WITH the main attention focused on the top chases and hurdle events at any major racing festival it would be easy to forget about its bumpers and the potential that could be on show.
It takes a good horse to win three bumpers and a very good one to win four, and that makes the Ben Pauling-trained five-year-old Barters Hill an exciting prospect for next season and beyond.
He made a winning debut at Huntingdon in early November, followed up at Warwick in December, and then won a listed contest at Newbury in early February. At Aintree last Friday week he extended his unbeaten record to four with victory in the Grade 2 Weatherbys Wealth Management Champion Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race.
Barters Hill was bred by Lady Fowler and it was something of a surprise to learn that he made only €16,000 at the 2013 Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale in Fairyhouse.
He is a son of the outstanding international campaigner Kalanisi (by Doyoun) and he comes from a family whose best winners feature a multiple Cheltenham Festival star. Kalanisi began his stallion career at Gilltown Stud but has been a member of the Boardsmill Stud team since 2008.
His early crops yielded some talented flat horses, but with the Grade 1 Champion Hurdle hero Katchit, Grade 1 scorer Barizan, and additional graded winners such as Alaivan, Kalmonto, and Simarian to represent him it soon became clear that Kalanisi is yet another member of the Mill Reef (by Never Bend) sire line making an impact in National Hunt circles.
Barters Hill is the fifth foal out of an unraced mare called Circle The Wagons (by Commanche Run) and he is her first winner. His grandam was only placed once over hurdles and was, in turn, out of a mare who was unplaced on the flat, but although that might not sound promising, there are several notable horses among his close relations.
Run For Shelter (by Strong Gale), his grandam, has been responsible for seven winners and one of those is the Grade 1 Royal & SunAlliance Novices’ Hurdle hero Fundamentalist (by Supreme Leader).
He also won three times in point-to-points and five races over fences, including a Grade 2 novices’ event at Cheltenham, the latter one is a numeric tally that his ‘nephew’ Fine Parchment beat.
That son of Presenting (by Mtoto) is out of the five times chase scorer Run For Cover (by Lafontaine) and all eight of his wins under National Hunt rules came over fences, including the Grade 3 Wiltshire Greatwood Gold Cup Handicap Chase at Newbury.
His full-brother Behind The Scenes has only been placed a few times over fences but has done well in point-to-points, winning seven times.
Run For Shelter’s half-sisters include Aplomb (by Ballymore), who is the unraced dam of the Grade 1 winning bumper horse Our Bid (by Electric), but her half-brothers include the blacktype placed hurdler Hangover (by Over The River) and, of considerably greater note, the outstanding Badsworth Boy (by Will Hays).
He won twice on the flat as a two-year-old, scored eight times over hurdles, and finished third in the Triumph at Cheltenham but it is as a chaser that he is best remembered as his 18 wins over fences included a hat-trick of wins in the Grade 1 Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Festival.
BUMPER STAR
Barters Hill is an unbeaten, graded-winning bumper star whose sire’s best progeny include a Champion Hurdle hero, but he comes from the immediate family of three high-class chasers, one of whom was a multiple Cheltenham hero.
He could be a leading light in the novices’ hurdle division next season, as was his dam’s half-brother Fundamentalist, but with his family connections it is also possible that he could eventually be another chasing star for his family.