’s final produce and he sold for £30,000 at Goffs UK in August.

First Royal was bought as a five-year-old at Arqana for €10,000. She won at three in Germany but her two placings over jumps were in listed hurdle races at Baden-Baden. She was the sole produce of her unraced dam First Neba (Nebos). That mare in turn was out of the listed German winner First Smile (Surumu).

At stud First Smile had 12 foals, and First Neba was the only one to never face the starter. All but one of the other 11 won, though just one of these got some blacktype when he was third in a listed race at Hamburg. Another of the winners was Calima Mon Amour (Shirocco) and she is also keeping the family alive as her daughter Mascha (Le Havre) was sold in 2017 at the Arqana May Breeze Up Sale for €170,000 and last year won a listed race in Germany.

For a time it appeared as if Sulamani’s enduring legacy would be that he sired the 2016 Aintree Grand National winner Rule The World. The emergence of Honeysuckle now is likely to put that achievement in the shade. Successful at the highest level six times in five different countries, Sulamani stood in England and France and was put down at Yorton Farm Stud in Wales in 2017.

Bred by the Niarchos Family, the highlight of Sulamani’s three-year-old career for trainer Pascal Bary was his victory in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club, the French Derby, in 2002. He was runner-up to Godolphin’s Marienbard in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

He was then purchased by Godolphin for whom he earned more than £2.5 million.

Dubai winner

Sulamani won the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic, Grade 1 Arlington Million and Grade 1 Turf Classic Invitational at four, adding the Group 1 Juddmonte International and Grade 1 Canadian International the following year. He retired to Dalham Hall Stud before transferring to Haras du Logis. After he moved to Yorton he had his career focused on the National Hunt sector and was owned in partnership by the Futters and by the Cashman’s Rathbarry Stud. He completed seven seasons at Yorton.

His first crop included the classic winner Mastery, while in Brazil he was responsible for four Group 1 winners. His three Grade 1 winners over jumps include Cash And Go in Ireland and Dar Said in Italy.