Memories of Mujadil for Maurice Burns as Bungle makes a flying start

Freshman sire Bungle Inthejungle posted his second winner on Tuesday and in the process earned the ultimate accolade from Maurice Burns, who stands the stallion at his Rathasker Stud in County Kildare.

After Jungle Inthebungle showed admirable resolve to score by a short head at Lingfield, Burns billed his sire as having shades of Mujadil, who made hay in a long career at Rathasker by supplying numerous early-bird talents such as Galeota, Kingsgate Native and Masta Plasta.

Bungle Inthejungle is also the sire of Jungle Jane, who notched an all-the-way victory at Dundalk last Wednesday, and has already had eight runners so early in a Flat season that has suffered several meeting abandonments due to inclement weather.

The son of Exceed And Excel, known simply as Bungle on the stud, was entitled to get off to a fast start as a stallion, as in his own racing career he broke his maiden in May and went on to win the Molecomb Stakes and Cornwallis Stakes at two – the latter a race also won by Mujadil.

He is the only first-season sire to get on the scoresheet so far in 2018.

“We're very happy,” said Burns on Tuesday. “We always thought Bungle would do well in the early part of the season as he's from a family full of speed and success, and he lived up to that himself.

“Thank God, he seems to be passing that on as well. David Evans was on the phone after the Lingfield race and said he had a very nice Bungle filly, and I know Richard Fahey has a two-year-old by him he likes a lot.

“It has reminded me a lot of Mujadil's success. He got the job done early in his first season with runners and that set the tone for his entire stud career – trainers and owners then knew they could keep coming back for precocious horses.”

Burns reported there had been a surge of interest in Bungle Inthejungle since his double.

“We've been taking a lot of phone calls but also, just as importantly, the early headlines are going to make a big difference to people with his progeny to sell – including at the Ascot breeze-up this week,” he said.

Rathasker Stud has had a hand in both of Bungle Inthejungle's winners. Jungle Inthebungle was bred by the farm out of the winning Oasis Dream mare Princess Banu and he carries the silks of Maurice's wife Theresa, while Jungle Jane was bred by Jackie O'Flynn but purchased by Rathasker as a foal for €8,000 and races for Maurice and Theresa's daughter Madeline.

Jungle Inthebungle is trained by Mick Channon – a close associate of the Burns family who trained the sire – and Jungle Jane is in the care of Willie McCreery.

Rathasker Stud has had a big say in the first few juvenile races of this season, as it bred and sold Izzer, the Channon-trained colt who won the Brocklesby Stakes and then made it two-from-two with a determined triumph at Bath last Friday.

Izzer is by Rathasker Stud mainstay Clodovil out of Broadway Musical, a daughter of Exceed And Excel and Broadway Hit, a Sadler's Wells half-sister to Group 1 winners Dank, Eagle Mountain and Sulk. The dam was picked up for just 3,000gns at the Tattersalls July Sale in 2014.

Burns said: “Izzer wasn't the biggest yearling but he's a proper Clodovil and I know Mick well, so I said to him at Tattersalls, if you want an early two-year-old, this is the one. He only cost 11,000gns and has won £20,000 already so he's done well.”

Explaining how he snared the dam for such little money, he added: “I love that pedigree of Dank, it's a really nice page even though this mare didn't do too much herself. The line had been a little dormant but sometimes all you need is the right stallion to re-ignite it.”

It is the perfect start to a big year for Rathasker Stud, which also has two other freshman sires set to be represented by their first runners – Es Que Love and the National Stud-based Gregorian, who are by Izzer's sire Clodovil. The progeny of both should come into their own from the summer onwards.

It also has the popular Anjaal set to have his first yearlings go on the market – Izzer has a half-sister that age by him – and Coulsty welcoming his first foals.

If Bungle Inthejungle really does go on to emulate Mujadil, his supporters will be in clover in the near future. The older sire had Bouncing Bowdler, Irony, Kingsgate Native, Leggy Lou and Masta Plasta all either win or achieve podium finishes in Royal Ascot two-year-old races.

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