A YEAR one from winning the Grade 1 Ascot Chase, the last time Paul Nicholls saddled a winner at racing’s highest level, that race’s winner Pic D’Orhy, a son of Turgeon (Caro), won it again, this time as a sprightly 10-year-old.

Alongside his success in the Grade 1 Melling Chase, this was the gelding’s third Grade 1 win, and his fifteenth since he first visited the winner’s enclosure as a three-year-old in France.

Bred by Jean Contou-Carrère and Yves Broca, Pic D’Orhy originally raced in France where he won three times over hurdles and chased home Beaumec De Houelle (now at stud in France) in the Grade 1 Prix Cambacérès Hurdle at Auteuil. He won just once more over the smaller obstacles in England, but this was in the valuable Grade 3 Betfair Hurdle at Newbury.

It has been over fences that Pic D’Orhy has really shone, and his performance at the weekend really showed that he is currently at the peak of his powers. His roll of honour also includes the Grade 2 Peterborough Chase, a couple of Grade 2 chases at Ascot, and the Grade 2 Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton. It would be fair to say that he has quite a love affair with Ascot where he has won five times. Pic D’Orhy is from a family that in every generation throws up a good horse.

Revelation

A daughter of Roli Abi (Bering), the unraced Rose Candy has made a fine start to her career now as a broodmare. While the weekend Grade 1 winner is her star performer, she has produced five winners with her first six foals, the placed Arthur Junior (Le Triton) being the only one to blemish a perfect record. Two of Pic D’Orhy’s siblings have also earned blacktype when placed in listed races, four-time winner Éclair Gris (Fairly Ransom) in a chase at Pau, and the mare Sainte Candy (Jeu St Eloi) over hurdles at Auteuil.

Two offspring of Rose Candy have been sold at public auction. The four-year-old Kiptanuy (Jeu St Eloi) realised €41,000 as a yearling and is as yet unraced, while last year the now two-year-old Grand Horizon (Bathyrhon) was the subject of some private negotiations before his sale, also at Arqana, was concluded at just €12,000. Rose Candy also has a three-year-old filly Diva Nirvana (Nirvana Du Berlais).

The unraced Sainterose (Saint Estephe), the grandam of Pic D’Orhy, is a half-sister to Bonbon Rose (Mansonnien) and Rose Beryl (Lost World), more of them anon, and she bred just two minor winners from eight foals. She is best remembered as the grandam of Irish Saint (Saint Des Saints), a listed hurdle winner in France who went to England and won three times at Grade 2 level, twice over hurdles and once over fences, and was placed a few times at Grade 1 standard.

A daughter of Master Thatch (Thatch), Pic D’Orhy’s third Rose Angevine won 10 races over jumps in France and was rewarded for her efforts and consistency with a victory in the Listed Grand Chase d’Angers, run at the course of the same name. Her 23 placed efforts numbered among them being third in the Listed Grand Steeplechase de Nantes.

Blacktype races

Two of the four winners from Rose Angevine won blacktype races and the better of the pair was Bonbon Rose. He was purchased as a breeze-up horse at the Goffs France April Sale in 2005 for an incredible €240,000 by Pegasus Farms, and ended up winning more than £200,000 from eight victories over jumps in France as a young horse, notably landing the Grade 1 Prix Gras Savoye Ferdinand Dufaure Chase at Auteuil. He is the sire of the Galway Plate winner Ash Tree Meadow.

There is another Galway Plate connection to this family. If you want an example of toughness, look no further than to a son of the French jumps winner Rose Beryl. When he won the 2018 Grade A thetote.com Galway Plate, that mare’s son Clarcam (Califet) was making the 47th start of his career, recording his 10th success in the process. He retired after running 50 times.

Prior to winning at Galway, Clarcam had annexed a pair of Grade 1 chases, namely the Racing Post Christmas Chase at Leopardstown and the Manifesto Novice Chase at Aintree, and he was placed on three other occasions at that level.

Sheikh Mohammed

Bred by George Strawbridge and raced by Sheikh Mohammed, Turgeon died at the age of 33 six years ago. What an example he was of a horse who had a busy racing career, highlighted by his wins at the age of five in both the Group 1 Irish St Leger and the Group 1 Prix Royal Oak. He had been placed twice in the latter race in the two previous stagings of the race, and while he didn’t win again after the age of five, he did place third in the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup at the ages of six and seven. To give you some perspective of time, he was beaten on both occasions by Drum Taps.

At stud, Turgeon’s first two crops included three stakes winners on the flat, but it is as a jumps sire that he will be forever remembered. Hopefully it will come to pass, but Turgeon’s next blacktype winner over jumps will take that tally to a neat 50. Seven of these are credited with being Grade 1 winners, four in France. The three in Britain and Ireland also include the Lexus Chase hero Exotic Dancer.

Let’s not forget that daughters of Turgeon have certainly left their mark, and produced such racing favourites as Allaho (No Risk At All), Politologue (Poliglote), The New One (King’s Theatre) and Asterion Forlonge (Coastal Path), among many others of note.

Pic D’Orhy is now likely to head to Aintree and attempt to win the Grade 1 Melling Chase for a second time. This would be the fourth time he has raced there, and his Aintree form to date has seen him pull-up in 2022, win in 2023, and pull-up last year. Maybe another win is written in the stars. With his trainer Paul Nicholls devoid of Grade 1 horses, Pic D’Orhy still has a role to play in keeping his trainer’s profile high.

Victory in April would also push Pic D’Orhy’s winnings well north of £1 million, and that is a club of which he would be a worthy member.

Finally, how apt it would be should Pic D’Orhy peak again (no pun intended) in April. He is named in honour of a great mountain range at the border of Navarre and Soule, in the Pyrenees. It is the westernmost peak above 2,000 metres (6,562 ft) in the entire range. A prominent mountain, it is very important in Basque mythology, and its grassy slopes are used as pastures.