COPPERHEAD is yet another high-class runner to emerge from the rich nursery that is John Bleahen’s Lakefield Farm. Bred in England by R And J Micklethwait, the six-year-old son of Sulamani (Hernando) is the only foal out of the smart racemare How’s Business, a listed hurdle winner at Cheltenham who was also a decent chaser.

Bleahen bought Copperhead as a newly-turned yearling at the Doncaster January Sale in 2015 for just £6,500 and resold him at the same venue a little over two years later to Colin Tizzard for £42,000. Incredibly, the dam was sold at the end of her racing career, one which yielded eight wins, for only £5,000. What a pity she only managed a single offspring.