WESTERNER (Danehill) ranked 102nd on the leading National Hunt sire list for the 2011/’12 season, when his first crop was four, turning five. The five-time Group 1 winner leaped up to 29th the next season, and then in 2013-24 he made it into the top 10, at number nine.

For the dozen seasons since, including the current one, he has only twice been out of the top 10, and last season achieved a high of third on the table, behind Walk In The Park and Getaway. He is behind those two again this season, and in a race with Soldier Of Fortune for the third spot. On the first day of the Punchestown Festival he took the sire honours with a pair of Grade 1 winners.