SURELY there can only be one winner of this accolade, that of bargain of the week. After all, what could you buy today for €700? You would certainly not expect a stakes winner of more than €125,000.

The rags-to-riches tale of Master Matt is the type of good news story that you wish all papers would pick up on. Bred by Shadwell Estate Company, the son of Slade Power (Dutch Art) is out of a Shadwell homebred Ahaaly, herself a winning daughter of Exceed And Excel (Danehill). This is a family that was very successful for the late Sheikh Hamdan, and one that is now proving beneficial to a number of others.

The third offspring of his dam, Master Matt obviously did not fit the profile of a runner in Sheikh Hamdan’s colours, and thus he was sent to be sold at Goresbridge in October 2017. He was following a path taken by his half-sister Arka (Arcano), and she had traded for €1,600 in the Co Kilkenny sale ring. Exported, she ended up winning four times.

Arka was followed by another filly, Himmah (Intikhab), but she did carry the Sheikh’s silks, trained by Kevin Prendergast. Frustratingly, she was runner-up four times in succession at two, sold for 32,000gns to race in the USA and was a winner there. Master Matt then sold for €700, and two months later Shadwell sent the dam, Ahaaly, to the December Sale at Newmarket.

There she was purchased by Katie McGivern for 5,000gns, but the colt she was carrying sadly died as a yearling. Katie owns the mare with Kitty Fitzpatrick, and what looked perhaps at one time as a disappointing investment has turned itself on its head.

Ahaaly’s fourth living foal, a three-year-old named Centuron (Gutaifan), brought a smile to faces when he sold for €14,000 as a yearling. He is a winner in Italy this year, and is thought to be stakes class.

Seventh win

Master Matt this week won his seventh and most important race, capturing the Listed Abergwaun Stakes at Tipperary, and this will surely boost the sale prospects of his Pearl Secret (Compton Place) yearling half-brother in next month’s Sportsman’s Sale at Goffs. He is catalogued from Mount Eaton Stud.

The story gets better! Ahaaly was listed for sale online with Goffs earlier this year. Katie and Kitty had a change of heart, kept her, and now she has a filly foal by no less a super-sire than Mehmas (Acclamation). They also report that Ahaaly is in foal to Profitable (Invincible Spirit), sire of Quick Suzy and Head Mistress among his 16 first-crop juvenile winners in 2021.

At this point it is questionable whether it is the €700 paid for Master Matt, or the 5,000gns given for Ahaaly, that is the real bargain. Master Matt is just the second stakes winner for the champion European sprinter and dual Group 1 winner Slade Power, the other being the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes winner Raffle Prize.

Upward trajectory

Given the success enjoyed by Ahaaly’s offspring to date, and the higher profile of her more recent coverings, it is odds-on that she is on a steep upward trajectory. Only a 12-year-old, her future breeding plans will be the subject of much interest from stallion masters.

Ahaaly is one of five winners from the Group 2 Falmouth Stakes winner Alshakr (Bahri), and she was placed in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas. Alshakr was, in turn, the best of five winners from Mrs Ogden White’s Give Thanks (Relko). Her six career wins at the age of three were headlined by the Group 1 Irish Oaks for trainer Jim Bolger.

Give Thanks is also the grandam of the 1995 Group 1 1000 Guineas winner Harayir (Gulch), and third dam of Tryster (Shamardal) whose biggest win came in the Group 1 Jebel Hatta.