It could just be a big day for Britain at Cheltenham... in the breeding stakes

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Here he discusses the British-bred challengers at Cheltenham this week - subscribers can get more great insight from Martin every Monday to Friday.

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Many British-based trainers and their patrons would surely have echoed the sentiments of Fergal O’Brien when he tweeted last month that “we won’t change our Cheltenham plans after watching the Dublin Racing Festival, but we will quietly be hoping for a ferry strike”.

It does indeed look more than likely that Britain is going to take a pasting in the Prestbury Cup this week. But if the markets are correct, there might just be a small scrap of consolation for the home team in Tuesday’s action at least.

Many of the more fancied runners boast a GB suffix, kicking off with Supreme Novices’ Hurdle favourite Constitution Hill. He was bred by Sally Noott by sending her Listed-placed King’s Theatre mare Queen Of The Stage to Blue Bresil at Yorton Farm.

Success for Constitution Hill would still represent something of a hollow victory for British breeders on the whole, though, as the exciting Blue Bresil – also sire of leading Arkle fancy Blue Lord, Champion Bumper hopefuls Madmansgame and Redemption Day, and Gold Cup entry Royal Pagaille – was sold to stand at Glenview Stud in County Cork two years ago.

The only other British-bred runner in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle is the intriguing outsider Bring On The Night, but he is hardly John Bull in equine form, having been bred by the suspiciously French-sounding Ecurie Serval and being by Coolmore resident Gleneagles.

Edwardstone: Arkle favourite was bred by his Norfolk-based ownersCredit: Edward Whitaker

Oh well, at least Arkle favourite Edwardstone’s GB plates are less problematic, as he was bred by his Norfolk-based owners Robert Abrey and Ian Thurtle out of Nothingtoloose, a winner between the flags at Cottenham no less.

British jumps breeders must sincerely wish they could still use Edwardstone’s sire Kayf Tara, but he is enjoying a well-earned retirement at Overbury Stud at the grand age of 28 and with a long list of top-class progeny behind him.

The only other British-bred runner in the Arkle is the outsider Red Rookie, bred by Peter Phillips by sending the Auction House mare to Galileo's late Group 1-winning full-brother Black Sam Bellamy at Shade Oak Stud.

Only three of the 24 declared runners in the Ultima Handicap Chase were bred in Britain but one of those, Does He Know, holds a prominent position in the market. A win for the son of former Kelanne Stud sire Alkaased would make for some story, as he was bred by the mighty Mick Easterby.

The other two Brits in the race, Grumpy Charley (by one-time Dalham Hall resident Shirocco, presently a studmate of Blue Bresil) and Rapper (by yet another formerly British-based, now Irish-based sire in Scorpion), would have Saltires waving as they were bred by Distillery Stud and George Stanners respectively.

Then we come to the Champion Hurdle and the poster girl of British National Hunt breeding in recent years, Honeysuckle. The pride of The Glanvilles Stud in Dorset is a good advert for equine multiculturalism as she is by the Irish-bred Sulamani (who stood at Yorton Farm until his death in 2017) out of the German-bred First Royal.

Honeysuckle’s only British-bred rival is Lord and Lady Blyth’s homebred Not So Sleepy, who hails from the last crop sired by Beat Hollow at Banstead Manor Stud near Newmarket before – guess what? – being transferred to stand on the other side of the Irish Sea.

Martello Sky: Tim Wood-bred daughter of Martaline heads to the Mares' HurdleCredit: Edward Whitaker

‘Team GB’ in the Close Brothers’ Mares Hurdle comprises Martello Sky, a daughter of late French champion National Hunt sire Martaline who was bred by Tim Wood out of his excellent producer Kentucky Sky, and Nada To Prada, a son of Kayf Tara bred by Geoff Hubbard Racing.

There are four British suffixes among the 22 mostly Flat or French-bred runners in the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle. They belong to Forever William and The Tide Turns, both by Newmarket-based Flat sire Sea The Moon; Sea Sessions, by another horse who falls into that category in Territories; and Too Friendly, a son of Coolmore big-hitter Camelot.

A clean sweep for the British-breds at Cheltenham on Tuesday is out of the question as there are none at all in the last race on the card, the Ukraine Appeal National Hunt Challenge Cup. Six of the seven-strong field are Irish-breds and the other one is French.

All in all, though, there is a fair chance that the beleaguered Brits could claim bragging rights for breeding (try saying that later on Tuesday after a few glasses of Guinness).

The only drawback is that not one of the 15 British-bred horses running at Cheltenham is by an active British-based stallion designated for National Hunt duty. That's eyebrow raising, even accounting for the fact that there is a much smaller pool of jumps mares and therefore jumps sires in Britain than in Ireland, and that it is not uncommon for jumps sires to be deceased or retired before they have multiple crops of progeny representing them.

It might just be the case that Britain is experiencing a lull between the golden era of Kayf Tara and Midnight Legend and the next great jumps sires, who might be Jack Hobbs, Logician, Planteur or any number of young names that the country’s stallion masters have invested in; and it's also worth saying that there are still some decent proven sires out there if you look – the likes of Falco, Gentlewave or Passing Glance for instance.

All the same, British-based National Hunt breeders must have been left scratching their heads when it came to working out their mating plans this year.

What do you think?

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

Must-read story

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Pedigree pick

There are no better-bred runners anywhere on Tuesday than the eye-catchingly still entire Galileo sons Brazil and HMS Seahorse in the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham (4.50), the former being a full-brother to Irish Derby and St Leger hero Capri and Group 3 scorers Cypress Creek and Passion, and the latter being a full-brother to Huxley Stakes winner and multiple Group 1 place-getter Armory.

If I had to choose one or the other, it would be the Padraig Roche-trained Naas winner Brazil, on the basis that he hails from an Aga Khan Studs family and they have an outstanding record in four-year-old hurdles down the years.

The first two winners of the Boodles, Dabiroun and Shamayoun, were Aga Khan-breds and there is already a multiple Grade 1-winning hurdler in Brazil’s family in Diakali, who scored at Punchestown and Auteuil after finishing fourth to Our Conor in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham.

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Good Morning Bloodstock is our latest email newsletter. Martin Stevens, a doyen among bloodstock journalists, provides his take and insight on the biggest stories every morning from Monday to Friday