Jumping mares who were successful on the track and at stud

It’s barely two months since Honeysuckle’s top-class hurdling career ended on a high with her fourth win at the Cheltenham Festival [replay below] but the next chapter in her life has already begun. This week she was revealed to be successfully in foal to Walk In The Park after being covered by the Derby runner-up late last month.

Honeysuckle won her second David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, to go with her two Champion Hurdle victories, and her connections will be hoping that Walk In The Park can help get her broodmare career off to the same sort of start that Quevega has made at stud. Herself a six-time winner of the David Nicholson between 2009 and 2014, Quevega’s first foal, Princess Vega (by Juddmonte’s Grand Prix de Paris and Arlington Million winner Beat Hollow), won a maiden hurdle at Tramore on her debut though failed to deliver on that early promise.

But, after being sent to Walk In The Park, Quevega’s second foal Facile Vega has certainly lived up to his pedigree. Having been unbeaten in bumpers, including the Grade 1 contests at both the Cheltenham and Punchestown Festivals, Facile Vega recently completed a very successful novice hurdle campaign with his second Grade 1 win of the season in the Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown, another meeting where his dam enjoyed plenty of success. Facile Vega’s year-younger sister Aurora Vega was given an entry at Wexford on Saturday and, while she wasn’t declared, can be expected to make her debut soon soon.

The winner of the inaugural David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle, Whiteoak, has been less successful as a broodmare, with her sole winner being Little Acorn who showed fair form over hurdles for Harry Fry, winning a mares maiden at Kempton. Glens Melody, the fortunate winner of the David Nicholson in 2015 when Annie Power fell at the last, has had one foal on the track so far, Shantou’s Melody, a bumper winner at Huntingdon for Jonjo O’Neill. As for Annie Power herself, she was bought privately by Coolmore in 2018, resulting in her producing foals by both Galileo and Camelot, but none of her offspring has yet appeared on a racecourse.

Prior to Annie Power, the last mare to have won the Champion Hurdle was Flakey Dove in 1994. She produced three winners under Rules but none of them were anywhere near as good as she was herself, the best of them being the fairly useful chaser Just Smudge, a four-time winner for Venetia Williams.

Williams was herself the trainer of another of the best mares over jumps in recent decades, Lady Rebecca. She became the dam of four winners, with the pick of them being Lord Generous, the winner of a listed bumper at Cheltenham and later a useful hurdler who finished fifth in the Martin Pipe at the Festival. Better, though, was a granddaughter of Lady Rebecca, Royal Kahala, a smart hurdler for Peter Fahey in Ireland whose wins included last year’s Galmoy Hurdle at Gowran.

Coincidentally, third in the same bumper won by Lord Generous was Cricket Boy, the son of another top jumping mare Lady Cricket. Cricket Boy proved disappointing over hurdles but he had a couple of much more talented siblings. The mare Swing Bowler was the result of sending Lady Cricket to Galileo. She won her first five races and showed useful form over hurdles, finishing third and fifth in successive Betfair Hurdles and ending her career in the colours of Honeysuckle’s owner Kenny Alexander. Lady Cricket was also dam of the smart hurdler Red Sherlock who went one better than his half-sister, winning his first six races for David Pipe, including a listed bumper at Cheltenham and the Classic Novices’ Hurdle at the same track.

The 1995 Cheltenham Gold Cup runner-up Dubacilla’s offspring inherited more temperament than ability from their dam on the whole but she bred a handful of winners, including Mister Quasimodo and Dare Too Dream who once finished first and second in the same bumper at Exeter. Trained by Colin Tizzard, Mister Quasimodo was useful over fences when in the right mood, finishing third in the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton for example, but Tizzard also formerly trained Dubacilla’s grandson Mister Malarky, a lazy type himself nowadays but smart in his prime when his wins included the Reynoldstown Novices’ Chase and good staying handicaps at Kempton and Ascot, and was sent off at just 12/1 for the Grand National in 2021.

As well as Honeysuckle and Quevega, Asian Maze, winner of the Aintree Hurdle and Champion Stayers’ Hurdle at Punchestown, is another high-class mare to have visited Walk In The Park. The result of that mating is five-year-old Asta La Pasta, the winner of a bumper at Market Rasen in February for Dan Skelton. Asian Maze is also the dam of Cup Final who emulated his dam by winning at the Punchestown Festival, doing so in a three-mile handicap hurdle for Nicky Henderson in the colours of J. P. McManus.

For a rare example of a very good mare over jumps who produced an even better chaser, it would be hard to beat Function Dream. She enjoyed a tremendous season for Mary Reveley in 2000/01, winning six chases, including the Castleford Chase at Wetherby, the Victor Chandler at Ascot and the Game Spirit at Newbury in which she beat the future Champion Chase winner Flagship Uberalles. The pick of her winners at stud was Captain Chris, a top-class chaser for Philip Hobbs, whose wins included the Arkle and the Ascot Chase and who came within a neck of beating Long Run in the 2012 King George VI Chase.

From the latest season, Turners’ Novices’ Chase winner Stage Star, also winner of the Challow Novices’ Hurdle in the previous campaign, is out of a mare whose ability belied her humble origins. His dam is Sparky May, a useful novice for the small stable of Pat Rodford who was unbeaten in four starts over hurdles until finishing second to none other than Quevega when sent off 4/1 second favourite for the David Nicholson in 2011. Finishing second at the Festival herself and then breeding a winner there completes a rags-to-riches story for Sparky May whose dam had been imported from the USA with the aim of breeding showjumpers from her. Sparky May is also the dam of the mare La Malmason, a winner over hurdles at Cork on her debut in the latest season for Gavin Cromwell, and another sired by Walk In The Park.

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