THE late Lady Melissa Brooke enjoyed much success as a breeder at her Glenbevan Stud in Croom, Co Limerick, and in recent years her son, Sir Francis, has taken on the mantle. He is a familiar figure here in Ireland through his love of racing, but publically is best known as the chairman of Ascot and His Majesty’s representative at Royal Ascot.

His latest success on the breeding front comes thanks to Femme Magnifique’s easy victory in a bumper at Thurles on her first start from Willie Mullins’ Closutton Stables. The five-year-old daughter of Champs Elysees (Danehill) found her way to Co Carlow after her sale in January at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Sale for £95,000 to Harold Kirk. She is a graduate of the Matthew Flynn O’Connor academy at Ballycrystal Stakes.

Femme Magnifique was sold as a three-year-old for €58,000 at the Goffs Land Rover Sale to Ballycrystal Stables. She was placed on her sole outing in a point-to-point before being traded profitably. In addition to racing potential, she also possesses a strong pedigree. Her dam, Taraval (Milan), was a winning hurdler who placed in a Grade 3 in Cork.

Daughters

Taraval has done well to date with her daughters at stud. Two are racecourse winners, Lady Chuffnell (Jeremy) being the other, while her four-year-old Time In The Sun (Getaway) is promising and placed this year in a bumper. Taraval was purchased through Rathmore Stud for €48,000 eight years ago, but as a four-year-old she cost Ian Ferguson €62,000.

Part of the reason for her value at four was that her half-brother Oscar Whisky (Oscar) had begun to emerge as a talent, and now we know that he went on to win 16 times and be successful at Grade 1 level over hurdles and fences. He won the Aintree Hurdle twice and the Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown, and he placed in the Grade 1 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Intriguingly, he and Taraval were the only winning offspring from the hurdle winner Ash Baloo (Phardante), though many of her daughters were successful breeders.

Ash Baloo is out of the unraced Lane Baloo (Lucky Brief), but she was a busy matron producing no less than 17 foals at stud. Seven of them were winners and the standout was Lucky Baloo (The Parson).

This eight-time winner was to eventually garner a well-earned blacktype success when her only victory over fences came at Naas in the Grade 3 Nas na Ri Chase.

Sporting John

Ash Baloo is one of four daughters of Lucky Baloo to breed a graded National Hunt winner. The unraced Wild Spell (Oscar) is responsible for the listed hurdle winner Sporting John (Getaway) and he went on to enjoy success in the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase.

Like Wild Spell, her siblings My Baloo (On Your Mark) and Supreme Baloo (Supreme Leader) were both unraced, and they are the dams of Grade 2 winning hurdler Kahuna (Mister Lord) and the Grade 2 bumper winner Drumbaloo (Flemensfirth) respectively. Meanwhile, their placed half-sister Sky Baloo (Skyliner) is the grandam of Seeyouatmidnight (Midnight Legend), and he won a Grade 2 chase at Cheltenham and the Grade 2 Rendlesham Hurdle at Haydock.

Meanwhile, back at Glenbevan, Francis and his wife Lady Katherine will no doubt have an extra carrot or two for Taraval and two of her youngsters, a two-year-old Blue Bresil (Smadoun) filly and a yearling filly by Crystal Ocean (Sea The Stars).

Another ace for pedigree wizard Hadden

BRED by Eclipse Bloodstock and the pedigree wizard Gary Hadden, Birdie Or Bust is one of the latest blacktype winners for her sire Walk In The Park (Montjeu). The Group 1 Derby runner-up sired a single stakes winner on the flat, while his tally over jumps now stands at 34, thanks to Birdie Or Bust and The Enabler.

Owned by JP McManus, Birdie Or Bust was selected by her trainer Henry de Bromhead at the Goffs Land Rover Sale two years ago, and cost him €78,000.

This is starting to look value as she is now a dual winner from six starts over hurdles, and she was placed on three occasions. Her latest win was in a listed mares’ race at Thurles, while she seems to like the county’s air as she won her maiden and was placed in a Grade 3 race, both at Tipperary.

One of two winners out of the unraced Beneficial (Top Ville) mare Bint Valkyrie, Birdie Or Bust is closely related to a number of smart performers. There is much to admire about Birdie Or Bust’s pedigree further back, in fact both her third and fourth dams are responsible for five listed winners on the flat between them, but the jumping story really starts with her grandam.

She was Bint Bladi (Garde Royale), a winner at two who might have been expected to give her own dam Tksiam (Olantengy) another stakes performer on the flat. However, alone among her dam’s nine winners, she was the one to go on and earn some blacktype over jumps in the Listed Prix de Chambly Hurdle at Auteuil.

No slouch in the breeding shed, Bint Bladi had five winners, two of them worth highlighting. Lyreen Legend, a son of Saint Des Saints (Cadoudal), was the youngest of the pair, and this Grade 2 winner over hurdles at Thurles was placed a number of times at Grade 1 level over hurdles and fences, and he chased home the subsequent Gold Cup winner Lord Windermere in the Grade 1 RSA Chase at Cheltenham.

Lyreen Legend was born six years after his half-sister King’s Daughter (King’s Theatre), and six of her seven wins were over hurdles in France, including two at listed level. She was certainly durable, running 43 times and being placed on 21 occasions in addition to her wins, and this didn’t hinder her ability to breed winners, as she has since shown.

Seven winners

Her first eight foals have all run, and seven have won. The odd one out is an unplaced filly who has bred a couple of winners to compensate for her lack of ability racing. The four-year-old David Du Berlais (Saint Des Saints) is the eighth offspring of King’s Daughter, and the mare’s fourth blacktype winner. He added to the family’s success story last year in a listed hurdle race at Auteuil.

David Du Berlais is a full-brother to Goliath Du Berlais (Saint Des Saints), and that eight-year-old has just completed his fourth season at stud, where his first two crops number more than 150 foals. Among his seven wins at three and four was the Grade 1 Prix Ferdinand Dufaure Chase at Auteuil, while his other wins included the Grade 3 Prix Fleuret Chase. The latter race was also won two years ago by his half-sister Queen Du Berlais (Muhtathir).

The fourth blacktype winner from King’s Daughter is James Du Berlais (Muhtathir), a multiple Grade 3 winner in France where he was also runner-up in a Grade 1. He moved to Willie Mullins last year and on his second start was a wide-margin runner-up to Klassical Dream in the Grade 1 Tipperkevin Stayers Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival. He then won on his chasing debut on New Year’s Day, but has failed to build on that since.

The Enabler

On another great weekend of results for Walk In The Park, the four-year-old The Enabler enhanced his growing reputation with victory in the Listed Future Champions INH Flat Race at Navan, his second win in three bumper starts. He was runner-up on his other racecourse outing, and second on his sole start in a point-to-point.

Gordon Elliott paid €200,000 for The Enabler at this year’s Goffs Punchestown Sale, and the same company sold the Minch and Pate Bloodstock-bred as a foal for €37,000. The Enabler is the first offspring of Nanny Stone (Flemensfirth) who was runner-up in a Wexford maiden hurdle, and among her younger stock is a three-year-old full-sister to the listed bumper winner.

Nanny Stone is a granddaughter of Polly Puttens (Pollerton), and while she showed nothing on the racecourse, she has become a most successful and influential broodmare. Her nine winners are headed by the outstanding Denman (Presenting) and his Grade 1-winning own-brother Silverburn (Presenting). In addition, four of Polly Peachum’s daughters have bred blacktype winners, and two more are grandams of similar winners.