THOUGH he is a member of Mahler’s second crop, the five-year-old Sutton Place became the first black type winner for his sire when he won the Irish Racing Writers Kingsfurze Novice Hurdle at Naas on Sunday.

The field size of five runners might have been disappointing but there was no denying the quality of the quintet and the JP McManus runner won in fine style in the hands of Barry Geraghty.

Gordon Elliott trains the gelding who was twice sold at Tattersalls Ireland. Bred by James Leahy, he sold for €4,000 as a foal through The Beeches Stud to Sean Wickham. Then as a three-year-old Kieran McManus gave €45,000 for him at the Derby Sale in June.

Beaten on his racecourse debut at Navan in mid-December, Sutton Place atoned for that defeat when justifying odds-on to win a bumper at Punchestown in January. This was just his third start at Naas and he looks to be a smart prospect.

Looking on at this important black type victory with great interest were a couple of buyers of half-sisters to Sutton Place in recent months. At the Goffs December Sale the Hassett’s Ballycrighaun Stud snapped up an Ask filly foal for just €2,500gns, while in January at the DBS Sale Lucy Egerton Racing gave £12,000 for the three-time winning Turtle Island mare Allez Encore.

Glebe Beauty, the dam of Sutton Place, won a point-to-point and she is a great example of a mare that was worth persevering with, even though she may not have had the most auspicious of starts at stud. Indeed, her first two foals were never named and the third, a gelding by Great Palm, managed to be placed over hurdles as a seven-year-old in 2015.

Then along came Allez Encore and she won three, and was followed by the weekend winner Sutton Place. He was winning a race that in the last few years has been won by Lord Windermere, Empire Of Dirt and by other smart performers. There is a four-year-old full-sister to Sutton Place, a three-year-old son of Ask and the yearling filly by the same sire (who is reviewed this week in the paper) out of Glebe Beauty.

As if this black type win for Sutton Place was not enough of an update in the pedigree, Glebe Beauty’s Shantou half-brother Measureofmydreams won the Grade 2 Ten Up Novice Chase at Navan on Valentine’s Day, beating Noble Endeavour by five lengths. Willie Mullins trains him for Gigginstown House Stud.

Measureofmydreams is the second Grade 2 winner for his dam Le Bavellan, a point-to-point winner herself and a daughter of Le Bavard. The first to reach this benchmark was Lord Who. He was a son of Mister Lord and in addition to winning seven races on the track, he was victorious the same number of times in point-to-points. His Grade 2 win was at Naas in the Woodlands Park Club Novice Chase.

This is a family that in just three weeks or so has been transformed and the future careers of both Sutton Place and Measureofmydreams will be monitored very closely.