THE rags to riches story of Moon Racer is a heartening tale and it could yet have many more chapters to be written. The seven-year-old inmate of David Pipe’s yard was a very smart winner of the Grade 1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival last year and he is a horse with a huge future in National Hunt racing.

Unfortunately he is on the easy list at the minute, though Pipe is hopeful of having him back for some of the festival meetings in the spring. He was bred by Denis and Teresa Bergin at Kilbragh Stud in Fethard, Co Tipperary and they have produced many good horses, including another Cheltenham Festival winner in recent years, Flaxen Flare. They were the proud recipients of an award at the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association dinner last Saturday night and the accolade was well deserved.