WITH the limited opportunities he has had to date, Finsceal Fior has certainly shown that he is well capable as a sire. Sadly he did not get an opportunity to race, and this was not ideal when he first went to stud.

On the plus side of things, he is bred in the purple, is a son of two champions, a half-brother to a Group 2 winner and his dam is a half-sister to another classic winner.

Despite his lack of racecourse performance, his breeding was likely to overcome this omission from his curriculum vitae. We don’t need to expand the narrative on his sire side of the family, other than to note that he is a son of Galileo.

Finsceal Fior’s dam was rated the best of her sex in Europe at two when she won the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac. A daughter of Mr Greeley (Gone West), Finsceal Beo came agonisingly close to winning three classics, failing by a head to add the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas to the Group 1 1000 Guineas and Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas.

A half-sister to the Group 2 Mehl-Mulhens Rennen-German 2000 Guineas winner Frozen Power (Oasis Dream), Finsceal Beo is dam of the juvenile Group 2 Beresford Stakes winner Ol’ Man River (Montjeu), now a sire at Arctic Tack Stud. That colt sold for €2,850,000 as a yearling, one of three offspring of his dam to be a millionaire sales horse.

Another, Legend Of Dubai (Dubawi) sold for 1,450,000gns, while La Figlia (Frankel) realised €1,800,000. The latter is now in foal to Showcasing (Oasis Dream) and she is catalogued for sale next month at the Tattersalls December Sale.

Al Eile Stud-owner Michael Ryan bred Finsceal Fior who was in the news at Punchestown on Sunday when Ryan’s homebred Sacchoandvanzetti brought his record over hurdles to two wins from three starts, adding to his maiden victory last month at Galway. John Queally handles the three-year-old who was placed a number of times on the flat for Jim Bolger.

Shortly afterwards another Michael Ryan homebred, Dewcup, won his second bumper from four starts and this Ted Walsh-trained four-year-old full-brother to flat and hurdle winner Minnie Dahill just missed out on blacktype at Aintree in April when he was fourth in a Grade 2 bumper.

These latest wins can be added to the performances of the four-time winner Annie Fior, placed in this year’s Group 2 Kilboy Estate Stakes at the Curragh, flat and hurdle winner Our Legend, English and German winner Yogiyogiyogi and a number of other winners sired by the Green Hills Stud, Kilmacthomas-based sire whose oldest runners are just five.