THE pedigrees of the two blacktype winners at Navan at the weekend are in stark contrast to each other. Latest Exhibition is the latest big race winner for his hugely successful sire Oscar (Sadler’s Wells) whose final crop are about to turn five, and this Jim Mernagh-owned homebred landed the Grade 2 novice hurdle.

Later on the card the four-year-old Uhtred, a four-year-old from the second of four crops by the five-time Group 1 winner Fame And Glory (Montjeu), became just the third blacktype winner for his sire who is a member of an elite club among the many Group 1 winners trained by Aidan O’Brien. His number of wins at the highest level is matched by Cape Blanco, Duke Of Marmalade and So You Think, and is only bettered by seven-time Group 1 winners Highland Reel, Minding, Rock Of Gibraltar and Yeats, and six-time scorers Dylan Thomas, Giant’s Causeway, High Chaparral and St Nicholas Abbey.

While the two winners are by sires at different stages of success, they are also from female families that could not be more different. There are 14 blacktype winners descending from Latest Exhibition’s fourth dam Merry Optic (Baman), a mare foaled in 1949, while Uhtred joins his fourth dam Pencil Lady (Bargello) as only the second big race winner in the family. Pencil Lady was born 45 years ago.

Latest Exhibition is certainly bred to be a good horse and he comes from a farm, Coolamurry, and a breeder, Jim Mernagh, who are synonymous with success. The six-year-old is, by my calculation, the 79th blacktype winner for his sire and from the same crop that also includes the recent Australian Group 3 winner True Self, Grade 2 winning hurdler Lisnagar Oscar, Grade 2 chase winner Minella Times, and the listed hurdle winner and hugely exciting Sinoria.

In a short racing career, Oscar only managed four starts and, in addition to a single win over a mile and a half on his first start at three, he ended his racing career by finishing second to Peintre Celebre in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby when the race was over 12 furlongs. From the time of his first runners he has always been among the leading sires and his Grade 1 Cheltenham Festival winners are Paisley Park, Kilbricken Storm, Rock On Ruby, O’Faolains Boy, Lord Windermere, At Fishers Cross, Big Zeb and Peddlers Cross.

Jim Mernagh had Latest Exhibition entered as a three-year-old in the Derby Sale but the gelding did not take up that appointment with the auctioneers. He is the first foal of his dam Aura About You, a Grade 3 winning chaser by Supreme Leader (Bustino) who was Grade 1-placed over hurdles when third of three runners, but who more significantly finished third behind Quevega and United at Cheltenham. She too was bred and raced by Mernagh and trained by Paul Nolan.

Owner-breeder Jim Mernagh and Latest Exhibition's trainer Paul Nolan \ carolinenorris.ie

A year after Latest Exhibition was born a full-brother arrived but he was never named. Aura About You has a three-year-old filly by Milan (Sadler’s Wells) and three youngsters by Walk In The Park (Montjeu), a two-year-old colt, yearling filly and a colt foal.

Aura About You is a half-sister to four winners and is out of the dual hurdle winner Windswept Lady (Strong Gale). She in turn is one of four winners from Smithstown Lady (Tarqogan) who was placed in France. Windswept Lady’s own-sister Maries Gale (Strong Gale) won a bumper and a hurdle race and is grandam of a pair of smart chasers in Rathvinden (Heron Island), winner of the Grade 2 National Hunt Challenge Cup Chase at Cheltenham, and Kildisart (Dubai Destination), a Grade 3 winner at Aintree.

Another generation back and a host of blacktype winners crop up. A feature of many of the better winners in this family is that they improve with age, and given what Latest Exhibition has achieved in his short career of just five starts to date, it is short odds that he could emerge as the best runner in his female line for half a century if he continues on his present upward trajectory.

Uhtred was bred by Jimmy Mangan and sold as a foal to Joseph O’Brien at Tattersalls Ireland for €10,000. Aidan O’Ryan signed for him at the same company’s August Sale last year for €30,000 and the gelding made a successful debut in the valuable Tattersalls Ireland George Mernagh Memorial Sales Bumper at Fairyhouse in April. In the silks of Gigginstown House Stud, the four-year-old made amends for a reversal on his second outing when capturing the Listed Future Champions INH Flat Race, and he is a horse who can climb the ladder of success to the highest level.

It would appear that Fame And Glory is well capable of upgrading his mares. Uhtred is the only foal of Ingred Hans (Beneficial) who did not race. She has two winning full-brothers, and the more successful of the pair was Mount Sion (Beneficial) who won a point-to-point and then added three wins over fences. He was bred by Ian Counihan and sold through Grange Mount Stud for €7,000 as a newly turned yearling to Mount Eaton Stud, though the Hores did not see any great profit when they sold him on at the Derby Sale for €16,000 to Enda Bolger who trained him throughout his career.

Uhtred and Tom Hamilton \ Healy Racing

Mount Sion was a son of the unraced Miss Di (Phardante) and she had three winning siblings, the most successful of which was her own-brother Coolefind. He won seven chases and 13 point-to-points. Their dam Greavesfind (The Parson) was another female in the family who did not run but she was a daughter of Pencil Lady whose eight victories included the Grade 3 Rose Handicap Chase at Tralee. At stud her sole racecourse winner was 10-time scorer Hotplate (Buckskin).

If you go back to Uhtred’s fifth generation you find great success as a pair of Pencil Lady’s siblings were also blacktype winners, while her half-sister Rambling Gold (Little Buskins) bred the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novice Chase winner Senor El Betrutti (Roselier).

Fame And Glory, who died in 2017, sired Grade 1 Golden Cygnet Novice Commander Of Fleet in his first crop, while Uhtred and the listed bumper winner Glory And Fortune are stars of his second crop.