THE race that stops a county, the Goffs Thyestes Chase at Gowran Park, provided a popular result, given that the dream team for racegoers, Henry de Bromhead and Rachel Blackmore, combined to land it with Ain’t That A Shame.

Owned by Robcour, the eight-year-old son of Jeremy (Danehill Dancer) was bred at Sunnyhill Stud in Kilcullen by Michael Hickey. He sold him as a foal for €10,000 to Rathbarry Stud, but when the gelding next appeared in the sale ring he was unsold at the Derby Sale.

Ain’t That A Shame changed hands at some stage and was runner-up on his only outing in a point-to-point at Kilfeacle, and then headed to the Tattersalls Cheltenham Sale where he was bought by Henry de Bromhead for £110,000. His victory in the richly-endowed Thyestes, only his third ever success, boosted his earnings significantly, though he is a win or two away from recouping all of his sale price.

A son of the unraced Bob Back (Roberto) mare Castletown Girl, Ain’t That A Shame is his dam’s best offspring. Three of her progeny are racecourse winners, another won a point-to-point, and yet another placed a few times.

At the age of 15, in foal to Doyen (Sadler’s Wells) and with one winner under her belt, Castletown Girl was sold for the minimum bid of €800 to Ballinaroone Stud.

Castletown Girl was bought as a foal by Pat McCreevey and sold on at the age of six to Sunnyhill for €18,500. She had a particular attraction at the time, being a half-sister to Bellator (Simply Great) and three other winners.

Recruited from the flat where he won at three, Bellator was a Grade 2-winning juvenile hurdler before showing his true forte over fences, winning a pair of Grade 2 contests and being placed in the Grade 1 King George VI Chase and the Tingle Creek Chase.

Ain’t That A Shame, Bellator and the Grade 3-winning hurdler The Beruki (Stalker) are all blacktype National Hunt winners in the first three removes of this family.

Go back to the next generation and the picture is very different. Ain’t That A Shame’s fourth dam, Solar Telegram (Solar Slipper) bred the Listed Ayr Gold Cup winner Brief Star (Sammy Davis) a little more than half a century ago.

Through her daughters, Solar Telegram is the ancestress of a number of smart performers in Australia and Scandinavia, including last year’s Group 1 winner Magic Time (Hellbent) and a couple of Danish champions.

Cheltenham win

Joe Tizzard saddled his first Grade 1 winner when Elixir De Nutz won the Clarence House Chase, run at Cheltenham instead of Ascot.

The success was five years after the same gelding, then trained by Joe’s father Colin, won the Grade 1 Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown. This was a tenth win for the 10-year-old French-bred, and six of those have been gained over the larger obstacles.

Elixir De Nutz is a son of Al Namix (Linamix) who never won or was placed above listed class in his racing days. He has done much better as a sire.

In addition to numerous blacktype winners in France, his winners in Ireland and Britain include Petit Mouchoir (Grade 1 BHP Insurances Champion Hurdle and Ryanair December Hurdle), Saphir Du Rheu (Grade 1 Mildmay Novices’ Chase), Grandouet (Grade 1 AES Champion Four-Year-Old Hurdle), Baby Mix (Grade 2 Adonis Juvenile Hurdle), Alsa Mix (Grade 2 Ballymore Winter Novices Hurdle), and Cappucimix (Grade 2 chase winner).

The Turgeon (Caro) mare Nutz was placed on the flat and over jumps in France, and now she has produced five winners since going to stud, two of them became blacktype winners. Elixir De Nutz is obviously the star, but his half-brother Calnutz (Balko) landed the Listed Grand Steeplechase de Loire Atlantique at Nantes twice and a listed chase at Bordeaux.

Nutz was a rare non-winner for her dam Friandise II (Mistigri) who produced eight winning offspring, led by Lulumar (Beyssac) who was a multiple winner over jumps in France and placed in a listed chase at Auteuil. Friandise II had four successful siblings and they are all out of Kaidora (Faldor) who won nine times over jumps. While there are a number of blacktype winners in the family, Elixir De Nutz is the first in four generations to win at the highest level.

Tired of the constant backbiting about mares

I DON’T know about you, but the persistent negative comments about mares’ races, their value and even relevance, that occupies too much space and airtime on social media, is getting on my nerves.

Some of the same people who seek to decry their value are also keen to point at the growing success being enjoyed by French-breds. One of the startling differences between many Irish National Hunt families and those of the French variety is that for generations they raced their mares, often culling the unsuccessful.

We will, I don’t doubt, have reason in the years to come to be grateful that we are racing more mares than ever, and watching as they enjoy more and more success. On the flat, purists are happy to celebrate group success for fillies and mares, most often against their own sex, while over jumps those hurlers on the ditch just moan about mares not taking on geldings at every turn.

No matter which path Lossiemouth treads in the future, she still remains an outstanding talent. The five-year-old Great Pretender (King’s Theatre) mare numbers three Grade 1 victories among her six triumphs, notably against the boys in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham. Whether she wins a mares’ Grade 1 instead of the Champion Hurdle itself in March will not diminish her achievements, and she has only suffered defeat once in seven starts.

When the day comes, and I hope it is a long way out, that Lossiemouth goes to stud, how great would it be if she were to be covered by one of the best flat stallions about? Could she produce a pattern winner on the flat?

Her pedigree suggests she might do so. She is one of a pair of winners out of a successful half-sister by Gentlewave (Monsun) to Lord Glitters (Whipper), winner of the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes, Jebel Hatta and nine other races.

Lossiemouth’s sire was a listed winner in France on the flat and over hurdles, but that would have cut no ice with breeders in these parts looking for a stallion. Nonetheless, Great Pretender’s Grade 1 roll of honour includes Lossiemouth, Greaneteen (Tingle Creek Chase), Benie Des Dieux (four Grade 1 wins), Dortmund Park (Champion Novice Hurdle), Great Field (Colliers Novice Chase), Ptit Zig (two Grade 1 wins in France), and Grand D’Auteuil (in France).

Brides Hill

Another mare with good form over jumps who could well be considered for an attractive covering by a flat stallion is Brides Hill. She travelled to Huntingdon from Gavin Cromwell’s yard in search of a second listed chase victory, and duly obliged. The latest success came 11 months after she won her first chase, a listed race at Thurles, and the latest was her seventh career win.

Three wins over hurdles at four was followed by a decent performance at the Punchestown Festival in 2022 when Brides Hill was third to Party Central in a listed mares’ novice hurdle. Now two of her four chase wins have been at listed level, and she was a well-beaten second to Allegorie De Vassy in a Grade 2 at Thurles.

Bred at Grange Stud, Brides Hill is a daughter of Dylan Thomas (Danehill), responsible for nine Group 1 flat winners, while her dam Wedding Cake (Groom Dancer) is a winning mare who comes from an outstanding female line that was developed over many years at Ballymacoll Stud. Brides Hill is one of five produce of Wedding Cake who have won.

Top-class

There are top-class flat winners in every remove of this family from Brides Hill’s grandam back. That grandam, the stakes-winning Greektown (Ela-Mana-Mou), had three blacktype scorers from five winners. The listed winner Athens Belle (Groom Dancer) was a full-sister to Wedding Cake, the cleverly-named Multicoloured (Rainbow Quest) won the Group 2 Geoffrey Freer Stakes, but neither was as talented at Gamut (Spectrum). Winner of the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, he is best-known as the sire of Road To Riches.

Wedding Cake is also a half-sister to the dam of Tannery (Dylan Thomas), bred on a similar cross to Brides Hill, and that filly gained her most important win in Canada, capturing the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes. While she did not breed a Group 1 winner, Wedding Cake’s full-sister Grecian Bride (Groom Dancer), once sold for 290,000gns, bred three classic-placed horses in Group 2 winners Saddler’s Rock (Sadler’s Wells) and Tarfasha (Teofilo), while Galileo Rock (Galileo) who from just six starts was placed in the Group 1 Derby, St Leger and Irish Derby.