TDN Horses of the Year: Moss Tucker

We all have our favourites, and this week members of TDN Europe's editorial team each select a horse who provided particular enjoyment in 2023. Kicking off the series, Brian Sheerin puts forward the case for the sprinter whose victory in the G1 Flying Five was made all the more special by his human connections.

I don't know about you, but I love an underdog story. Perhaps that is why I fell in love with National Hunt racing at a young age.

Danoli (Ire), Bobbyjo (Ire) and Papillon (Ire) developed something of a cult following in the late nineties and early noughties in Ireland while Flemenstar (Ire) is another who caught the imagination when mopping up a host of Grade 1s for the late Peter Casey, one of the game's great characters.

Sadly, it has been far too long since racing has supplied its audience with a narrative to grab hold of. Not only that, but the David and Goliath stories that we used to dine out on in the jumps sphere are now few and far between.

The tables have turned. It seems as though the smaller trainers and owners can now hold genuine hopes of coming across a horse capable of mixing it at the highest level on the Flat. It's just not the same over jumps any more.

Take Moss Tucker (Ire) winning the Flying Five for example. Already a Classic-winning trainer, Ken Condon is hardly what you would describe as a smaller trainer, but this is a result that resonated with many given that the horse was bred by his owner and former Munster rugby legend Donal Spring. Part of the Munster side which famously took the scalp of the All Blacks in Thomond Park back in 1978, Spring has a history of producing sporting shocks.

Moss Tucker, named in honour of Spring's teammates, the late Moss Keane and Colm Tucker, was said to have about as much chance of winning the Flying Five as the experts gave that fabled Munster side of blindsiding the All Blacks. But therein lies the beauty of sport.

Moss Tucker embodied everything that is brilliant about the game, chewing up the script and spitting out high-class sprinters like Highfield Princess (Fr), Bradsell (GB) and Art Power (Ire) in the process.

It must be said, the heavy rain that fell before the race was in Moss Tucker's favour. But take nothing away from Condon's charge, who fought tooth and nail for his big day and was thoroughly deserving of a breakthrough win at the highest level.

But it's the human side of this story that propels Moss Tucker to being one of the results of the year. You will be hard pressed to find a man who is as well-liked and respected universally as Condon. One of racing's good guys, Condon goes about his business in an understated manner and Moss Tucker proved once again that he is deadly when given the ammunition.

By Excelebration (Ire) and out of a mare who won twice over hurdles as well as on the Flat, where she reached a modest mark of 76, Moss Tucker would have raised few predictions of Group 1 aspirations, not least over sprint distances. But here is a horse who has benefited from Condon's softly-softly approach, culminating with that big-race triumph at the Irish Champions Festival on his 30th racecourse start.

It should also be noted that Moss Tucker winning the Flying Five came off the back of a below-par season by Condon's high standards.

He has trained just nine winners in 2023, down from 17 in 2022 and 18 in the Classic-winning season the Curragh operator sent out Romanised (Ire) to land the Irish 2,000 Guineas in 2020.

To produce a result like Moss Tucker winning the Flying Five, one of the most fiercely-contested sprints in Europe, off the back of a difficult season is a measure of what a good trainer Condon is.

Billy Lee riding Moss Tucker sugar-coated what was one of the sweetest successes of the year. Criminally under-appreciated, Lee is pound-for-pound one of the best riders in Britain and Ireland and would almost certainly have been crowned champion in his native country by now had God blessed him by being an inch or two shorter.

 

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High Chaparral’s Sons Boxing Clever Across the Globe

Flat and jumps, north and south, in many ways Boxing Day belonged to the late High Chaparral (Ire), whose sons Karaktar (Ire) and Contributer (Ire) were responsible for group/graded doubles, one under each code, in Britain, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia.

It is beyond dispute that High Chaparral was a brilliant racehorse. Retired to stud in the era of Galileo (Ire) and Montjeu (Ire), the horse who won two Derbys, two Breeders' Cup Turfs, an Irish Champion S. and a Racing Post Trophy perhaps never received quite the level of support he might otherwise have enjoyed but he was a good stallion nonetheless, and was notably successful in Australia. 

For his southern hemisphere stints, High Chaparral stood initially at Windsor Park Stud in New Zealand before his good results prompted him to be brought 'in house' to Coolmore Australia. Among his good runners in Australasia, he sired the outstanding multiple dual-hempishere Group 1 winner So You Think (NZ), six-time Group 1 winner Dundeel (NZ), Australian Derby winner Shoot Out (Aus), and the VRC Derby winners Monaco Consul (NZ) and Ace High (Aus). The latter won the Derby at Flemington just three days before High Chaparral's British-foaled son Rekindling (GB) won the Melbourne Cup for Joseph O'Brien in 2017.

Another of his sons from 'the north', Contributer, who was bred by the late Lady Chryss O'Reilly's Petra Bloodstock Agency, raced initially in Britain for Ed Dunlop and George Bolton before joining Godolphin's Australian stable of John O'Shea. To his two Listed wins in England, he added four group victories in Australia, including the G1 Chipping Norton and G1 Ranvet S. 

Syndicated by Darley in partnership with Mapperley Stud, Contributer has stood in New Zealand since 2016, two years after High Chaparral died at the relatively young age of 15. Already the sire of G1 Randwick Guineas winner Lion's Roar, Contributer's tally of Group 1 winners was doubled on Boxing Day when Campionessa (NZ) landed the Cambridge Stud Zabeel Classic at Pukekohe Park. Two hours later the aforementioned Lion's Roar won the G3 Schweppes Summer Cup in Sydney. Both horses are now six and are members of Contributer's first crop.

In Europe at this time of year, the major action is of course all about the jumps and while it was 'King George Day' at Kempton Park, there was a three-way tie for the top race of the afternoon, with lovable underdog Hewick (Ire) landing the feature contest but receiving strong competition for top billing from the return of the best hurdler in training, Constitution Hill (GB), and French raider Il Est Francais (Fr), who won the G1 Kauto Star Novices' Chase.

It is no faint praise for the man who has won 13 King George Chases, Paul Nicholls, to compare Il Est Francais to his mighty former stable star, Kauto Star, whose name is now attached to the race formerly known as the Feltham Novices' Chase. A scintillating prospect, the five-year-old Il Est Francais is from the first crop of Karaktar, an Aga Khan Studs-bred dual Group 3 winner on the Flat. On his retirement, he found his way to Haras de Cercy, where he was always likely to be given an excellent chance to succeed on the roster at one of the best National Hunt stallion studs in France. As a side note, the final race won by Karaktar was the 2015 G3 Prix du Prince d'Orange. Behind him that day in third was the indefatigable Not So Sleepy (GB), who is now 11 and won the G1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle earlier this month.

As one might expect, Karaktar has a decent pedigree behind him and is from a family which includes the group-winning stayers Kasthari (Ire) and Kargali (Ire), as well as the G2 May Hill S. winner Karasta (Ire) who is now the dam of Listed-winning hurdler Karasenir (Ire). And with the weight of Cercy and its strong clientele of National Hunt breeders, he is making a noteworthy start to his stud career. Il Est Francais, who was already a Grade 1 winner in France, heads a list which includes his fellow French graded winners Incollable (Fr), Janeiro Verde (Fr) and Ile O Vent (Fr). 

Ten minutes before the victory of Il Est Francais in England, Karaktar was also represented by Kala Conti (Fr), who won the G2 Mercedes-Benz South Dublin Juvenile Hurdle at Leopardstown. Karafon (Fr), who is by the same sire, was less than six lengths behind him in fifth. 

Both wins will have brought not just reflected glory to the Aga Khan Studs but also plenty of enjoyment to the team there as Fanny Cyprés, who works in nominations and client relations at Haras de Bonneval, is the daughter of Jacques and André Cyprés who are both heavily involved in the co-operative behind Haras de Cercy, while Amanda Zetterholm, who co-trains Il Est Francais with Noel George, also worked for a number of years for the Aga Khan Studs in France.

Moreover, the victory of Il Est Francais was the first winner in his homeland in seven seasons for jockey James Reveley. The grandson and son respectively of trainers Mary and Keith Reveley, James left England in 2016 to pursue a career in France, initially working for champion trainer Guillaume Macaire. It was clearly a sensible decision as he is the reigning French champion jump jockey, a title he has won on three occasions, and is currently second in the table for 2023 behind fellow Brit Felix de Giles. 

 

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We The People To Enter Stud In Peru For 2024

Grade 3 winner We the People will begin his stallion career at Haras San Pablo in Peru for the 2024 Southern Hemisphere breeding season, the South American publication Turf Diario reports.

The 4-year-old son of Constitution sold to the farm for $75,000 last month as a racing or stallion prospect at the Keeneland November Horses of Racing Age Sale.

Trained by Todd Pletcher and raced by the partnership of WinStar Farm, Bobby Flay, CMNWLTH, and Siena Farm, We the People won four of eight starts and retired with earnings of $524,843.

After breaking his maiden on debut on Oaklawn Park by 5 3/4 lengths during February of his 3-year-old season, We the People followed up with an allowance optional claiming win at the same track by five lengths.

He then finished out of the money in the G1 Arkansas Derby, then rebounded with a front-running 10 1/4-length triumph in the G3 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park. that effort made We the People a leading contender for the 2022 Belmont Stakes, where he ultimately finished fourth after once again setting the early fractions.

We the People's summer campaign saw him finish second in the G3 West Virginia Derby and out of the money in the G1 Pennsylvania Derby. He raced once in 2023, winning an allowance optional claiming race at Keeneland.

Bred in Kentucky by Henley Farms Inc., We the People is out of the unraced Tiznow mare Letchworth. His second dam is the Grade 1 winner Harmony Lodge, and his extended family features Grade 1 winners Magnum Moon and Pinehurst, as well as Grade 2 winners Graeme Hall and Diligence.

We the People will join Grade 3 winner Ocho Ocho Ocho on the Haras San Pablo stallion roster.

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