ROCK On Ruby may not be quite the force he was at his peak but he added to his blacktype tally with a two and a half length score in the Grade 2 Coral Hurdle (registered as the Ascot Hurdle Race) over two miles, three and a half furlongs at Ascot on Saturday.

The 2012 Grade 1 Champion Hurdle hero, who has been with the Harry Fry team for the past three years, is a son of the Grange Stud stallion Oscar (by Sadler’s Wells) and he was bred by John O’Dwyer, who sold him for €23,000 in the foal section of the Tattersalls Ireland November National Hunt Sale a decade ago.

He won three of his four bumpers, two of three starts over fences, and he has a record of seven wins and 13 places from 20 starts over hurdles, with his only times out of the frame being fourth in a Newbury bumper on his debut and eighth in the Grade 1 Arkle Chase at Cheltenham in 2014.

Rock On Ruby is out of an unraced mare called Stony View (by Tirol) and that makes him a full-brother to Alpine Glade and half-brother to Bluebyyou (by Lake Coniston).

The latter is a winner on the flat and a Grade 2-placed triple bumper scorer, while Alpine Glade won a bumper and three times over hurdles and earned her blacktype when runner-up in a Grade 3 mares’ hurdle race at Fairyhouse, when finishing third in the Grade 2 Tara Hurdle over two and a half miles at Navan and also in a Grade 3 contest at Punchestown.

Her first foal is a two-year-old daughter of multiple champion sire Presenting (by Mtoto) and her second is a yearling Flemensfirth (by Alleged) filly who made €42,000 in Fairyhouse 12 months ago.

SIBLINGS

Rock On Ruby’s siblings also include the eight-year-old Dartford Warbler (by Overbury), a five times hurdles scorer who made all to take a two miles, five and a half furlong chase at Market Rasen nine days ago.

His dam’s most recently registered progeny are a Yeats (by Sadler’s Wells) filly born 10 days after he won the Champion Hurdle, and his full-sister who made €85,000 as a foal in Fairyhouse two years ago, and she is also responsible for Misty Heather (by Oscar), an unraced daughter who has made a promising start at stud.

That mare’s first foal, whom O’Dwyer also bred, is the five-year-old Simon Squirrel (by Robin Des Champs). He was a debut winner of a bumper at Chepstow in early April, made a winning debut over hurdles at Newton Abbot last month, and finished third in a Grade 2 novices’ hurdle at Cheltenham two weeks ago.

Given that Stony View is a daughter of the dual Guineas winner Tirol (by Thatching), one might expect that hers is a flat pedigree, and her siblings do include the French listed winner Paranomelody (by Cyrano De Bergerac) and the dual stakes-placed 12 times scorer Green Mist (by Derrylin).

But they also include Bank View (by Crofter) who won four times on the flat before adding eight over hurdles and one over fences, recording blacktype success over obstacles at Leopardstown and Haydock.

Their dam Stony Ground (by Relko) won once on the flat as a three-year-old and there are several of her siblings who catch the eye.

Her half-brother Florida Son (by Busted) was third in the Listed Magnet Cup at York but is best known as being the sire of the late and prolific Grade 1 star Florida Pearl.

HURDLES SCORER

Cornwall Prince (by Taufan) was a listed-placed four times scorer over hurdles, Pretty Peach (by Gorytus) is the grandam of the stakes-winning flat fillies Macaroon (by Tagula) and Bakewell Tart (by Tagula; dam of the 2015 listed scorer Heaven’s Guest, by Dark Angel), and Fauchee (by Busted), who also won once, is the dam of the blacktype hurdles scorer Cares Of Tomorrow (by Montekin).

Also of note is Knapping (by Busted) who, although only placed, became the dam of the Group 1-placed pattern winner Backdrop (by Scenic) and the grandam of the three-mile graded hurdles scorer Baily Rock (by Supreme Leader).

Rock On Ruby is the best in a family that has a long history of producing high-class racehorses.