WITH Christy Roche’s impact in racing, you have to go way back, his success intertwined in so many annals of the game.

As a flat jockey, he is one of Ireland’s greatest, a seven-time champion who rode the first Irish Derby winners for both Jim Bolger and Aidan O’Brien. He won 13 classics in all including the unforgettable 1984 Derby on Secreto.

As a National Hunt trainer, he sent out multiple Grade 1 winners, multiple Cheltenham Festival winners and a Galway Plate and Galway Hurdle winner among his many signature wins.

So it’s no surprise the achievements of Christy Roche the breeder have been seriously successful as well, and more pertinently, continue to be. Just last month, he and his wife Noeleen’s Something Abouther, trained by their son Padraig, won her mares’ bumper at Limerick and scooped a €5,000 Weatherbys ITBA National Hunt fillies’ bonus in the process.

She is from a famous Roche family, one that goes right back to the 1980s and has popped up time and time again.

Mursuma

Her grandam, Mursuma, has produced no less than 11 winners, accounting for 46 wins in all from her immediate offspring, including the brilliant five-time Grade 1 winner Direct Route, top-class novice and Grade 2 winner Joe Mac and 12-time winner Penny A Day.

“She (Something Abouther) won nicely and it was great to win a bumper with her,” Roche said earlier this week.

“She has been sold to Paul Shanahan since and he kept her in the yard with Padraig so that was great. Padraig likes her a lot and I’d be looking forward to seeing her go chasing.

“I’ve always kept mares at home but recently cut my numbers down to just two. We like to race the mares and sell on the geldings. Something Abouther was a filly I intended to keep, because the family has been so good to us, but luckily I have her three-year-old full sister at home, so I was happy to sell her and we can keep the line going.”

Something Abouther is a daughter of Female, who was a smart operator on the track herself, and was ridden to win her bumper and to finish seventh in a Champion Bumper by Padraig, who has started his training career well and has nine winners on the board already this term.

“Things are going nicely, the horses are healthy and we couldn’t be more happy with the way things are going,” Padraig said. “Something Abouther is a nice filly and it was great to be able to keep her in the yard for her new owners, great clients to have.

“Hopefully she can step forward now. We gave her a little break before her race at Naas on Thursday (finished seventh to Brandy Love) and we were happy with her there. Obviously we know the family well, we know every one of them. They normally get better with age so hopefully she can follow the same path. We think she’s a pretty smart filly.”

Incidentally Roche won the same mares’ bumper with Patty D last year, activating the €5,000 Weatherbys ITBA National Hunt Fillies bonus in the process, just like Something Abouther last month.

“It’s a great incentive for owners - the extra money would be a handy sell to anyone!”

And it’s safe to say the picture has changed for mares, even since Christy stopped training in the 2017-18 season. The mares’ bonus coupled with an improved programme for mares and the success of the likes of Honeysuckle and Apple’s Jade has drove forward the interest for owners and breeders to have their mares in training.

With all that said, Christy Roche trained one of the best mares we’ve seen in Irish racing in the shape of Like-A-Butterfly who won 12 of her 17 starts for long-term owner ally J.P. McManus.

“She was a great mare,” Christy reflects. “She won a Grade 1 bumper, a Grade 1 hurdle and a Grade 1 chase - that takes some doing.

“Mares have become so valuable now and there is a great programme for them there. The mares’ bonus is a fantastic scheme for small breeders. Straight away I was able to put her (Something Abouther) into the scheme. Then I could aim at one of the mares bumpers and one of the mares maiden hurdles - it’s a great scheme for the smaller breeder.”