UNHINDERED by my last-minute €10 win bet at 9/1 with Darragh Fitzpatrick, the French-bred Fastorslow confirmed his place among the highest echelons of chasing on Sunday. When I was reporting on the 2018 Arqana Summer Mixed Sale, I wrote the following about Fastorslow.

Bertrand Le Métayer had to go to €100,000 to take home a son of Saint Des Saints out of the Kahyasi mare Popova offered by Charles Brière’s Fairway Consignment. “He is for James Douglas-Gordon,” said Le Métayer. “We have been lucky with Saint Des Saints before and felt that the pedigree of this horse offered some guarantees of precociousness.”

Well, the precociousness exhibited itself when the gelding won twice as a three-year-old in France, over hurdles and fences. In fact, when Fastorslow made his debut at Chateaubriant he was carrying the colours of Sean Mulryan, and it was a winning one. The following month he was sent by trainer Arnaud Chaillé-Chaillé to Clairefontaine where, in a big field, he was runner-up.

A third, and final, start in the care of Chaillé-Chaillé saw Fastorslow contest a chase for three-year-olds making their debut over the larger obstacles, and he returned to winning ways. A year and a half passed before we saw Fastorslow again, this time racing in the name of Sean and Bernardine Mulryan, and now with Martin Brassil on the Curragh.

Patience was needed by connections, who obviously know they had a talent on their hand, but another victory was always just out of reach. A trip to the Cheltenham Festival in 2022 saw him denied victory by a short head in the Grade 3 Coral Cup by Commander Of Fleet, with Ashdale Bob more than five lengths back in third, while a year later Corach Rambler beat him by a neck in the Ultima Chase.

All wrong

Starting at 20/1 for the Grade 1 Punchestown Gold Cup in April, he proved those odds all wrong when beating Galopin Des Champs, Bravemansgame and Envoi Allen. On Sunday, Fastorslow was back at the same venue to face the Gold Cup winner again, and again be proved best on the day to land the Grade 1 John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase, and set himself up for a rewarding season ahead. Punters won’t allow him to start at such generous odds again.

Bred by Sydney Vidal, Fastorslow is a seven-year-old son of Saint Des Saints (Cadoudal), and out of the Kahyasi (Ile De Bourbon) mare Popova. When he was sold at Arqana it was just a few months after his dam had passed through the same ring for just €7,000, selling to Thomas Maudet. Little did people realise that she would go on to breed three winners in the meanwhile.

In addition to a Grade 1 winner Popova is also responsible for Meredith (Soldier Of Fortune), a four-time winner over jumps who was runner-up in a Grade 3 chase at Cagnes-Sur-Mer, while her four-year-old daughter Sinian Enki (Buck’s Boum) has won three times over jumps to date. Now visiting the top stallions in France, Popova is likely to add significantly to her tally of winners in the years to come.

Small price

Even more puzzling about Popova’s small price is that she was a decent racemare herself, winning twice on the flat and twice more over hurdles in France, and she was placed a couple of times in good company at Auteuil, finishing second in both the Grade 3 Prix Andre Michel Hurdle and the Listed Prix Rohan Hurdle.

The decision to go down the National Hunt breeding route was presumably taken when Popova showed her best form over jumps, as the rest of her family is firmly rooted in the flat sector. Her half-brother Prairie Star (Peintre Celebre) won the Group 3 Prix de Conde at two and the Group 2 Prix Hocquart the following season, and he was placed in the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud as a two-year-old.

Prairie Star was born two years before his half-sister Prairie Rim (Singspiel), and she too was a Group 2 winner, her success coming in the Prix de Malleret at Saint-Cloud. She sold at Goffs seven years ago for €680,000, and since then her first foal Paths Of Glory (Mastercraftsman) has become a Group 3 winner in Australia. Another sibling, the unraced Premiere Danseuse (Gold Away) is also the dam of a group winner in Pretty Baby (Orpen).

Blacktype family

Prairie Star, Prairie Rim and Popova are among seven winning offspring of the Group 3 Prix Minerve winner Prairie Runner (Arazi).This is a solid blacktype family, with Popova’s first three dams all being stakes winners.

Prairie Runner is a half-sister to the stakes winner Poussin (Alzao) and he was runner-up in the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan. Their dam Paix Blanche (Fabulous Dancer) was a listed winner at Evry and group-placed.

A Grade 2 winner and Grade 1-placed hurdler, Saint Des Saints is a giant of the National Hunt world in France, and his influence has extended well beyond his native shores. Now 25 years old, he has commanded a fee of €15,000 since 2017, and that will be the price again in 2024. His list of Grade 1/A winners in printed on this page, but his tally of blacktype winners now stands at 94 – a truly remarkable number.

In addition, and given that he has been at stud since 2003, he is the damsire of such notables as Douvan (Walk In The Park), Jonbon (Walk In The Park), Envoi Allen (Muhtathir), El Fabiolo (Spanish Moon), Appreciate It (Jeremy) and Saint Roi (Coastal Path).