'My aim is to breed a Gold Cup winner' - Hillcrest's breeder on the right road

Arthur Craigie is clearly a man of many talents, having bred a horse of significant potential in last Saturday's eyecatching Ballymore Novices' Hurdle winner Hillcrest alongside running an organic dairy farm in County Wicklow.

With just two mares to look after on top of the day job, Craigie is operating at an excellent strike-rate.

The talented Shop Dj is already carving a name for herself in her second career, having won a Grade 3 mares' hurdle and finished second to subsequent Gold Cup runner-up Sir Des Champs in the Grade 1 Champion Novice Chase at Punchestown for trainer Peter Fahey during her racing days.

Craigie says: "Rottenhill Stud is an organic dairy farm so the mares are really on the side, although at the moment they're doing quite well!

"I was always interested in racing, it came from both sides of my family, and when I was younger I had a few horses in training and trained a few myself under permit. I then went into breeding and I've now got two mares."

Shop Dj, a homebred daughter of 1996 Derby and St Leger runner-up Dushyantor and the only foal out of Presenting mare Shoplifter, had already produced a winner under rules in Fame And Glory gelding Bold Record before Hillcrest debuted in January 2021.

Shop Dj: dam of Hillcrest on her way to winning the Grade 3 Mares Hurdle at the Punchestown festival in 2011Credit: Patrick McCann

Her Kalanisi daughter, Kaldedj, did not make the track but visited Getaway last year, while her five-year-old Flemensfirth gelding sold to Rathturtin Stud for €36,000 at the 2017 Tattersalls Ireland November National Hunt Sale.

The following June, Hillcrest shone brightest of all when selling to Highflyer Bloodstock for €190,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale, a price-tagged portent if ever there was one.

Craigie says of the exciting gelding, who according to trainer Henry Daly stands at over 18 hands having outgrown his measuring stick: "He was a massive foal but was always a very nice one. Jimmy Murphy bought him as a foal and sold him to Trevor Hemmings as a three-year-old."

It was not entirely straightforward for his new connections after the sale, with the son of Stowaway going through a sizeable growth spurt at around four years old. Indeed, Hillcrest made his debut only last season, finishing a close second in a Doncaster bumper before landing a maiden success at Wetherby last March.

Craigie continues: "He was 17 hands at the Derby Sale and looked an absolute picture but when they bought him he began to grow again. They were quite despondent about him for a year and a half but he's grown into himself now."

Hillcrest's frame meant he has always been destined to go chasing, but he is making a fine fist of it over hurdles in the meantime. A three-parts of a length victory at Aintree in November was followed by a bloodless rout at Wetherby, and then his first black-type success over the well regarded I Am Maximus at Cheltenham on New Year's Day, when he turned seven.

Arthur Craigie (left) with Shop Dj after her Punchestown successCredit: Patrick McCann

The future looks equally bright for the excellent Shop Dj, who at 17 has also had a filly by Snow Sky and colts by Affinisea and Marcel pass through the sales ring over the last three years.

Craigie says: "She's in foal to Blue Bresil, while in the past she's gone to Marcel and Snow Sky. I need to go to something with plenty of bone, she's not light of bone but she hasn't got a whole lot either.

"I always have that in mind, while I like a big, good-looking horse. Stowaway, Affinisea, Marcel and Flemensfirth all fitted into that bracket.

"When I go and breed a horse my aim is to breed a Gold Cup winner, not a Champion Hurdle horse and definitely not a Triumph Hurdle horse. I like chasing more than I like hurdling and Hillcrest is going to hopefully be a chaser."

Craigie is also confident that Hillcrest is with the right connections to fulfil his obvious potential, with Daly and Hemmings, who died in October, both known for their abundant patience and focus on what one might call traditional chasers.

He says: "I'm lucky he went to Henry Daly and was bought by Trevor Hemmings; the trainer takes his time, as did the owner. If he'd ended up in a four-year-old point-to-point yard, who knows where he'd be now. They gave him time."

The owner-breeder - whose other mare, Derrinlanna, has produced last month's impressive winning point-to-pointer Top Speed, who will be representing Henry de Bromhead in future - is also thinking long-term for his latest graduate.

Craigie concludes: "I hope Hillcrest doesn't go to Cheltenham as it can be quite hard on young horses, but I'm certain they'll look after him."

Whatever the rest of the season has in store - and Daly did not have an immediate target in mind when debriefing the media last weekend - the sky appears to be the limit for Hillcrest.

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