WHILE the ‘For The Notebook’ segment of these pages tries to pinpoint potential stars among the equine winners, we could just as easily do the same for the human talent about.

One man, mentioned in this column previously, who is a real talent and ‘one to watch’ is Tim Donworth. He has quite a pedigree himself, being a son of Bobby and Honora at Round Hill Stud in Patrickswell, Co Limerick.

At the weekend Tim delivered his first stakes winner, in his first full season training, and the winner gave U S Navy Flag (War Front) his first stakes winner in his first crop.

Tim, a graduate of the Godolphin Flying Start programme, took out his licence in France on September 1st last year, and from eight runners he saddled four winners of five races. It was a highly promising start in the last third of the year, and more, and better, was sure to come.

This year Tim has won three times with the unbeaten Alpenblume for Kirsten Rausing, won a couple of races with Worth A Team, while his single race winners include last Saturday’s Listed Prix de la Vallee d’Auge winner Ocean Vision, a colt owned by Geraldine Ryan and Jonathon Kirland who was a winner at Dundalk earlier this year. For good measure, Donworth also saddled the third-placed Kokachin, owned in partnership and bred by his parents.

Knockdown price

Geraldine Ryan’s husband Jim bought the dam of Ocean Vision, the Mr Greeley (Gone West) mare Balaagha, for 55,000gns eight years ago, quite a knockdown from the $750,000 she brought when sold as a yearling to Shadwell.

Balaagha had gone on to win a race, been runner-up at Ascot in a listed contest, and when she was sold her first foal was a winner, and her second had been placed, both as two-year-olds.

Sadly the filly she was carrying was never named, but Balaagha has now bred three winners from six named foals, and another two have been placed. She has a yearling colt by El Kabeir (Scat Daddy), and it is interesting that both that colt, and his dam, were withdrawn after being catalogued in this year’s Goffs February Sale.

Perhaps Ocean Vision was showing signs of above average ability?

Much better

In any case, the pedigree was already getting much better, as Balaagha’s Grade 2 winning half-sister Letgomyecho (Menifee) is the dam of last year’s champion juvenile filly in the USA, Echo Zulu (Gun Runner).

Letgomyecho’s third stakes winner, and the second to win at Grade 1 level. Echo Town (Speightstown) won the H Allen Jerkens Stakes at Saratoga in 2020, but Echo Zulu’s performances trump that and she has won three Grade 1s, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Spinaway Stakes and the Frizette Stakes.

Watch out for Ocean Vision, more to come from the progeny of Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes, Middle Park Stakes and July Cup winner U S Navy Flag, and a great deal more success for Tim Donworth.