THERE were many more column inches given over after Fairyhouse on Sunday to the defeated Honeysuckle than to the winner of the Grade 1 Bar One Racing Hatton’s Grace Hurdle, Robcour’s Teahupoo.

It was understandable, given it was the first ever defeat inflicted on the brilliant mare, but take nothing away from the winner, a horse who was always going to be a Grade 1 winner, the only question was when. There was another first for the five-year-old gelding, as he was crediting his sire, the 2011 Group 1 St Leger winner Masked Marvel (Montjeu), with his first winner at the highest level outside France.

Seven wins and a placed effort from just 10 lifetime starts is the proud record of Teahupoo, one of these victories gained in his native France where he was bred by Haras Du Hoguenet and partners. He is the second winning offspring of the Sassanian (Roberto) mare Droit D’Aimer, and she was a precocious type who was successful four times over jumps as a three-year-old.

Droit D’Aimer and her full-sister Miss Lordy (Sassanian) were the only winners from Mago Less (Saumarez), and Miss Lordy’s winners at stud include Alix Pretty (Le Fou) who was runner-up in a listed chase at Cagnes-Sur-Mer.

You have to go back a few generations to find the principal performers in the family, all of which descend from Teahupoo’s fourth dam, Belgaum (Dictus). Many of the stakes performers have been flat runners, including this year’s group-placed juvenile Ocean Quest (Sioux Nation) who is trained by Jessica Harrington, but the best runner until now has been the well-named Top Notch (Poliglote), a smart hurdler who was second in both the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle and Fighting Fifth Hurdle.

While the Nicky Henderson-trained Top Notch was victorious five times over hurdles, he was a much better chaser, nine wins in that code being headlined by his win in the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices Chase. He also won the Grade 2 Peterborough Chase on a couple of occasions.

Teahupoo is from the second crop of Masked Marvel, whose fee for next year jumps from €7,000 to €12,500. That 2017 crop also includes this year’s Grade 1 Grand Steeplechase de Paris winner Sel Jem, and the dual Grade 3-winning chaser La Danza. The first crop had a single blacktype winner, Maskada, who sold online to Coolmara Stud for £80,000, and is now in training in Ireland while the third crop by Masked Marvel, current four-year-olds, includes a listed winner over hurdles in France.

Mighty Potter

The Grade 1 Bar One Racing Drinmore Novice Chase was also won by a five-year-old French-bred, Mighty Potter giving every indication that he will be equally good as a chaser as he was at hurdling. Over the smaller obstacles he won both the Grade 1 Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown, preceded by victory in the Grade 1 Future Champions Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown.

A son of Martaline (Linamix) and bred by Francois Marie Cottin, Mighty Potter is from a family that has bloomed in recent years. He races for Andy and Gemma Brown’s Caldwell Construction, and this is a family they know well.

Last year Joey Logan paid €200,000 on behalf of Andy and Gemma at the Goffs Land Rover Sale for a three-year-old full-brother to Mighty Potter. Listed as being named Aide Memoire, he is now called Caldwell Potter and last month he was an impressive bumper winner at Punchestown on just his second start.

Little wonder then that Gordon Elliott, who trains both Mighty Potter and Caldwell Potter, paid Lakefield Farm €310,000 for a three-year-old Kapgarde (Garde Royale) half-sister to both horses at the Derby Sale. They are all out of the unraced Matnie (Laveron), and her most recent produce is a yearling colt by Doctor Dino (Muhtathir).

French Dynamite

Meanwhile, Mouse Morris trains two more of Matnie’s offspring, the Grade 2-placed hurdler Indiana Jones (Blue Bresil), and the Grade 3 Pierce Molony Memorial Novice Chase winner French Dynamite (Kentucky Dynamite) who has also been placed at Grade 1 level.

These are all the progeny to date from Matnie, who is a half-sister to Michael Heery’s homebred The Dabbler (Presenting), trained by Liam Cusack and twice successful over fences last year. He has also been placed a couple of times in Grade 2 chases.

The Dabbler is the only winning produce from seven foals for Lirfox (Foxhound), a prolific winner in France, nine times successful on the flat and over jumps, before joining Martin Pipe and adding three wins over fences. She was placed in a Grade 2 novices’ hurdle at Aintree. One of four winners from the unraced Lirfa (Lear Fan), Lirfox was one of three blacktype performers. Her half-sister La Grande Dame (Daliapour) was a Grade 3-winning hurdler and runner-up in the Grade 1 Prix Renaud du Vivier 4yo Hurdle.

Closer to home, La Grande Dame’s full-brother Aupcharlie (Daliapour) showed flashes of brilliance, notably when beaten a head in the Grade 1 Fort Leney Novice Chase by Back In Focus at Leopardstown, while earlier he was placed in the Grade 1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper at Cheltenham. He amassed five wins on the track and two in point-to-points.

Most successful

Martaline needs no introduction as he has been one of the most successful National Hunt stallions ever at stud in France. While we simply accept this to be the case, I thought I would do a quick tot on the number of blacktype winners he has sired, given that he had 14 crops of racing age. His 21 Grade 1 winners are listed on this page, but he is soon to reach a notable century.

Notable among this list is the fact that 10 of the 21 are geldings, eight are fillies and mares, while three of his Grade 1-winning sons went to stud themselves.

Over jumps Martaline is responsible already for 97 blacktype winners, a truly phenomenal tally. In addition he as six sons and daughters who won at listed or Group 3 level on the flat. That averages out at some seven blacktype winners per crop.