THE recent death, at the age of 28 years, of Opera Hat draws a chapter of success to a close, but the mare’s owner Valerie Cooper will be hoping to keep the flame alive with the mare’s son Woodland Opera. He has already given her a few special racing moments and hopefully there will be more to come.

Opera Hat was a daughter of the multiple champion sire Strong Gale who served the Cashman family in Rathbarry with great distinction. Sent to the sales in Fairyhouse as a yearling Opera Hat was purchased by the late Tom Copper through BBA Ireland. While she had no big name horses up close in the pedigree, she was out of a Menelek mare who in turn was out of an Arctic Slave mare. In breeding terms this was royal lineage.

Valerie raced Opera Hat with Carolyn Waters and put her in training with her great friend John Fowler. She made a solitary start in a bumper at Punchestown, partnered by Andrew Coonan, and was beaten less than five lengths while finishing in 10th place.

Her second start, and first over hurdles, saw her run with great promise under Dermot Fagan in a maiden hurdle at Naas, a course to which she was to return a further 17 times during her career, and where she had a bar named in her honour in later years. More of that anon.

The first of her 15 career victories came at Navan on her fourth outing and it was the first of five times that the late Anthony Powell was on board when she visited the winners’ enclosure. Conor O’Dwyer was in the saddle on eight of her wins, while Dermot Fagan and Garrett Cotter were the others to partner her to victory.

By the time her racing career ended she had won 15 of her 57 starts, finished second nine times, third 12 times and fourth five times. She won a total of £191,217. Just two of her wins were over hurdles and she truly blossomed when she jumped a fence and won 13 chases, including at Grade 1 level.

Her greatest triumph was her final win in the 1998 Mumm Melling Chase. The outsider of five and given no chance by most, she won a race that was sadly marred by the fatal fall suffered by One Man. Nonetheless you could not take away from the mare’s tenacity as she beat Or Royal by nearly two lengths, with Strong Promise and Merry Gale trailing in their wake. Prior to this win Opera Hat had earned a deserved reputation as a Naas specialist and won the Grade 2 Newlands Chase there on three occasions. That pales when compared with the statistic that she won nine times at the Kildare venue and her form figures for the track were 413214511111132122. On the last three occasions that she was second there she found Merry Gale, Imperial Call and Papillon too good.

In addition to jockeys already mentioned as having enjoyed success on Opera Hat, she was partnered without success by Paul Carberry on five occasions, Jamie Osborne four times and Charlie Swan and Frannie Woods once each. Conor O’Dwyer sat on her most times, getting the leg up 23 times, while Anthony Powell rode her 15 times.

Only three times in her racing career, which started on October 8th 1992 and ended on April 28th 1999, did she travel outside Ireland to run. In March 1996 she was at Cheltenham for the Coral Cup. Reverting to hurdles, she fell in the race but 11 days later won a three-mile chase at Naas.

Her Mumm Melling Chase win in 1998 was her second trip to England and she was back a year later to defend her crown, and on what was to prove to be her penultimate start she was fourth behind Direct Route, Mulligan and Call Equiname.

A hugely popular runner who attracted many fans, Opera Hat embarked on her new career at stud and with high hopes. Her first three foals all ran and were placed but it was not until her eighth produce that she had a winner. This is Woodland Opera, a six-year-old son of Robin Des Champs (another Rathbarry Stud sire) and trained by John Fowler’s sister Jessica Harrington.

Woodland Opera won his bumper at Leopardstown in the colours and ownership of Valerie Cooper, but now races for a partnership that also include Valerie’s daughter Diana and family friend Carolyn Waters who was involved with Opera Hat. Even at the time of his debut Jessica Harrington was enthused about the gelding and his potential as a chaser.

He won his maiden hurdle at Navan on his second start, a race that has been won in the last decade by such as Don Cossack, Bostons Angel, Mikael D’Haguenet and Aran Concerto. With only five starts to date, including three wins and third in a Grade 2, the future is very bright for Woodland Opera as he prepares to go chasing.

Having spent much of her breeding career in England, Opera Hat was tracked down by Valerie’s son Patrick some years ago and there was an emotional Christmas reunion with the mare who lived out her last years at Harry and Lorna Fowler’s Rahinstown Stud. The wheel turned full circle and hopefully those distinctive Cooper silks will be seen to great effect again soon.