Recognising the achievements of breeders, the Mare of the Moment is run in association with the Irish National Stud. The owner of the mare will receive a personalised headcollar. This month's prize goes to Sainte Baronne (Fr), the dam of G1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper favourite Appreciate It (Ire).
A winning point-to-pointer as a 4-year-old, Appreciate It, by the late Jeremy, has sailed through his last two starts in Leopardstown bumpers, winning by six lengths over Christmas and then following up with a 7 1/2-length triumph in a Grade 2 contest at the Dublin Racing Festival. This puts the 6-year-old in pole position for the Weatherbys Champion Bumper on the Wednesday of the Cheltenham Festival, a race his trainer Willie Mullins has won on nine occasions.
Appreciate It was bred by Frank McNulty through Barmakin Ltd & South Lodge Stud from the Saints Des Saints (Fr) mare Sainte Baronne (Fr), who was placed in three bumpers in Ireland before being retired to the paddocks. The 16-year-old's second career has proved more fruitful than her first as three of her first four offspring are winners. The first, Pilgrim Way (Ire) (Kalanisi {Ire}), won three times over hurdles for his breeder, while Danny Kirwan (Ire) (Scorpion {Ire}) was an easy maiden point-to-point winner before being sold on to race for Paul Nicholls. He won a bumper on his debut under rules and was runner-up in the G2 Supreme Trial Novices' Hurdle at Ascot last season. He too could be heading to Cheltenham, with entries in the Coral Cup and Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle.
So far, the 138-rated Appreciate It looks to be the best of the bunch, with Mullins stating at a recent press morning at his stable, “He has done everything right in his two runs and will have a big chance [at Cheltenham]. He has a huge cruising speed, which is probably what you need for the race. He'd have to be one of our main hopes.”
Since Appreciate It was born, Sainte Baronne has produced a 4-year-old filly by Fame And Glory (GB), and a colt and a filly by Soldier Of Fortune (Ire) in each of the two following years.
The mare was herself bred in France by Haras de Clairfeuille out of Belle Baronne (Fr) (Akarad), a four-time winner on the Flat and also the dam of Grade 3-winning chaser Bingo Bell (Fr) (Fijar Tango {Fr}).
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