HARD to believe that Oscar (Sadler’s Well) went to stud 25 years ago, and what an influence the Grange Stud inhabitant has exerted, and continues to exert, on the breed.

This week we heard the announcement of his son Minella Times’ retirement, while another son, Any Second Now, will attempt to win this year’s Randox Grand National with top weight, and do, what Arthur Moore called, “a L’Escargot”. By that I mean, finish first, second and third in the Aintree feature.

At the weekend, a son of Oscar, from his final cohort of progeny, finally won a blacktype race, something his previous form entitled him to do. Oscar Elite, bred by Tom McAuliffe and sold by him for €20,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland August Sale in 2018 to Cormac Doyle, landed the Grade 2 Reynoldstown Novices’ Chase at Ascot, and in the process credited Joe Tizzard with his first win in a graded race at a trainer in his own right.

While in the care of Joe and his father Colin, Oscar Elite had won a couple of hurdle races, been placed at Grade 1 level in Cheltenham and Aintree, but in spite of running third in last year’s Grade 3 Ultima Handicap Chase at Cheltenham, he had not won over the larger obstacles.

That omission has been rectified, and he becomes the 87th blacktype winner for Oscar over jumps, while True Self was also a Group 3 winner on the flat.

Oscar Elite is closely related to another of Oscar’s best runners, as his point-to-point and hurdle-winning dam, Lady Elite (Lord Americo), whom Tom McAuliffe bought as a foal for IR£4,000, is a half-sister to Jim Culloty’s Lord Windermere (Oscar), successful at Cheltenham in both the Grade 1 Gold Cup and the Grade 1 RSA Chase.

Outstanding runner

Lord Windermere is the outstanding runner in this family, and is one of seven winners on the track, and another between the flags, for Satellite Dancer (Satco).

The others include a further smart performer, Sub Lieutenant (Brian Boru), and he was a Grade 2 winner over hurdles and fences. He surely deserved to have won a Grade 1, given that he got to within two lengths of beating Un De Sceaux in the Ryanair at Cheltenham, and was runner-up in the Melling Chase at Aintree and a Grade 1 novice hurdle in Leopardstown.

Each generation of this family seems to throw up a good one. Oscar Elite’s third dam, Greek Empress (Royal Buck), bred four winners and is grandam of Start Me Up (Winged Love) who was placed many times in graded company. Meanwhile, his fourth dam Greek Light (Greek Star), who was foaled in 1959, bred the Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Rathgorman (Super Sam), and she is also the third dam of Love Envoi (Westerner), the Grade 2 hurdle winner and Cheltenham-bound.