IN June 2021, bloodstock agent Joey Logan paid €200,000 on behalf of Andy and Gemma Brown, who race as Caldwell Construction, at the Goffs Land Rover Sale for a then three-year-old Martaline (Linamix) gelding out of Matnie (Laveron). The gelding was sold by Sluggera Farm.

Listed as being named Aide Memoire, the French-bred is now called Caldwell Potter and in training with Gordon Elliott. Not only that, but he has won one of his three starts in bumpers, and that came at Punchestown in November, when he was seven lengths and more clear of his rivals under Jamie Codd. The next step will surely be to see him over hurdles.

His price was the third-best at the sale two years ago, and owed much to the fact that his full-brother Mighty Potter (Martaline) was also with Elliott and had won his only start at that time, and that too was a Punchestown bumper.

Since then the François-Marie Cottin-bred Might Potter added the Grade 1 Future Champions Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown for Caldwell Construction Ltd, and the Grade 1 Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchesown, two of his three wins over the smaller obstacles, and at Leopardstown he was an impressive winner by more than eight lengths of the Grade 1 Ladbrokes Novice Chase from the Mullins duo of Adamantly Chosen and Gaillard Du Mesnil. He is unbeaten in his three chasing starts, and two of these victories have also come in Grade 1 contests.

Elliott also has another sibling in his yard, the four-year-old filly Brighterdaysahead (Kapgarde), and she sold to the trainer at last year’s Derby Sale for a whopping €310,000, and she topped this edition of the prestigious sale. She is followed by a number of younger stock out of Matnie, two sons of Doctor Dino (Muhtathir).

Meanwhile, Mouse Morris trains two more of Matnie’s offspring, the Grade 2-placed hurdler Indiana Jones (Blue Bresil) who sold for €280,000, and the Thurles Grade 3 Pierce Molony Memorial Novice Chase winner French Dynamite (Kentucky Dynamite). The latter sold, after winning a point-to-point, for £165,000 to Mags O’Toole, a handy profit on his store price of €32,000.

All of the above mentioned winners are the first four progeny of Matnie, and she is a half-sister to Michael Heery’s homebred The Dabbler (Presenting), trained by Liam Cusack and twice successful over fences in 2021. The Dabbler has also been placed a couple of times in Grade 2 chases, and he is the only winning produce of Lirfox (Foxhound). She was a prolific winner in France, nine times successful on the flat and over jumps, before joining Martin Pipe and adding three wins over fences. She was placed in a Grade 2 novices’ hurdle at Aintree.

Excelled

Though descending from a high-class flat family, this branch has excelled itself when the progeny are faced with a hurdle or fence. Linfox was a half-sister to the French Grade 3 hurdle winner La Grande Dame (Daliapour), and she was runner-up at Grade 1 level, in the equivalent of the Triumph Hurdle. Though he didn’t win a blacktype race, readers will be more familiar with La Grande Dame’s full-brother Aupcharlie (Daliapour). He was placed at Grade 1 level in a bumper and over fences, including the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at Cheltenham.

Martaline (Linamix) needs no introduction, and you could fill every inch of this page just listing his leading winners and their achievements. Just for the record, in the order of the year they were born, his Grade 1/A winners are Dynaste (Ryanair Chase, Feltham Novices Chase), Kamelie, Very Wood (Spa Novices’ Hurdle), Disko (Flogas Novice Chase, Punchestown Champion Novice Chase), Kotkikov, Chimere Du Berlais, Martinstar, Styline, Srelighonn, Terrefort (Scilly Isles Novices’ Chasse, Mildmay Novices’ Chase), Diol Ker (Leinster National Chase), Paul’s Saga, We Have A Dream (Doom Bar Juvenile Hurdle, Future Champions Finale Hurdle), Athena Du Berlais, Beaumec De Houelle, Vanillier (Spa Novices’ Hurdle), Moises Has, Nirvana Du Berlais, Mighty Potter, Altesse Du Berlais, and Hawai Du Berlais.

Martaline stood at Haras de Montaigu where he died in 2019, at the age of 20. He has certainly left an indelible mark on racing, and will no doubt continue to exert an influence through his daughters for a generation to come.

IFA calls on Minister to support breeders

THE Irish Farmers Association (IFA) Horse Project Team chair Richard Kennedy has said that Minister Charlie McConalogue should insist that Horse Racing Ireland and Horse Sport Ireland set aside at least 10% of the funds he allocates to them for breeders’ prizemoney.

“Breeders are the lifeblood of both sectors, but they need support and encouragement like never before. If 10% of the prize funds for all races and high-level classes in the Olympic disciplines in Ireland was paid directly to Irish breeders, it would help them to stay in business and maintain their bloodlines,” he said.

“Thoroughbred and sport horse breeders are in every parish in the country. The Government should be doing more to support them and helping them in meeting the increased costs they are facing,” he said.

In cases where the winner is not an Irish-bred, these monies should be set aside to fund prizes for Irish breeders who have success on the international stage.

“If an Irish-bred horse wins at a high level abroad, the breeder should be eligible for a breeder’s prize. This could be funded from the monies which are unallocated due to Irish races or classes being won by foreign-bred horses,” he said.

“Awards, trophies and acknowledgments are important for breeders, but prize money would help these breeders to survive and to continue what they are doing. The funding being allocated by the Minister is state funding, and he’s entitled to put conditions on the funding,” he added.

No apology

Kennedy went on. “IFA makes no apology for standing up for Irish horse breeders. These are the people the Minister should be most concerned about. They are the genuine grassroots of our sector.

“We have seen other countries making progress in recent years, particularly in the National Hunt sector where French-bred horses are making a huge impact. The winners of last weekend’s Dublin Racing Festival Grade 1 National Hunt races are a clear example of the growing trend of French-bred horses outperforming our Irish-bred horses. We need to respond to this and do more for our Irish breeders. We cannot be complacent,” he said.

Kennedy has written to the Minister this week, seeking to meet with him to progress the IFA proposal.