TWO weekend winners who are worth keeping a close eye on are Spinningayarn and Kiss Will. The first of these is an Irish-bred son of Order of St George (Galileo), while Kiss Will is a son of the Polish-bred Tunis (Estejo). Both are five-year-olds.

Spinningayarn was a name that I first became aware of at the recent Goffs December National Hunt Sale. This was after I went to talk to the purchasers of a filly foal, Tony and Roger O’Callaghan of Tally-Ho Stud, and Timmy Hillman of Castledillon Stud. She has just cost €43,000, and was Ballyconnor House’s filly by Santiago (Authorized) out of the four-time winner Floral Spinner (Alflora). The dam’s victories were gained in two bumpers and a pair of hurdle races, and her first two foals had won point-to-points. One of these, Spinningayarn, had joined Gordon Elliott.

Roger O’Callaghan said: “She’s a lovely filly and we’re hoping for an update to the page soon. Spinningayarn, her [then] four-year-old half-brother, is with Gordon and there is a lot of positive talk about him.”

At that time, Spinningayarn had made a single start for Monbeg Stables’ Sean Doyle, and run out a 10-length winner on his pointing debut.

Now sporting the colours of Robcour, Spinningayarn beat two more fancied runners in the concluding bumper at Navan on Saturday, and the last time Gordon Elliott won this race was four years ago with the subsequent Grade 1 winner Three Stripe Life, a hugely talented but ill-fated gelding.

As a foal, Spinningayarn sold for €58,000 to Mags O’Toole on behalf of Chris Jones’ Killeen Glebe, but there was no profit when he resold at the Derby Sale for €60,000. One can only guess what the gelding realised privately after he won between the flags.

Sam Spinner

Floral Spinner is half-sister to the Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle hero Sam Spinner (Black Sam Bellamy), who was later a Grade 2 winner over fences. His half-sister, the unraced Halfway Home (Presenting), has a number of successful offspring, the headliner being Balbriggan (King’s Theatre). He won the Grade 2 Troytown Chase before sadly being fatally injured at Aintree on his next start.

Floral Spinner is one of four racecourse winners out of Dawn Spinner (Arctic Lord), and that mare was trained by Nicky Henderson. A winner of a bumper on her debut, Dawn Spinner made just two more starts, and was runner-up on the second of these over hurdles.

Dawn Spinner’s dam Madame Russe (Bally Russe) bred the two-time Mildmay of Flete Chase winner The Tsarevich (Mummy’s Pet), and his placed efforts included twice being placed in Grade 1 races at Cheltenham, the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and the Arkle Chase.

The Grade 3-placed hurdler Tsarella (Mummy’s Pet), a full-sister to The Tsarevich, bred the Grade 2 Reynoldstown Novices’ Chase winner Gungadu (Beneficial). There is a second Grade 2 Troytown Chase winner under the fourth dam of Spinningayarn. This was Groody Hill (Alderbrook) who won it three years before his relation, Balbriggan. Another well-known runner in the family’s fourth remove is Relkeel (Relkino). Just short of Grade 1 class, he nonetheless won a dozen hurdle races, and three of these were in the Grade 2 Bula Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Promising member

Spinningayarn is a most promising member of his sire Order Of St George’s first crop. That Group 1 Ascot Cold Cup and dual Group 1 Irish St Leger winner won 13 races in all. His first runners include the Cheltenham listed bumper winner Seo Linn, as well as winners over hurdles and some nine successful point-to-pointers.

His stock has also been making headlines in the sales ring, selling for €420,000 and £350,000.

Vita Will, a daughter of Dom Alco (Dom Pasquini), made a total of eight starts over jumps in France and failed to finish on five occasions, and never managed to be closer than a distant fifth. Thankfully this was something of an aberration in the family’s record, as eight of her 11 siblings won, and the other pair that raced were placed.

Vita Will is an own-sister to Unioniste (Dom Alco), a Grade 3 chase winner at Cheltenham, a listed chase winner at Aintree, and successful 11 times in all. He won over hurdles and fences in France, and all his nine victories in Britain were in chases.

Unioniste was born nearly a decade after his half-brother My Will (Saint Preuil), and that gelding also was twice a winner in France before moving to Britain where he was to win six more times, all over fences.

My Will won a couple of Grade 2 races, notably the Dipper Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham, and he placed a few times in Grade 1s. He split The Listener and War Of Attrition in the Grade 1 Champion Chase at Down Royal, though some 15 lengths off the winner.

Another standout

It is interesting that while this is very much a French female line, the best runners have shone outside that country. The other standout was Ut De Sivola (Robin Des Champs), a Grade 3 juvenile hurdle winner at Punchestown for Willie Mullins, and beaten just half a length in the Grade 1 Champion 4YO Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival. Sadly, he died that same year.

Now Willie has a talented youngster from the same family in his care, Kiss Will. Runner-up over 13 furlongs at Fontainebleau on his only start at three for Francois Nicolle, Kiss Will was next seen in public when going through the sale ring on the eve of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 2023, selling for €280,000. This was a healthy profit on his value the previous year at Arqana where he realised €50,000.

The fifth produce of the previously mentioned Vita Will, Kiss Will is the mare’s first winner, though three others have been placed. His win at Punchestown was achieved in facile fashion, and nearly 500 days since he was last seen on the track. Kiss Will undoubtedly has a bright future ahead, and a trip to Cheltenham will surely be considered.

Good hurdler

Last year, at the sales, Harold Kirk told me: “We like Tunis. He was a very good hurdler and is still a young sire, but they like him a lot in France. A lot of French National Hunt sires ran over hurdles themselves, and so have proven they can jump. In France they nearly prefer that to a horse who’s won a big race at Royal Ascot. It’s a different system, but it works.”

What of Tunis? He is the son of an Italian Group 1-winning son of Johan Cruyff (Danehill), and the best runner by that stallion who started his career at stud in Poland before moving to France.

Tunis began his racing career in Poland and won one of his two starts there as a juvenile, and then he too moved to be trained in France. His dam line is all Polish, and his third dam was a prolific winner in that country, successful nine times.

The first crop by Tunis includes a Grade 3 chase winner and two other listed winners, one over hurdles and the other over fences in France. Intriguingly, all three are mares. Haras de Cercy is home to Tunis, and reflecting his early success and popularity, his fee this year jumps from €4,000 to €10,000.