Heaven Help Us proving the pick of the litter for trainer Paul Hennessy

Among the extensive sporting portfolio consolidated by Paul Hennessy on Friday was the fact that he is now a Cheltenham-winning breeder.

By some way better known as a top-class greyhound handler, with the English and Irish Derby to his name, Hennessy could barely believe that his minuscule string of horses could have provided a success at the home of National Hunt racing.

Heaven Help Us, who did the honours by fending off all-comers from the front in the Foundation Developments Ltd Maiden Hurdle, is a Yeats mare and the final foal of Spare The Air (Trans Island), who cut little ice in six combined runs for John Quinn and the trainer's long-time family friend Willie Mullins.

Hennessy explained: "We bred her and reared her and I have the half-sister at home, Thywillbedone.

Paul Hennessy: “We wouldn't have the world of experience in training horses but we had the half-brother to Heaven Help Us, First Friday, and he was an even bigger rogue than myself!'Credit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

"Her mother had a lovely pedigree, a friend of mine bought her for me but she didn’t stay sound and I kept her. Sally was her name, we’ve bred four foals off her and three of them have won, and this is obviously the best of them.

"We call this one Billie Jean - I suppose it was kind of a mixture of William Butler Yeats, I got the Billie from there."

Thywillbedone, now a seven-year-old by Holy Roman Emperor, won a hurdle at Punchestown and has emerged as a breeding replacement for Spare The Air.

"She’s called Holly and had a foal by Policy Maker this year," Hennessy said. "We just decided to keep the family.

"I only took a trainers licence out just for fooling around with a few of my own. It’s absolutely mad, that’s the truth. Without being modest, anyone can do it if we can."

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