Arthur Fennelly

Captain Guinness (Ire), 2015 g. by Arakan out of Presenting D’Azy, by Presenting

CAPTAIN Guinness went one better than last year and stole the honours in the Grade 1 Queen Mother Champion Chase. It was Henry de Bromhead’s fourth winner of the contest. It was a first victory for Captain Guinness since he landed the Grade 2 Fortria Chase at Navan for the second year running back in November. Between those two wins he was runner-up in three Grade 1 chases.

Bred by Arthur Fennelly, Captain Guinness is a son of the sprinter/miler Arakan who stood at Ballyhane Stud, but from a female line that has left its mark on National Hunt racing. He is the best runner in the family since the Grade 1 Champion Hurdle winner Celtic Shot four decades ago. Now winner of seven races and £540,000, Captain Guinness has won five times in blacktype races, adding a pair of Grade 3 wins at Naas to his Grade 1 and 2 successes. He has also placed a number of times at Grade 1 level, including the Arkle Chase at Cheltenham.

A half-brother to Captain Guinness’s dam Presenting D’Azy, Jerrysback won the Listed Summer Cup Chase at Uttoxeter for JP McManus. Twice runner-up in Grade 2 novice chases, that was his sixth time to visit a winners’ enclosure.

Celtic Shot made his mark as both a top-class hurdler and chaser, and he beat Classical Charm when winning the 1988 Champion Hurdle. He won eight races over hurdles and nine races over fences.

David Magnier, Grange Stud

Grey Dawning (Ire), 2017 g. by Flemensfirth out of Lady Wagtail, by Milan

CAN David Magnier join his brother John as a monthly winner of this award?

A tremendous 2024 Cheltenham Festival week for Flemensfirth, headlined by the magnificent Grade 1 victory for Ballyburn, continued on the Thursday when his progeny recorded a double, opening with Grey Dawning’s success in the day’s opener, the Grade 1 Turners Novices’ Chase. This was an eighth win in 12 starts for the Grange Stud-bred gelding.

Later in the day, Harry Redknapp’s son of Flemensfirth, Shakem Up’arry went two places better than last year when winning the Grade 3 TrustATrader Plate.

A seven-year-old, €40,000 graduate of the Derby Sale, Grey Dawning along with his full-sister Blanketonthegroud, are two of the four winners for the unraced Lady Wagtail. The crossing of Flemensfirth with a Milan mare has produced one other blacktype winner, the Grade 1 Drinmore Chase hero Coney Island.

Lady Wagtail is from a strong flat family, stars of which include the Group 1-winning sprinters Cadeaux Genereux (Young Generation), later to become a successful sire, and Ya Malak (Fairy King), but there are also a few jumpers of note close up. Lady Wagtail’s half-brother Teaatral (Saddlers’ Hall) won the Grade 2 Long Distance Hurdle at Ascot, one of 13 races he won when trained by Charlie Egerton. He also won twice in France.

Teaatral’s own-sister Richs Mermaid also crossed successfully with Flemensfirth, producing the listed chase winner Two Taffs.

Noreen McManus

Spillane’s Tower (Ire), 2018 g. by Walk In The Park out of In The Habit, by Duke Of Marmalade

ONE of the most popular victories at the weekend in Fairyhouse was that of Spillane’s Tower in the Grade 1 WillowWarm Gold Cup Novice Chase. Trainer Jimmy Mangan and his wife Mary were celebrating their first win at the highest level since Conna Castle 16 years ago.

Coincidentally, that was in the same race won by Spillane’s Tower, then known as the Powers Gold Cup, and Conna Castle had the favourite Biz Zeb in second place.

The lightly-raced Spillane’s Tower races in the familiar colours of J.P. McManus, and was bred by the owner’s wife Noreen. A winner over hurdles, Spillane’s Tower has now won half of his six starts over fences, and enjoyed his first blacktype win in the Grade 3 Killiney Novice Chase at Punchestown. He was runner-up in the Grade 3 Flyingbolt Novice Chase at Navan.

Spillane’s Tower is the first winner and only one of two named offspring to date from the unraced In The Habit. The other, his full-sister Plassey House, was runner-up on the last of her five starts. There are a number of young stock following Spillane’s Tower.

The latest Grade 1 winner for Walk In The Park, Spillane’s Tower joins the likes of Ashroe Diamond, Facile Vega, Jonbon, Ginto, Min and Douvan on that roll of honour. On the dam side of the pedigree he comes from an outstanding German female line, one that produces a host of blacktype winners in every generation.

Michael Enright

California Spangle (Ire), 2018 g. by Starspangledbanner out of Pearlitas Passion, by High Chaparral

WHILE National Hunt winners usually occupy all the positions in the March Breeder of the Month voting, California Spangle’s achievement in winning two Group 1 flat races in the same month entitles him to a place in the final four.

In December 2022 California Spangle won at the highest level for the first time, capturing the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile. He took his tally of wins to 13 last month, winning both the Group 1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup, and the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint. These wins, along with eight placed efforts, have come from 25 starts, and take his earnings to just short of £7.3 million.

Bred by Michael Enright, and a €150,000 Goffs Orby Sale graduate, the Tony Cruz-trained gelding has also won the Group 2 Sha Tin Trophy twice, the Group 2 Chairman’s Trophy, Group 3 Celebration Cup, and the Listed Hong Kong Classic Cup.

Pearlitas Passion raced at three for Enright and showed little in five starts. He tried to sell her as a four-year-old but she didn’t reach her reserve of €30,000, and instead she has gone on to breed five winners. California Spangle is her only stakes winner to date, while her son Lope De Vega son Wychwood Warrior was placed in listed races at Cork, Dundalk and in Meydan.

A sibling to five winners, Pearlitas Passion’s is a half-sister to the Group 2 Hungerford Stakes winner Shakespearean. .