Irish breds, Flemensfirth and Mahler come up trumps at Aintree

As the dust settles on another memorable Aintree festival, three sires have emerged with more than one winner - Jeremy, Milan and Flemensfirth.

The loss of Jeremy to the jumps stallion ranks was hammered home with Mersey Novices' Hurdle winner Reserve Tank and Thursday's Grade 2 mares' bumper scorer The Glancing Queen, while Milan got his name on the scoresheet with Stayers' Hurdle hero If The Cap Fits and Friday's Grade 2 bumper winner McFabulous.

If The Cap Fits is inbred 3x3 to Darshaan, whose daughter Kithanga is the dam of Milan and whose sire son Sayarshan is the father of Derravaragh Sayra, mother of If The Cap Fits.

The future looks bright for McFabulous, a half-brother to the Ascot Chase winner and Mildmay Novices' Chase third Waiting Patiently, both of whom are out of the Beneficial mare Rossavon and bred by Vincent Finn.

Flemensfirth, now in the twilight of his outstanding National Hunt stud career at Beeches Stud in County Waterford, earns the title of leading sire when placed runners are taken into account.

The 27-year-old son of Alleged sired the first and second home in the Mildmay with Lostintranslation and Topofthegame, as well as Grade 3 Handicap Hurdle winner Three Musketeers.

Flemensfirth also sired his third runner-up in the Grand National after the mare Magic Of Light ran a stormer under Paddy Kennedy. His previous silver medalists were King Johns Castle (2008) and The Last Samuri (2016).

Last year Authorized became the first Derby winner to sire the winner of the Aintree showpiece since the 1800s with Tiger Roll, who on Saturday became the first back-to-back winner of the race since the great Red Rum.

Tiger Roll isn't the first winner at this year's Aintree festival to be inbred 3x3 to Sadler's Wells, however, with Motivator gelding Pentland Hills successful in the Grade 1 Juvenile Hurdle on Thursday. Both are by sons of Montjeu, who in turn is by Sadler's Wells.

Pentland Hills is out of the Galileo mare Elle Galante, who also produced a Royal Ascot winner in Balios, while Tiger Roll was bred in County Tipperary by Gerry O'Brien out of the Entrepreneur mare Swiss Roll.

Galileo also came up trumps with his son Supasundae landing the Aintree Hurdle on Thursday. The sire extraordinaire enhanced his record as a progenitor of jumps sires at the meeting, with Ornua becoming the first Grade 1 winner for his son Mahler when proving too good for the opposition in the Maghull Novices' Chase.

Walk In The Park was the second son of Montjeu to supply a Grade 1 winner with Min bouncing back to form in the JLT Melling Chase, while Champ gave his late sire King's Theatre a deserved top-flight winner from his final crop foaled in 2012.

The other three sires to supply a Grade 1 winner at the three-day meeting were Kalanisi (Kalashnikov, Manifesto Novices' Chase), Voix Du Nord (Kemboy, Bowl) and Maresca Sorrento (Felix Desjy, Top Novices' Hurdle).

Arguably best known for siring sprint sensations Marsha and Equiano, it was perhaps a tad surprising to see Acclamation's name pop up as the sire of the final winner of the week in Chief Justice.

The Cheveley Park Stud-raced gelding led home a 1-2-3-4-5 for British breds in the concluding event, making him the second winner to the carry the GB suffix to victory over the three days after Supasundae.

Leading sires at the Aintree festival 2019

Irish breds matched their tally of 13 winners from last year, more than double the six winners carrying the IRE suffix in 2006, with seven of those winning at the highest level.

The Grand National winner was also bred in Ireland, and hopes will be high that Tiger Roll can match Red Rum's three wins in the Aintree spectacular, with that legend another to have carried the IRE suffix.

French breds posted six winners at the meeting - with the hugely exciting Kemboy, Felix Desjy and Min all successful in Grade 1 company.

The average number of winners over the last 12 years for Irish breds is 9.67, for British breds 4.08 and for French breds 6.58.

Those figures suggest Irish-foaled runners fared best, and those with the FR suffix held their own, while British breeders will be looking for ways to build on their two winners this year.

Aintree festival winners by suffix (last ten years)

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