OFF the track for well over 400 days, Charles Byrnes sent Blazing Khal on a mission last weekend, and accomplished what he set out to do. After the Willie Austin-bred seven-year-old son of Kalanisi (Doyoun) landed the spoils in the Grade 2 Boyne Hurdle, he was instantly installed as one of the favourites for the Grade 1 Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham next month.

The gelding is no stranger to Prestbury Park, and his final two starts before his enforced break were in the Cotswolds, capturing a pair of Grade 2 novice hurdles there in November and December 2021. Now he will attempt to emulate the Byrnes-trained Solwhit, a decade after he was successful in the Cheltenham feature race.

An €11,000 foal buy at Fairyhouse by Richard Downes, Blazing Khal is the first foal out of Blazing Sonnet (Oscar), and that mare won a couple of hurdle races and a chase, taking her time to do as a seven and eight-year-old. Andrew Leigh partnered her to two of these successes, but her first came in a maiden hurdle at Clonmel with Jane Mangan in the saddle.

Blazing Sonnet was bred, owned and trained by Willie Austin, and this is the family of the best horse produced by the Austins. More of that shortly.

Blazing Sonnet was one of six foals produced by the unraced Leading Duke (Supreme Leader), four of which were fillies. All six ran, and the girls were far superior to their two brothers. Three of the fillies won, and the best of that trio was Blazing Tempo (Accordion). She won the Grade A Galway Plate, the Grade 2 Normans Grove Chase at Navan, and three Grade 3 chases – and they were all of her victories over fences. She won a bumper and four hurdle races too.

Blazing Tempo is the dam of Blazing Emily (Presenting) who was placed in a couple of listed hurdles races. The only daughter of Leading Duke not to win, Beths Bell (Saddlers’ Hall), was placed in a point-to-point, but she has been a better broodmare, and the best of her winners was Palm Sur (Urban Ocean), twice successful in bumpers and beaten less than a length in a listed bumper from only a handful of starts.

One generation back and we come across Blazing Khal’s third dam, Blaze Gold (Arizona Duke). This winning point-to-pointer won twice over hurdles at seven (a feature of many in this family has been their ability to improve with age), and her four winners are headed by the people’s horse, the unforgettable Danoli (The Parson).

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Danoli was bred by Francis Austin and foaled 35 years ago. He was best known as a hurdler, although he also had success in steeplechases later in his career.

Described as the most popular racehorse in Ireland during the 1990s, his successes were achieved despite the fact that his career was frequently disrupted by injury.

As a three-year-old gelding he was sent to Goffs but failed to attract a buyer. Subsequently acquired by Dan O’Neill, he was sent into training with Tom Foley, and his name was chosen by combining the name of his owner Dan with that of his daughter, Olivia. Danoli began his career by running in bumpers, where he was unbeaten in three starts, winning twice at Naas and once at Punchestown.

In his first season hurdling Danoli won his first two starts before showing he was up to competing with the best when he finished runner-up to Fortune And Fame in the Grade 1 Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown, some 10 lengths clear of the others who included the Champion Hurdle winner Granville Again. Three weeks later he won at Leopardstown by 10 lengths and was sent to contest the Grade 1 Sun Alliance Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

Aintree win

He was sent off the 7/4 favourite against 22 opponents, took the lead under Charlie Swan four hurdles from home and won by two lengths. Danoli next faced a much stronger field in the Aintree Hurdle a month later. He started as third favourite behind Flakey Dove and Fortune and Fame. Swan went to the front three hurdles out, Danoli went into a clear lead and was never challenged, winning by eight lengths from Mole Board, with Fortune and Fame third and Flakey Dove fifth.

Danoli began the 1994/1995 season by winning the Morgiana Hurdle and then beat his great rival Doran’s Pride by eight lengths in the Grade 1 Hatton’s Grace Hurdle. Those placings were reversed at Leopardstown, and then Danoli was given a break until the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. He finished third, beaten seven lengths by the top-class flat performer Alderbrook, with Large Action in second.

On his final run of the season, Danoli returned for a second Aintree Hurdle, running on in the closing stages to win by three-parts of a length from Boro Eight, with Large Action third and Doran’s Pride fourth. After the race examinations revealed a fracture of the cannon bone in his right foreleg. He was operated on in Liverpool, and his future racing career was in the balance.

Nine months later and Danoli returned, with his new regular jockey Tommy Treacy, and finished third in the Irish Champion Hurdle. He drew a bumper crowd to Gowran Park for the Red Mills Trial Hurdle and won by eight lengths. He started as second favourite for the Champion Hurdle and finished fourth behind Collier Bay, Alderbrook and Pridwell, while is bid for a third Aintree Hurdle ended in failure as he ran third to the novice Urubande.

Over fences

The following season saw Danoli switched to racing over fences. He began with a flourish, winning at Clonmel and Naas before falling for the first time in his career at Fairyhouse, in a race won by Doran’s Pride. At Leopardstown on St Stephen’s Day he won his first major race over fences, beating the English challenger Land Afar by seven lengths in the Denny Gold Medal Chase. He fell for the second time in the Arkle Novice Chase in January before contesting the Hennessy Gold Cup.

The field of experienced steeplechasers included the Cheltenham Gold Cup winners Jodami and Imperial Call, and the multiple Grade 1 winner Merry Gale. Danoli disputed the lead from the start and stayed on under pressure to win by one and a half lengths from Jodami. The reception that day will live forever in my memory.

Though second favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, he looked beaten when he fell two fences from home.

Injury kept Danoli off the racecourse for 19 months. He returned briefly, finishing third to Doran’s Pride at Gowran Park, but was then side-lined by injury again. At the age of 12 he showed an occasional glimpse of his past ability. That year he recorded his first win in over three years by beating Jeffell by two and a half lengths at Navan, and his career ended on a sad note when he fell in the Punchestown Gold Cup.

Retirement

Danoli’s retirement was announced in August 2000 with Foley explaining that “he’s given us some great memories and is a horse we’ll hardly ever see the like of again. We just don’t want to take any kind of chance with him in a chase and see him being put down.”

The People’s Champion spent most of his retirement at the Irish National Stud in Kildare. During his time there he became inseparable from another favourite horse from the 1990s, the Melbourne Cup winner Vintage Crop. Danoli was euthanized in April 2006 after suffering from a severe bout of colic.

Should Blazing Khal go and win at Cheltenham, he will not be the first from his female family to do so at Grade 1 level, nor will he be the first by his sire, Boardsmill Stud’s Kalanisi.

That stallion’s son Katchit recorded the famous Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle/Champion Hurdle double, while the brilliant but ill-fated Fayonagh was successful in the Grade 1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper.