Jan_137_BreederOfTheMonth_Owner 14/12/2015 15:15 Page 106
BREEDER OF THE MONTH
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NH BREEDER OF THE MONTH – October/November Two of Cue Card’s three Grade 1 triumphs during the calendar year 2013, the Ascot Chase in February and the Betfair Chase in November, earned Roland Crellin a Breeder of the Month award. After finishing runner-up in that year’s King George VI Chase, little went to plan for the Colin Tizzard-trained son of King’s Theatre. However, an operation to help his breathing seems to have worked the oracle, testament indeed to the expertise of the veterinary profession. Cue Card gained a first victory for nearly two years in the Grade 2 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby on the last day of October – and three weeks later the nine-year-old defeated his old rival Silviniaco Conti to equal that opponent’s record for two Betfair Chase victories. The Charlie Hall Chase commemorates one of the stalwarts of the National Hunt scene during the 1950/60s. Based at Tadcaster in his native Yorkshire, Charlie Hall’s name was indelibly linked with Clifford Nicholson of Limestone Stud for whom he trained 1956 Champion Hurdle hero Doorknocker. Most of Charlie Hall’s horses were chasers, amongst them Culworth and Stormhead, both dual winners of the Topham Trophy. He also won the Aintree feature with Clear Cut, whom his successor and stepson Maurice Camacho trained to win the Mackeson Gold Cup. Charlie was an elder brother of Middleham trainer Sam Hall and both died within weeks of one another in 1977. Although the Betfred Chase has only been in existence since 2005 it is steeped in history. Still registered as the Lancashire Chase, it proved one of the most important staying chases in the calendar when run at Manchester from its inauguration in 1884 until the course closed in 1963. Two dual post-war winners were Coloured Schoolboy and Hart Royal. The temporary hiccup to Cue Card’s racing career is nothing compared to his dam’s in-and-out breeding record. In five consecutive years (2009-2013) Wicked Crack failed to have any progeny. Then in 2014 she produced a colt from the final crop of the Coolmore resident Gold Well. Last season aged 22, she foaled a Milan filly in late June before visiting Leading Light. Over the years Roland Crellin has paid some substantial prices for bloodstock and it cost him €120,000 to secure Wicked Crack through Tattersalls Ireland in 2002 carrying her first foal. Successful six times,
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GEORGE SELWYN
Roland Crellin
Cue Card: top-class performer for the Colin Tizzard stable
over hurdles and fences, she had finished second in the Rehearsal Chase at Chepstow and her half-brother, Whats The Creek, was third in the Sun Alliance Chase. Crellin’s mentor was Richard Aston, from whose Goldford Stud Cue Card realised €75,000 as a yearling at the Tattersalls Ireland February Sale in 2007. Between them Cue Card and his elder half-brother Hidden Crack were responsible for Wicked Crack being voted the TBA’s National Hunt Broodmare of the Year for 2012/13. Her retained daughter The Wicked Kipper is an own-sister to Cue Card. Roland Crellin, who is engaged in various business enterprises, owns the 300-acre Brook Farm at Penhow, east of Newport in Gwent, and the Welshman used to run as many as 10,000 sheep in the Chepstow area. While their numbers have declined, his broodmare band has expanded with a number of high profile acquisitions. Indeed, on the Saturday preceding Cue Card’s Haydock Park victory, the Grade 1-winning hurdler Adriana Des Mottes, a five-yearold by Network, who was trained by Willie Mullins for Susannah Ricci, was procured for €145,000, carrying to Shantou, the top price at the Tattersalls Ireland November National Hunt Sale.
THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER