IAN Ferguson started 2018 off with a bang, being responsible for selecting two of the big races winners at Cheltenham as young horses at the sales. Wholestone and Ballyhill were both selected by the Cullybackey-based trainer, the former as a foal and the latter as a yearling. On both occasions they were purchased at a Tattersalls Ireland November Sale.

Simon Munir and Isaac Souede own Wholestone, a seven-year-old son of Craigsteel (Suave Dancer) who was recently put down at Gortnamona Stud. News of his demise saddened me as I had played a role in getting the horse a place at stud back in 2003. Craigsteel was a Group 2 winner and he came close to landing a big one when runner-up in the Grade 1 Turf Classic Invitational Stakes at Belmont Park, racing at the time for Catherine Wills. While he sired plenty of winners, his best performer Wholestone emerged in the latter stages of his stud career.

Bred by Michael O’Donovan and sold as a foal by Karen O’Donovan through Ridge Manor Stud for €11,000 at Tattersalls Ireland to Ferguson, Wholestone landed a bumper on his only run on the level, and since then has won five of his 12 starts over hurdles, only finishing out of the first four twice. He is some way better at Cheltenham than elsewhere and his New Year’s Day victory in the Grade 2 Relkeel Hurdle was his fourth at Prestbury Park, and his third in a Grade 2 hurdle.

At the Cheltenham Festival last March he tackled a Grade 1 for the first time and ran a fine third behind Penhill and Monalee in the Albert Bartlett Spa Novices’ Hurdle, a race won previously by a close relative.

Wholestone is the first winner for his dam Last Theatre (King’s Theatre) and she won five times on the flat, was placed in a listed race, and also won over hurdles. From a jumping point of view the most interesting part of this pedigree concerns Last Theatre’s full-sister Fashionista. They are both daughters of King’s Theatre (Sadler’s Wells), but Fashionista has ensured her place in the racing history books as the dam of the 2013 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Bobs Worth (Bob Back). That gelding can also number victories in the likes of the Grade 1 RSA Chase. Grade 1 Lexus Chase and the Grade 1 Spa Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham in a distinguished career.

Last Theatre is one of five winners out of Last Flair (Busted) and the best of the rest was Ballykett Nancy (Hero’s Honor), a multiple listed winner who was twice placed in the Pretty Polly Stakes when the now Group 1 race was Group 2. Last Flair’s half-sister Ukraine Girl (Targowice) was a classic winner in France, landing the French 1000 Guineas, the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches.

Also at Cheltenham on Monday the French-bred Ballyhill, another seven-year-old, won by far the most important race of his career when capturing the Grade 3 BetBright Betting Handicap Chase. The son of Al Namix (Linamix) was bought by Ian Ferguson as a yearling for €25,000 and, like Wholestone, he is trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies. Ballyhill was winning for only the third time and was bred by Patrick Boiteau.

Ballyhill is the best of three winners to date for his dam Laly Light (Start Fast) who was fourth once over jumps in her native France. These winners are her first three produce and she has made a good start at stud. She had the pedigree to do well, being a sibling to no less than nine winners from Yellow Light (Lightning). The nine were produced from 13 foals, all but two of which ran.

The best of the nine were Cyrlight (Saint Cyrien) and Park Light (Walk In The Park). The last named won a pair of listed hurdle races at Auteuil in 2016, but his talent was not as great as that of his older half-brother Cyrlight. That gelding, born a decade earlier, won some €1.3 million over jumps in France and was one of the best, and most popular, of his generation. He won 20 of his 31 starts, was placed nine times, and 13 of his victories were in graded races.

The most important of his wins were gained as a four-year-old when he won the Grade 1 Prix Maurice Gillois 4YO Grand Steeplechase and the Grade 1 Prix Gras Savoye Ferdinand Dufaure Chase, both at Auteuil. While the latest stars in the family made waves over jumps, a couple of generations back you will find the likes of Group or Grade 1 winners Sandpit (Baynoun), a nine-time winner at the highest level in the USA and Brazil, Timeo (First American), Brunnhilde (Critique), Shibuni’s Falcon (Polar Falcon), winner of the Premio Roma, and Estrela Do Oriente (Redattore).

Al Namix is now 21 years of age and will be available to French breeders for a fee of €2,500 this year. He never managed to win or place above listed race status, though he showed toughness and durability, winning eight times from the age of two to seven. He went to stud in 2005 and it is with his jumpers that he has made the far greater impact. His best known performers outside France include Saphir Du Rheu (won the Grade 1 Mildmay Novices’ Chase at Aintree), Grandouet (Grade 1 Champion Four-Year-Old Hurdle at Punchestown) and Petit Mouchoir (won the 2017 Grade 1 BHP Irish Champion Hurdle).