ONE woman shouting home Lieutenant Command as he raced to victory at Leopardstown on Sunday was Busherstown’s Katie Rudd. The Noel Meade-trained nine-year-old son of Kendargent (Kendor) finally landed a blacktype win in the Grade B Carrickmines Chase.

Katie’s excitement for the win was because last November, at the Arqana Autumn Sale, she paid €17,000 to acquire Lieutenant Command’s winning half-sister Meadow Soprano, a then four-year-old daughter of Galiway (Galileo). She is one of four winners from the once-raced Maternelle (Machiavellian), and they comprise two winners each in Ireland and Denmark. Katie had not even got to the airport for the trip home when her telephone was buzzing, with people trying to buy Meadow Soprano.

Describing Meadow Soprano as a “gorgeous filly”, Katie bought her for a client of trainer John McConnell, and that connection will become clear shortly. She was sold as a breeding prospect, and she should prove to be a value buy in time.

Meadow Soprano won twice as a three-year-old in Denmark, where she was bred, as did her half-brother Tony Soprano (American Post). While neither of these facts might count for much for many people, you could not ignore the fact that both of the Irish winners were above average. In last November’s catalogue Lieutenant Command was listed as a bumper, hurdle and chase winner, and he had garnered some blacktype when placed in the Grade 2 Goffs Future Stars INH Flat Race at Leopardstown.

The other Irish winner was Some Neck (Yeats), and he gave his owners, Susannah Ricci and the Some Neck Partnership, some memorable racing moments. A €100,000 store purchase at Goffs by Harold Kirk, he won the Grade 2 Florida Pearl Novice Chase at Punchestown when trained by Willie Mullins.

After three wins in the Ricci colours, he was sold to trainer John McConnell, and in December 2020 carried Ben Harvey to victory in the cross-country race at Cheltenham. Sadly, the gelding lost his life at Punchestown the following April.

While both Some Neck and Lieutenant Command have emerged as blacktype winners in this family, the rest of the female line is predominantly flat, but with a significant National Hunt connection now. Their dam Maternelle is a half-sister to 10 winners, half of whom won blacktype races. Standing head and shoulders above the rest of them is Burgage Stud’s Jukebox Jury (Montjeu).

Jukebox Jury

Winner of the Group 1 Preis von Europa and dead-heated with Duncan in the 2011 The Irish Field St Leger at the Curragh, Jukebox Jury won nine times in all, and was a multiple Group 2 winner in England and France, trained by Mark Johnston. At two he was runner-up in the 15-runner Group 1 Racing Post Trophy. Now a Group 1 sire under both codes, he has been represented by the likes of Prix du Cadran winner, and Cheltenham-bound, Princess Zoe, and by the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle winner Farclas, as well as this season’s star Il Etait Temps.

There is one other jumping connection in this immediate family. Maternelle’s winning half-sister Albula (Anabaa), bred a few winners, the best of which was Dorset Square (Fantastic Light). A versatile sort, trained by Willie Mullins, he carried Katie Walsh to victory in the Grade B thetote.com Handicap Hurdle at the 2010 Punchestown Festival, and, on his last run from Closutton, had Danny Mullins in the saddle when landing the Listed Jardine Lloyd Thompson Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Lieutenant Command is the best winner over jumps by his sire, the 20-year-old Kendargent. He stands at Haras de Colleville and this year his fee is set at €17,000. He is a sire who made it the hard way at stud. He had a moderate enough race record, winning two of his 13 starts, beating Champs Elysses when he won for the first time, and his best efforts were probably when running second to Kentucky Dynamite in the Group 3 Prix Paul de Moussac, and finishing fourth behind Stormy River in the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat. He was a miler.

Skalleti

Raced by Guy Pariente, Kendargent went to stud at a fee of just €1,000, but he has worked his way up the stallion ranks, and now is well recognised as a consistent sire of sound, talented runners. Perhaps the best example is his eight-year-old son Skalleti. Bred by Guy Pariente, he has won 19 of his 27 starts for trainer Jerome Reynier, and amassed winnings of more than £1.1 million.

During his career to date, he has twice won at Group 1 level, the Prix d’Ispahan in France and the Bayerisches Zuchtrennen in Germany. Add in two editions of the Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt, two editions of the Group 2 Prix Dollar, two editions of the Group 2 Premio Roma, three Group 3 races and a runner-up finish in the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot, and you will get a better picture of his quality as a racehorse.

Kendargent stands alongside his son Goken, a Group 3 winner who was third to Profitable in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes, and he has made a solid start at stud with seven stakes winners in his early crops. While he has sired just a single Group 1 winner in Skalleti, Kendargent’s tally of group winners stands at 14, and many of these were placed at the highest level.