WERE Ireland to play France in an international soccer match, being beaten 5-4 would represent a fine effort.

In National Hunt breeding terms, given the huge surge in interest in French-breds in recent decades, it is not a bad effort either.

The 5-4 win for France comes about when you tot up the winners of the Grade 1 races staged last weekend, mostly at the Dublin Racing Festival, but with another in Sandown. Promisingly, both the Grade 2 bumpers at Leopardstown were annexed by Irish-breds, results that will gladden the hearts of breeders in this country.

The feature races, among many, on either day of the two-day Leopardstown extravaganza were won by familiar names, Galopin Des Champs and State Man. Both are exceptional runners, though the manner of their respective victories were in sharp contrast. As they have each had more than regular reviews on these pages, on this occasion I will provide the briefest of summaries.

Can Galopin Des Champs (Timos) take his Cheltenham Gold Cup haul to three following his third win in the Grade 1 Irish Gold Cup? I will not oppose him. He has taken his career winnings to well in excess of £1.6 million, and this was his eleventh victory at the highest level in 14 wins.

Galopin Des Champs and his full-sister Flute Des Champs (Timos) are the only blacktype horses in four generations on his dam’s side of the equation, and their stakes-winning sire’s only performers of note. Listed Auteuil chase winner Flute Des Champs was born a year before her full-brother. Their dam Manon Des Champs (Marchand De Sable) bred three winners in all.

State Man

Eleven of State Man’s 13 wins in 18 starts, all over hurdles, have come in Grade 1 contests, and the only regret about his latest success was the fall of his only real rival, Lossiemouth.

However, you cannot take from his career record, which has so far netted winnings of £1.4 million. This was his third Irish Champion Hurdle success. Roll on Cheltenham and a defence of his Champion Hurdle crown.

State Man is just one of many stars for Doctor Dino (Muhtathir), along with such as seven-time Grade 1 winner Sharjah and Sceau Royal. He is the second Grade 1 winner out of Arret Station, a daughter of Johann Quatz (Sadler’s Wells). His half-sister, another Willie Mullins inmate, Statuaire (Muhtathir), was victorious in the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse.

The pair were bred by Vincent Barrett’s ML Bloodstock, and he raced their dam, having purchased her as a five-year-old at Osarus for €13,000. Arret Station won a listed hurdle race at Auteuil at three, and added a win over fences at six. Arret Station’s third winner Stop Line (Martaline) was placed in a listed race at Auteuil.

Getaway winner doing Handstands at Sandown

BEN Pauling took delivery of the Moira point-to-point winner Handstands following the Tattersalls Cheltenham November Sale in 2023, where the son of Getaway (Monsun) returned a handsome profit for Pat Turley, being bought privately for €17,500 at the Goffs Land Rover Sale and selling for £135,000.

That was the third time that the now six-year-old had appeared in the sales ring, and he was a star foal at the Tattersalls Ireland November Sale when Aiden Murphy bought him for €75,000 from Brendan and Mary Fitzpatrick. Interestingly, Murphy combined with Ciaran Conroy’s Glenvale Stud to buy the now three-year-old half-brother to Handstands as a foal. He is a son of Blue Bresil (Smadoun) and cost €70,000.

Handstands quickly ran up a sequence of three wins over hurdles for Pauling, including a listed race, before disappointing at Cheltenham last year. He has now made four starts over fences this season, but fell on his debut.

Since then, he has won three, twice in Grade 2 company before stepping up to win the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown. He might next be seen at Aintree.

Wattle Bridge (King’s Theatre) is the dam of Handstands and two other winners, and she was placed in a bumper. By failing to win, Wattle Bridge ended a lovely sequence, as the next three dams in the family not only were successful, but they won blacktype races. Wattle Bridge has made amends at stud by becoming the first to breed a Grade 1 winner.

Whatever Wattle Bridge lacked in racing ability she made up for with pedigree. She is a daughter of Be My Belle (Be My Native), a dual Grade 2 winning chaser and those victories included the Thyestes Chase at Gowran Park. She also placed in a number of races that nowadays are Grade 1s. Be My Belle’s sole successful offspring Snake Eyes (Oscar) was a listed winner over hurdles at Sandown.

Special mention

Be My Belle is a half-sister to a Grade 2 winner and to the dams of five blacktype National Hunt winners. Worth a special mention is the Grade 2 Lismullen Hurdle winner Rose Of Inchiquin (Roselier).

She went on to become a smart chaser and her successful offspring include the Grade 1 Leopardstown Chase winner Empire Of Dirt (Westerner). Another sibling to Be My Belle to make her mark is the unraced Carnbelle (Electric) and she bred the Grade 3 novice chase winner Hold The Pin (Oscar).

Yet another unraced half-sister to Be My Belle is Tempest Belle (Glacial Storm), and she has come close to breeding a pair of Grade 1 winners.

Her star son is Monalee (Milan), and he announced his arrival among the elite of novice chasers with victory in the Grade 1 Flogas Novice Chase at Leopardstown. Almost joining him as a top-tier winner has been Monty’s Star (Walk In The Park). Successful in a Grade 3, he was second to Fact To File in the Grade 1 Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham, and then got to within a length of Spillane’s Tower in the Grade 1 Champion Novice Chase at Punchestown. Maybe that Grade 1 will still happen.

Festival off to a flyer for Ireland

THE first two races of the Leopardstown double-header were Grade 1 contests. The opening Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Solicitors Novice Hurdle had been won in the previous decade by six Willie Mullins runners, Outlander, A Toi Phil, Let’s Dance, Gaillard Du Mesnil, Minella Cocooner and Dancing City. This time he triumphed with the unbeaten Final Demand, a son of Walk In The Park (Montjeu).

As it turns out, this Ken Parkhill-bred six-year-old is from the same female line as Ballyburn (Flemensfirth), and that seven-year-old, bred by The Beeches Stud, returned to winning ways on Sunday when he took the honours in the Grade 1 Ladbrokes Novice Chase. Willie Mullins has now won this race five times since 2020, his other winners being Faugheen, Monkfish, Galopin Des Champs and Fact To File.

Final Demand and Ballyburn share the same fourth dam, the bumper winner Sharpaway (Royal Highway). She has been the source of many branches of a family that has simply gone from strength to strength. First developed by Marshall Parkhill, it has been brought to new heights in the past few decades by his son Ken, and is rarely without a star runner on the track. Final Demand is the latest Grade 1 winner to emerge, and this €230,000 Derby Sale graduate went on to win his only run in a point-to-point before joining Mullins, for whom he is now a dual winner.

Final Demand is the latest Grade 1 winner for Walk In The Park, his tenth in all. What a list that is, featuring the likes of Jonbon, Douvan, Min, Facile Vega, Croke Park, Spillane’s Tower, Ashroe Diamond, Inothewayurthinkin and Ginto. Final Demand’s dam Zuzka (Flemensfirth) won a couple of Grade 3 hurdle races and placed at Grade 1 level, and she is out of a half-sister to the Grade 1 novice chase winner The Railway Man (Shernazar). This branch of the family has also given up, in recent years, Grade 1 hurdle and chase winner Bob Olinger (Sholokhov).

John Yarr

Continuing his unbeaten career, and crediting Gavin Cromwell with a Grade 1 win in the Juvenile Hurdle on Saturday, Hello Neighbour also gave Kilbarry Lodge Stud’s Harzand (Sea The Stars) the perfect boost as we prepare to get the breeding season under way. He is Cheltenham-bound now with an exciting future ahead.

The four-year-old is out of a mare by Montjeu (Sadler’s Well), and began his racing career when winning twice on the flat for Tally-Ho Stud’s Tony O’Callaghan, but his Grade 2 Leopardstown debut hurdle success was such that he was immediately made favourite in places for the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Sold as a foal from Meadowlands Stud, he cost Castledillon Stud’s Timmy Hillman €57,000.

Hello Neighbour is the second produce of the twice-raced Je T’Adore (who cost Yarr 28,000gns carrying her first foal) to win the Grade 1 Juvenile Hurdle. A Wave Of The Sea, by Born To Sea (Sea The Stars), won in 2020, and has since gone on to enjoy Grade 2 successes over fences. Their half-sister Duvet Day (Starspangledbanner) is a Grade 3 flat winner in the USA.

In November, Tally-Ho spent €68,000 to buy Hello Neighbour’s half-brother, a colt by Blue Bresil (Smadoun).

Bumper winners shine a light

NOEL Meade and Willie Mullins provided the Grade 2 bumper winners at Leopardstown, and victory for the former in the Paddy Power Play Card I.N.H. Flat Race with Colcannon was especially sweet for the Co Meath trainer. The five-year-old son of Berkshire (Mount Nelson) led home an Irish-bred 1-2-3 in the race.

Colcannon was bred by Philip Meade and races for him too, and he has now been first past the post on half of his six starts, and placed on the other occasions. However, he lost his first ‘win’ when his rider weighed in fractionally light at Punchestown, but has now righted that wrong with wins at Galway and the Dublin Racing Festival.

This victory was a breakthrough first blacktype win for Berkshire, a two-year-old winner at Royal Ascot and of the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes. After a single year at stud in France, he moved to Kedrah House Stud where he was based for four seasons. This is not Colcannon’s only connection to the Meagher’s Co Tipperary farm, and the bumper winner’s useful dam, She’s A Star, is by another stallion at Kedrah House, Well Chosen (Sadler’s Wells).

Colcannon is the first winner with her first foal for She’s A Star, a versatile runner who won a bumper, two other flat races and two hurdle races, and she was graded-placed over the smaller obstacles. Her only other produce is a yearling filly by yet another Kedrah stallion, Rich History (Dubawi). She’s A Star’s full-brother Sixshooter (Well Chosen) was also a five-time winner, twice each in bumpers and over hurdles, and he also landed a chase. He placed a number of times in Grade 2 hurdle races.

Happy sponsors

The sponsors will have been happy to see 10 Irish-bred mares contest the Grade 2 Coolmore N.H. Sires Luxembourg Irish EBF Mares I.N.H. Flat Race at Leopardstown, won by the Geoffrey Thompson-bred five-year-old Bambino Fever. The daughter of Burgage Stud’s Jukebox Jury (Montjeu) is now unbeaten in three starts, a point-to-point and two bumpers, the other at Punchestown.

Unsold at €30,000 at the 2023 Goffs Arkle Sale, Bambino Fever is from a family that Thompson has developed over many generations. High-class winners abound on the page, and Bambino Fever’s unraced dam, Midnight Way (Stowaway) is the fourth daughter of another unraced mare, Midnight Pond (Long Pond), to breed a blacktype National Hunt winner. The best of the others is the Grade 2-placed Midnight Gift (Presenting), responsible for the Grade 1 hurdle and chase star Death Duty (Shantou).

Grade 1 Cheltenham Festival chase winner One Knight (Roselier), Grade 1 hurdle winner Commander Of Fleet (Fame And Glory) and the smart chaser Foxrock (Flemensfirth) are other familiar names that appear under Bambino Fever’s third dam, yet another unraced mare, Midnight Oil (Menelek).

Three impressive French-bred winners

OVER Christmas, also at Leopardstown, Solness became the first Grade 1 winner for his sire, Konig Turf (Big Shuffle), best known until then in these parts for his Grade 2-winning chaser and hurdler Darasso. Solness has always been held in high regard by Joseph O’Brien, and endeared himself further with a breathtaking win in the Grade 1 Dublin Chase, his sixth win over fences, and eighth in all.

From a distinguished German flat family, with no shortage of Group 1 winners, Solness is not the first Grade 1 National Hunt winner in the pedigree. Though a distant relative, another well-known name pops up under Solness’s grandam Shona (Windwurf). He is Spillane’s Tower (Walk In The Park), and Jimmy Mangan’s star can claim two Grade 1 chase wins among his five successes to date.

A Group 3 winner in Japan, Martinborough (Deep Impact) is standing his first season outside France, and has relocated to Capital Stud in Co Kilkenny. He has a brilliant flagbearer in the shape of his five-year-old son Majborough, winner last March of the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham. Now he is unbeaten in two starts over fences, winning the Grade 1 Arkle Chase at Leopardstown.

Bred in France by Hubert Langot, Majborough won on his debut at Auteuil, and his Irish debut saw him thrown in at the deep end at last year’s Dublin Racing Festival where he was edged out by stable companions Kargese and Storm Heart in the Grade 1 Juvenile Hurdle.

Majborough is one of a pair of winners out of an unraced half-sister to a Grade 2-winning chaser in Britain, Majala (Lavirco). There is another Cheltenham Festival winner in this immediate family. Third dam Majathen (Carmarthen) bred the Mildmay of Flete Chase winner Majadou (Cadoudal), and she is also the third dam of another McManus/Mullins Grade 1 winner, Janidil (Indian Daffodil) whose victories include the Grade 1 Powers Gold Cup.

Kopek shines

At the Goffs Arkle Sale last year, Harold Kirk outbattled Tom Malone to take home the highlight of the two-day auction, when he combined with Willie Mullins to secure the appropriately-named Leader Des Bordes (Tunis) at €210,000 from Liss House. This was a year after the same duo spent €130,000 at the Derby Sale for Kopek Des Bordes (No Risk At All) from Sluggara Farm. What a bargain the latter looks now.

The sale topper at Goffs is a half-brother to seven winners, four of which had been successful in blacktype races over jumps in France. The best of that quartet is the Grade 1 Prix Maurice Gillois 4YO Grand Steeplechase winner Utopie Des Bordes (Antarctique). When asked about his purchase, Kirk said: “I always knew he was going to be very popular, as he’s a stunning horse with a huge pedigree. His half-brother [Kopek Des Bordes] won the Tattersalls Ireland George Mernagh Memorial Bumper. The whole page is very good and the dam is an excellent producer.”

Well now the unraced Miss Berry (Cadoudal) is dam of five blacktype winners and a blacktype-placed horse among her seven winners, as Kopek Des Bordes took his unbeaten run to three at Leopardstown with success in the Grade 1 Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle. As a graduate of the sales company, he was an apt winner.

What sets Kopek Des Bordes apart from his fellow siblings who won a blacktype contest is that the others are all mares. One of these is the listed French chase winner Belle Du Berry (Network), and she is the dam of a good winner by Kopek Des Bordes’ sire, namely Risk Belle (No Risk At All). No surprise that she is trained by Willie Mullins.