BALL D’Arc added his name to the long list of National Hunt graded winners carrying the FR suffix when beating Moon Over Germany by two lengths in the Grade 2 Paddy Power Shops Better Value Novice Hurdle over two miles at Naas on Sunday.

It is a second blacktype victory for the five-year-old, following his listed success at Punchestown last month, and he was Grade 2-placed behind Min at that venue three weeks earlier.

Bred by the partnership of SCEA Le Fragneau and Nicole Terriere, the son of Haras d’Enki stallion Network (by Monsun) is out of Pretty Moon, an unraced AQPS daughter of the 1986 St Leger hero Moon Madness (by Vitiges).

He is an €80,000 graduate of the 2014 Goffs Land Rover Sale and the best of his dam’s siblings is Royal D’Arc (by Le Triton), a prolific flat and bumper scorer who also won several times over hurdles and was twice blacktype-placed at Auteuil.

Their unraced dam Lextrienne (by Neustrien) is a half-sister to the listed-placed French chaser Pandolphe (by Passing Sale) and to the three-times scorer No Passe (by Passing Sale), and their dam Akene IV (by Kashtan), who won four times under National Hunt rules in France, was the only successful runner out of the prolific Guinguette II (by Thelus), a seven-times flat scorer who also won three times over obstacles.

With listed and Grade 2 success to his name Ball D’Arc is the best that this family has come up with, so far, and it will be fascinating to see how far this AQPS son of the sire of Sprinter Sacre can rise in the rankings.