'We bought him as an individual and then noticed Altior was on the pedigree!'

Attacca, representing the same owner and trainer as his famous relative Altior, kept on well at Cheltenham on Friday to earn price cuts for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle.

Altior won that Cheltenham Festival event in 2016 en route to becoming champion two-mile chaser, and his four-year-old relative is definitely going the right way having won both starts over hurdles after finishing second in his bumper.

He is, however, possibly destined to excel over further than the minimum trip, as he indicated with his 2m1f novice hurdle success. Attacca made all under Nico de Boinville on Friday to beat Master Chewy by a length and a quarter.

He is a son of Mahler out of Listening, a King's Theatre half-sister to Monte Solaro, dam of the dual Champion Chase superstar Altior.

Attacca was bred by the renowned sport horse breeder Mary McCann, who sold him as a foal at the Goffs December National Hunt Sale for €44,000 to Gerry Hogan.

He reappeared at the company's Land Rover Sale in June 2021, where he was purchased by Highflyer Bloodstock for €58,000 from Galbertstown Stables.

Trained by Nicky Henderson for Patricia Pugh, he is a half-brother to a pair of winners, and Pugh was on hand on Friday to see her silks make a return to the winner’s enclosure.

Henderson said: “You’ve all seen these colours before and he is actually related to Altior. We didn’t buy him because he was a relation of Altior - we bought him as an individual and then we suddenly noticed Altior was on the pedigree!”

He added: “I still think you would be looking to step him to two and a half and ride a normal race. We only did that pacemaking lark as stamina was going to be his biggest strength.

“That [Sidney Banks] would be a lovely race for him. We will see what happens over the new year. Everybody enjoyed that and so did I.”

Read more

National Stud and MyRacehorse reveal Stradivarius breeding partnership

Classy Concertista added to McGivern's burgeoning band for sale-topping €220,000

'He really put us on the map' - champion sire and stayer Kayf Tara dies aged 28

'The sky's the limit' - discover another part of the growing Skelton empire (£)