PRIOR to yesterday’s racing at York, the three-year-old Winter Power had already covered herself in glory. The daughter of Bungle Inthejungle (Exceed And Excel) had six wins under her belt, four of them at stakes level. Chief among them was her success last year in the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes at Newmarket.

Today, she will be proudly looking out over her stable door, queen of all she surveys at Tim Easterby’s yard, having added the Group 1 Coolmore-sponsored Nunthorpe Stakes to her tally of victories. She has raised an already honourable female line to new heights. Her win will have been welcomed, for different reasons, by a pair of Burns brothers.

Maurice Burns stands Bungle Inthejungle at his Rathasker Stud, and this was the stallion’s first winner at Group 1 level. Meanwhile, brother Patrick in Newlands House Stud, not far away, will be looking at Winter Power’s full-brother with a smile on his face. The yearling colt is due under the hammer at the Goffs Orby Sale on September 29th, the second day of the sale.

Winter Power is herself a graduate of the same Orby Sale, having realised €90,000 when sold to SackvilleDonald on behalf of King Power Racing. She is the best of five winners from her dam, Titian Saga. That mare won as a two-year-old over six furlongs at Newmarket on her second start, and she was also bred by Patrick Burns, and by a Rathasker stallion – in this case Titus Livius (Machiavellian).

Modest start

All of this story starts very modestly, at the Goffs February Sale in 1995. Then Patrick paid IR1,200gns – yes, 1,200 – for Nordic Living (Nordico). She had raced four times for Jim Bolger and John Corcoran, never featuring.

She could boast of being a granddaughter of the US stakes winner Bally Knocken (Exclusive Native), who had bred a smart Grade 3 winner in the USA, River Traffic (Irish River).

Well, that small investment has spawned a total of five blacktype flat winners, a host of other winners, and Patrick Burns will have rarely spent so well or wisely.

Nordic Living had a perfect record as a broodmare when all of her eight runners were winners. None of them were world-beaters, in fact none even placed in a stakes race, but they won 34 races between them. One of her multiple-winning daughters was Nova Tor (Trans Island), successful six times. At stud she is dam of the Group 2 winner and Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas-placed Devonshire (Fast Company).

Meanwhile, Titian Saga, after her racing career ended, found her way back to her birthplace and she is now continuing the family tradition of producing heaps of winners. Alongside Winter Power, she is dam of the stakes winner Hay Chewed (Camacho), the stakes-placed Flying Sparkle (Fast Company) and the eight-time scorer Imperial Legend (Mujadil).

Bungle Inthejungle

Rathasker’s Bungle Inthejungle was himself a very high-class two-year-old. He scored four times in his first racing season, including group events at Ascot and Goodwood, and retired to cover for the first time in 2015. His fourth crop are two-year-olds, and he covered this year at a fee of €8,000.

His first three crops have already produced over 65 winners, including five stakes winners. They also include the Group 2 Lowther Stakes heroine Living In The Past, French filly Acapulco Gold, and the Italian stakes winner Sopran Artemide. His son Rumble Inthejungle won the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood and was third in the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes and is now at stud in England. This year’s juvenile crop already includes seven winners.

Trainer Mick Channon had Bungle Inthejungle ready to make his debut as a two-year-old in April, and his first win came a month later. Eight days later he scored again and these victories earned him a run in the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot, where he led until the final furlong, finishing a creditable fourth of the 19 runners.

Important success

Bungle Inthejungle deserved an important success and that came in the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes over five furlongs at Goodwood. He was beaten only half a length by Sir Prancealot in the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster, but he then completed an excellent season by winning the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes over five furlongs at Ascot in October, leading all the way and holding on gamely under top-weight from Garswood.

Exceed And Excel (Danehill), the sire of Bungle Inthejungle, was the champion sprinter in Australia and has been a sensational success at stud, both in Europe and in Australia, and notably with his juveniles.

His son Excelebration was a champion miler, Margot Did took the Nunthorpe Stakes and Helmet won the Caulfield Guineas in record time and sired Dubai World Cup star Thunder Snow.

Bungle Inthejungle is an own-brother to the listed scorer Waveband (Exceed And Excel) and a half-brother to top sprinter Muarrab (Oasis Dream), whose 14 wins included the Group 1 Golden Shaheen Stakes in Dubai. The next dam, Crime Of Passion (Dragonara Palace), won the Group 3 Cherry Hinton Stakes at Newmarket and was second in the Queen Mary Stakes.