WHAT a shame that the unraced Midnight Reel had so few opportunities at stud. She had just three foals and two of these are graded winners under National Hunt rules.

First to achieve this feat was Minutestomidnight (Vinnie Roe), a €5,500 Goffs Land Rover Sale graduate who won a mares’ point-to-point at Lingstown under Jamie Codd and then was highly impressive when running out a 12-length winner of a mares’ bumper at Wexford.

Trained by Jonathan Sweeney, she was catalogued to be sold at the Goffs Punchestown Sale in 2017 and 24 hours before she was due in the ring she landed the Grade 3 Weatherbys Liss A Paoraigh EBF Mares Race.

With an unbeaten record and up to the minute form she was sold under the hammer for €200,000 to the Dunsdon-owned Coldunell Limited. They have enjoyed success in Ireland with their runners, most recently with the Willie Mullins-trained Redhotfillypeppers. Since her sale at Punchestown we have not seen Minutestomidnight again, nor has she been listed as covered in the most recent Return of Mares.

The third and last foal from Midnight Reel is Beakstown, the six-year-old son of Stowaway (Slip Anchor) who gained the biggest success of his career in the Grade 2 Ballymore Leamington Novices’ Hurdle at Warwick. He, like his older sibling, was a winning graduate of the point-to-point field and he has added two victories over hurdles to that tally. The Dan Skelton inmate was winning a race captured previously by some notable runners, such as Inglis Drever, The New One and Willoughby Court.

Bred by Geoffrey Thompson at his Morning Star Stud, Beakstown was sold as a foal to Meadowview Stables for €15,000. His eldest sibling was China Reel (Shantou) and she raced just once over hurdles for Jonjo O’Neill before heading to stud. China Reel’s first offspring is a four-year-old daughter of Cloudings (Sadler’s Wells).

The female side of this family is one that has been cultivated by Geoffrey Thompson over many years. The success really started when, in 1981, the five-year-old unraced Midnight Oil (Menelek) foaled a daughter, later named Shannon Spray (Le Bavard). She went on to record 11 successes, including the Listed Saval Beg Stakes on the flat and the Grade 3 Johnstown Hurdle at Naas. She was placed at Grade 1 level, notably chasing Roark home in the Ladbroke Hurdle at Leopardstown.

At stud Shannon Spray bred three winners, the Grade 2 Champion Novice Chase at Ayr winner Eirespray (Executive Perk) and the dual Grade 1 David Austin Memorial Chase at Punchestown runner-up Shannon Gale (Strong Gale) being the better of the trio.

Two years after Shannon Spray was born, along came Renagown (Pragmatic), a listed chase winner at Leopardstown. As successful as Midnight Oil was at stud, her daughters in a number of cases did just as well.

Midnights Daughter (Long Pond) bred the Grade 1 Sun Alliance Chase winner One Knight (Roselier), Spanish Flame (Spanish Place) is dam of the Rehearsal Chase winner Direct Access (Roselier) and grandam of the high-class chaser Foxrock (Flemensfirth), while Renagown’s full-sister Collopy’s Cross (Pragmatic) won a pair of bumpers and bred the Grade 3 chase winner Sunset Lodge (Electric).

Midnight Pond (Long Pond), an own-sister to the dam of One Knight, is Beakstown’s grandam. She bred four winners in her own right, and a pair of these were placed at Grade 2 level over hurdles. Hidden Agent (Pistolet Bleu) was one, while Midnight Gift (Presenting) was the other. The latter is the dam of Death Duty (Shantou) and his victories include Grade 1 events over hurdles and fences, the Slaney Hurdle at Naas and the Drinmore Novices’ Chase at Navan.

Beakstown is one of four members of Stowaway’s 2013 crop to win blacktype races so far. The 2018 Grade 2 bumper winner Blackhow shares another thing in common with Beakstown, that of being out of a mare by Accordion (Sadler’s Wells).