WHILE the records show that Highflyer Bloodstock purchased the Cheltenham Festival winner Une Artiste, a daughter of Alberto Giacometti (Sadler’s Wells), for €85,000 at the Munir and Souede dispersal held at the Arqana December Sale in 2018, in fact she was retained on behalf of the partnership.

Still in the early days of her second career as a broodmare, the decision has proven to be a lucky one, as her son Intense Raffles provided the leading owners with victory in the Grade 3 BoyleSports Irish Grand National, and what a dream start this has been to the association Simon Munir and Isaac Souede have forged now with Co Meath trainer Tom Gibney.

A son of the leading sire Martaline (Linamix), the six-year-old Intense Raffles (all horses bred and then raced by Munir and Souede have Raffles in their name) won over a mile and a half on the flat in France and twice over jumps there before he moved to Ireland. Those victories were all at three, but he then had a barren period before the decision was made to switch yards.

Tom Gibney has had Intense Raffles for only six months but what a change he has brought about in the gelding, and in his care he is undefeated in three starts over fences, all at Fairyhouse. He is the second foal, and unsurprisingly the best offspring of his dam Une Artiste, and she now has the perfect record of three winners with her first three foals, the others being the dual winners Great Raffles (Kapgarde) and Intense Raffle’s full-brother Jermyn Raffles (Martaline).

The younger stock out of Une Artiste include the four-year-old gelding King Raffles (Saint Des Saints) and he was fourth on his second outing last month in France. Lady Raffles (Doctor Dino) and National Raffles (Doctor Dino) are a three-year-old daughter and yearling son of Une Artiste, and the mare is due to be covered by Masked Marvel (Montjeu) after she foals to Doctor Dino (Muhtathir).

Une Artiste ran up a sequence of victories on the flat and over jumps in France for Emmanuel Clayeux before joining Nicky Henderson and adding eight more successes to her CV. They included a Cheltenham Festival victory in the Grade 3 Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle, and she also won at the Fairyhouse Easter Festival when she captured the Grade 3 John and Chich Fowler Memorial Mares’ Chase. How appropriate then that her son should also win at the Co Meath venue.

Outstanding

While she is the outstanding runner in her immediate family, a deeper look into her female line reveals that a number of top-class performers have emerged from other branches. Even so, Une Artiste is one of six winners from her dam Castagnette III (Tin Soldier), and she raced for many years in France, picking up six victories and 15 placed efforts on the way.

Une Artiste’s half-brother Coup De Pinceau (Buck’s Boum) looked for a time that he could be a star, landing his first two starts in bumpers. While he earned some blacktype, and went on to win five races over fences, that early potential didn’t materialise, and this year, at the age of 12, he has added a point-to-point victory to his tally of successes.

You have to go deep into the family to find any names that would resonate with us, but they include the hugely popular Silviniaco Conti (Dom Alco) who won three Grade 1 races, the King George VI Chase, Betfred Bowl at Aintree and the Lancashire Chase at Haydock, and won all of them on two occasions.

Best winner

Une Artiste is the best winner sired by the Group 1 winner Alberto Giacometti (Sadler’s Wells) and she now resides at Haras du Lieu des Champs in Normandy, looked after by Richard Powell. His father David was a key man in the Munir and Souede breeding programme until his death, and what a wonderful tribute Intense Raffles paid to him too with his win in the iconic Irish Grand National.

Intense Raffles’ win was yet another feather in the cap of the great Martaline. A solid Group 2 performer as a racehorse, and sire of six stakes winners on the flat, Martaline will forever be recalled as one of the all-time great National Hunt stallions in France. He passed the landmark century of blacktype winners over jumps not that long ago, and his tally now stands at 106. There is more to come, while his sons and daughters will also guarantee his legacy.

ONE of the most popular successes at the weekend in Fairyhouse was that of Spillane’s Tower in the Grade 1 WillowWarm Gold Cup Novice Chase.

Trainer Jimmy Mangan and his wife Mary were celebrating their first win at the highest level since Conna Castle 16 years ago. Coincidentally, that was in the same race won by Spillane’s Tower, then known as the Powers Gold Cup, and Conna Castle had the favourite Big Zeb in second place.

The lightly-raced Spillane’s Tower carries the familiar colours of J.P. McManus, and was bred by the owner’s wife Noreen. A winner over hurdles, Spillane’s Tower has now won half of his six starts over fences, and enjoyed his first blacktype win in the Grade 3 Killiney Novice Chase at Punchestown. He was runner-up in the Grade 3 Flyingbolt Novice Chase at Navan.

Spillane’s Tower is the first winner and one of only two named offspring to date from the unraced In The Habit (Duke Of Marmalade). The other, his full-sister Plassey House (Walk In The Park), was runner-up on the last of her five starts. She was covered for the first time last year by Crystal Ocean (Sea The Stars).

There are a number of young stock following Spillane’s Tower. His five-year-old full-sister is not yet named, there are two offspring by Yeats (Sadler’s Wells), a four-year-old daughter and two-year-old son, and a yearling colt by Capri (Galileo). There is no record of In The Habit having been covered last year.

Renowned

Few winners on the flat or over jumps at the weekend have a pedigree with as much blacktype in it as Spillane’s Tower does, but most names and the races they won would not trip easily off the tongue, as the family is renowned in Germany.

In The Habit’s half-sister Cherry Danon (Rock Of Gibraltar) was a Group 3 mile winner there and ran second in the Group 2 German 1000 Guineas. At stud Cherry Danon is already dam of four stakes winners, the most recent being Calif (Areion), a Group 2 winner who sold for €400,000 at the Arqana Arc Sale last year.

Spillane’s Tower’s third dam Shona (Windwurf) was a listed winner in West Germany in the late eighties, and she bred eight winners, one of them successful at stakes level. A count of all the blacktype winners that descend from Shona stands currently at 24, among them the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin winner Sirius (Dashing Blade).

The latest Grade 1 winner for Walk In The Park (Montjeu), Spillane’s Tower joins the likes of Ashroe Diamond, Facile Vega, Jonbon, Ginto, Min and Douvan on that roll of honour.