GRADE 1 WIN FOR YEATS MARE
Prolific flat champion sire Sadler's Wells (by Northern Dancer) has had a profound effect on both flat and National Hunt racing and his many male-line descendants with at least one Grade 1 scorer to their name at stud include his son Yeats.
Coolmore's outstanding stayer, a four-time winner of the Group 1 Gold Cup at Ascot, was represented at Leopardstown recently by Shattered Love who beat Jury Duty by one and three-quarter lengths to take the Grade 1 Neville Hotels Novice Chase over three miles.
The mare, who won a Grade 3 chase at Cork on her previous start and was a Grade 3 scorer over hurdles last year, has now won four of her five starts over the larger obstacles, her only defeat being by three-parts of a length to Jury Duty in a Grade 2 contest at Punchestown in November.
Bred by Limetree Stud and carrying the famous colours of Gigginstown House Stud, the just-turned seven-year-old is a €50,000 graduate of the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale.
She is a half-sister to Grade B Tim Duggan Memorial Handicap Chase scorer Make A Track (by Hernando) and to Grade 2 Charlie Hall Chase and Grade A Guinness Handicap Chase star Irish Cavalier (by Aussie Rules), and she is out of Tracker (by Bustino), an unraced full-sister to Champion Hurdle hero Make A Stand.
Shattered Love is rated 142 over fences and so has a long way to go yet if she is to trouble the best Grade 1 chasers in open company, but she is just a novice and is on the upgrade.
She is also a very valuable future broodmare prospect.
---
GRADE 1 STAR MICK JAZZ REPRESENTS FAMOUS FAMILY
Such has been the success enjoyed by French-bred National Hunt horses in recent years that an increasing number of their stallions are being brought to Ireland and to the UK to continue their careers.
These include Blue Bresil (by Smadoun), who was Group 2-placed on the flat and Grade 2-placed over obstacles before joining the team at Haras de la Croix Sonnet.
His early offspring include the Grade 1-placed dual Grade 2 scorer Le Prezien – who is trained by Paul Nicholls for J.P. McManus – and surprise recent Grade 1 Ryanair Hurdle winner Mick Jazz.
Blue Bresil moved to Yorton Farm Stud, in Wales, in 2016, he will stand for £4,500 this coming season, and his team mates are Clovis Du Berlais (by King's Theatre), Gentlewave (by Monsun), Pether's Moon (by Dylan Thomas), Universal (by Dubawi), and Yanworth's sire Norse Dancer (by Halling).
Mick Jazz, who was bred by Gaelle Albert, was placed over hurdles in France and in England before joining the Gordon Elliott stable almost 15 months ago.
He has won three of his seven starts here, been blacktype-placed in three of those four defeats, and he may now be in line for a crack at the Grade 1 Unibet Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in March.
The second foal out of the French hurdles and chase scorer Mick Maya (by Siam), he is a half-brother Mick Maestro (by Air Chief Marshal), a once-raced bumper scorer who holds an entry at Taunton on Tuesday.
His unraced grandam, Dona Miska (by Dom Pasquini), is the dam of a few winners and grandam of others, and his third dam is the dual jumps scorer Mista (by Misti IV), a half-sister to the multiple graded-placed hurdler Carvicky (by Carvin II) and whose descendants include the Auteuil blacktype hurdles winner Sir Gallo (by Lavirco).
Those horses appeared on the catalogue page when Mick Jazz was sold for £27,000 at the 2016 Goffs UK August Sale, but there is more to the family.
Mista and Carvicky had a blacktype-placed half-sister called Kotka (by La Varende) – who appeared on the bottom of the page – but what did not fit in the available space was that she was the dam of the Auteuil blacktype winners Kitcho (by Belgio), Klain (by Kautokeino) and Salto (by Carmarthen), that she is an ancestor of Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle and Grade 1 Champion 4yo Hurdle hero Katarino (by Pistolet Bleu), and that her dam, Matamine (by Tamanar), had another very notable daughter.
That one was the four-time hurdles winner Kotkie (by Rheffic), the mare who gave us triple Grand Steeplechase de Paris star Katko (by Camarthen), dual Grand Steeplechase de Paris hero Kotkijet (by Cadoudal), and four other blacktype earners, in addition to an unraced filly who became the dam of high-class hurdler Kotkita (by Subotica).
Kotkita's siblings include the Willie Mullins-trained Grade 3 winner Kalkir (by Montmartre), multiple listed chase heroine Katkovana (by Westerner), and listed hurdles scorer Kalifko (by Montmartre), and her offspring feature Grade 1 chase heroine Kotkikova (by Martaline).
These horses are, of course, remotely connected to Mick Jazz but they show that his is a family whose roots are no strangers to producing top-class performers.
---
RICHES RELATION ADVERTISES POTENTIAL
Recent Grade 1 Leopardstown Christmas Chase winner Road To Respect has advertised his potential as a Gold Cup horse, and although he probably needs to improve further on the 167 on which he is now rated, he has only just turned seven years old so progress seems likely.
Gigginstown House Stud's chesnut is trained by Noel Meade, he was bred by Ivy Rothwell, and he is a son the top-class middle-distance horse Gamut (by Spectrum) who is about to begin his fifth season at Rosshill Farm having previously been based at Sunnyhill Stud.
The stallion's most notable son, to date, is Road To Riches, the Galway Plate and dual Grade 1 star who represents the same connections but has been below par so far this season.
It is no coincidence that the pair are similarly named as they are what could be described as being three-parts brothers. Road To Respect is out of Lora Lady (by Lord Americo), who is an unraced half-sister to Road To Riches.
Bellora (by Over The River), unraced dam of the latter, also has a notable sibling as she is a full-sister to Sullane River who was a blacktype-winning chaser over two and a half and three miles.
Road To Respect is among the market leaders for both the Grade 1 Ryanair Chase and Grade 1 Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup in March and it will be fascinating to find out how much higher in the rankings he can go.
---
RISING STAR SAGA HAS GROUP 1 RELATIONS
The Willie Mullins-trained Fabulous Saga ran away with a Grade 3 novice hurdle at Cork last month and followed that with an odds-on score in the Grade 2 Guinness Novice Hurdle over three miles at Limerick, taking his record over flights to four wins from six starts.
Previously successful in a bumper and in a sole point-to-point, the French-bred son of Haras d'Etreham's excellent National Hunt stallion Saint Des Saints (by Cadoudal) is out of a winning half-sister to the dam of Grade 3-winning chaser Rescato De L'Oust (by Maresca Sorrento) and so is clearly bred for the job.
And yet his most famous relations achieved their success in quite a different sphere.
His dam, Fabalina (by Dear Doctor), won three times on the flat, she is out of a placed mare called Fabulous Protege (by Fabulous Dancer), and his third dam is a one-time US scorer named Miss Protege (by Successor), who produced just three winners from a dozen foals.
None of this sounds remarkable – and it's not – but one of the latter's successful trio was Group 1 Gran Premio d'Italia and Group 1 Oaks d'Italia heroine Maria Waleska (by Filiberto) and, in addition to becoming the dam of Group 1 July Cup hero and somewhat successful stallion Polish Patriot (by Danzig), she is the grandam of Group 1 Grosser Dallmayr Bayerisches Zuchtrennen winner Lady Jane Digby (by Oasis Dream).
The latter is a half-sister to the Group 3 Diomed Stakes, Group 3 Earl of Sefton Stakes and Group 3 Minstrel Stakes scorer Gateman (by Owington) and to 2001's Royal Hunt Cup winner Surprise Encounter (by Cadeaux Genereux).
Fabulous Saga, who was bred by Haras du Taillis, clearly represents a National Hunt branch of this notable flat family and he is an exciting stayer who has just turned six years old.
---
NEW GRADE 1 STAR FOR FLEMENSFIRTH
Coolmore's veteran Flemensfirth (by Alleged), the just-turned 26-year-old commanding a €15,000 fee at Beeches Stud this coming season, added to his Grade 1 tally when Poetic Rhythm narrowly won the Betfred Challow Hurdle at Newbury on Saturday.
A first winner at the highest level for trainer Fergal O'Brien, the chesnut was bred by Vincent Finn, who sold him for €27,000 at the 2014 Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale.
The now seven-year-old is a full-brother to the multiple staying hurdle winner Forthefunofit and he is out of Sommer Sonnet (by Taipan), an unraced half-sister to the high-class Bog Frog (by Phardante).
That prolific gelding took the Grade 1 Grande Course de Haies d'Auteuil (French Champion Hurdle) in 1997 and was later a Grade 2 winner over fences at Enghien.
Their dam, Vinegar Hill (by Pauper), was unplaced in bumpers and over hurdles but she was a half-sister to 1982's Sun Alliance Novices' Hurdle scorer Mister Donovan (by Choral Society) and also to Cant Pet (Cantab), the unplaced dam of the high-class trio Aherlow (by Brave Invader), Chow Mein (by Chou Chin Chow) and Light The Wad (by Tiepolo).
---
ANOTHER NORD REMINDER
Group 1 winner and successful National Hunt sire Voix Du Nord (by Valanour) died young and that loss was further advertised when Duca De Thaix scored at Limerick recently.
The race was the Grade 3 Irish Independent Hurdle over two miles, he landed the spoils by two and a half lengths, and his only other outing since coming to Ireland was when finishing fourth in a Grade 3 contest at Naas in November, on his debut for the Gordon Elliott stable.
Yet another talented performer to carry the Gigginstown House Stud colours, the newly turned five-year-old was bred by Michel Bourgneuf and he won a bumper and a hurdle race from a handful of starts in France.
His siblings include Antartica De Thaix (by Dom Alco), who won a listed chase at Huntingdon last March, for the Paul Nicholls team, and was runner-up in a similar contest at Market Rasen in November.
They are out of the 12-furlong flat scorer Nouca De Thaix (by Subotica) and that AQPS (autre que pur sang) mare is a half-sister to several National Hunt winners.
It is early days yet for this young horse, but given his connections and his sire's record, there is every reason to hope that this success is just his first in blacktype company and that his future may also include a notable record over the larger obstacles.