THE French National Hunt breeding industry had a Christmas bonanza. I returned from an extended break to review three weeks of jumps racing in Ireland and Britain, a period that saw no fewer than 14 Grade 1 races run.
Eight of these top-level races were won by horses bred in France, two went to British-breds, while Conflated, Facile Vega, Home By The Lee and Paisley Park saved the Irish blushes. I will now take a look at each of these winners, and over the following two pages provide a summary of the other 23 blacktype winners over jumps during the same period. At this second level we fared much better, with 13 winners bred in Ireland, compared to seven in France and three in Britain.
BLUE LORD (FR)
Bred by Joelle Morruzzi and Raymonde Demai, Blue Lord was purchased as a two-year-old at the Arqana Summer Sale in 2017 for €35,000. After winning a two-mile flat race at Morlaix on his third start, as a four-year-old, he transferred to the ownership of Simon Munir and Isaac Souede and joined Willie Mullins.
A maiden hurdle winner at Punchestown, Blue Lord was placed many times over the smaller obstacles at Grade 1 level. It has been a different tale over fences, where he has been successful on six of his seven starts, and three of these wins have been at Grade 1 level, once at Punchestown and now twice at Leopardstown.
Blue Lord is one of a pair of Grade 1 winners over Christmas for his sire, Blue Bresil (Smadoun), about to embark on his fourth season at Glenview Stud. Blue Lord is the sole winner for his unraced Cachet Noir (Theatrical) dam Lorette. She had four winning siblings and their dam was an unraced half-sister to Cadogan (Cadoudal), a Grade 3 chase winner for Jim Dreaper, and to Mely Moss (Tip Moss), runner-up to Papillon in the Grand National at Aintree.
BRAVEMANSGAME (FR)
Richard Busher must spend every Christmas waiting for Bravemansgame to deliver. He celebrated when the gelding won the 2020 Grade 1 Challow Novices’ Hurdle at Newbury, watched as he landed last year’s Grade 1 Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton, and now has done the treble, the gelding winning the Grade 1 King George VI Chase.
Donnchadh Doyle bought Bravemansgame from Richard after the agent purchased him privately in France. The son of Brave Mansonnien (Mansonnien) sold at the Derby Sale for €48,000, but his debut point-to-point success at Lingstown by eight lengths resulted in him being sold at the 2019 Tattersalls Cheltenham Sale to Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls for £370,000. Bravemansgame has won three times over hurdles and six over fences, and repaid his purchase price.
Bravemansgame is a son of the winning hurdler Brave Mansonnien and his only blacktype winner. He is out of the Nickname (Lost World) mare Genifique who is owned by Busher. Her four-year-old Diamond Boy (Mansonnien) gelding was sold at the Derby Sale last year to David Mullins for €85,000, and she has a two-year-old filly by Mahler (Galileo).
CONSTITUTION HILL (GB)
Unbeaten in five starts over hurdles, the Sally Noott-bred Constitution Hill added the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle at Kempton to three other wins at the highest level, the Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown, the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, and the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle.
He is a son of Glenview Stud’s Blue Bresil (Smadoun) and a member of that sire’s first crop conceived after his move to Yorton Farm Stud. Barry Geraghty bought Constitution Hill with Warren Ewing as a foal at Tattersalls Ireland for €16,500. Runner-up in his only point-to-point, Constitution Hill sold to owner Michael Buckley for £120,000 at the Goffs UK Spring HIT/P2P Sale in 2021.
Noott sold Queen Of The Stage, the dam of Constitution Hill, for £340,000 in an online sale to Jayne McGivern, and she is set to be covered by Golden Horn (Cape Cross). She is a daughter of King’s Theatre (Sadler’s Wells), won twice over hurdles, and was placed in a listed mares’ hurdle at Sandown.
Queen Of The Stage is out of the winning hurdler Supreme Du Casse (Supreme Leader). The next dam Pede Gale (Strong Gale) bred three winners and was a sibling to six, the best being the Grade 2-winning hurdler My Sunny Glen (Furry Glen).
CONFLATED (IRE)
Last year was a good one for Conflated, winning a pair of Grade 1 chases. Bred by Kevin Dillon and his family, the son of Yeats (Sadler’s Wells) won the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup in February, beating Minella Indo, and ended the year with success in the Savills Chase, also at Leopardstown. Dillon is a former, talented Cork footballer, and the Irish Gold Cup win earned him a Connolly’s Red Mills/The Irish Field Breeder of the Month award.
Sold as a foal to Brendan Bashford through the Motherway’s Yellowford Stud for €46,000, Conflated resold as a three-year-old from Ciaran Conroy’s Glenvale Stud at the Derby Sale, being knocked down to Henry de Bromhead for €92,000. Conflated descends from Saucy Vic (Vic Day), an unraced mare who was born in 1962.
She failed to breed a big race winner, but left an indelible mark at stud. Three of her eight winners were placed in races that earned them blacktype, including the full-brothers Taravic (Tarqogan) and Troyswood.
Some 14 blacktype National Hunt winners can trace to Saucy Vic. They include Kylemore Lough who won the Grade 1 Powers Gold Cup at Fairyhouse, Farmer Brown who landed the Galway Hurdle, while Second Schedual was successful in the Grade 1 Punchestown Gold Cup and also took home the Cathcart Challenge Cup at Cheltenham.
FACILE VEGA (IRE)
What more can be added to what has already been written about this most exciting young horse. Unbeaten in four bumpers, headed by Grade 1 wins at Cheltenham and Punchestown, he extended this sequence to six when taking the Grade 1 Future Champions Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown on his second outing over obstacles.
The son of Walk In The Park (Montjeu), owned and bred by the Hammer and Trowel Syndicate (Ger O’Brien and Sean Deane), is the second foal, runner and winner for Quevega (Robin Des Champs). She was such a favourite at Cheltenham that she is immortalised with a bar named after her. A three-time winner in France before her purchase to race from Willie Mullins’ yard, Quevega added a further 13 wins over hurdles from just 18 starts.
Quevega won the Grade 1 Ladbroke World Series Tipperkevin Hurdle at Punchestown on four occasions and the Grade 2 David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival a record six times. Her first foal Princess Vega (Beat Hollow) raced for the Hammer and Trowel Syndicate and made a winning bumper debut at Tramore.
GAILLARD DU MESNIL (FR)
Bred by Ecurie Cerdeval, Gaillard Du Mesnil (Saint Des Saints) started to make inroads into his €250,000 Arqana sale price in 2019 when he won the Grade 1 Golden Cygnet Novice Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival in 2021. He finished second in the Grade 1 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, and then at Punchestown took the Grade 1 Champion Novice Hurdle.
Gaillard Du Mesnil won his first chase over Christmas when successful in the Grade 1 Fort Leney Novice Chase, though he has been placed in the Drinmore Chase, at the Cheltenham Festival, and in the Irish Grand National. He and the winning Hardi Du Mesnil (Masterstroke) are two of the first three foals from Athena Du Mesnil (Al Namix), twice a winner on the flat.
This is a family that Willie Mullins knows well as he trained Athena Du Mesnil’s half-sister Calie Du Mesnil (Kapgarde) to win over hurdles and finish second in the Grade B William Fry Handicap Hurdle at Leopardstown.
Skip to Malory Du Mesnil (Le Pontet), the fourth dam of Gaillard Du Mesnil, and she is grandam of Soldatino (Graveron). He won the 2010 Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham.
GALOPIN DES CHAMPS (FR)
Galopin Des Champs ended his hurdling career with back-to-back wins at the Cheltenham Festival and in the Grade 1 War Of Attrition Novice Hurdle at Punchestown. Now he has won four of his five starts over fences, adding the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase to Grade 1 wins at Fairyhouse and Leopardstown.
His sire Timos (Sholokhov), bred in Germany, was a listed winner in France at three and four, and put in his best performances at five, though in defeat. He was beaten a length by Allied Powers in the Group 2 Grand Prix de Chantilly before running third to Duncan in the Group 2 Prix Foy at Longchamp. He failed to attract decent books of mares, and has had just a handful of winners.
However, the mating of Timos with the four-time winner Manon Des Champs, a daughter of Marchand De Sable (Theatrical), has been rewarding, first being responsible for the listed Auteuil chase winner Flute Des Champs. She was born a year before her multiple Grade 1 winning full-brother Galopin Des Champs. They are the only blacktype performers in four generations of the family.
GERRI COLOMBE (FR)
At the Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale in 2020, Colin Bowe sold the Boistier-bred Gerri Colombe to Mags O’Toole for £240,000. The four-year-old son of Saddler Maker (Sadler’s Wells) was a point-to-point winner on his debut at Lingstown, and was always going to make a big price when it became obvious that both Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott liked him.
The latter won the day and Bowe’s €85,000 investment the previous June at the Derby Sale more than trebled in value. At Fairyhouse he was sold by Moanmore Stables. Gerri Colombe is unbeaten in six starts on the track, twice in bumpers, twice over hurdles and now twice over fences, and he contested a blacktype race for the first time at Limerick, winning the Grade 1 Faugheen Novice Chase.
Gerri Colombe has reignited a branch of an outstanding family which had gone a little quiet. He is one of a pair of winners from his unplaced dam Ruse De Guerre (Cadoudal), and she had three winning siblings. However, his third dam Montecha (Montevideo), a dual listed chase winner in France, bred seven winners, two of them listed winners over jumps. Her descendants include the 2022 Grade 1-winning hurdler Hawai Du Berlais (Martaline), and Grade 2-winning chasers Madison Du Berlais (Indian River), Southfield Theatre (King’s Theatre), and Southfield Royale (Presenting).
HERMES ALLEN (FR)
Bred by Bruno Vagne, the Grade 1 Challow Novices’ Hurdle winner Hermes Allen is from a most distinguished female line in France. Already successful in the Grade 2 Hyde Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, the son of Poliglote (Sadler’s Wells) runs for Sir Alex Ferguson and partners and cost Paul Nicholls and Aiden Murphy £350,000 at the Tattersalls Cheltenham December Sale in 2021, sold by Wilson Dennison.
The then four-year-old had won a point-to-point at the second time of asking.
Hermes Allen is the first winner from Une Destine, a daughter of Assessor (Niniski), and her five wins over jumps in France included a Grade 3 at Auteuil. Vagne is the breeder of Envoi Allen (Muhtathir) and others. Envoi Allen, along with Espoir D’Allen (Voix Du Nord) and Auvergnat (Della Francesca), are just three stars of the jumping scene that trace back to the unraced Dalila (Vieux Chateau).
A second notable branch of the family descends from Dalila’s winning daughter Herinie (Or De Chine). She had eight winners, but her daughters and their offspring have blossomed as producers, being responsible for Grade 1 Aintree winner Gelino Bello (Saint Des Saints), Grade 2 Cheltenham winner Galahad Quest (American Post), Grade 3 Punchestown winner Elfile (Saint Des Saints), listed winner and Grade 1 runner-up Eudipe (Useful), and now Hermes Allen.
HOME BY THE LEE (IRE)
A month after winning the Grade 2 Lismullen Hurdle, Cork owner-breeder Sean O’Driscoll had more reason than ever to celebrate as his Fame And Glory (Montjeu) gelding Home On The Lee won the hugely emotive Grade 1 Jack de Bromhead Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown. This followed a period chasing where he won a Grade 2 at Naas, a Grade 3 at Cork and ran third in the Grade 1 Drinmore Chase at Fairyhouse.
O’Driscoll raced the gelding’s dam Going For Home (Presenting), and she won a point-to-point. She was trained by the late Joe Crowley after being purchased by his daughter Frances for €16,000 as a four-year-old. At stud she is also dam of Home By The Lee’s own-sister Beautiful Citi (Fame And Glory) who won a couple of bumpers, a hurdle race and was placed in a listed hurdle.
Going For Home has a three-year-old gelding by the Irish Cesarewitch winner El Salvador (Galileo), bought as a foal by Mount Richard Stud for €15,000, and a yearling colt foal by Kamsin (Samum), sold in November at Tattersalls Ireland to Stone Farm for €21,000.
PAISLEY PARK (IRE)
What joy Paisley Park has given to all connections, and especially Co Limerick breeder Micheal Conaghan. Paisley Park cemented his love affair with Cheltenham when he won a third Grade 2 Cleeve Hurdle, adding to a victory there in the 2020 Grade 1 Stayers’ Hurdle at the Festival.
Now he has gone and won the Grade 1 JLT Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot for the third time. Andrew Gemmell’s son of Oscar (Sadler’s Wells) has been in the frame on all but four of his 25 outings, winning 11 and earning almost £670,000.
Paisley Park is the best of the six winning offspring from his dam who did not race and changed hands as a foal at Tattersalls Ireland in 1999 for only IR£550. She was born a year before the best of her siblings, Preists Leap (Luso), and he won the Thyestes Chase at Gowran Park twice.
Paisley Park sold as a foal for €12,500 to Richard Rohan; Gerry Hogan paid €60,000 for him as a three-year-old.
SAINT ROI (FR)
The unraced Saint Vigne (Saint Des Saints) is the dam of a single winner, the Cheltenham Grade 3 County Hurdle winner Saint Roi (Coastal Path) who was also runner-up in the Grade 1 Morgiana Hurdle. Saint Roi has now made the transition to chasing, and on just his second start, having finished behind Fil Dor on his debut over fences, he has gone and won the Grade 1 Christmas Novice Chase at Leopardstown.
Bred by a partnership, Saint Roi joins Asterion Forlonge, Franco De Port and Bacardys as a Grade 1 winner by Coastal Path (Halling). Saint Vigne is a half-sister to the listed hurdle winner Cartzagrouas (Esprit Du Nord), while their Grade 2-placed sibling Lesoquera (Lesotho) has done well at stud.
Lesoquera’s son L’Estran (Linda’s Lad) won the Grade 1 Gran Premio Merano Chase for the fourth time last year, and her grandson Protektorat (Saint Des Saints) won his second Grade 1 when successful in the Betfair Chase. Saint Roi’s third dam Cartza (Carmarthen) bred just a single winner, but that was Batman Senora (Chamberlin) whose six wins over fences included the Grade 1 Prix La Haye Jousselin.
STATE MAN (FR)
Doctor Dino (Muhtathir) stood last year at a fee of €20,000, and his talented son State Man added the Grade 1 December Hurdle at Leopardstown to the Grade 1 Morgiana Hurdle and Grade 1 Champion Novice Hurdle, both at Punchestown. He also was successful at Cheltenham in the Grade 3 County Hurdle.
State Man has won five of his seven lifetime starts, and he is one of a pair of Grade 1 winners out of Arret Station, by Johann Quatz (Sadler’s Wells). The other is his three-parts sister Statuaire (Muhtathir), and she won the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse.
State Man and Statuaire were both bred by Vincent Barrett’s M L Bloodstock, who purchased their dam for €13,000 in a private transaction at an Osarus sale in mid-2011. Arret Station had won a listed hurdle race at Auteuil.
Their dam Alicesprings (Pelder) won five races on the flat and was one of five winners for her winning dam, Cyrning (Saint Cyrien). You need to go back to State Man’s fourth dam to find the next blacktype in the family.
THYME HILL (GB)
Thyme Hill added another top-flight win to his impressive CV for the Tewkesbury-based Overbury Stud when he won the Grade 1 Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton. Over the smaller obstacles he was victorious in the Grade 1 Challow Novices’ Hurdle at Newbury and the Grade 1 Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree.
A son of the recently deceased Kayf Tara (Sadler’s Wells), Thyme Hill is out of Rosita Bay, a daughter of Hernando (Niniski). He is a full-bother to Storming Strumpet (Kayf Tara), a bumper, hurdle and chase winner who was placed in a listed chase at Cheltenham.
Rosita Bay has a couple of young stock by Overbury’s Frontiersman, a son of Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) out of Ouija Board (Cape Cross).
Rosita Bay won a couple of bumpers and a pair of hurdle races, and she was one of six winners from Lemon’s Mill (Roberto). That mare was very smart, winning four times each over hurdles and fences. She gained her biggest win at Grade 2 level in Aintree, and was a dozen lengths behind Montelado in the Grade 1 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.