COPPERHEAD is yet another high-class runner to emerge from the rich nursery that is John Bleahen’s Lakefield Farm. Bred in England by R And J Micklethwait, the six-year-old son of Sulamani (Hernando) is the only foal out of the smart racemare How’s Business, a listed hurdle winner at Cheltenham who was also a decent chaser.

Bleahen bought Copperhead as a newly-turned yearling at the Doncaster January Sale in 2015 for just £6,500 and resold him at the same venue a little over two years later to Colin Tizzard for £42,000. Incredibly, the dam was sold at the end of her racing career, one which yielded eight wins, for only £5,000. What a pity she only managed a single offspring.

How’s Business was by Josr Algarhoud (Darshaan), a horse whose best form was over seven furlongs to a mile. He was only a moderate stallion and How’s Business can lay claim to possibly being his best runner. She was most certainly not bred to be a good National Hunt runner, as her grandam Soba (Most Secret) was rated the champion older sprinter in Europe as a four-year-old.

Soba was trained by David Chapman, a Yorkshire trainer who had a phenomenal record of success with his sprinters. His career spanned over 40 years before he retired in 2008 and the licence was taken over by his granddaughter Ruth Carr.

The exceptionally speedy Soba won 13 races, 11 in one season, and her biggest wins included the Group 3 King George Stakes and the Stewards Cup, both at Goodwood. Known as the Queen of the North, Soba was ridden on each occasion by David Nicholls. She was three-times runner-up at Group 1 level, in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, the Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp, and the July Cup at Newmarket.