THE less said about the two juvenile starts made by Ceuta (Henrythenavigator) the better, but for Charles O’Reilly they will be long forgotten after the mare’s five-year-old son Man O Work (Workforce), runner-up previously in the Grade 2 Lartigue Hurdle at Listowel, returned to the Kingdom to win the Grade 2, €59,000 to the winner, Ladbrokes Island Handicap Hurdle last week. This was his third success over timber.

Paul Fahey trains Man O Work, and he also handles the gelding’s year younger sibling, Rocket Spirit (Gale Force Ten), who was placed a couple of times over hurdles this year when running in the colours of Charlie’s sister, Mary Dempsey. Having had these two foals, Charlie sold Ceuta for only €4,000, and she went to Italy, where her subsequent foal, Zeniosu (Dragon Pulse) has been placed a few times this year at three.

Bred and raced by Juddmonte, Workforce (King’s Best) won the Group 1 Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at three, but only added a Group 3 to that at four, running second in both the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. He went to stud in Japan before being brought to stand at Knockhouse Stud in 2017, and Man O Work is from his first crop here.

The best of Workforce’s nine blacktype horses in Japan is the Group 2 Stayers Stakes winner Divine Force, but a special mention for Bright Quartz, as his placed efforts over jumps in Japan include finishing third in their hugely prestigious Nakayama Grand Chase.

Maxios again

A Group 1 sire on the flat and a dual Grade 1 sire over jumps, Maxios is a Coolmore National Hunt stallion based at Castle Hyde Stud. He enjoyed further success over jumps when his four-year-old son Burschi, already a Grade 2 winner over hurdles at Pisa, added a Grade 2 chase win at Merano to his curriculum vitae.

Burschi was placed at two in Poland, but his owner and trainer have been nothing if not adventurous and they sent the gelding to race in France and Italy, winning four times this year. Bred by Gestut Etzean, Burschi sold as a foal and a yearling, on both occasions for €7,500, and he is the only winner to date for Brisona (Dalakhani). She is a half-sister to two Group 3 winners, and they are all out of Briseida (Pivotal), the 2008 Group 2 German 1000 Guineas winner.

Cotai’s Grade 1

Finally, from a jumps perspective, the Irish-bred Sopran Mistery won one of Italy’s biggest races over hurdles, the Grade 1 Corsa Siepi Dei 4 Anni Hurdle at Merano. This is a meeting about which I have fond memories, having attended it nearly three decades ago.

Bred by Colm Ratty and sold as a foal for €11,500, Sopran Mistery is from the first crop of Cotai Glory (Exceed And Excel), and he is out of the mare Sina Cova (Barathea) who was bred and raced by the late Basil Brindley. Sina Cova won a Group 3 in Cork, a listed race in Naas and was runner-up in the Group 2 Blandford Stakes at the Curragh.

Sopran Mistery is the best of four winners for Sina Cova, whose yearling son by Galileo Chrome (Australia) was unsold recently at Fairyhouse. Surely he is worth looking at again?