RACING & BREEDING

Ryan McElligott

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Champion Hurdle hopeful Jezki took centre stage last week as he made it two wins from as many starts this season in the Bar One Racing Hatton’s Grace Hurdle, which was the centrepiece of a terrific card at Fairyhouse on Sunday.

The Jessica Harrington-trained five-year-old only won by a length and a half from Zaidpour but his margin of victory would have been appreciably bigger had his concentration not waned at the last two flights. He is certainly better than the bare result of this race suggests and he remains a hurdler of real promise.

Admittedly he will need to do far better when he takes on the likes of Hurricane Fly and Our Conor – a match that could take place at Leopardstown later this month – but this Milan gelding remains one of the most intriguing challengers for Hurricane Fly’s crown.

A particularly competitive and interesting edition of the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle went to Philip Fenton’s The Tullow Tank, who delivered on the considerable promise of a maiden hurdle win at Naas last month. This Oscar gelding is a particularly exciting chaser for the future but before then he should continue to hold his own in top novice events this season. It is was interesting to note though that Fenton feels that going right-handed is particularly important to his charge. One to take from this race was Arctic Fire who caught the eye by making excellent late progress to take third. He looks a horse of some potential.

From an early stage of his career, Gordon Elliott’s Don Cossack looked sure to make his mark at a high level but he had to wait until Sunday’s Drinmore Novice Chase to record his first Grade 1 success. This gelding’s hurdling career began to unravel just under a year ago but a switch to chasing this season has brought about a revival in his fortunes and it was particularly encouraging to see him battle well to overcome the Galway Plate winner Carlingford Lough. This success bodes well for the rest of Don Cossack’s campaign while it also paid a handsome compliment to his Punchestown conqueror, Morning Assembly.

The previous afternoon at Fairyhouse, the Willie Mullins-trained Shaneshill produced a particularly impressive display in a winner’s bumper. As he attempted to build on a great debut win at Naas, the King’s Theatre gelding cruised to an easy 11-lengths triumph. Even at this early stage he looks a strong contender for Grade 1 events at the major festivals later in the season.

Tatts Foal Sale

Following on from a highly successful week at Goffs, the Tattersalls December Foal Sale produced an incredible set of results last weekend. An aggregate of over 31.4m gns represented a record for the sale, the average of 42,460 gns finished some 24% ahead of last year, while the median of 23,000gns was up by 15%. Meanwhile, the clearance rate did drop to 79%.

This was a remarkable sale with frenetic activity at the top of the market as demand for the best foals soared – as evidenced by the number of foals making at least 200,000gns rising from 12 last year to 27 this time around.

The top lot was a 450,000gns daughter of Dubawi and the very smart middle-distance racemare High Heeled. She was sold to Sheikh Mohammed’s bloodstock adviser John Ferguson, who spent over 3.2m gns to end the sale as leading buyer.