GIVEN that Goffs conducted the sale after racing at Newbury on Saturday, it was appropriate that a graduate of one of their sales should have won the feature on the card earlier in the day.

Previously successful in the Grade 2 Future Champion Novices’ Chase at Ayr, the seven-year-old Datsalrightgino, a German-bred son of It’s Gino (Perugino), took the honours in the Grade 3 Coral Gold Cup Chase, his third win over fences and his fifth in all. Bought as a store at the Goffs Land Rover Sale by Tom Malone and Jamie Snowden for €70,000, the winner has more than repaid the purchase price with some interest, amassing winnings of more than £220,000.

Furthermore, Datsalrightgino is one of three winning sons of his dam Delightful Sofie (Grand Lodge) that have been sired by It’s Gino.

Seven times successful on the racecourse, notably in a Group 2 in Germany and a listed race in France, both at the age of five, It’s Gino ended his racing career with three placed efforts in Group 1 races. His final start was in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and his starting price of 150/1 reflects what most people thought of his chances.

Nonetheless, he produced a career best run finishing third to the brilliant Zarkava. He dead-heated with Soldier Of Fortune, and they were just half a length off Youmzain in second place.

Lalor

Moving to France after some years in Germany at stud, where he got a number of stakes winners, It’s Gino sired an early Grade 1 winner over jumps when his son Lalor won the Top Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree, and that gelding showed his class and versatility when winning a bumper and a novice chase at Grade 2 level.

With relatively few runners, and with a very good strike rate with his National Hunt performers, It’s Gino has also sired the listed hurdle winners in France, Sir Gino and Loquas, the Grade 2 Italian hurdle winner Staffettino, and the Grade 3 chase winner in England, Victtorino.

Datsalrightgino is a full-brother to Darebin (It’s Gino), and this winner of 12 races was placed in the Grade 3 Imperial Cup at Sandown, though eight of his victories have come over fences. They are among five winners out of Delightful Sofie, and while she was successful three times in Germany, her best effort was when second in the Group 3 Prix Fille de l’Air in France.

Donaldson

The grandam of Datsalrightgino, Daring Delight (Robellino), only ran once but she was very well related. Four of her siblings won blacktype races, two of which merit mention.

Donaldson (Lando) was a Group 1 winner in Germany, though he later raced over hurdles and fences, winning a couple of times under both codes. He was born a few years after Dark’n Sharp (Sharpo), and he won in Germany and Austria before racing over jumps, and his biggest success was at Aintree in the Martell Red Rum Chase.

Two half-sisters to Daring Delight bred pattern winners in the flat, and notable among this group was the champion juvenile filly in Germany a decade ago, Diamond Dove (Dr Fong). A Group 3 winner, she was runner-up in the Group 1 Henkel Preis de Diana, the German Oaks.

Horsepower shown by the blueblood Nurburgring

THERE has been no shortage of mentions for Montjeu (Sadler’s Wells) this week, and a trio of his sons sired the three Grade 1 winners at Fairyhouse on Sunday.

He also gets a mention in the review of the Grade 3 Juvenile Hurdle winner at the same meeting, as his daughter Shamarbelle bred the three-year-old in question, the Joseph O’Brien-trained Nurburgring, carrying the colours of Bronsan Racing. The gelding was bred in partnership by Annemarie O’Brien.

A winner at Navan on the flat before he was sent to Royal Ascot to contest the Group 3 Queens Vase, Nurburgring made a winning debut over hurdles at Killarney in August, was runner-up at Listowel to the ultra-smart Woodhooh (he passed the post first but was demoted to second), and then he was gelded. His return to the track on Sunday showed that he is one of the best of the juvenile hurdlers in Ireland.

Nurburgring is a son of Zoffany (Dansili), the Group 1 two-year-old winner who was a smart miler at three, though he did not win over the distance. He was runner-up in both the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes and the Prix Jean Prat. He has been in the news in recent weeks, his daughter Albigna selling to MV Magnier at Goffs for €3,700,000, while the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes winner Prosperous Voyage, another daughter, was bought by Katsumi Yoshida for 2,400,000gns at Newmarket.

Mother Earth

Those two fillies, along with the 1000 Guineas heroine Mother Earth, National Stakes winner Thunder Moon and the Italian winner Ventura Storm comprise the five Group 1 winners sired by Zoffany. Perhaps in time he will add to that total.

If Nurburgring had been offered for sale as a foal or a yearling, it is not as a potential high-class hurdler that buyers would have viewed him. He is one of three winners for Shamarbelle, while one of that mare’s daughters bred Sos Genia (Seeking The Dia), and he was a Group 1 winner at two in Chile.

If you might sneer a little at the value of such form, you can have no reservations about the rest of the pedigree. Shamarbelle is an own-sister to a smart juvenile in Geoffrey Chaucer (Montjeu), winner of the Group 2 Beresford Stakes.

However, that form is some way off that of Shamarbelle’s half-brother Shamardal (Giants Causeway). The best of his age in Europe at two, and the best miler at three, he won the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes before becoming a dual classic winner in France at three.

Shamardal

In addition to being successful in both the Group 1 French 2000 Guineas and Derby, Shamardal won the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes, and he has now gone on to become not only a successful sire, but an influential one. Indeed, this is a female line that is well versed in producing successful stallions.

Nurburgring’s third dam Helen Street (Troy), the Group 1 Irish Oaks winner, bred the Group 1 Dubai Gold Cup winner and notable sire Street Cry (Machiavellian), while also descending from her is the Group 1 winner and dual Group 1 Darley sire Territories (Invincible Spirit).

Darley has also placed its faith in another son of Shamardal from this line, the Group 1 two-year-old and French classic winner Victor Ludorum, and his first foals are on the ground.

Nurburgring is not the first blacktype winner over jumps in the immediate family. His dam Shamarbelle’s winning half-sister Helsinka (Pennekamp) is the dam of Straight To It (Giant’s Causeway).

That gelding, a $500,000 yearling, was a successful and durable runner over jumps in the USA, his many wins there including the New Jersey Hunt Cup at Far Hills, and the Radnor Hunt Cup Timber Chase at Malvern twice.