THE news that Gallant Oscar was bought this week by J.P. McManus was broken online by The Irish Field and it was discovered almost by accident.

Co Clare breeder Pat Callinan called our offices to tell us the remarkable story of how he and his Newmarket-on-Fergus neighbour Garrett Kelly had runners in the Scottish National. Pat bred Cheltenham runner-up Broadway Buffalo while Garrett was the owner of Gallant Oscar.

Little did we or Pat know that Gallant Oscar was in the process of being sold though we suspected something was up when Garrett understandably declined to talk about the horse. A chance call to J.P.’s racing manager Frank Berry confirmed the news.

Broadway Buffalo is a half-brother to Christdalo, also bred by Pat and a winner of three points and a bumper here before being sold to David Pipe and the Johnson family. That is only half the story though as Pat gave away Christdalo, a chesnut foal with four white socks, to his friend David Crimmins.

She was David’s first racehorse and proved a star before joining David Pipe for whom she won two more races before being retired due to injury. David takes up the story: “I phoned David Johnson to ask would there be any chance of buying Christdalo back and he actually gave her to me for nothing.”

The fairytale continued when Christdalo’s first foal Lady Of Longstone was bought by David Pipe and won first time out.

A big win for Broadway Buffalo would be fair reward for Pat Callinan who has been breeding from this line for over 20 years.

Pat recalled: “Broadway Buffalo went to the Land Rover Sale with another neighbour of mine, John Hannan of Killula Stud. He sold Some Article the same day and that horse won the Land Rover Bumper. I said to John ‘I hope some of the luck rubbed off on my fellow’ and sure enough Broadway Buffalo came out a few weeks later and won by 15 lengths.”