BOBBY Donworth and Honora Corridan are making a habit of featuring in Breeding Insights, but success deserves to be recognised and yet another horse bred at their Roundhill Stud has won a Group 3 race. The latest is Libran, a five-year-old son of Lawman who captured the N E Manion Cop at Rosehill in Australia and he will now head for a Group 1, hopefully to enjoy more success in the Highclere Thoroughbred Racing colours.

Libran’s sire Lawman is one of the most consistently successful stallions at stud in Ireland and he could be heading into another bright year with his son Marcel being considered a leading classic hope by connections. With other Group 1 winners including Just The Judge, Most Improved and Law Enforcement, Lawman looks to be great value for the 2016 season at just €25,000. For good measure he is a son of Invincible Spirit.

Libran is the best winner to date for his dam True Crystal, a winning daughter of Sadler’s Wells and one of nine winners for her dam State Crystal who won the Lancashire Oaks and was placed in top-class events such as the Sun Chariot Stakes, Yorkshire Oaks and the Prix Vermeille.

This is a family that has generation after generation produced top notch winners and State Crystal was one of four stakes winners from her dam Crystal Spray. Heading this list was the Group 1 winning two-year-old Crystal Music who was classic-placed at three, and she in turn is the grandam of the Prix Greffulhe winner Ocovango.

Another of the quartet of stakes winners out of Crystal Spray was the John Porter Stakes winner Dubai Success, while his half-sister Solar Crustal won the May Hill Stakes at two and was placed in the Prix Marcel Boussac.

Interestingly, Crystal Spray bred the non-stakes winner Tchaikovsky but he did manage a Group 1 placing when third in the Irish Derby. Libran has more than repaid his meagre yearling purchase price of 35,000gns but that will be forgotten should he go on to enjoy even greater success than that which he has achieved so far.