All in the name for Corey's Courage as she takes her latest test

Peter O'Neill was warned against the madness of trying to breed jumpers out of Valdas Queen, whose racing career had come to an end after just three starts.

His folly is turning into something of a fairytale as his broodmare, a daughter of German Guineas and Group 1 scorer Platini out of a Russian Oaks winner, has not only kept AP Racing in runners for the last few seasons but now has a symbolically-named daughter stepping up to the plate in Corey's Courage.

O'Neill's Surrey-based syndicate is, surprisingly, not named after a certain eternal champion jockey but is made up of the initial of the owner's first name and that of Andrew Thompson, who helped him to set it up at the start of the century. Among a few of the first horses they bought was Valdas Queen, who went into training with Brendan Powell.

"Having won her first race at Newbury in a three-year-old bumper [in 2007], we were looking for her to move forward on that but, regrettably, she suffered a career-ending injury," O'Neill explains.

"We were pretty disappointed about it but she was from good bloodlines and I got together with a few other people outside AP Racing and decided to breed from her.

"There wasn’t anybody who didn’t say what a stupid idea that would be. Why would you breed National Hunt horses from one who obviously had a decent pedigree but didn’t go on? But I said, 'I love my horses and my racing, wouldn’t it be nice if we did have a decent horse'."

There was a bit of a wait for such a horse as Valdas Queen's first foal, Valdas Princess, was no high achiever, but her fourth from her time at Simon Sweeting's Overbury Stud, Corey's Courage, provided the breakthrough exactly a year ago when winning on her debut for Olly Murphy in a bumper at Uttoxeter.

The daughter of Dunaden has added three more emphatic victories from as many starts this term and faces her biggest test to date in Saturday's British EBF BetVictor racingtohelpukraine.uk "National Hunt" Mares' Novices' Hurdle at Newbury.

Even more importantly, Corey's Courage is named after one of O'Neill's grandchildren, who sadly died after spending seven months of life in hospital.

"I of course think of Corey every day anyway but I thought it would be a nice tribute for the family to come together in his name," he explains. "We didn’t know what sort of horse she was going to be but she’s proved herself to be a little gem."

O'Neill is maintaining a measured facade about the prospects of his big-race runner.

"She’s a lovely mare and she's got a chance but it’s a big step up in class," he says. "We’re so, so proud of her and just want her to do her best and come home safe.

"Olly has managed me quite well; he’s dampened my enthusiasm! He said he thought she’d run well but there are other good horses in it. She’s very novicey in her jumping and this is a proper Grade 2 handicap, so her jumping is going to have to be there to win it, but we’re very optimistic obviously."

While Thompson has left the syndicate, the A has been neatly replaced by that of Alison Etchells, who has joined along with husband Barrie in a group which also contains O'Neill's wife Mary.

There has been gradual shift in strategy as they had a handful of slow-developing stock to raise so the decision was made to sell Valdas Queen. O'Neill says she produced one more colt by Dunaden from her new home in Devon but she subsequently died from complications to an injury.

However, her Dr Massini-sired daughter Royal Practitioner has won in AP Racing's red and white silks for the Fergal O'Brien stable and remains an unexposed hope in handicap company. The fourth of her female brood by Overbury's great talisman Kayf Tara, Celtic Tara ought to also take a small prize some day.

Co-owner Barrie Etchells has also been enjoying the journey with Corey's Courage

"I’ve got enough mares to keep me going for a long time now!" O'Neill, a retired businessman, says.

"Whoever said you must be stupid to breed horses must obviously be quite right because none of them have raced before they were five years old, but it’s a passion of mine and we’re lucky to have Corey's Courage flying the flag, and to have Royal Practitioner, who ran a cracker at Uttoxeter last time, as well."

It might even be enough for him to be stupid again another time.

"Thankfully my wife is somewhere else in the house at the moment," he whispers conspiratorially. "But obviously having one like Corey's Courage does excite you for the future."

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