JANE Mangan admitted on television that she knew little or nothing about Le Cadre Noir (Danetime) as she watched his son Strong Johnson land an exciting three-way finish to the Rockingham Handicap at the Curragh on Sunday. Winning trainer Kieran Cotter was quite emotional too, enjoying success at the headquarters of Irish racing. He trains not too far away.

However, the accompanying picture tells what the victory meant, as the four-year-old Strong Johnson is led up by his owner, breeder and now ‘lad’ for the day, David Mooney of Treascon Stud. This was the gelding’s third win over five furlongs and he has been highly consistent, also being placed four times from just nine starts. His earnings now stand at just over €65,000.

Strong Johnson is one of a pair of winners for his dam, the unraced City On A Hill (Rahy) mare Isabella Rose. The other is seven-time winner Polly Douglas (Le Cadre Noir), Strong Johnson’s full sister and another money-spinner for Mooney and Cotter.

Isabella Rose is a half-sister to five winners, the best of which was the Listed Nijinsky Stakes winner Rose Hip (Rossini), a Ballyhane Stud-bred winner for owner/trainer Joe Murphy.

Le Cadre Noir was an eight-time winning sprinter. He was very successful in Italy where he was a Group 3 winner, and he was then sent to join Dermot Weld for whom he beat Snaefell in the Listed Waterford Testimonial Stakes at the Curragh. After his racing career ended he went to stud at Aidan Sexton’s Sweep Lane Stud where he has enjoyed limited support from breeders.

That said, he has a fantastic strike-rate with his runners and his 16 winners include a pair of stakes performers in Italy. Those winners are from just 37 runners and he was on the mark on Monday at Limerick too with Noirvento, that gelding winning for the third time.