Claremount Stud looking for bumper Cheltenham start with new recruit Elm Park

There is some anticipation in western Ireland after the arrival of a new National Hunt stallion at Claremount Stud and the potential of one of his sons to advertise him in the best possible way.

Elm Park, a fine winner of what was the Racing Post Trophy ten years ago, has spent his first seasons as a stallion at Haras du Saz, near Nantes. The early crops have been gaining some quiet traction among the jumping community and include C’est Ta Chance, a narrow runner-up to William Munny on his debut for Willie Mullins in the Souede and Munir silks at Navan in January. He is among the multiple runners for the yard in Wednesday's Weatherbys Champion Bumper.

It is a big development for Claremount's father-and-son pair Padraig and Paul Moroney, long-time breeders who entered the stallion world with the Richmond Stakes winner Barraquero.

"We’re delighted to have secured him," said Padraig Moroney. "He's a big horse that oozes quality, 16 hands two and a half, with a super walk and wonderful action. He's also a Group 1 winner proven to seriously upgrade mares to produce great results for connections in the sales ring and at the track. 

"We’d been trying to get him for some time, we looked at him last year and knew there were a few nice horses in Ireland by him. C’est Ta Chance, for example, was bought by a very good judge in Adrian Costello, he pinhooked him at the Goffs Land Rover, he came out and won his point-to-point first time up for Pat Doyle and was sold. They’re all very positive about him."

C'est Ta Chance (near side) battles with William Munny at Navan in January Credit: CAROLINE NORRIS

Elm Park, a son of Phoenix Reach trained by Andrew Balding and bred by his family’s Kingsclere Stud, also won the Royal Lodge Stakes and finished up with a decent run behind Solow in the 2015 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. He arrived from France at the beginning of the year and has settled in well at his new home, where he has been attracting interest at his advertised fee of €4,000.

While the 12-year-old has had 16 winners, mostly under both codes in France, his oldest progeny are only five and he has a couple of decent-sized crops from which horses could emerge to fill in the gaps before his Irish foals are ready.

"He’s covered mares of our own and there have been mares coming in," said Moroney. "We’ve had a huge amount of inquiries and I’ve been surprised about how familiar people are with him.  People have been phoning and telling us he’s got nice young stock in France to come along still, they’ve done their research and are willing to give him a go."

Moroney also believes his new recruit's statistics show him in a good light. 

"Elm Park has 30 per cent winners to runners and just under four per cent black-type performers to runners from limited numbers," he said. "His progeny have been well received in the sales ring, with a three-year-old store average of €38,500 – Venetia Williams bought a store by him for €42,000 a couple of years ago, who I’m told is a bigger, scopier horse that needs time, and some other good judges have too. So the stock are nice and are selling nicely. They’ve got to keep going now and perform!"

What would be perhaps the best news of all in promoting a young stallion would be an early boost from C’est Ta Chance when the eyes of the racing world are upon Cheltenham. The family are optimistic he goes there with a chance in what looks a very open renewal.

Elm Park was an easy winner of the old Racing Post Trophy at DoncasterCredit: Alan Crowhurst

"It could be very fortuitous if there’s a result," said Moroney. "He was just touched off in his last start. The ground at Navan was horrendous, apparently, and they went quite a slow gallop, he was beaten a short head. The winner came out and won another bumper after that for Barry Connell, so the form is very good and the horse C’est Ta Chance beat in his point-to-point [Desert Ian] has won another race."

Barraquero is still at the stud, standing for €2,500 in a partnership with his owners, the Sangster family. He has only a few potential runners at this stage but they are continuing to support him.

Based near the village of Broadford in eastern County Clare, Claremount is away from most major stud farms and Moroney hopes this will play into their favour for their new signing.

"We’re a fairly young farm, we’ve been trying to produce something we think will work successfully for local breeders," he said. "We’re in a good catchment area – Limerick, Tipperary, Galway and so on in the west – and hopefully we've a decent offering who's on the cusp of results."

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