THE purple patch enjoyed by male line descendants of Sadler’s Wells (by Northern Dancer) was also evident in England last weekend, where its roll of honour included the Grade 3 Hennessy Gold Cup winner Many Clouds (by Cloudings), a grandson of the great white-faced bay.

Trained by Oliver Sherwood, and carrying the colours of Trevor Hemmings, the seven-year-old was bred by Aidan Aherne, and he is a half-brother to last year’s Grade 1 Bar One Racing Royal Bond Novice Hurdle winner The Tullow Tank (by Oscar).

That grandson of Sadler’s Wells also won the Grade 1 Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle last season, and although only fifth behind Valseur Lido in the Grade 1 Bar One Racing Drinmore Novices Chase at Fairyhouse last Sunday, he was an odds-on debut chase winner at that same venue four weeks earlier.

The pair are out of Bobbing Back (by Bob Back), a mare who did not show much racing talent during a short career on the track, but whose full-sister Back On Line was a listed-placed multiple chase winner before going to stud.

Their dam Ballyvooney (by Salluceva) also had plenty of ability, winning a bumper, twice over hurdles, and a pair of chases, in addition to three point-to-points, and that mare was, in turn, out of an unraced a half-sister to the high-class staying chaser Inishowen (by Bargello).

That winner of Punchestown’s National Trial Handicap Chase appears under the fourth generation of Many Clouds’s pedigree, so he is quite distantly related to Saturday’s big-race winner, and it is under branches of that same generation that you will find the high-class handicap chasers Battle Axe (by Arctic Lord) and Very Very Ordinary (by Furry Glen).

Bobbing Back had a full-sister to The Tullow Tank last year, and her oldest daughter Deploythetank (by Deploy) is also at stud, with a May 2014-born son of Mahler (by Galileo) her first foal.

This is a family that has a long-established history of producing high-class National Hunt horses, and although it is the younger of the two brothers who has the Grade 1 wins to his name, it is the older sibling who has the higher earnings total, so far.

Many Clouds holds an entry in the Grade 1 Lexus Chase at Leopardstown later this month, and he is available at around 16/1 for the 2015 Grade 1 Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup.

It will be fascinating to see how high in the rankings he can climb, and I wonder if he might become a Grand National contender at some point in his future.