THE top-class international star Singspiel (by In The Wings) was only 18 when he died five years ago, but he has been back in the news again this year thanks to the exploits of his brilliant son Solow, the multimillionaire whose victory in last month’s Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot was his fifth consecutive Group 1 success of 2015.

The former Dalham Stud stallion’s progeny also include Group 1 stars such as Moon Ballad, Confidential Lady, Papineau, Eastern Anthem, Lahudood, and Dar Re Mi, and like most good flat sires he has been represented by big race winners under National Hunt rules too.

The Paul Nicholls-trained Irving is one of the best of his sire’s jumpers, and last year’s Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle winner added the Grade 2 StanJames.com Elite Hurdle at Wincanton last Saturday.

The now four-times graded winner was bred by Gestut Schlenderhan, the famous farm from where Monsun sired so many top-class international flat stars, and he has a variety of talented relations.

Irving, a seven-year-old gelding, is out of Indigo Girl and so is bred on similar lines to Sunday’s Grade 2 Lismullen Hurdle winner Arctic Fire in that both are by sons of In The Wings (by Sadler’s Wells) and out of daughters of Sternkoenig (by Kalaglow). His dam is the Group 1 Preis der Diana (German Oaks) third Indigo Girl and so it is no surprise that he was a multiple winner on the flat, and capable of finishing a two and a quarter length fourth in a listed contest at Baden-Baden before joining the all-conquering Nicholls team.

His half-brother was third in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup last month and out of the frame in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup 11 days ago, but under his European name Ivanhowe (by Soldier Hollow) he won the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Baden and the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Bayern, both over 12 furlongs, in 2014.

Indigo Girl is one of seven winners out of Indian Jewel (by Local Suitor) and that twice-successful runner is also responsible for the listed scorers Irulan (by Monsun) and Indian Breeze (by Monsun), and for the Group 3-placed gelding Iolith (by Monsun) who later won twice over hurdles for the Alan King stable.

The next dam, Indian Pearl (by Gulf Pearl), was a champion in Germany and dual Group 3 scorer who was runner-up in the Group 2 Preis der Diana (German Oaks), the classic in which her dam Indra (by Birkhahn) was successful in 1965, while the sixth dam of Irving is the 1939 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French 1000 Guineas) heroine Yonne (by Indus).

Talent runs deep in this family, and although his dual Group 1-winning half-brother, who now runs as Our Ivanhowe, probably has a stallion career in his future, Irving’s path may be comparatively less glamorous yet still lucrative.