nh news Sporting John (near side) outbattles Shan Blue to take the Scilly Isle Novices Chase at Sandown. He is the first Grade 1-winning chaser for his sire Getaway, an 18-year-old son of Monsun
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OOLMORE RECENTLY ACQUIRED the Group 1 Prix du Moulin winner Vadamos from Tally-Ho Stud for its NH division, and the son of Monsun, whose oldest crop is three, joins a strong line-up of fellow Monsun stallions, including a duo who celebrated landmark achievements in early February. Getaway recorded his first Grade 1 winner over fences with the success of Sporting John in the Scilly Isles Novice Chase at Sandown for Philip Hobbs, Richard Johnson and JP McManus. The five-year-old gelding is the second Grade 1 winner by Getaway, winner of the Deutschland Preis and Grosser Preis von Baden-Baden (both G1), after Verdana Blue, who was successful in Kempton’s Christmas Hurdle of 2018. Sporting John was bred in Tipperary by Stephanie Hanly and hails from a hugely successful female line cultivated by the Hanlys at their Grange Hill Stud. His dam Wild Spell is an Oscar three-parts sister to Oscar Whisky, also bred by the Hanlys. He also won the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices Chase, as well as two renewals of the Grade 1 Aintree Hurdle. Wild Spell is also a half-sister to My Baloo, the dam of Grade 2 winner My Kahuna, and Supreme Baloo, who has produced the Grade 2 winner Drumbaloo, both also bred by Stephanie Hanly. My Baloo is also a half-sister to Sky Baloo, who is the second dam of Grade 2 winner and Grade 1-placed Seeyouatmidnight. Grange Hill Stud sold Sporting John as a foal at the 2015 Goffs December NH Sale for €20,000 to Richard Frisby who, in turn, sold him at the Land Rover Sale of 2018. Trained by Matthew Flynn O’Connor to win his four-year-old maiden point-topoint on debut at Borris, he made £160,000 to Kieran McManus at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale of 2019. Wild Spell has produced three winners from three runners so far and has a five-yearold full-sister to Sporting John, who was
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