RODERIC O’Connor moved to the National Stud in Newmarket for this stud season and last weekend his three-year-old son Haalick won the Listed 32Red Spring Cup over seven furlongs on the all-weather at Lingfield.

He is the third stakes winner from the first crop of his sire, joining the Italian Group 2 winning juvenile Biz Heart and Great Page, a Group 2 winner in France, a listed winner at Naas and group-placed in England last year.

Haalick is now the best runner for his dam Lucky Pipit, a stakes-winning two-year-old by Key Of Luck, the sire also of Azamour. Lucky Pipit has had six named produce to date, all of them have raced and five of them are winners.

This is a proud record that she is upholding.

Consider this – Lucky Pipit is one of six winners from seven foals for her dam, the stakes winner Meadow Pipit. She in turn is the best of 10 winners from a dozen foals for her dam Delta Slew who was stakes-placed in Canada.

Delta Slew’s dam Double Delta did even better, Apart from winning 21 races, and these included the Grade 1 Beldame Stakes, she had 11 foals, all ran and all won. They included the Grade 1 winner and sire Delta Flag.

JUST a few weeks ago this column featured Ronan Burns of Herbertstown House Stud following victory for Tryster in the Group 3 Dubai Millennium Stakes. Here are two extracts from the write-up on the five-year-old gelding:

“Tryster is now the winner of eight of his 11 career starts, and his most recent success in the Group 3 Dubai Millennium Stakes at Meydan is his second at that level. He also won the Winter Derby at Lingfield and it is possible that these are just stepping stones to a victory at a higher level.”

“Tryster could be a major winner again at Meydan before their season draws to a close in a little over a month’s time.”

Well I am thrilled to say that my crystal ball proved to be accurate and last Saturday the son of Shamardal won the $300,000 Group 1 Jebel Hatta over nine furlongs and has put himself right in the picture for the $6 million Dubai Turf on World Cup night. Can he successfully take on the in-form Solow and crown his career with another triumph in a fortnight’s time?

SATURDAY in Meydan also featured the Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge R3 and there was a shock victory for the Teofilo five-year-old Special Fighter. On a red-letter day for his sire, he became that stallion’s tenth winner at the highest level.

Bred by Darley, the Musabah Al Muhairi-trained winner had not shown anything like this level of form to date and this was just his fifth win in 17 career starts. One of these victories was in China last year.

With the likes of Keen Ice in arrears, it is likely now that Special Fighter will contest the Dubai World Cup, but it will be an even bigger shock were he to land that prize.

Special Fighter is the sixth and last foal out of the Machiavellian mare Susu. She won in the UAE and in England where she was trained by Sir Michael Stoute. Her seven victories included the Group 2 Challenge Stakes at Newmarket and listed races at Doncaster and Abu Dhabi. All her four runners have won, the other three being successful in Greece, Germany and France.

On Saturday Teofilo also sired the Group 1 Australian Guineas winner Palentino, successful for the third time in six starts and beating the Victoria Derby winner Tarzino narrowly in the process. Teofilo stands this season for €50,000 at Kildangan Stud.

WALK In The Park and Soldier Of Fortune are two recent imports to Ireland and both are fascinating additions to the Irish National Hunt stallion ranks. Soldier Of Fortune is an Irish Derby winner by Galileo, while Walk In The Park is an Epsom Derby runner-up by Montjeu. Both have raced at the highest level.

They’re both products of top-class breeders and breeding establishments. Soldier Of Fortune was bred by Jim Bolger and comes from the famous ‘Fanghorn’ family, while Walk In The Park was bred by Seamus Burns and is out of the Irish 1000 Guineas winner Classic Park.

Both horses started their stud careers in France and it is something of a role reversal for Irish National Hunt breeders that these two proven sires have been repatriated.

Both have shown they can sire racehorses that all the big owners will want. Walk In The Park has Douvan and Min - horses that could become two of the best trained by Willie Mullins and owned by Rich Ricci.

Soldier Of Fortune’s best progeny include the leading French three-year-old hurdler of 2015, Carlita Du Berlais, while JP McManus has already snapped up his exciting son Slowmotion and Mark Johnston trains the dual listed scorer Fire Fighting, a horse that has run more often than some people have had hot dinners.

Walk In The Park has another very exciting prospect in Park Light who won the Listed Prix Rohan last weekend at Auteuil. This half-brother to Cyrlight is highly regarded and, somewhat unusually for a French-bred jumper, has been given time as he is a giant individual.

His half-brother Cyrlight was only twice unplaced in 31 starts, winning 20 times including the Grade 1 Prix Maurice Gillois and Grade 1 Prix Ferdinand Dufaure over jumps. Soldier Of Fortune stands at The Beeches Stud while Walk In The Park resides at Grange Stud.