Grade 1 double at Aintree for south-west breeding contingent
MY DROGO (GB) made it a day to remember for Gloucestershire-based breeders, giving them their first top-level triumph on Grand National day at Aintree Racecourse when landing the Gr.1 Mersey Novices’ Hurdle on Saturday afternoon. The impressive performance was shortly followed by victory for THYME HILL (GB) in the Gr.1 Liverpool Hurdle, providing operations in south-west England with yet another cause for celebration.
Bred by Richard and Elizabeth Kelvin-Hughes, also responsible for fellow Aintree Gr.1 winner SANTINI (GB), at their Trull House Stud near Tetbury, My Drogo (MILAN {GB}) is out of the Gr.2-winning MIDNIGHT LEGEND (GB) mare MY PETRA (GB), acquired at the Doncaster Spring Sale in 2007 for £75,000. The feat represented the six-year-old’s fourth consecutive win over hurdles, including the Gr.2 Supreme Trial Novices’ Hurdle at Ascot Racecourse last year and the Gr.2 Premier Novices’ Hurdle at Kelso a month ago for in form trainer Dan Skelton.
Skelton had to settle for a close second with Roksana in the Gr.1 Liverpool Hurdle, however, while Thyme Hill added another top-flight win to his impressive CV for Tewkesbury-based Overbury Stud. The Gr.1 Challow Hurdle-winning son of recently retired multiple Champion National Hunt Sire KAYF TARA (GB), out of ROSITA BAY (GB) (HERNANDO), was back to best having missed the Cheltenham Festival due to a minor injury.
Simon Sweeting, Manager of Overbury Stud, told GBRI:
“It’s very exciting, and I’m happy, that Gloucestershire is providing winners. Nobody needs to send their mares anywhere else!”
Reflecting on Thyme Hill’s performance, Sweeting said:
“He [Thyme Hill] has beaten an absolutely wonderful filly [Roksana] in the process. It’s a real shame Paisley Park has to pull up but it was a proper horse race with two really, really top quality horses.
“Cheltenham is what we are all focussing at and we are always hoping to have winners there but it probably did him no harm not having the race there. Phillip [Hobbs] has always said he likes to give him a gap between races.”
Sweeting continued:
“It’s very special for us. You don’t have to be very clever when you’ve got Kayf Tara standing here to send your mare to him. It’s very rewarding and very much worth the wait.
“The mare [Rosita Bay] is still here and in foal to Frontiersman, a young stallion that we’ve got by Dubawi out of Ouija Board, so it’s a great chance for him but he’s being throwing some exceptional foals which is why I used him on her last year.
“We’ve got a two-year-old filly by Jack Hobbs and a yearling gelding by Jack Hobbs so she has done us pretty well. She looks like she’s got a couple of foals left in her still so we hope we can carry on with her.”