Why the career of the next leading Cheltenham Festival sire in our countdown turned out to be a game of two halves

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Continuing our countdown of the leading sires at the Cheltenham Festival by their number of individual race winners since 2000. At number four is Robin Des Champs, with 14.

Robin Des Champs, who stood at Haras de Saint-Voir in the centre of France for the first half of his stallion career and at Glenview Stud in County Cork for the second, was the undisputed king of the Cheltenham Festival repeat winner. 

Just five horses contributed to his tally of 14 victories on the biggest stage in jump racing: Quevega in the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle six times from 2009 until 2014; Vautour in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 2014, Golden Miller in 2015 and Ryanair Chase in 2016; Sir Des Champs in the Martin Pipe in 2011 and Golden Miller in 2012; Un Temps Pour Tout in the Ultima in 2016 and 2017; and Blow By Blow, the sole one-time scorer, in the Martin Pipe in 2018.

Blow By Blow is also the outlier in that list in that he is the only one to have been conceived in Ireland rather than France. Moreover, the former Punchestown Champion Bumper victor was the only one of Robin Des Champs’ eight Grade 1 winners to have resulted from the sire’s time at Glenview Stud. All the others – Quevega, Oeil Du Maitre, Sir Des Champs, Sous Les Cieux, Un Atout, Un Temps Pour Tout and Vautour – were French-conceived.

Robin Des Champs supplied some decent horses during his time in Fermoy – not just Blow By Blow, but also the likes of Hell’s Kitchen, Listen Dear, Potters Point, Robin De Carlow, Tombstone and Woodland Opera – but it does seem that he did better in France.

That feeling is backed up by some back-of-a-beermat calculations. He sired 24 National Hunt black-type winners from 430 named foals during his eight seasons in France, at a strike-rate of 5.58 per cent, and 12 National Hunt black-type winners from 388 named foals during his ten seasons in Ireland, at the lower ratio of 3.09 per cent.

The statistics are even more stark when it comes to top-level winners, of course. Quevega and her Grade 1-winning siblings amounted to 1.63 per cent of their sire’s named foals in France, while Blow By Blow represented 0.25 per cent of the named Irish output.

I have a hypothesis as to why that might have been. I suspect that Robin Des Champs was a sire a little out of his time.

Vautour: brilliant performer contributed to his sire's festival recordCredit: Alan Crowhurst

He had proven that he was an excellent sire with his early French progeny, but they generally would have benefitted from the earlier preparation of National Hunt horses in France (Quevega ran in AQPS bumpers in the spring of her three-year-old season and Vautour made his debut over hurdles at three, for example), and he was snapped up to stand in Ireland at a time when those advantages were less understood on these shores.

I don’t mean to paint 2009 and much of the following decade as the dark ages in the British and Irish jumps breeding industry, but I do think there was more of a feeling that there was something magical about French pedigrees back then. I well remember having conversations about the robustness of AQPS blood and the importance of the Mill Reef line in those days. 

Don’t get me wrong, there probably is something in all of that, and it goes without saying that there exists a hierarchy of sires within the French system, with names like Poliglote, Saddler Maker, Saint Des Saints, Voix Du Nord and indeed Robin Des Champs undeniably having distinguished themselves as outstanding sources of jumps talent.

But there has been something of an enlightenment in Britain and Ireland in the last few years and horsepeople here are now more aware of the role that nurture has played in the dominance of French imports in National Hunt racing, rather than nature: hence the introduction of junior and academy hurdles and calls for more stores to be sold as two-year-olds.

Bearing that in mind, Robin Des Champs’ arrival in County Cork in 2009 was like Irish jumps breeders being given the ingredients for a delicious French dish like a tarte tatin but not the recipe for making it.

Before anyone writes in and tells me that not all horses suit being popped over obstacles at a younger age, and that some need a more patient approach, I am well aware.

Blow By Blow was one such late bloomer, it seems, as his first outing was in a bumper at the end of his four-year-old season, nearly 18 months after he had been purchased as a store. His connections deserve plenty of credit for gradually drawing out his ability.

Quevega: Cheltenham's queen six timesCredit: Edward Whitaker

However, Blow By Blow was also Robin Des Champs’ only Irish-conceived Grade 1 winner or Cheltenham Festival scorer, remember: and, for me at least, the simplest explanation for the disparity between the sire’s results in France and Ireland is the varying methods of preparing youngsters in each country.

Walk In The Park is a useful comparison. He arrived in Ireland seven years after Robin Des Champs, having also made a name for himself with his French output. That's not that long, but a lot was changing in Ireland at that time, most notably the heating-up of the market for proven performers, which meant that more point-to-point trainers were getting to work on their store purchases at an earlier time in an effort to recoup their investments more quickly. 

Robin Des Champs reaped some rewards from that, with a few horses like Potters Point selling for big money after running well in four-year-old maiden point-to-points, but a list of the top prices paid for his progeny looks rather old-fashioned now, as the majority of them came in store sales rather than boutique sales.

If my hypothesis is correct, there will be more symmetry between the French and Irish statistics compiled by Glenview Stud’s latest acquisitions from France, Jeu St Eloi and Magic Dream, as more of the Irish progeny will be given the French-style earlier preparation now that a larger number of breeders, breakers and pre-trainers here have caught on to its merits.

Maybe more British and Irish horse people might also adopt another useful French practice, that of leaving male jumps stock entire so that they have the opportunity of becoming stallions and preserving lines that would otherwise peter out, as happened to the always Irish-based subject of yesterday’s email, Flemensfirth.

It’s just as well that did happen with some of Robin Des Champs’ top performers in France as one of them, the well-bred Listed hurdle winner Cokoriko, is now acknowledged to be one of the best National Hunt sires in Europe. 

Cokoriko, who hails from his sire’s final French crop, has already posted a Cheltenham Festival winner of his own, with Iroko taking the Martin Pipe three years ago, and he has some bright hopes of putting another on the board this week.

What do you think?

Share your thoughts with other Good Morning Bloodstock readers by emailing gmb@racingpost.com

Must-read story

“There's now a lot more competition from a lot more different avenues for the big-priced jumps horses,” says leading bloodstock agent Anthony Bromley in an interview.

Pedigree pick

Sarotaga’s breeding is a big clue to him breaking his maiden over jumps in the Fred Winter at the Cheltenham Festival today (2.40).

The Padraig Roche-trained son of Camelot is not only a half-brother to a previous winner of the race in Brazil, but also to Irish Derby and St Leger hero Capri and fellow Pattern scorers Cypress Creek, Passion and Tower Of London, as well as to Sovereign Parade, the dam of champion two-year-old filly Commissioning.

The superstar siblings are out of Dialafara, a winning daughter of Anabaa from the family of Group 1 performers Bauer, Diamond Green and Desert Skyline as well as, importantly with today’s race in mind, Grade 1-winning four-year-old hurdler Diakali.

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