JAMES & DAVID EGAN (above), Corduff Stud and T.J. Rooney

Romantic Warrior (Ire), 2018 g. by Acclamation out of Folk Melody, by Street Cry

THE recent death of Acclamation was soon followed by the 17th racecourse success for his son Romantic Warrior, taking the honours for a record third time in the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup. In doing so, Romantic Warrior becomes the biggest prizemoney winner in the history of racing, this figure being £17,891,000.

Those 17 victories include nine Group 1 races, a pair of Group 2 wins and the same number of listed successes. His record is truly phenomenal, and owner Peter Lau Pak Fai and trainer Danny Shum have a true legend in their care.

The Group 1 Hong Kong Cup is not the only race Romantic Warrior has won three times. He was first past the post on that number of occasions in the Group 1 Queen Elizabth II Stakes, and also annexed their Group 1 Hong Kong Gold Cup. In Japan, he captured the Group 1 Yasuda Kinen, and in Australia his Group 1 Cox Plate win was in their most prestigious race.

He was bred in Co Kildare by the Egan family’s Corduff Stud and the octogenarian American Tim Rooney. Corduff’s father and son team of James and David, along with the latter’s wife Henrietta, took one of the Connolly’s Red Mills/The Irish Field Breeder of the Month awards previously for Romantic Warrior, and it was truly deserved. Romantic Warrior was picked out from the Corduff Stud yearling draft in 2019 by Michael Kinane on behalf of the Hong Kong Jockey Club for 300,000gns.

ALBERT SHERWOOD, A V Bloodstock

Croke Park (Ire), 2018 g. by Walk In The Park out of Toledana, by Protektor

LISTED as being bred by A V Bloodstock, Croke Park is showing his true colours over fences, and he is a credit to his breeder Albert Sherwood, the initials in A V Bloodstock representing Albert and his wife Veronica.

Croke Park is unbeaten in three starts over fences, adding the Grade 1 Racing Post Long Distance Novice Chase at Leopardstown to his victory in the Grade 1 Drinmore Novice Chase at Fairyhouse. The Dromahane point-to-point winner topped the Goffs UK Aintree Sale in 2022 following that point-to-point. He sold for a tasty €150,000 as store, having been a €47,000 foal, on both occasions part of the Ballincurrig House Stud draft, but at Aintree the hammer dropped in favour of Eddie O’Leary’s £400,000 bid. Beaten in a Kilbeggan bumper, his hurdle wins include a Grade 3 novice at Navan.

Croke Park is a second Grade 1 winner for Toledana, a French-bred by the German-bred stallion Protektor. His year-older half-brother, Farren Glory (Fame And Glory), also trained by Gordon Elliott, went from winning a maiden hurdle at Clonmel to landing the Grade 1 Royal Bond Novice Hurdle.

Bred, raced and trained by Guy Cherel, Toledana won four races in France, and she is one of five winners from Idylle Du Marais. The best of these was Oiseau De Nuit, a Cheltenham Festival winner of the Grade 3 Grand Annual Chase.

Most horses are nominated for winning once at the highest level, but Gigginstown House Stud’s Croke Park won two Grade 1 races in December.

DAN & DANIELLE MCSORLEY

Banbridge (Ire), 2016 g. by Doyen out of Old Carton Lane, by Presenting

ONE of two Grade 1 winners over the Christmas period for daughters of Presenting, Banbridge provided the highlight of racing on St Stephen’s Day when he won his sixth race over fences, the blue riband Grade 1 King George VI Chase at Kempton.

Having failed to win a point-to-point, this €36,000 yearling purchase by Ian Ferguson has now won 11 races, including a bumper and four hurdles, and this was Banbridge’s third and best Grade 1 victory.

At the highest level he also won the 2024 Champion Chase at the Punchestown Festival, while a year earlier he recorded his first top-flight success in the Manifesto Novices’ Chase. Add to that Grade 2 wins at Cheltenham and Kempton Park, and both his placed runs were in Grade 1 races. He has amassed winnings of some £550,000. It is incredible to think that Banbridge’s 2024 half-sister by Poet’s Word failed to find a buyer in December when she was led out unsold at €20,000.

Banbridge is the first winner for his dam who failed to show anything in a few starts as a seven-year-old in point-to-points. She was deserving of a chance at stud, however, as her four winning siblings included the Midlands Grand National runner-up Major Malarkey. The third dam of the Kempton star is the dual winning point-to-pointer Pineway VII, a daughter of General Ironside, and she bred the multiple Grade 2 winning hurdler and chaser Valley Henry. He won five times at that level, four times over fences and once over hurdles.

GERARD P FLYNN

Potters Charm (Ire), 2019 g. by Valirann out of Autumn In New York, by Shantou

THE highlight of Christmas for Valirann was victory for Potters Charm in a Grade 1 at Aintree, while another son, Val Dancer, took the Grade 3 Welsh Grand National.

Bred by the Dungarvan-based Ger Flynn, Potters Charm sold for €15,000 at the Goffs Land Rover Sale, finished second in a point-to-point, and sold on for £105,000 to Willie Twiston-Davies at the 2003 Tattersalls Cheltenham December Sale. Four months later, trained by Willie’s father Nigel and ridden by his brother Sam, Potters Charm won a bumper at Ffos Las. He is now unbeaten in four starts over hurdles, including in a Grade 2 novices’ hurdle at Cheltenham. The latest win is another reminder of the recent passing of Ronnie O’Neill of Whytemount Stud, where Valirann stands.

In the aftermath of a previous win for Petters Charm, Ger O’Neill said: “Valirann is an underrated sire. I have used him from the beginning and have been also fortunate to breed Forward Plan and the novice Special Rate, even from older mares. I know that Ronnie would have been over the moon to see him win, and he always kept in touch and followed the pedigrees.”

Autumn In New York never ran and is out of an unraced half-sister to two Grade 2-winning chasers, Measureofmydreams and Lord Who. Their half-sister, Glebe Beauty, successful in a point-to-point, is the dam of Sutton Place. A bumper and chase winner, Sutton Place won four hurdle races, two at Grade 2 level and one each at Grade 3 and listed status.