THE only thing that surprised me about Current Option’s victory in the Listed Platinum Stakes at a sun-drenched Cork racecourse on Saturday was that it was Ado McGuinness’s first blacktype winner on the flat. It certainly won’t be his last.

A four-year-old son of Camelot (Montjeu), Current Option cost Shamrock Thoroughbreds 85,000gns at the 2019 Tattersalls July Sale. Since then he has won a listed race, a couple of premier handicaps and run second in the Irish Cambridgeshire. He was previously trained by William Haggas and for new connections he has won almost twice his purchase price in just over a year.

Current Option was bred by Rick Barnes’ Grangecon Holdings out of Coppertop (Exceed And Excel), who raced for Barnes and was placed a few times. Her first three foals – Current Option is her third – are all winners and her fourth is Sanderlin (Footstepsinthesand), an unraced two-year-old with Michael Dods. Last year Coppertop was sold to Craig English for €50,000 at Goffs, carrying a full-sibling to Current Option.

Coppertop was the first foal from her dam Fresh Mint (Sadler’s Wells) who showed little when trained in Ireland but later won four times for Mark Wallace in England. Fresh Mint went on to breed four winners, the best being the listed Killarney winner Canary Row (Holy Roman Emperor), while there may be more to come from a number of young stock in training and waiting in the wings.