ANTHONY McCann enjoyed a spring to remember last year with his rags-to-riches mare Familiar Dreams and he might just have stumbled on the next bargain buy to take him to the big festivals in 2025.

Familiar Dreams, who capped off a bumper four-timer with a listed win at the Fairyhouse Easter Festival and Grade 3 success at the Punchestown Festival, cost a mere 4,000gns as an unraced three-year-old out of Roger Varian’s yard, and McCann’s latest bumper find was picked up for only £8,000 at the 2024 Goffs UK January Sale.

Shesakindofmagic was sixth on her sole bumper start for Mags Mullins before spending 380 days on the sidelines and joining the Co Monaghan yard. After finishing a 24-length second to highly-regarded winner Heads Up (subsequently runner-up in listed company at Navan) in a Punchestown bumper on her stable bow, she went one better with a smart display on St Stephen’s Day at the Limerick Christmas Festival.

That two-and-a-half-length victory under Aine O’Connor came in the colours of delighted owner Paddy McBride, and it also brought with it a lucrative payday under the Weatherbys ITBA National Hunt Fillies Bonus Scheme. The Mahler seven-year-old collected €7,500 as part of the key initiative, as well as the standard €6,300 in prize money.

“It’s unreal for a mare winning a bumper for the first time,” said McBride, a recycling businessman based 15 minutes from McCann’s Shabra Stables in Co Monaghan.

“I think it’s a very good system and I was delighted she managed to do what she did at Limerick. It’s something that really helps guys like myself; I wouldn’t have been into horses before getting involved in her half-brother Kiki Badger - he was my first horse. I wouldn’t have had an interest before that, but now I obviously do.”

Lucky family

Kiki Badger was a useful operator trained by McCann, winning a bumper and maiden hurdle in McBride’s black and green silks. That pedigree link played a role in how Shesakindofmagic was recruited.

“Aine and Anthony picked this mare up,” McBride explained.

“She has the same breeding as Kiki Badger [also a previous winner at Limerick] and they both deserve a lot of credit for what they’ve done with her, as does Anthony’s whole team.

“It was great to get racing at Limerick over Christmas. With my involvement in the recycling business, I’d know some of the team in Mr Binman, who are the main sponsors of the Christmas Festival at Limerick. I stayed down with them the night the horse won, which was great.”

McBride took plenty of satisfaction from seeing his trainer getting on the scoresheet over the festive period.

“I get a real kick out of a winner not only for myself, but for what a winner does to help Anthony’s stable too,” he said.

“As an owner and a close friend of Anthony’s, it means a lot to see him succeeding. He and everyone at his stables do the hard work and deserve a lot of credit.

Smaller stables

“I think the small trainers in Ireland probably don’t get the recognition they should, because they put as much work in as any of the big stables and probably don’t always get the same return. When those smaller trainers are sometimes facing into races with four or five horses from one stable and two or three from another, it’s obviously very tough. The smaller yards need the horses to be able to challenge.”

It might be the case that McBride and McCann now take aim at those big guns. The Grade 2 Coolmore N.H. Sires Luxembourg Irish EBF Mares Bumper, worth €100,000 on day two of the Dublin Racing Festival, is next on the agenda for their promising Christmas scorer. That is if a major offer doesn’t arrive in the meantime to tempt connections to sell.

Dual blacktype winner Familiar Dreams managed to sell for a whopping €310,000 at the Goffs Punchestown Sale last season to Qatar Racing - many multiples of her initial 4,000gns purchase price.

“I’d imagine the likes of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott might be looking at our mare after what she did at Limerick. I wonder might they come and write me the big cheque?” quips McBride.

“I know there was talk of interest in her from somewhere since she won, but I leave all that to Anthony. To be honest, at present, I’m not sure I’d like to sell her. Aine is excellent and obviously knows her stuff, and she seems to really like her. Anthony is the same.

Dublin calling

“If all goes well, we can look forward to Leopardstown with her. Should she run well there, I think Anthony might even be thinking about Cheltenham after that, but we’ll have to see and will take it one race at a time.

“The Dublin Racing Festival is a great meeting to be going to. My wife and two kids - well, they’re not kids any more at age 14 and 20 - love getting to be a part of it all. They really enjoy it.

“We’ll be staying down for the couple of days, with the Shabra Charity day taking place on the same weekend. Anthony has done a great job with her and hopefully all continues to go to plan.”