AMONG the plethora of blacktype winners last weekend there was a dual Cheltenham entrant who caught the eye in a three-runner event at Newbury.

The time was slow, even allowing for the underfoot conditions, and small fields can produce unreliable results, but Out Sam is quietly moving up in the rankings and he could have a bright future.

Winner of his first two starts over hurdles last season and a faller in the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle at the festival, he began the current phase of his career in a Grade 2 chase at Ascot in December, finishing third behind Le Mercurey.

His official margin of victory in a two miles, three furlong novice chase at Catterick last month was an impressive 80 lengths, but that runner-up was his sole rival after the only other competitor, Major Ivan, fell two out while giving the winner something to think about.

Out Sam was bred by the partnership of David and Nicola Leggate, Richard Kent, and I Henderson.

He is a £145,000 graduate of the Doncaster Spring Sales and the Cheltenham Festival races in which he holds an entry are the Grade 1 JLT Novices’ Chase and the Grade 1 RSA Chase.

FIRST CROP

The gelding represents the first crop of the Mickley Stud stallion Multiplex (by Danehill), a regally-related horse who won the Group 3 Prix La Rochette as a juvenile and was a stakes-winning miler at three and four years of age. A half-brother to the Group 3 scorer Memorise (by Lyphard) and to the dam of Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes winner and Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes third Await The Dawn (by Giant’s Causeway), Multiplex is out of Shirley Valentine (by Shirley Heights), the stakes-placed full-sister to Group 1 Irish Derby runner-up and successful sire Deploy.

Of course that means that she is out of the classic-placed pattern scorer Slightly Dangerous (by Roberto) and so is also a half-sister to the Group/Grade 1 stars Warning (by Known Fact), Commander In Chief (by Dancing Brave) and Yashmak (by Danzig) as well as to the Derby-placed Group 2 winner Dushyantor (by Sadler’s Wells) and to Group 1-placed stakes winner Jibe (by Danzig).

The next dam is classic-placed Where You Lead (by Raise A Native), whose grandson Rainbow Quest (by Blushing Groom) was both a brilliant racehorse and influential stallion, and she is also the grandam of the Group 1 winner and leading Australian sire Scenic (by Sadler’s Wells).

With family connections like these it is hardly a surprise that Multiplex has several flat pattern and stakes winners to his name, in addition to a promising son such as Out Sam.

The Cheltenham-bound bay is out of an unraced mare called Tintera (by King’s Theatre), and in addition to being a full-brother to the triple flat winner Surround Sound, he is a half-brother to the prolific flat horse Wood Top (by Sulamani) and to Honest John (by Alzao), a Grade 2 bumper scorer at Aintree who later won over hurdles and over fences.

Tintera

Tintera is a half-sister to the blacktype-placed six-times hurdles scorer Jubail (by Local Suitor) but also to a former Dermot Weld-trained gelding whom many will remember.

Pre-Emiment (by Local Suitor) won a dozen of his 38 starts over seven seasons including the Listed Trigo Stakes, Listed Ballycorus Stakes, Listed Ballycullen Stakes and Listed Knockaire Stakes, all at Leopardstown.

His dam Fluella (by Welsh Pageant), who was a full-sister to the Group 2 Prince of Wales’s Stakes runner-up Fluellen, was also responsible for the 12-times Italian scorer Help Me (by Doulab) and for Zola (by Alzao), a dual flat winner who went on to record a string of victories in point-to-points.

Fluella, whose dam Ya Ya (by Primera) won once as a three-year-old, was also a half-sister to the blacktype-placed hurdler Holt Place (by Be My Guest) and to Seven Seas (by Riverman), a dual flat scorer whose descendants include some famous stars.

Seven Seas is the third dam of the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner Summoner (by Inchinor) and his Group 1 Eclipse Stakes-winning half-brother Compton Admiral (by Suave Dancer), and she is also a direct ancestor of brilliant mare The Fugue (by Dansili) and of Group 2 winner and rising star Limato (by Tagula).

The relationship of those horses to Out Sam is remote, but there is every reason to hope that soon he can become the third blacktype winner within the first two generations of his family.