THERE are variations on this old saying in the headline above, depending on where you are in Ireland, but the phrase most certainly came to mind at the weekend with some of the major race results on Saturday and Sunday.

I am not sure that I have seen this happen before, but all of the six Group 1 winners on Irish Champions Festival weekend were sons and daughters of stakes winners, two of them out of Group 1 winners, the French weekend Group 1 Prix Vermeille winner is a daughter of an Australian Group 1 winner, the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup winner is out of a listed-winning mare, while in the USA the brilliant four-time champion Beholder (Henny Hughes) is the dam of a Grade 1 juvenile winner. What a collection.