THIS week’s column is being penned from my hotel room in Doha, the capital of Qatar, where I am attending their big international meeting. It is here that I have learned the sad news of the death of Maureen Mullins. What an amazing woman she was, and what an absolutely incredible mother and grandmother. My heart goes out to all the Mullins family, and I have so many happy memories of a true lady.

Very recently, I had the privilege to take a friend of mine, Andy Pennington, on a trip to Closutton to meet Willie Mullins and see some of his stable stars on the gallops. Imagine our delight and honour when he told us that he was going to miss seeing the last lot, and instead asked us to join him in the kitchen for a cup of coffee.

Our delight rose even further when we found, sitting at the table, the ever elegant Maureen. What an hour or more we spent with Willie and his mum, a memory I will carry with me forever and cherish.

It seems appropriate therefore that this week’s column should mark Maureen’s passing with a mention of a mare trained by Willie and bred by her grandson Patrick. Not only that, but the mare’s name might even sum up Maureen for many, and how she would love to be remembered.

Fun Fun Fun travelled to Exeter where, carrying the Simon Munir and Isaac Souede colours, she overturned the favourite in a small but hotly-contested listed novices’ hurdle. Runner-up in a mares’ listed race in Ireland on her previous outing, she has now won two of her three starts over the smaller obstacles. On the level, this dual bumper winner carried Patrick’s colours to her first win, and was ridden by him on three of her four successes to date.

The most important of Fun Fun Fun’s wins to date came at the Dublin Racing Festival last year when she was a very impressive nine and a half-length winner of the Grade 2 Coolmore NH Sires Santiago Irish EBF Mares INH Flat Race (that’s some race title!). This was an immediate payback for Munir’s and Souede’s investment in her after she won on her Sligo debut. At Leopardstown, the daughter of Martaline (Linamix) had the previous year’s winner of the race, Lily Du Berlais, back in second.

Noted

At the time, I noted in this column that Fun Fun Fun “is certainly a mare to watch for, and the sky’s the limit.” How far she goes up the racing ladder is anyone’s guess, but she could not be in a better yard, have better owners, and everything she does now on the racecourse will be a bonus. Her place at stud, in plenty of time, will be well warranted.

Fun Fun Fun is the first foal out of the unraced Ocean Breeze (Presenting), and her three French-foaled progeny since are all back in Ireland. They are the unraced four-year-old filly Surfin Usa (Jukebox Jury), a three-year-old gelding Sportswriter (Doctor Dino), and a two-year-old filly, Wordsmith (Doctor Dino). The latter’s name could well describe Patrick Mullins.

Ocean Breeze’s full-brother is a horse who was hugely successful for Team Mullins. Yorkhill (Presenting) was a €41,000 foal purchase by that wonderful judge Ian Ferguson and, having won a point-to-point for Wilson Dennison, added two bumpers, four hurdle races and five chases to his impressive roll of honour. Four wins at Grade 1 level included a trio of top novice hurdle races, at Cheltenham (the Bingham), Aintree (the Mersey), and the Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown, and it was at Prestbury Park that he also won his sole Grade 1 chase.

Keating family

This is a female line that is closely associated with the Keating family, the late Tom and his offspring. The third dam of Fun Fun Fun, the unraced Park Breeze (Strong Gale), had an outstanding record – she bred six winners, they won 39 races on the track and 15 point-to-points between them, and all but one of them won blacktype races.

In fact, Lightning Breeze (Saddlers’ Hall), the dam of Yorkhill, is a half-sister to five graded National Hunt winners, two at Grade 1 level (the same record held by Matnie, the dam of Brighterdaysahead). The Grade 1 winners are The Listener (Roselier), whose wins at the highest level comprised the Lexus Chase, the John Durkan Punchestown Chase, the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup and the jnwine.com Champion Chase, and the Ellier Novice Chase winner Offshore Account (Oscar).

For the sake of filling in the gap, Park Breeze’s other big race National Hunt winners are Distant Thunder (Phardante) at Grade 2 level, and the Grade 3 winners Fork Lightning (Roselier) and Dooneys Gate (Oscar), and all of her five graded winners earned their principal wins over fences, not over hurdles. Fork Lightning was a Cheltenham Festival winner of the National Hunt Chase.

Risk Of Thunder

Park Breeze was a full-sister to the great Enda Bolger-trained Risk Of Thunder (Strong Gale), successful 13 times over fences, five times in point-to-points, and runner-up in the gruelling Velka Pardubicka. The Keating clan have had the family since 1930 and Yorkhill, I recall Pat Keating telling me one, was from the eighth generation they have owned. What a proud achievement that is.

Since the days of Risk Of Thunder, Pat Keating recalled eight blacktype winners they have bred from the line, and that list also includes Enterprise Park (Goldmark), a Grade 3 winner over hurdles, and Gallant Oscar (Oscar), successful in a Grade 2 chase at the Punchestown Festival.

Interestingly, the six-year-old Fun Fun Fun is not the best mare born in the penultimate crop sired by Martaline. That same year he sired the Grade 1 winning mares Altesse Du Berlais and Hawai Du Berlais. I mentioned elsewhere about a select group of stallions to have sired 100 of more blacktype winners over jumps. Martaline is one, and his total is currently standing at 103, to which you can also add six more on the flat. Fun Fun Fun was produced from the same crop as Caldwell Potter.

Longshot was odds-on to be a winner

GOING off at odds of 200/1, I wouldn’t be surprised if the breeder of Absolute Steel (Mount Nelson), Paddy Griffin, didn’t stay in to watch the race. Making just his third start, but on known form up against it, Absolute Steel made an absolute nonsense of his odds, and recorded a first success.

Paddy and his family are well-known in the bloodstock and racing worlds, and they bred Absolute Steel from the unraced Dr Massini (Sadler’s Wells) mare Massini Rose.

He is the third winner for his dam, all by different sires, but all three stallions share one thing in common – they covered Massini Rose at John and William Flood’s Boardsmill Stud.

Given away for €2,000 as a foal, Daphne Moon (Kalanisi) went on to win over hurdles and to land a listed mares’ chase at Perth, and she has joined the broodmare band at Mountain View Stud after her sale to them in 2022 for €48,000. Her younger half-sister Mulberry Hill (Califet) is now a three-time winner over hurdles and fences, showing again that she was wildly undervalued when she sold as a store for €2,500.

Thankfully, Absolute Steel was not sold cheaply, realising €33,000 as a foal at Goffs. In fairness, he would have likely made more if sold today, given that virtually all of his siblings have won since. As well as three winners on the racecourse, Massini Rose has had three other winners, all of whom were successful in a point-to-point. Two notable features are that four of her six successful offspring are mares, and three are daughters of Kalanisi (Doyoun).

Smart pedigree

Massini Rose can boast of having a smart pedigree, one of her three winning siblings being Inistioge (Supreme Leader). Successful in a point-to-point, that mare won over hurdles but reserved her best for chasing, landing the Grade 3 Dawn Run Novice Chase at Limerick and being placed in a Grade 2. Inistioge is out of the unraced Inca Rose (Strong Gale), a half-sister to the Kerry National runner-up Fatherofthebride (Roselier).

Absolute Steel’s fourth dam Lendy (Preciptic) was placed in the Madrid Free Handicap, earning her blacktype, but she has gone on to become a regular name in the pedigrees of leading National Hunt performers. Her son Zongalero (David Jack) was runner-up in the Grand National at Aintree, her grandson Garrison Savannah (Random Shot) won the Grade 1 Cheltenham Gold Cup, and she is the third dam of the Grade 1 Punchestown Gold Cup winner China Rock (Presenting).

New Zealand win at home and away

TWO Group 1 races in New Zealand last weekend were won by horses bred there, but the nation’s success story also spread to the neighbouring Australia.

At home, the four-year-old Legarto, a daughter of Proisir (Choisir) and last season’s NZ Bloodstock Filly of the Year, took her tally of victories to nine in 13 starts, adding the Group 1 Herbie Dyke Stakes at Te Rapa to her other wins at that level, the New Zealand One Thousand Guineas and an away win in the Australian Guineas at Flemington.

Though he never won at a higher level that Group 3, Rich Hill Stud’s Proisir was twice runner-up in Group 1 contests. He was the champion sire in New Zealand last season, and his 17 blacktype winners include no less than six Group 1 winners. In big race tallies, Legarto still trails Proisir’s daughter Levante by one as she won four Group 1s.

Proisir won the New Zealand Sires’ Premiership by a distance over eight-time champion sire Savabeel last season. His fee was then set at NZ$70,000, thanks to five individual Group 1 winners amassing eight Group 1 victories between them. In addition to the two fillies already mentioned, he had another high-class racemare in Prowess, plus New Zealand Two Thousand Guineas hero Pier and Tarzino Trophy winner Dark Destroyer.

New levels

Proisir’s commercial status soared to new levels at Karaka at the end of January when his 27 Book 1 yearlings averaged NZ$274,000, with a top price of $1.6 million.

“Proisir has proven himself to be a massive upgrader. We will be limiting him to 150 mares, and with numerous mares already confirmed from both sides of the Tasman, all indications are that his book will fill very quickly,” Rich Hill’s John Thompson said when announcing his fee last April.

Legarto is the third and final produce of the Towkay (Last Tycoon) mare Geordie Girl, a winner over six furlongs and a mile, and all three of them are winners. Legarto’s half-sister Emanon (Burgundy) has won 11 times and been stakes-placed once, while Locally Sourced (Iffraaj) won 10 races between the flat and over jumps. Legarto needs to win a few more to lead that trio numerically.

Geordie Girl is an own-sister to five-time winner Rapid Kay (Towkay), two of those coming in listed races, and she was also placed a couple of times in Group 1 contests. Their half-sister Kekova (Elusive City) was also a dual stakes winner, but in her case of seven races. The trio are half of the six foals, all winners, bred by the stakes-placed Racing Waters (Racing For Fun).

Champion

This is a New Zealand female line going right back, and Legarto’s fourth dam bred a champion there almost 50 years ago, Ballybrit (Wandering Eyes) being crowned the best juvenile colt of 1975-76.

Proisir’s tally of stakes winners grew by another one at the weekend, thanks to the New Zealand-bred Yonce gaining a well-earned first blacktype success in the Group 3 Melbourne TS Carlyon Cup. This was the mare’s seventh win in 10 starts. Yonce is the best of three winners from Ziva, and that placed mare by Zabeel (Sir Tristram) is a daughter of Group 2 winner Faith Hill (Danehill). All eight of Faith Hill’s runner won, led by stakes winner Black Minx (Lonhro).

Win number seven for the New Zealand-bred five-year-old Bonny Lass at the weekend was her best, as she was successful in the Group 1 Waikato Sprint, also run at Te Rapa. Previously a Group 2 winner, Bonny Lass had four Group 1-placed efforts to her credit, so a win at the highest tier was most certainly not out of place. Again from a long-standing New Zealand female line, Bonny Lass has an interesting sire.

A sensation

Super Easy (Darci Brahma), a winner in New Zealand, was something of a sensation a dozen or so years ago in Singapore, now another jurisdiction sadly lost to racing, where he was their champion three-year-old. He won 15 races there, among them the Singapore Guineas, 3yo Sprint and 3yo Classic, and went back to his native country to stand at stud. Bonny Lass is Super Easy’s first Group 1 winner, one of seven stakes winners he has sired.

Two sons of High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells) sired pattern winners at the weekend, one in New Zealand and the other in Australia. The Group 1 New Zealand One Thousand Guineas winner Molly Bloom is a daughter of the Victoria Derby winner Ace High (High Chaparral), and she added the Group 2 Sir Tristram Fillies Classic to her tally of four wins in eight starts. Molly Bloom previously won the Group 2 Eight Carat Fillies Classic.

Molly Bloom is the first foal out of Dancilla (Iffraaj), herself one of five winners out of the stakes-placed Nordic Dancer (Generous). The best of that quintet is the dual Group 3 winner Decorah (Pins), now a successful broodmare herself.

Snow Patrol

Meanwhile, in Australia, the up-and-coming Snow Patrol triumphed in the seven-furlong Group 2 Melbourne Autumn Stakes, his second win in four starts. He is the only runner to date for his unraced O’Reilly (Last Tycoon) dam. Snow Patrol’s sire Contributor (High Chaparral) won the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes among eight victories and is a Group 1 sire.

Two more winners in Australia bred in New Zealand at the weekend included the Listed Tasmanian Derby and Listed Launceston Guineas hero Bold Soul, the only stakes winner so far for the Group 1 New Zealand Two Thousand Guineas winner Embellish, a son of Savabeel (Zabeel). A winner four times in six starts, Bold Soul is a son of three-time winner Twin Soul (Singspiel) and a grandson of Kirk Wynd (Selkirk), who was successful in England.

The last word goes to the New Zealand-bred Mr Brightside whose winnings are now approaching A$12 million. By some miles the best progeny by his Group 2-winning sire Bullbars (Elusive Quality), Mr Brightside has won half of his 30 starts, been successful five times at Group 1 level, and he has been in the first four on seven other occasions at the top table. He is the best runner in his female family too, one of six foals, five runners and four winners for his Tavistock (Montjeu) dam.