Cheltenham Festival heroine Gaspara gets off the mark as a broodmare

Gaspara, the last horse to land the Imperial Cup at Sandown and then score at the Cheltenham Festival days later, got off the mark as a broodmare when son Pennine Cross won a Catterick bumper on Tuesday.

Pennine Cross, trained by Philip Kirby for the Well Oiled Partnership, was a never-dangerous sixth on debut over course and distance last month but evidently improved for the experience as he stayed on well under ten-pound claimer Tom Midgley in the closing stages to win by three quarters of a length from stablemate Show Promise.

The four-year-old hails from the first crop sired by the outstanding middle-distance performer Shirocco at Glenview Stud in County Cork, the son of Monsun having stood mostly in a Flat capacity at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket up to then.

Other Shirocco four-year-olds include the Listed bumper-placed trio of Dreamingandhoping, Global Equity and Majestic Maid, as well as Es Perfecto, It Sure Is, Queens Brook and Unbreakable Bond, all of whom were sold for £100,000 or more at auction after showing talent in the point-to-point field.

Clearly, though, Pennine Cross owes a lot of his talent to his dam Gaspara.

The daughter of Astarabad, now 16, was a useful performer over jumps in France for Thomas Trapenard and when that trainer's stock was dispersed at Arqana in December 2006 she was snapped up by Hubert Barbe for €52,000 and sent to join the stables of David Pipe.

She was successful in her first four starts in Britain, taking in a six-length win in the Imperial Cup under Sir Anthony McCoy and a five-length triumph in the Fred Winter Juvenile Novices' Hurdle at the festival, landing her connections a lucrative bonus for notching the double that has not been paid out since.

Gaspara proved she was better than just a classy handicapper when on her next start she ran Al Eile to one and a half lengths when second in the Grade 1 Aintree Hurdle, albeit receiving a stone from the winner due to her age and sex.

She achieved further black-type placings in the following season, and finished a respectable fourth in the inaugural David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle at Cheltenham, although her form tailed off later in her career.

Gaspara is bred from by Gill Walford, wife of former trainer Tim and mother of current licence holder Mark, and Pennine Cross is the mare's second foal after Glen Vine, a five-year-old Robin Des Champs gelding who has finished second in a bumper from three starts for Pipe.

Gaspara – a half-sister to Mr Thriller, a Listed-winning hurdler for Pipe – also has a three-year-old filly by Kayf Tara, a two-year-old filly by the same sire and a colt foal by Jack Hobbs born in May.

Originally a €30,000 Tattersalls Ireland November foal purchase, Pennine Cross was bought by Kirby at the company's Derby store sale for the same amount.

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