Grade 1 cheer for Malinas and Coolagown Stud at Limerick

Master McShee delivered the perfect Christmas gift for his sire Malinas and David Stack's Coolagown Stud, who will stand the son of Lomitas in partnership with Rathbarry Stud for the first time in 2022, with a breakthrough Grade 1 triumph in the Faugheen Novice Chase at Limerick on Sunday.

The seven-year-old gelding is the first top level winner by Malinas, who has so far sired five individual Grade 2 winners including Medinas and Mister Malarky.

It will be an unforgettable Christmas for trainer Paddy Corkery and jockey Ian Power, for whom the victory is also their first Grade 1 success. In an attritional contest, Master McShee displayed plenty of grit and determination to reel in Farouk D'Alene after the last and claim a thrilling victory in a photo-finish.

Master McShee was bred by Mrs L Suenson-Taylor out of the Oscar mare Oscar Annie and sold by Clarendon Farm to Morgan Sheehan for €11,000 as a foal at the 2014 Tattersalls Ireland November National Hunt Sale.

His unraced dam is out of a winning half-sister to the dam of National Spirit Hurdle winner and Grade 1-placed Brewin'upastorm.

It was just the second start over fences for Master McShee but in his first he had come up against two classy operators in Bob Olinger and Bacardys, so finishing a well-beaten third behind that pair of Grade 1 winners at Gowran in November counted as a promising performance.

Last season he was also second in a maiden hurdle to none other than Appreciate It and won twice over hurdles.

His Group 2-winning sire Malinas was second in the Deutsches Derby for breeder Gestut Fahrhof and is from the family of Group 1 winners Eishin Flash and Mystic Lips.

Malinas moved to Rathbarry in 2016 after stints in France and Britain and his first crop of Irish-bred four-year-olds include Dark Raven, an 11-length winner of the Tattersalls Ireland George Mernagh Memorial Sales Bumper for Willie Mullins, and Merry Maker, who scored in a Tipperary point-to-point for Pierce Power.

He will stand for a fee of €3,500 at Coolagown Stud in 2022, with a 50 per cent discount for filly foals.

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