FOUR bumpers and all won by horses trained by Willie Mullins. That was the tally at the end of the Leopardstown Christmas meeting for the trainer, and it underlines the huge amount of future talent stabled at his Closutton yard.

Not only are the four of them potential stars of the future, but they all possess pedigrees that would have suggested future glory. Facile Vega is dealt with elsewhere in this week’s column, and here I will have a recap on the other three.

The Nice Guy (Fame And Glory) went to Leopardstown as the winner of his only start, and emerged unbeaten in two. He is the only produce of Kilbarry Beauty, and was bred by Con O’Keeffe of Kilbarry Lodge Stud who sold him as a foal for €33,000. The Nice Guy comes from the second crop of the Group 1 Irish Derby and Ascot Gold Cup winner Fame And Glory, a crop that also includes the Grade 1 winner Ballyadam.

Kilbarry Beauty was trained for the O’Keeffe’s by John Kiely and she won a bumper and a hurdle race. A daughter of Saffron Walden (Sadler’s Wells), Kilbarry Beauty is a half-sister to the smart hurdler and chaser Massini’s Maguire (Dr Massini). His greatest success came at Cheltenham in the Grade 1 Ballymore Properties Novice Hurdle.

Embassy Gardens is a six-year-old son of the recently deceased Shantou (Alleged) and he is the first foal, runner and winner for the Grade 1 winning hurdler Adriana Des Mottes, a daughter of Network (Monsun). Ronnie O’Leary paid €110,000 for Embassy Gardens at the Derby Sale in 2019, and two and a half years later that investment has started to yield a dividend.

Embassy Gardens

Willie Mullins also trained Adriana Des Mottes whose finest moment came when she captured the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares’ Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse. She was sold, carrying Embassy Gardens, for €145,000 and, last June, her second offspring, a full-brother to this week’s bumper winner, sold at the Derby Sale for €70,000 as a three-year-old. The mare’s third offspring is a two-year-old by Castle Du Berlais (Saint Des Saints).

Blue Bresil (Smadoun) is already a successful sire of Grade 1 winners, and he has an emerging star in Redemption Day who was another debut bumper winner for Willie Mullins.

This five-year-old is an own-brother to the winning hurdler Big Bresil (Blue Bresil) and they are out of an Astarabad (Alleged) full-sister to Cheltenian. He won the 2011 Grade 1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper at Cheltenham, and while he failed to reach such heights over hurdles, he did add the Grade 2 Scottish Champion Hurdle to his roll of honour.