THE 2022 Goffs UK Spring Sale of point-to-pointers and horses in training saw three fillies realise £95,000 or more.

One of these was Denis Murphy’s four-year-old Take No Chances, a daughter of Milan (Sadler’s Wells) and the Listed John Fowler Memorial Mares Chase winner Coscorrig (Pistolet Bleu). Take No Chances had won at the second time of asking at Stowlin, and she sold for £95,000, Ryan Mahon being the successful bidder. Murphy had spent €20,000 on the filly as a three-year-old.

Take No Chances was bred by Daniel Corry who campaigned her dam Coscorrig. She had been in the care of three trainers, latterly Dessie Hughes who saddled her to gain her sole blacktype victory at Fairyhouse. That victory was the highlight of a 34-race career that yielded a pair of hurdle wins and three successes over fences.

Third in a strong listed bumper at Market Rasen, behind Dysart Enos and Queens Gamble, Take No Chances failed to win on the level, but she has been in the winners’ circle five times now over hurdles, and the past few weeks have seen her win a listed mares hurdle at Wetherby, and at the weekend lower the colours of the Grade 1 winner Kargese in a Grade 2 mares’ hurdle at Ascot. Her winnings have now broken through the £100,000 barrier.

Take No Chances and her dam Coscorrig are the only two blacktype winners in four generations of the family. Coscorrig has done all the heavy lifting in reviving the family, she herself being one of just four foals out of the unraced Ava Gale (Supreme Leader). Only two of the four raced, but Coscorrig’s progeny have a much better record on the track.

All fillies

At stud, Coscorrig is now dam of three winners under National Hunt rules, while another daughter won a point-to-point from three starts, and yet another has placed a number of times. These five, Coscorrig’s first five foals, are all fillies, while her sixth and seventh offspring are the first colts she produced, a three-year-old by Capri and a two-year-old by Order Of St George, both sons of Galileo (Sadler’s Wells).

Days before Christmas in 2022, Milan died at Grange Stud where he stood since retiring there in 2004. He was about to turn 25, and has left behind 19 crops, with many youngsters still to race for him.

Take No Chances is his 55th blacktype winner, one-fifth of which are mares. Three of these blacktype winners are out of daughters of Pistolet Bleu (Top Ville), and all three have been successful at up to Grade 2 level.

Bred by Luca and Sara Cumani’s Fittocks Stud and a 650,000gns yearling, Milan was an impressive winner of the Group 1 St Leger at Doncaster, and went on to become champion National Hunt sire in the 2019-20 season. His list of Grade 1 winners is headed by the Champion Hurdle hero Jezki, while among his daughters the Grade 1 Cheltenham and Punchestown Mares’ Hurdle winner Marie’s Rock is the standout.

Classic win

An impressive maiden winner at two, Milan finished second to Galileo in the Listed Ballysax Stakes at Leopardstown before finishing a half-length third in the Group 1 Prix Lupin. Success in the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes was followed by a dominant five-length victory in the St Leger.

Not disgraced when fifth in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Milan concluded his three-year-old campaign with a close second to Fantastic Light in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Belmont Park. His fee peaked at €10,000 in 2020.

Other Grade 1 winners for Milan include chasers Monalee, Apache Stronghold, as well as the Aintree Grand National winner One For Arthur, while his top-flight hurdlers include Martello Tower, Darlan, Sizing Granite, Beat That, If The Cap Fits and Santini.

Shirocco (Monsun) covered just 16 mares in 2024, his eleventh and final season at Rathbarry Stud’s National Hunt division, Glenview Stud. He moved there after six seasons at Dalham Hall Stud, interspersed with a single year in Co Kildare at Kildangan Stud.

Shirocco also shuttled to South America, and four of his six Group 1 winners on the flat were born in Brazil. His European Group 1 winners were the Irish St Leger winner Brown Panther, and the German Derby hero Windstoss.

Racing history

When it comes to his National Hunt roll of honour, Shirocco has a place in racing history as the sire of the Grade 1 Champion Hurdle winner Annie Power. The Mersey Novices’ Hurdle winner Lac Fontana and the leading Italian hurdler are other Grade 1 winners he has sired over jumps, and they are joined by a plethora of Grade 2 heroes. The latest member of the last-named group is the six-year-old Dedicated Hero, victorious at Haydock Park in the Grade 2 Rossington Main Novices’ Hurdle.

Breeders Patrick and Bernadette Vaughan O’Connor failed to sell Dedicated Hero as a foal for €7,500, but a two-month wait for the Tattersalls Ireland February Sale paid off when a bid of €9,500 from Tom Keating enticed them to part with the then colt.

There was no evidence of profit when Dedicated Hero reappeared as a three-year-old at the Goffs Land Rover Sale, realising €12,000 to Eugene O’Sullivan’s Millwood Bloodstock.

That said, when Dedicated Hero made a couple of point-to-point appearances, finishing third on each occasion to Romeo Coolio (later sold for £420,000) and Histrionic (sold for €450,000), he did so for Tom Keating, after which Bobby O’Ryan and trainer Sandy Thompson picked him up for £40,000 at the Goffs UK Spring Sale.

Weekend star

What a bargain they secured. Placed third on his first start in a bumper, Dedicated Hero won his next two at Kelso. Now he has repeated the feat over hurdles, finishing third on his first start and winning both subsequent outings.

Significantly, the most recent victory was in the Grade 2 at Haydock, a race won three years ago by another star of the weekend, Jonbon. Cheltenham may be avoided this year, with a big race at Kelso and Aintree more likely choices.

Eugene O’Sullivan’s interest in Dedicated Hero as a store was probably due to the fact he saddled the gelding’s half-sister Dubai Daisy (Dubai Destination) to win a point-to-point, having given just €4,000 for her at three. She and Dedicated Hero are the only two of their dam’s offspring to show anything on the track. That dam is the unraced True Dedication (Revoque).

A feature of Dedicated Hero’s dam line is the fact that the best runners in the family have also been at their best when sent chasing. Though he did win over hurdles at six, Dedicated Hero’s half-brother Ellerslie George (Presenting) won five times over fences and was successful in and placed in a listed chase at Wincanton.

Skip back to the fourth dam of Dedicated Hero, the winning Honours Bless (Straight Deal), and she bred three blacktype chase winners, her son Straight Accord (No Argument) triumphing in the Grade 2 Cathcart Chase at Cheltenham. Her other sons, Another Shot (Random Shot) and Fallahassa (Giolla Mear), were placed in the Irish Champion Hurdle and Kerry National respectively. The Grade 1 Cheltenham Festival chase winner The Real Whacker (Mahler) is also on the family page.