nh racing
A Christmas feast
C
Amy Bennett reports on a fantastic week of Festive racing
HRISTMAS IS ALWAYS the season of feasting and what an abundance of delicacies there were to be enjoyed by racing fans between Boxing Day/St Stephen’s Day and New Year’s Day. No fewer than 13 Grade 1 contests took place between Christmas and New Year, spread across both sides of the Irish Sea and encompassing victories for returning heroes and rising stars alike. And that is not to mention a full spread of Grade 2 and 3 and Listed races, as well as a bumper cards of more ordinary fare. So where to begin reviewing the feast? Perhaps with the morsels below.
The bargain buy
Hewick and his trainer Shark Hanlon have redefined the word “bargain”. Purchased for just €850 at Goresbridge as a two-year-old for his owner TJ McDonald, Hewick is one of racing’s true rags-to-riches stories. Since he was signed for by Hanlon’s partner Rachel O’Neill, the now-nine-year-
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old has banked over £613,000 under Rules. An impressive £143,000 of that total came on Boxing Day when the Virtual gelding scored a never-say-die victory in the King George VI Chase (G1) at Kempton, having looked ready to be pulled up at one stage. Bred by William Quinn out of the unraced Oscar mare Ballyburn Rose, he hails from a solid jumping family, with such luminaries as the Grade 1-winning hurdler Artello Tower and the high-class chaser Deep Bramble on the page. It is worth noting that Hewick’s owner signed for the gelding’s foal half-brother by Jet Away at the 2023 Goffs December National Hunt Sale for €20,000, while the star’s is two-year-old half-brother by Affinisea is another to have joined the fold, with Hanlon signing for him at €25,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland November National Hunt Sale in 2022. While a long way from their older sibling’s bargain basement price tag, that duo is also a long way from some of the bidding frenzies we have seen in NH circles in recent years. Hewick’s sire Virtual began his stud career
at Cheveley Park Stud before moving to Woodlands Stud in County Galway, where Hewick was conceived. He moved again in 2022 to stand at Etheridge Farm in Dorset, an operation focused on producing eventers and show horses.
Higher prices
Given the prevalence of big rollers in NH racing in recent times, it is perhaps a little surprising that high-priced sales graduates were not more dominant in the biggest races over Christmas. Most pricey of the Grade 1 winners was Caldwell Potter (Martaline), who made the leap from a maiden hurdle victory to top-level success in the Future Champions Novice Hurdle (G1) with ease at Leopardstown on December 27. The Martaline gelding was snapped up as a three-year-old by Joey Logan for owners Andy and Gemma Brown for €200,000 in Part 1 of the Goffs Land Rover Sale in 2021. A full-brother to the four-time Grade 1 winner Mighty Potter, sadly killed in a fall at Fairyhouse last year, the six-year-old is also
