NOEL Meade won the Grade 3 Woodlands Park 100 Club Novice Chase at Naas on Sunday with Moulin A Vent, a six-year-old son of the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Sagamix (Linamix), bred by Willie Carson and sold by him as a foal at Doncaster for just £1,000 to Dick Frisby.

Frisby turned a handsome profit when the gelding came up for sale from his Glenwood Stud at the Goffs Land Rover Sale in 2015 and realised €55,000, selling to Mags O’Toole and Meade. He was just the second offspring of his dam Bahia Blanca who was placed in a couple of bumpers when trained by Nicky Henderson.

Bahia Blanca was bought for £28,000 as a three-year-old and she is a daughter of Astarabad (Alleged), an Aga Khan-bred winner of the Group 1 Prix Ganay and placed in the French Derby. She is one of eight runners for her dam Guerville (Mansonnien), six of which are by the same stallion Astarabad and four of these won. Guerville bred a fifth winner La Berciere (Risk Seeker) and she also currently has a three-year-old unraced filly by Blue Bresil (Smadoun).

This very French family has also enjoyed success in Ireland and Britain and some of these winners are very familiar to us. Guerville is a full-sister to the listed Auteuil hurdle winner Lady Boston and she made her mark resoundingly as a broodmare when her son Bostons Angel (Winged Love) won the Grade 1 RSA Chase at Cheltenham, and the Grade 1 Dr P J Moriarty Novice Chase and Grade 1 Fort Leney Novice Chase, both at Leopardstown. He was trained by Jessica Harrington.

Touques (Tip Moss) is a winning half-sister to Guerville and she bred a number of winners, the best of which was the Grade 1 Tolworth Hurdle placed Astarador (Astarabad). Furthermore, a placed daughter of Touques, Queen Running (Cadoudal) bred a good winner by Astarabad, namely Missy Tata who won the Grade 3 Fishery Lane Hurdle at Naas and in doing so recorded Gordon Elliott’s 100th winner of the 2016-17 National Hunt season. She followed up with a listed hurdle victory in Limerick.