ONE of the happiest scenes of the Christmas period was watching the Flynn family celebrate the victory of Colreevy in the third running of the Grade 1 Matchbook Betting Exchange Faugheen Novice Chase at Limerick.

In doing so she became the only mare to land a Grade 1 over the festive days, and how wonderful it is to see her go chasing. Given her pedigree and her career to date, breeder and owner Niall Flynn and his family could well have taken the route to the breeding shed. After all, she is a Grade 1 bumper winner, one of three wins in that code, while she was also successful over hurdles.

Colreevy was bred by Niall at his Five Naughts Stud and the daughter of Flemensfirth (Alleged) is the fourth born and one of five winners for Poetics Girl (Saddlers’ Hall). The mare’s sixth produce is Light Brigade (Leading Light) and the five-year-old looks set to become her sixth winner, having shown ability in bumpers and over hurdles. Poetics Girl’s progeny listing to date is completed by a four-year-old Leading Light (Montjeu) filly and a yearling colt by the same sire, as well as a three-year-old daughter of Walk In The Park (Montjeu).

Coolreevy’s half-brother Spider Web (Presenting) won the Munster National and a Grade 2 chase at Leopardstown, while Runfordave (Stowaway) was placed in Grade 2 hurdle races at Punchestown and Fairyhouse and ran third in the Martin Pipe Conditional Riders’ Hurdle at Cheltenham. Poetics Girl’s half-brother Snap Tie (Pistolet Bleu) won a Grade 3 hurdle race at Punchestown, was second in the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle at Kempton and third in the Grade 1 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Poetics Girl is a daughter of Aries Girl (Valiyar) who was runner-up to Fortune And Fame in the AIG Europe Champion Hurdle when it was run at Fairyhouse. She is a half-sister to the US Grade 2 Cinema Handicap winner Character (Never So Bold), their dam being Ravaro (Raga Navarro) who won the Irish Cesarewitch, up to Grade 2 level over hurdles and was second in the Grade 1 Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Time to Appreciate a future champion

BRED by Barmakin Ltd and South Lodge Stud, Appreciate It turned in one of the best performances of the past week when he glided to a nine-length victory in the Grade 1 Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle.

The former top-notch bumper horse will be on many shortlists for the future as he gave Willie Mullins his fifth win in the race in the past six runnings.

Appreciate It is yet another reminder of what a good stallion Jeremy (Danehill Dancer) was, and he joins Our Conor, Reserve Tank, Whiskey Sour (who also won this race) and Jer’s Girl as a Grade 1 winner. Jeremy started his career at the Irish National Stud before moving to Garryrichard Stud.

Another graduate from the point-to-point sphere, this Grade 2 bumper winner, who was runner-up to Ferny Hollow in the Grade 1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper, was sold as a foal at Tattersalls Ireland for €18,500 to Apple Tree Farm and resold two and a half years later at the Derby Sale for €60,000 to Suirview Stables.

Appreciate It is the best of three winners for his dam Sainte Baronne (Saint Des Saints) who was placed on all her three starts in bumpers, beaten just a neck on her final outing at Limerick.

She is also dam of Danny Kirwan (Scorpion), a point-to-point, bumper and hurdle winner who ran second in the Grade 2 Kennel Gate Novice Hurdle at Ascot. Sainte Baronne’s 2020 foal, a colt by Jukebox Jury (Montjeu), sold to Richard Rohan for €70,000.

Saint Baronne is a half-sister to nine-time winner (eight over jumps) Bingo Bell (Fijar Tango) and he had his biggest success in a Grade 3 chase at Auteuil.

A third Irish Grade 1 winner for Coastal Path

WHAT a pity that Coastal Path, at the age of just 15 in 2019, had to retired from stud duties as a consequence of fertility issues.

He had all the qualities one could wish for in a leading National Hunt sire, and he could have no greater fan than Willie Mullins.

Coastal Path, a Group 2 winner in France at three and four and placed in the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup when trained by Andre Fabre, sired the Mullins-trained Bacardys in his first crop. The trainer later steered the careers of Grade 1 hurdle winner Asterion Forlonge, the smart Saint Roi, and now he handles the Grade 1 Racing Post Novice Chase winner Franco De Port.

It is interesting that the aforementioned quartet of blacktype winners are the only ones sired by Coastal Path outside France. There he has eight more. Franco De Port won on his only start in France when trained by Gabrial Leenders, at Auteuil in March 2019, and has added two hurdle wins and both his chase outings to that tally. He was bred by Patrick Joubert and Haras de Saint-Voir.

Franco De Port is the only winner to date for Ruth (Agent Bleu) who was placed over jumps. She has five winning siblings, the best of which was Sang Bleu (Lavirco) who was a well-beaten second in the Grade 1 Future Champion Finale Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow when trained by Guillaume Macaire.

The French trainer was also responsible for the career of another of the family’s good runners, Japhet (Perrault), a Grade 1 chase winner in France who was third to Barton in a Grade 2 chase at Aintree.

Silver Streak sheds bridesmaid tag

NO one could begrudge Silver Streak his Grade 1 success over the 2020 Champion Hurdle winner Epatante in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton, a race in which he was runner-up to that mare 12 months earlier.

This was the eight-year-old’s eighth success over the smaller obstacles, having failed to win in seven starts on the flat.

On what was his 25th outing over hurdles, Silver Streak eclipsed his previous best wins which came at Grade 3 and listed level. He has also been placed in the Champion Hurdle and in the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle.

Bred at the O’Callaghan’s Yeomanstown Stud, and a son of their best stallion Dark Angel (Acclamation), it was not a Grade 1 National Hunt win that his breeders were hoping for when they mated the winning Hamas (Danzig) mare Happy Talk with Dark Angel. Indeed, Silver Streak is just one of a pair of the mare’s seven winners to be successful over jumps, the other being Mica Mika (Needwood Blade). That gelding won a juvenile hurdle race but was prolific on the flat, successful 10 times.

Happy Talk is a half-sister to Storm Dream (Catrail) who was third as a maiden, trained by Kevin Prendergast, to Crimplene and Amethyst in the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas. She had finished a short head behind the Group 1 winner Preseli in a listed race before that.

Storm Dream then was sent to the USA where her three victories included a Grade 3 contest and she is grandam of the Australian-bred Spanish Reef (Lope De Vega), a Group 2 winner who was placed in a Group 1.