LA RENOMMEE (FR), 2018 f. by Doctor Dino (Muhtathir) out of Grande Cavale (Ballingarry). Bred by Ecurie de Maulepaire

This €45,000 Osarus yearling and €120,000 Arqana three-year-old finally earned a deserved listed success in a mares’ chase at Doncaster.

Placed at graded level over hurdles and fences, she is the best of four winners from her dam, herself a winner over jumps in France. Grande Cavale, now based in Ireland, is a half-sister to the British Grade 3 chase winner Walt (King’s Theatre), and the French Grade 3 chase winner Plaisir Du Roy (Legend Of France).

There is an even more familiar name in the immediate family. Grande Cavale’s half-sister, the unraced Alliance Royale (Turgeon), is the dam of La Bague Au Roi (Doctor Dino). That mare was purchased by Kevin Doyle for £170,000 after a racing career that saw her win 14 times, twice at Grade 1 level. Warren Greatrex saddled her to win half of her starts. Successful in a listed bumper and Grade 2 hurdle, La Bague Au Roi reached her pinnacle over fences, beating Topofthegame in the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton, followed up by the Grade 1 Flogas Novice Chase at Leopardstown.

NIETZSCHE HAS (FR), 2021 c. by Zarak (Dubawi) out of Nice To Meet You (Martaline). Bred by Hamel Stud

Already announced as a new recruit to the stallion ranks in France for 2025, standing at Haras de Montaigu for a fee of €7,000, Nietzsche Has advertised himself to a wider British and Irish audience of breeders when he ran away with the Grade 2 Finale Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow, denting a number of reputations. He was already a Grade 3 and listed winner in France, and runner-up in the Grade 1 Prix Cambacérès Hurdle at Auteuil, all from just seven starts.

The good-looking colt sold as a two-year-old at Arqana to Guy Petit for €240,000. He was purchased by Petit on behalf of Edward James, and at the time the latter said: “He’s a lovely, well-made colt. He’ll go to England to be pre-trained and we hope that he can make into a good racehorse and then a stallion.”

A half-brother to a listed chase winer, Nietzsche Has is out of a full-sister to Grade 1 hurdle winner Nirvana Du Berlais (Martaline), also at stud in France and off to a most promising start. Nirvana Du Berlais has three graded hurdle and chase winning siblings, Toscana Du Berlais (Shantou), Aubusson (Ballingarry) and Triana Du Berlais (Presenting).

PERCEVAL LEGALLOIS (FR), 2017 g. by Ballingarry (Sadler’s Wells) out of Mrs Percival (Lahib). Bred by Janet Walker

From a predominantly flat pedigree, Perceval Legallois was one of 10 winners between St Stephen’s Day and New Year’s Eve to carry the familiar colours of owner J.P. McManus, and one of a pair to win a blacktype race. The other was Bioluminescence. Winner of a listed hurdle race at Leopardstown, Perceval Legallois landed the valuable Listed Paddy Power Chase at the Dublin venue, and he is among 19 blacktype winners sired by the Group 1 two-year-old winner Ballingarry who was classic-placed in the Group 1 Irish Derby.

One of a pair of winners from the unraced Mrs Percival, the other being bumper and chase winner Wavelength (Gentlewave), Perceval Legallois has two outstanding racemares as his third and fourth dams. May Hill (Hill Clown) won the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks a decade after her dam Mabel (French Beige) won the same race. Mabel was also twice classic-placed, finishing second in the Oaks and third in the 1000 Guineas.

POTTERS CHARM (IRE), 2019 g. by Valirann (Nayef) out of Autumn In New York (Shantou). Bred by Gerard P Flynn

The highlight of Christmas for Valirann was victory for Potters Charm in a Grade 1 at Aintree, while another son, Val Dancer, took the Grade 3 Welsh Grand National. Potters Charm sold for €15,000 at the Goffs Land Rover Sale, finished second in a point-to-point, and sold on for £105,000 to Willie Twiston-Davies at the 2003 Tattersalls Cheltenham December Sale.

Four months later, trained by Willie’s father Nigel and ridden by his brother Sam, Potters Charm won a bumper at Ffos Las. He is now unbeaten in four starts over hurdles, including in a Grade 2 novices’ hurdle at Cheltenham. The win is another reminder of the recent passing of Ronnie O’Neill of Whytemount Stud, where Valirann stands.

Autumn In New York never ran and is out of an unraced half-sister to two Grade 2-winning chasers, Measureofmydreams (Shantou) and Lord Who (Mister Lord). Their half-sister, Glebe Beauty (Good Thyne), successful in a point-to-point, is the dam of Sutton Place (Mahler). A bumper and chase winner, Sutton Place won four hurdle races, two at Grade 2 level and one each at Grade 3 and listed status.

ROMEO COOLIO (GB), 2019 g. by Kayf Tara (Sadler’s Wells) out of Miss Bailly (Kapgarde). Bred by Will Kinsey

Runner-up in the Grade 1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper at Cheltenham and the Grade 2 Royal Bond Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse, Romeo Coolio gained his third racecourse win in six starts with a Grade 1 victory at Leopardstown. A €92,000 Derby Sale purchase, he also won his only outing in a point-to-point, afterwards realising £420,000 at the 2023 Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale. He will be short odds to be a Cheltenham star again in March.

Romeo Coolio is one of two winners for his dam who won three times over jumps in France at the age of three. Miss Bailly is a full-sister to the smart racemare Cap Soleil (Kapgarde). Two of the latter’s three bumper wins were listed contests at Cheltenham and Sandown, and she won a listed hurdle race at Haydock. Cap Soleil’s first foal, a three-year-old Diamond Boy (Mansonnien) gelding, sold for €150,000 in June at Goffs. Another 2024 winner in the second remove of this family is the Fairyhouse Grade 3 hurdle winner Anzadam (Authorized).

SIR GINO (FR), 2020 g. by It’s Gino (Perugino) out of Anzi Star (Anzillero). Bred by Jean-Paul and Marie-Odile Deshayes

With so much focus on Constitution Hill from Nicky Henderson’s yard, it is perhaps overlooked how good his stablemate Sir Gino is. Due to make his chasing debut recently, when Constitution Hill was ruled out of the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle. Sir Gino was substituted, and delivered. Even so, and with an unbeaten record over hurdles, connections reverted to the original plan with a stunning outcome, beating Ballyburn in a Grade 2 at Kempton on his chasing debut. What a record for the recently turned five-year-old!

Like Lossiemouth, Sir Gino raced in France for his breeders and trainers, Carlos and Yann Lerner, winning on his debut at Auteuil in a listed hurdle at three. Now owned by Joe and Marie Donnelly, Sir Gino has also beaten Burdett Road by 10 lengths in a Grade 2 hurdle at Cheltenham, and ended last season with a win in the Grade 1 Boodles Anniversary Four-Year-old Juvenile Hurdle at Aintree. He is one of just three offspring of his dam, a winner twice in France, and her other winner is a full-brother to Sir Gino.

SOLNESS (FR), 2018 g. by Konig Turf (Big Shuffle) out of Solveigh (Tiger Hill). Bred by M L Bloodstock Limited

A first Grade 1 winner for his sire, best known in these parts for his Grade 2-winning chaser and hurdler Darasso, Solness has always been held in high regard by his trainer, Joseph O’Brien. Now he has fully justified that belief with a Grade 1 chase win, his fifth over fences. While he is from a distinguished German flat family, with no shortage of Group 1 winners nestled among the first four generations, Solness is not the first Grade 1 National Hunt winner in the pedigree.

A distant relative, though he pops up under Solness’s grandam Shona (Windwurf), is none other than Spillane’s Tower (Walk In The Park). Jimmy Mangan’s star can claim two Grade 1 chase wins among his six successes to date, and there will surely be more to come from him and Solness.

SOME SCOPE (GB), 2018 g. by Telescope (Galileo) out of Rosygo (Oscar). Bred by W L Smith and partners

The second crop sired by Telescope, who has moved after nine seasons at Shade Oak Stud to stand in 2025 at Donal White’s Foxwood Farm in Cork, has really shown what he can achieve as a stallion. It includes the Grade 1 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner Slade Steel, the dual listed hurdle winner Harvard Guy, and now the Grade 3 chase winner Some Scope. The announcement of Telescope’s move was only made in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and Some Scope’s timely win is a bonus.

Pinhooked by John Bleahen’s Lakefield Farm, Some Scope cost £8,000 as a newly-turned yearling at Goffs UK, and sold for €31,000 at the Goffs Land Rover Sale. He failed to sell twice when offered as a winning point-to-pointer. Some Scope’s dam is a point-to-point winning half-sister to the listed bumper winner The Nipper (Scorpion).

This is one of four separate stories in which Leo reviews all 26 Christmas blacktype winners