Fleet of foot: Commander a first Grade 1 winner for Fame And Glory

The loss of Fame And Glory to the Irish jumps stallion ranks was hammered home on Saturday when his first-crop son Commander Of Fleet to win the Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Solicitors Novice Hurdle to become the sire's first Grade 1 winner.

The runner-up Rhinestone hails from the final crop of Fame And Glory's father Montjeu.

Fame And Glory also fielded the second and third home, Meticulous and Embittered, behind the winner Envoi Allen in the Grade 2 bumper later on the card.

A good day at Leopardstown for the great sire's reputation in the jumps sphere was compounded when Min, by Montjeu's son Walk In The Park, strolled to success in the Grade 1 Ladbrokes Dublin Chase.

Bred by Patricia Coghlan, Commander Of Fleet is the second foal out of the winning bumper mare Coonagh Cross, who also has a four-year-old Getaway filly named Getaway Franjoe, a three-year-old full-sister to Commander Of Fleet and a two-year-old Shirocco filly.

Coonagh Cross is a half-sister to the Grade 3 novice chase winner Sunset Lodge and Henry VIII Novices' Chase runner-up Atum Re, out of dual bumper winner Collopy's Cross.

Coghlan raced Collopy's Cross and later bred from her, with breeder Geoffrey Thompson having been successful from other strands of the family having bred such talents as RSA Chase winner One Knight and Grade 1 hurdle winner Death Duty.

Intriguingly, Commander Of Fleet is inbred 3x3 to Sadler's Wells through his paternal grandsire Montjeu and damsire Saddlers' Hall - the same pattern as the Grade 1-placed hurdler Tell Us More, who is by Scorpion out of an Old Vic mare.

Commander Of Fleet is also bred on the same Fame And Glory-Saddlers' Hall cross as last month's Fairyhouse bumper winner Thunder Down Under, who looks progressive.

The Gordon Elliott-trained Commander Of Fleet holds entries in the three Grade 1 novices' hurdles at the Cheltenham Festival, with the trainer suggesting the Albert Bartlett would be his likely target.

Last year's Goffs Land Rover Bumper winner was bought at that sale for €47,000 by Mags O'Toole, with vendor Mount Eaton Stud having purchased him for €35,000 as a foal from Coghlan at the 2014 Tattersalls Ireland November Sale.

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