I WAS delighted to hear from Clody Norton concerning a yearling due to be sold at Tattersalls Ireland’s September Yearling Sale next Friday, September 23rd.

She is Lot 995, a filly by Lilbourne Lad out of the stakes-placed Danetime mare Cuilaphuca.

She will test the stamina of the buyers at the sale as she is the third last lot catalogued at the sale, but it may well be the smart buyers who have already taken heed of the fact that the pedigree has enjoyed some significant updates.

When the catalogue went to press the filly was a half-sister to two winners from four runners. Now that statistic is that she is a half-sister to four winners from five runners and these include the juvenile winner Forrest Prince. Last Sunday he was one of four lots at the Goffs Champions Sale but was retained to race by connections, and hopefully their decision to do so will be rewarded.

The one non-winner out of the five runners is the Hamdan Al Maktoum-owned, Richard Hannon-trained Taraabut and he was just pipped on his only run this year by Khalid Abdulla’s Battlement, now a winner of three races.

This is a solid amount of form for all the offspring of Cuilaphuca. Furthermore the good-looking Taraabut sold as a yearling in Doncaster for £130,000.

Cuilaphuca was trained until his death by Con Collins for Clody Norton, a longstanding owner with the trainer, and she was then conditioned by his daughter Tracey to win at Fairyhouse and Cork and be placed in the Listed Sweet Mimosa Stakes at Leopardstown.

She is from a family that the Nortons in Newtownbarry House Stud have had a long association with and her half-sister Soreze won the Marble Hill Stakes at the Curragh for the Norton/Collins team.

Breeders, stallion masters and readers are invited to contact Leo Powell at leopowell@theirishfield.ie with news and updates for the column, and to visit our website www.theirishfield.ie for daily breeding news