Mt Leinster a fourth Galway festival hero for Jackie Mullins' mare Sixhills

Mt Leinster may well have created history for Jackie Mullins' mare Sixhills by becoming her fourth Galway festival winner with victory in the 1m4f qualified riders' maiden on Monday.

The same race was won in 2009 by his Imperial Ballet half-brother Blackstairmountain and in 2018 by his Beat Hollow full-sister Diamond Hill.

Blackstairmountain, who also took third in the 2012 Galway Plate won by Bob Lingo, will be best remembered for his win in the 2013 Nakayama Grand Jump, often the richest event in jumps racing.

Diamond Hill added a maiden hurdle at last year's festival before going on to win the Listed Oyster Stakes at the September meeting.

Another sibling Fuji Mountain, by Diamond Green, struck in the winners' bumper at the Galway festival in 2015.

Mt Leinster (left): the third offspring of Sixhills to win the qualified riders' maiden at GalwayCredit: Patrick McCann

Explaining how she came to own the mare, Mullins said: "David Minton bought her for us in England as a mare to race, and when she arrived over, she had a tendon so we just took her on as a broodmare then. That's how we came by her, it wasn't planned, and it wasn't really the plan to breed from her, but that's how it came to be.

"She's done us proud. It's funny how they can evolve really, we didn't set out to buy her as a broodmare but that's what happened and it's worked out really well."

Mullins added: "She has a gorgeous three-year-old Walk In The Park filly who's very tall and the rest are around 16 or 16.1 hands high.

"Blackstairmountain was a very friendly horse - if you were feeding in the field, he'd pull everything out of the Jeep and nearly sit in beside you. He was a superstar.

"Three of her offspring have now won the qualified riders' maiden, with Blackstairmountain having won it back in 2009."

Sixhills, a winning stayer on the Flat, has produced seven winners including the Grade 2 Aintree bumper third Allure Of Illusion, while Mt Leinster is her fourth runner to earn black type having run third to Asterion Forlonge in the Grade 1 Pharma Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown in February.

The mare also has a two-year-old filly by Beat Hollow, a yearling gelding by Mount Nelson and a filly foal at foot by Jukebox Jury. She was covered by Walk In The Park this year.

Mullins maintains a small but select broodmare of four or five mares at Closutton, from where her husband Willie trains.

Her Presenting mare Pink Hat produced Beret Rouge, an impressive bumper winner at Roscommon last month, while her biggest breeding success could be attributed to the 2000 Cheltenham Champion Bumper hero Joe Cullen.

Mullins also bred five bumper winners out of the Shernazar mare Screaming Witness, all of whom were ridden to victory by son Patrick.

Of those, Airlie Beach would go on to score at the highest level over hurdles.

Mullins notes: "I bought Screaming Witness as a yearling to race and she gave Patrick his first ride, and he later decided we should breed from her."

The 2005 Nakayama Grand Jump hero Blackstairmountain is in good health in his retirement with Georgia StubbingtonCredit: Jackie Mullins

Records show that only three other mares have produced three individual winners at the Galway festival since 2000.

Summer Trysting is the dam of Flat maiden winners in Antique Platinum, Romantic Venture and Sights On Gold; Spring To Light came up trumps with maiden winner Whisper Light, bumper scorer Stolen Light and the Flat handicap winner Initial Figure; while Much Commended is the mother of the Flat handicap winners Few Are Chosen, Good Shot Noreen and Much Acclaimed.

Utterly Heaven, whose two winners at the festival are Forgotten Rules and Time To Inspire, could post her third Galway winner this evening when Nostra Casa lines up in the Latin Quarter Handicap (8.15).

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