BEST story of the week, for me at any rate, was the victory of We Got This at Navan on Saturday. In case you are wondering which winner she was, she made the headlines as she was returned at odds of 100/1.

Trained by Finbarr Hand, We Got This is owned and was bred by Maura McGuinness, and this victory represents a lifetime involvement in racing and breeding, and could not have happened to a nicer person. A dentist by profession, Maura has been involved with the family of We Got This for some four decades, and it all comes down to a gift from her father.

When Maura qualified, her dad gave her a gift that has kept on giving. He purchased a mare, Stoirin (Mart Lane), from the dispersal sale of Seamus McGrath, who was retiring from training. The mare was from one of the successful McGrath families, but she herself showed little ability on the flat or over hurdles.

Maura then decided – though this was not in the original plan – to breed from Stoirin, attracted by the fact that the Champion Hurdle winner Monskfield (Gala Performance) was available, standing at the Pim’s Anngrove Stud. The result was a filly, Monkeylane, and Maura trained her to be placed on at least eight occasions. Mind you, Maura did not spare the rod and sent Monkeylane out to race on 35 occasions, a true indication of soundness.

After Monkeylane, Maura sent Stoirin to Boardsmill Stud to visit another McGrath-bred horse, Furry Glen (Wolver Hollow). That proved to be a wise move, Big Matt resulting from the mating. He started his racing career in Ireland, with Paddy Burke, eventually moving to Nicky Henderson. Ironically, he gained his biggest win back in Ireland, with Mick Fitzgerald in the saddle.

Excelled

In a fine racing career, Big Matt won three times on the level, twice in bumpers, a couple of hurdle races including a listed handicap at Leopardstown, but he excelled over fences, his seven wins including the Grade 1 BMW Chase at Punchestown (a race in which he was also runner-up), and the Grade 2 Victor Chandler Handicap Chase at Ascot.

Well, this was just the start of the story. Monkeylane went to stud and produced just the one winner, but what a winner he was. Justified (Leading Counsel) gave Dusty Sheehy many great day’s racing, after he was purchased in a private transaction for €11,500 at the Goffs Land Rover Sale 21 years ago. He showed ability in every code in which he raced.

Justified won a bumper at the second time of asking, this was at Sligo after he was runner-up in a 27-runner bumper at Fairyhouse. He won four times over hurdles, including a pair of Grade 2 novice events at Fairyhouse and Punchestown, beating The Railway Man in the former and having Blazing Liss 14 lengths in arrears at the Co Kildare venue.

Crowning glory

As good as he was over hurdles, he was even better over fences, and his crowning glory came at Fairyhouse when he was victorious in the Grade 1 Powers Gold Cup Chase, AP McCoy taking the mount as they beat the favourite In Compliance by a couple of lengths, Other graded chase successes included the Grade 2 Volkswagon Jetta Craddockstown Novice Chase at Punchestown by 14 lengths, and the Grade 2 National Lottery Agent Champion Chase at Gowran Park by 10 lengths from One Cool Cookie.

Justified had a number of notable placed efforts in Grade 1 company. He placed second to Mansony in the Kerrygold Drogheda Champion Chase at Punchestown, to Accordion Etoile in the Swordlestown Cup Novice Chase also at Punchestown, and to Taranis in the J Nicholson Wine Merchant Champion Chase at Down Royal. He was far from disgraced when third to Beef Or Salmon and War Of Attrition in another edition of the Grade 1 J Nicholson Wine Merchant Champion Chase.

Maura McGuinness persevered with the family when she retained Monkeylane’s daughter Duck Island (Buckskin). That mare did not face the starter, had just a pair of runners, but one of these was Ragtime Lucy (Luso). Maura bred, owned and trained her, and again she was rewarded for her patience, and having a sound mare, when on the penultimate start of her 22-race career, Ragtime Lucy obliged.

Combining a busy professional career with horses has not always been easy, but Maura’s passion and love for horses and racing has never waned. We Got This is one of just a pair of foals she has produced from Ragtime Lucy, and what has given her particular pleasure is the fact that the latest winner is a daughter of a stallion standing with William and John Flood at Boardsmill Stud. After all, it was their Furry Glen who was instrumental in kick-starting this success story.

Reports of We Got This’ win would say that form experts believe this was no fluke, that the mare had more in the tank, and reaction to the win would suggest that many others were impressed. Maura told me that the win gave her a great buzz, and this epitomises what breeding a winner means, and what extra excitement owning the winner gives.

Loyalty, patience, perseverance. All have paid dividends, and I only hope Maura managed to have a tenner on the winner too. Either way, this was the good news story of the week for this columnist.

VICTORY for Indiana Jones in the Grade 3 PS Supplies Doors and Floors Flyingbolt Novice Chase was not out of place, and while the gelding has taken his time to win a big pot, it could be the start of a more lucrative time for his owners, Robcour. Could he be a live hope for this year’s BoyleSports Irish Grand National?

This was just his second win in 10 outings over the larger obstacles, but the seven-year-old is a huge individual and he could just be coming into himself. He has now won his last two starts, and his blacktype success is yet another endorsement of the quality of his sire, Glenview Stud’s Blue Bresil (Smadoun) and the sire of Constitution Hill, and his dam line. Furthermore, the pedigree could well feature again in the coming week at Cheltenham.

While the pedigree has featured here a number of times, it is well worth synopsising. Indiana Jones is one of five winners from the first five foals for his dam, Matnie (Laveron), and three of these are now graded winners. The star is Mighty Potter (Martaline), and this dual Grade 1-winning hurdler is now also a dual Grade 1-winning chaser. What a bargain he was at €38,000, and all his siblings sold afterwards have changed hands for six-figure sums.

Mouse Morris

Matnie’s first produce was French Dynamite (Kentucky Dynamite), and while he was originally sold for €32,000 as a two-year-old store, Donnchadh Doyle received £165,000 for him as a winning pointer. He, like Indiana Jones, is also trained by Mouse Morris, and he won the Grade 3 Pierce Molony Novice Chase at Thurles, has been placed at up to Grade 1 level, and he holds a couple of engagements next week in the Cotswolds, where he was beaten less than a length back in November in the Paddy Power Gold Cup Handicap Chase.

French Dynamite was followed by Indiana Jones, and he cost bloodstock agent Alex Elliott a cool €280,000 as a three-year-old at the Osarus Maison-Laffitte National Hunt Sale in 2019. Mighty Potter is Matnie’s third foal, and it would come as no surprise if, in time, the mare’s next two foals, and winners, went on to become graded winners.

The five-year-old Caldwell Potter (Martaline) is a full-brother to Mighty Potter, and this €200,000 Goffs Land Rover Sale graduate is a bumper winner and will be seen to better effect when faced with an obstacle. Even more excitingly, the four-year-old Brighterdaysahead (Kapgarde), the star of last year’s Derby Sale when she sold for €310,000, could not have won more impressively on her debut recently in a Gowran Park bumper, and future plans for her will be watched with great interest.

Important

broodmare

With a couple of youngsters by Doctor Dino ((Muhtathir) in the wings, Matnie could yet become one of the most important broodmares to have come through the French breeding sector. All of these winners were bred by Francois-Marie Cottin. Matnie 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.

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 France, 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.