Munir and Souede strike with homebred

The two-tone green silks of owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede have become a familiar sight in racing and on Saturday, their homebred Fusil Raffles sauntered to victory in the Grade 2 Adonis Juvenile Hurdle at Kempton.

Fusil Raffles was making his first start for trainer Nicky Henderson having previously been trained in France by Guillaume Macaire and looked a leading contender for the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival next month.

However, upon returning to the winner’s enclosure, the four-year-old was found to have struck into himself during the race, which left him with a cut to his hind leg. A veterinary examination took place on Monday morning to ascertain the extent of Fusil Raffles’ injury, with Henderson later tweeting that his exciting prospect is highly unlikely to run at the Festival.

Munir and Souede bred Fusil Raffles, by Haras d’Etreham resident Saint Des Saints, out of the Listed runner-up Tali Des Obeaux, a daughter of Panoramic who is a half-sister to the dam of Alpha Des Obeaux.

Saint Des Saints is another French jumps stallion to have been successful in the National Hunt sphere, having won a Grade 2 hurdle for Macaire back in 2002. Kapgarde, sire of Cheltenham Gold Cup candidate Clan Des Obeaux, and Nickname, whose son Cyrname struck in the Grade 1 Ascot Chase earlier this month, also proved their merit over obstacles.

Tali Des Obeaux featured as part of the Munir and Souede dispersal at the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale in December 2018, when she was bought by Highflyer Bloodstock for €20,000.

Cue Card’s half-brother off the mark

The Paul Nicholls-trained Hugos Other Horse captured the bumper at Fontwell on Sunday, nine years after his half-brother Cue Card scored at the track on his debut. Cue Card went on to win nine Grade 1 races and over £1.4 million in prize-money.

Trained for the Stewart family, Hugos Other Horse, a five-year-old son of Gold Well, showed resilience to fend off the Emma Lavelle-trained Thunderstruck by a head.

Rowland Crellin bred Hugos Other Horse, like Cue Card, out of the six-time winning King’s Ride mare Wicked Crack and the mare has produced four winners from five foals of racing age. Sadly, Wicked Crack is no longer alive but still has a four-year-old filly by Milan and a three-year-old Leading Light filly to race for her.

Tom Malone and Nicholls secured Hugos Other Horse for £80,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland Cheltenham November Sale in 2017.

Gold Well’s trio

Hugos Other Horse was one of three horses by the late stallion Gold Well, who died in 2013, to strike at the weekend and significantly, the half-brother to Cue Card is from the last crop of foals produced by the son of Sadler’s Wells.

Another of Gold Well’s foals from his last crop scored on Sunday in the shape of the Lucinda Russell-trained Mint Gold, who won the 2m1f novices’ hurdle at Carlisle at odds of 50-1.

On Saturday, the Nicky Henderson-trained Dickie Diver opened his account at the second time of asking when justifying favouritism to take the 2m3½f maiden hurdle at Chepstow. Bred by Noel O’Brien out of the Flemensfirth mare Merry Excuse, Tim Hyde purchased the gelding for £210,000 at the Goffs UK January Sale in 2018.

Gold Well, an unraced brother to the late Montjeu, resided at Artic Tack Stud for the majority of his stallion career before moving to Beeches Stud where he stood one season in 2013 before his death.

Notable progeny by Gold Well include Grade 1 scorer Holywell and the Grade 3-winning chasers Sausalito Sunrise and Johns Spirit.