Mother Nature can be credited with fashioning the early days of Crambo, whose success in Ascot’s pre-Christmas thriller for the Howden Long Walk Hurdle earned Sullivan Bloodstock the award as TBA Breeder of the Month for December.
The record books show that the company which Jared Sullivan runs with his wife Beatrice was officially responsible for breeding Crambo, for whom joint ownership with Chris Giles represents a return to a partnership that had already hit the heights with such as King George winner Silviniaco Conti and smart sprinting filly Tiggy Wiggy.
However, Crambo’s dam Cardline, the first foal from a family of winning French jumpers, who was bought through Highflyer Bloodstock for €45,000 at Arqana in December 2016, has to take all the plaudits for actually foaling the gelding who has become a strong fancy for staying hurdle success at the Cheltenham Festival.
Noel Fehily, long-time racing manager for Sullivan and responsible for boarding his patron’s three mares at his farm in Lambourn, takes up the story.
“I saw Cardline was in the sale and thought we should buy her,” he says. “She was from a jumping family, and she was in foal for the first time to Saddler Maker, who had died that year but was already responsible for such as Bristol De Mai, Apple’s Jade and Alpha Des Obeaux, who had all started their jumping careers well.
“She came back to me, and one morning at the beginning of February 2017, I went out to see her in the paddock, and her foal was on the ground. That was Crambo.
“Cardline wasn’t due for a couple of weeks, so she did everything herself, very naturally. I’ve had mares who foaled a couple of days early but never before, or since, one who produced a fortnight before we expected.
“As for Crambo, he was always a beautiful foal, if not overly big. When he got to being a three-year-old, he wasn’t really big enough to send to the store sales, so we decided to keep him. He has grown since then, but his biggest attribute is that his heart is as big as his body.”
Crambo won his first three races, underwent wind surgery after being pulled up behind Hermes Allen in the Challow Hurdle at Newbury on New Year’s Eve 2022, and returned with two more wins at the beginning of last year.
“At the end of the season, trainer Fergal O’Brien said Crambo could make the leap to the top of the staying-hurdler class,” Fehily recalls. “And that is what has happened. Things don’t always work out in racing, but it has with Crambo.”
Sadly, but not necessarily unexpectedly, there is another side to the coin for Sullivan Bloodstock and the story of Cardline in particular. Fehily explains: “She had two more foals but in 2021 we lost her to colic, and unfortunately her foal died too.”
Still, Cardline’s second foal The Village Way, a gelding by Spanish Moon who has been retained by Sullivan, has registered three seconds from four outings for Dan Skelton, while connections are looking forward to “a nice, unraced four-year-old filly by Soldier Of Fortune” leaving Fehily to join O’Brien within the next few weeks.
“Breeding is a tough game,” Fehily says, “and you need a lot to go your way. At least we have Crambo, and Cardline’s last foal will keep her line going.”
