BRED in Wexford by James and Pat Kinsella, Sober Glory appeared out of the gloom at Newbury on Saturday to retain his unbeaten record, and in the process land the listed bumper. He could be one to watch for in the big Aintree bumper if that proves to be his next target.

Sold as a foal to Mount Eaton Stud for €41,000 at Tattersalls Ireland, the five-year-old Sober Glory failed to take up his appointment with the auctioneers at the Goffs UK Spring Sale, but appeared last year at the Tattersalls Cheltenham May Sale from Cormac Doyle’s Monbeg Stables, and sold to bloodstock agent Tom Malone for £110,000.

This was in the immediate aftermath of creating a big impression when scoring in a point-to-point at Bartlemy at the first time of asking, winning by a convincing two and a half lengths.

Transferred to the ownership of Brocade Racing and the care of Philip Hobbs and Johnson White, Sober Glory has now raced three times in bumpers in a little over three months, winning at Chepstow, Exeter and now at Newbury. A son of the late Boardsmill Stud sire Mount Nelson (Rock Of Gibraltar), he is from the stallion’s final curtailed crop. What a shame it was that Mount Nelson died at the age of just 15, as he was making an impact with his jumpers, led by the dual Cheltenham Grade 1 winner Penhill.

Mount Nelson, a Group 1 winner at two who went on to capture the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes two years later, had fought a prolonged battle with lymphangitis. The condition had been well managed throughout his stud career, firstly at Newsells Park Stud when he retired there, and later at Boardsmill.

A most versatile stallion, his best runner on the flat was the Group 1 British Champions Sprint Stakes winner Librisa Breeze, while Penhill’s second Cheltenham win was in the three-mile Grade 1 Stayers’ Hurdle.

Sober Glory is the first winner for the unraced Milan (Sadler’s Wells) mare Milan’s Fingal. Her dam Lady Marguerrite (Blakeney) was purchased by Jim Kinsella for IR5,400gns at Goffs in 2000 from Jacqueline Norris’s Jockey Hall Stud, just months after her colt foal, later named Oodachee (Marju), realised 18,000gns. He would go on to become a most versatile sort, winning a bumper, four flat races, twice over hurdles and three chases. Oodachee won a Grade 3 chase at Limerick and was best of the Irish runners when second to the Paul Nicholls-trained Oslot in the 2008 Galway Plate.

Paid dividends

After her purchase by Kinsella, Lady Marguerrite had her attention turned to breeding National Hunt performers, and that strategy paid dividends on the racecourse, if not in the sales ring, when she bred Fingal Bay (King’s Theatre), the best of her three winners. Richard Rohan gave €16,000 for him as a foal, and he was unsold for less at the Derby Sale. Fingal Bay had a stellar career as a hurdler, winning six times, and they were supplemented with victories in a bumper and a chase.

Fingal Bay was trained by Philip Hobbs, and gained his biggest success in the 2011 Grade 1 Challow Hurdle at Newbury. Perhaps, in time, history can repeat itself with Sober Glory?

Five of the gelding’s six hurdle wins were in blacktype races, and arguably his best win was in a Grade 2 at Sandown when Fingal Bay beat Simonsig by two and a half lengths at level weights. His best performance over fences came when he divided Dynaste and Unioniste, with Carlito Brigante fourth, in a novices’ chase at Cheltenham.

Lady Marguerrite was bred by Lord Victor Matthews and raced twice, with little impact, for Lord and Lady Roborough. She has seven winning siblings, none of whom gained any blacktype. Their dam was Butosky (Busted) who finally found her winning ways at four, and was successful three times that year. Butosky was a half-sister to the British and US stakes winner Crews Hill (High Top), and the stakes-placed Pato (High Top).

Outstanding broodmare

Pato proved to be an outstanding broodmare, responsible for a pair of Group 1 winners. Her son Classic Cliche (Salse) added the Ascot Gold Cup to his victory in the St Leger, while My Emma (Marju) was an ultra-smart three-year-old who won the Group 1 Prix Vermeille in France and the Yorkshire Oaks in England. My Emma sold in 2005 for 1,300,000gns, and her daughter, the listed winner Moments Of Joy (Darshaan), made 1,650,000gns at the same sale.

This is a female family that every few years throws up a good performer on the flat. My Emma is the third dam of Al Riffa (Wootton Bassett), winner of the Group 1 National Stakes who was back to his best last year at four. He added the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin and finished second in the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes. An unraced half-sister to My Emma, Lust (Pursuit Of Love), is third dam of two Group 1 winners, one in Hong Kong and Japan, the other in Ireland, and they are full-siblings.

Satono Crown (Marju) was a Group 1 winner in his native Japan, and travelled to capture the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin. In 2023 he sired his first Group 1 winner, Tastiera, victorious in the Japanese Derby. Satono Crown’s own-sister Lightening Pearl (Marju) was a first Group 1 winner for Ger Lyons when she landed the Cheveley Park Stakes.