WHEN Chisholm Trail finished a well beaten fifth in the Grade 2 bumper for mares at the Dublin Racing Festival, connections need not have been disappointed. It was, after all, a Grade 2 bumper and it was just the Paul Nolan-trained mare’s second ever run.

As it transpired, the race was something like a fine wine, as with each passing day the form got better. The winner, Relegate, went on to win the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham, the second, Getaway Katie Mai, won the Grade 2 mares’ bumper at Aintree, the fourth, Tintangle, won twice including a listed mares’ bumper at Fairyhouse, and the third, Colreevy, won a Grade 3 mares’ bumper at Punchestown.

So it was no surprise that when this daughter of Presenting reappeared in a Wexford bumper at the beginning of May, she was sent off a warm favourite, and she duly obliged, netting a €5,000 bonus from the Weatherbys ITBA National Hunt Fillies’ bonus scheme in the process. One month later, she won on her second start over hurdles in a mares’ maiden hurdle at Gowran Park, netting another €5,000 bonus from the same scheme.

The €10,000 went to owner James Brennan, son of John, who enjoyed many big days on the racecourse courtesy of horses like Glencove Marina, Sadlers Wings and Galway Hurdle winner Cuan Na Grai. John handed down his well-known Wexford-themed silks to James who is still in the infancy stage of ownership but could well have a good mare representing him now.

BIG FAN

Nolan trained Cuan Na Grai to his Galway Hurdle win and he is a big fan of the bonus series. The Wexford trainer netted bonuses previously with Presavita and the useful Castafiore Park, and will no doubt be keen to aim Chisholm Trail at a mares’ beginners’ chase in the future, to try and complete the bonus hat-trick, a feat only completed by four mares since the scheme began.

He said: “I think the scheme has had a positive effect for training fillies and mares. For owners, it’s like winning a second race. In an overall outlook, you see in that mares’ bumper at Leopardstown, it might have been one of the best bumpers run in Ireland last year. The class of mares is going up.

“When you’re outside the top six trainers, you have less orders, you’re always looking for value. For me I’d rather have two or three fillies than a gelding.

“The opportunity is there for them now and you can actually see this in the sales’ rings because the price of a filly is going up.”

The landscape for fillies and mares in the jumps game has definitely changed for the better, according to Nolan, but he did have one suggestion regarding the earning of blacktype.

“I think a fairer system would be to award blacktype to mares who reach a certain rating rather than getting placed in just one race.

“In the current system, you could get lucky in a five-runner race in Thurles, and have a 115-rated mare finish third.”

For now though, blacktype and reaching a high level in the hurdles ratings go hand in hand and Chisholm Trail, a half-sister to two classy Willie Mullins-trained mares, Morning Run and Morning Supreme, has a fair chance of earning both. After that, there is another bonus to be won.