SOUL ICON (GB), 2017 g. by Sixties Icon (Galileo) out of Solitairy Girl (Loup Solitaire). Bred by Guy Bloodstock Ltd

Winner of eight of his 15 starts over hurdles, Soul Icon registered his first success over the larger obstacles in a Grade 2 at Kempton on his tenth outing, though he did place a number of times in good company before making the breakthrough over fences. Bred by the same connections of Honeysuckle, Soul Icon is the only winner from his hurdle-winning dam, who comes from a flat female line. That said, under the third dam, there is another smart performer over jumps, Matinee Lover (Double Bed). He numbers Grade 3 wins in France over hurdles and fences among his 11 triumphs, and he was second in the Grade 1 Prix La Haye Jousselin Chase.

THE BIG WESTERNER (IRE), 2019 f. by Westerner (Danehill) out of Augusta Bay (Oscar). Bred by Southeast Bloodstock, Owen Hickey and Liam Gleeson

Can The Big Westerner go on and emulate the achievement of her half-brother, Stay Away Fay (Shantou)? In 2023 that gelding won the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, and last year sold for £325,000 to remain with Paul Nicholls. After she won a point-to-point on her debut, The Big Westerner sold ‘on spec’ to Peter Molony’s Rathmore Stud, and ended up with Henry de Bromhead, and is now owned by the Mariga family. She has won both her starts over hurdles, including a Grade 2 now at Limerick.

Stay Away Fay and The Big Westerner are two of the three winners for the once-raced Augusta Bay, the third being the dual bumper heroine Queens Highway (Presenting). Augusta Bay has four winning siblings, two placed in blacktype races, and they are all out of the listed hurdle and chase winning mare Penneyrose Bay (Karinga Bay). Penneyrose Bay and her Grade 3 hurdle-winning half-brother Latimer’s Place (Teenoso) are the only winners for Pennethorne Place (Deep Run), a bumper winner.

THE JUKEBOX MAN (IRE), 2018 g. by Ask (Sadler’s Wells) out of My Twist (Flemensfirth). Bred by Paul Cunningham

Harry Redknapp loves his racing and he may have the best horse he has ever owned in the shape of The Jukebox Man, winner at Kempton Park of the Grade 1 Kauto Star Novices’ Chase. This was the gelding’s second start over fences, and came after victory in the Grade 2 John Francome Novices’ Chase at Newbury.

In March, The Jukebox Man came agonisingly close to winning the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, beaten by Stellar Story, and was third in Grade 1s at Aintree and Newbury. He won a point-to-point for owner John Phelan, who paid €3,000 for him as a foal at Goffs, and he sold on for £70,000 at the Goffs UK Tingle Creek Sale.

One of just five blacktype winners by the disappointing Ask, who died in 2024, The Jukebox Man is the only winner out of his unraced dam. He comes from a relatively quiet branch of a family that, if you go back as far as the fourth dam, has also produced the Grand National winner Many Clouds (Cloudings), and the dual Grade 1 hurdle winner The Tullow Tank (Oscar).

THE NEW LION (GB), 2019 g. by Kayf Tara (Sadler’s Wells) out of Raitera (Astarabad). Bred by Jackie and the late Robert Chugg

What a bittersweet victory for The New Lion, who remains unbeaten in four starts, the latest gained in the Grade 1 Challow Hurdle. Here is a rising star who reminds us of the great prowess of Robert Chugg as a breeder, always in partnership with his wife Jackie. Bought as a foal by Katie Rudd for €45,000, The New Lion won a bumper on his debut and has now added three victories over hurdles. He is one of five winners out of his dam, and shares the same damsire, Astarabad (Alleged), with yet another rising star of the Christmas period, July Flower.

The New Lion is a full-brother to Kateira (Kayf Tara) who won a Grade 3 hurdle race at Aintree in April for the Chugg’s Little Lodge Stud, and a year previously had run second to Irish Point in the Grade 1 Mersey Novices’ Hurdle, also at Aintree. The New Lion and Kateira are siblings to the listed chase winner El Presente (Presenting).

Diamond Boy (Mansonnien), the sire of Grade 1 Christmas winner Impaire Et Passe, is a half-brother to Raitera. They are out of the three-time winner Gold Or Silver (Glint Of Gold), and she is also the dam of Diamond Boy’s full-brother, Golden Silver (Mansonnien). Four of his 13 wins were in Grade 1 races, including the Arkle Chase at Leopardstown and Champion Chase at Punchestown.

VAL DANCER (IRE), 2017 g. by Valirann (Nayef) out of Katies Dancer (Danehill Dancer). Bred by Charles Persse

It was a great Christmas period for Whytemount Stud’s Valirann, a horse who has largely been ignored by breeders. The Group 2 French winner sired his first Grade 1 winner in Potters Charm, and the Grade 3 Welsh Grand National winner Val Dancer.

Sold from Charles Persse’s Kells Lodge Stud as a foal for €6,000 at Tattersalls Ireland, and as a placed point-to-pointer for £60,000 to Highflyer Bloodstock at Cheltenham, this was Val Dancer’s first blacktype earned, and his sixth career win.

Credit to the breeder for persevering with the family, as Val Dancer is the only winner for Katies Dancer, and she, as a point-to-point winner, was the only produce of her dam to visit a winner’s enclosure. There are only two other horses in the next two generations of the family that were placed in blacktype National Hunt races.

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