MARTIN Hassett’s near domination of the first four-year-old races of the season has been covered elsewhere in this section and while Dingo Dollar may have been a fortunate winner at Belharbour, his victory was welcomed well outside the trainer’s extended family and the vicinity of Killenaule.
The chesnut gelding is by Golden Lariat, a smashing-looking son of Mr Prospector out of Larrocha, a Sadler’s Wells mare whose four wins in England included two at listed level. A half-sister to Ardross and Gesedeh from the family of Scorpion, Robertico and Alflora, Larrocha has bred seven winners including Razkalla who, like his dam, claimed two listed races and was Group 1-placed in Nad Al Sheba.
Golden Lariat, trained throughout his nine-race career by Michael Stoute, failed to pick up any blacktype but did win twice before being purchased for stallion duties in the autumn of 2003 by Tim Carey of the Tullaghansleek Stud in Castletown-Geoghegan.
Carey stands the now 17-year-old to cover sport horse and thoroughbred mares, the number of the latter group growing in recent seasons. His best runner to date has been Fayette County, all-the-way winner of a Down Royal bumper in March 2013 and since successful twice over hurdles in England in the colours of J.P. McManus.
SPORT HORSE SUCCESS
On the sport horse side, Golden Lariat has sired half a dozen all-Ireland champions in the show ring, while his best eventer so far is Lariat’s Sun. Under Britain’s Polly Stockton, that nine-year-old gelding won a section of the CIC** at Hopetoun International in May and finished the 2015 season with a second place finish in similar company at Aske International in September.
Tullaghansleek is also home to the first season sire Retirement Plan (by Monsun), the winner of three races for his breeder Khalid Abdullah, the Irish Draught stallions Fintan Himself and Carrickcottage Star and the Connemaras Gwennic De Goariva and Drimcong Cove.
Dingo Dollar, who was bred close to the Carey family’s stud by Fintan Farrell, is the first foal out of the hurdle-winning Moscow Society mare Social Society who comes from the family of What A Native.
He is being consigned to Tattersalls Ireland’s sale on Thursday at Cheltenham where he is due to come up as Lot 37.