WHEN Shishkin was voted Chaser of the Year for 2023 by the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association, it was the fourth national award won by the Bennetts for breeding him, three earned for chasing and one as a hurdler.

Bred by Clive Bennett and his late wife Eileen, Shishkin has always been a favourite of Nicky Henderson, who considered the bay one of the best-looking horses in his yard. A €40,000 foal purchase by Ben Case, it is something of a mystery that he only brought €28,000 as a three-year-old at the Derby Sale. After winning his point-to-point for Virginia Considine, having placed on his debut, Tattersalls Ireland sold him for a third time, this time at their Cheltenham Sale when Highflyer Bloodstock signed for him at €170,000.

Racing for Marie and Joe Donnelly, Shishkin won 14 of his 21 starts, the full list published on this page, was runner-up in the Grade 1 Ryanair Chase, third in the Grade 1 Tingle Creek Chase and fourth on what was to be his final outing, the Grade 1 Aintree Bowl. He fell once, on his hurdling debut, pulled-up in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, refused to race once, and unseated Nico de Boinville in the King George VI Chase. He collected just short of £800,000 in prizemoney.

Talented

Shishkin is a son of Sholokhov (Sadler’s Wells), Glenview Stud’s sire also of Grade 1 winners Don Cossack, Bob Olinger, Esmondo and Porticello, and grandsire of the immensely talented Galopin Des Champs (Timos). A Group 1 winner over a mile at two, Sholokhov was runner-up in both the Group 1 Irish Derby and the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes, and as a juvenile was placed in the Group 1 National Stakes at the Curragh.

Shishkin is one of two racecourse winners, along with another pair of point-to-point winners from four runners, out of Labarynth (Exit To Nowhere). She was trained by Polly Gundry for Clive Bennett to win three point-to-points at the age of six. Last December, Nelius O’Keeffe spent €62,000 to acquire a Blue Bresil (Smadoun) half-sister to Shishkin, and that filly is now a yearling.

Voler La Vedette

Steel Grey Lady (Roselier), the grandam of Shishkin, made her mark as a broodmare, but she was unsighted in two starts in bumpers, 13 months apart. Half of her dozen offspring visited a winners’ enclosure, four on the racetrack, and two more between the flags.

While the Grade 3 Bet365 Gold Cup winner Hennessy (Presenting) was a smart winner, his talent did not match that of his half-sister Voler La Vedette (King’s Theatre).

A dual bumper winner, Margaret Brophy’s Voler La Vedette, trained by Colm Murphy, was successful in 11 hurdle races, notably winning the Grade 1 Hatton’s Grace Hurdle. She is the dam of a couple of winners, one of which, Flashaway (Mount Nelson), races for Nelius O’Keeffe and won a bumper on her debut this year.

Placed on a number of occasions, Voler La Vedette’s own-sister Princess Gaia (King’s Theatre) is the dam of a pair of Grade 3 chase winners. Good Boy Bobby (Flemensfirth) won the Rowland Meyrick Chase at Wetherby and a listed chase there too, while Enniskerry (Jeremy) landed a Grade 3 novice chase at Roscommon in 2022.