WITH a session-topping foal selling for €60,000 last year at Tattersalls Ireland, Old Persian (Dubawi) is already making a statement about his intent to be a challenger for sire honours in the years ahead. That colt, purchased by Kevin Ross, is from Old Persian’s second crop, and a year earlier Gerry Hogan spent €47,000 on a first crop colt.

Old Persian has been supported in huge numbers since retiring to Glenview Stud. His acquisition by the Cashman family was a sound move. Dodging Bullets completed a Grade 1 hat-trick when beating Somersby by a length and a half to take the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in 2015. The win came two months after he had beaten the great Sprinter Sacre by three lengths in the Clarence House Chase over a furlong farther at Ascot, leg two of a treble that began with the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown a few weeks before Christmas.