Champion Bumper

Just over a month after being granted his trainer's licence, Colm Ryan lit up the Leopardstown Christmas festival when the not unfancied Karate Kid (Ire) (Spanish Moon) ran out a most impressive winner of the 2m4f bumper--a race that has been won by subsequent Grade 1 horses Carefully Selected (Ire), Appreciate It (Ire) and Fact To File (Ire) in recent times.  This was the first time in six years where the powerful yards of Willie Mullins or Gordon Elliott weren't responsible for the winner of the race and Karate Kid...

Is it just me or should France be known as the bloodstock land of opportunity? This is the country that saw Wootton Bassett (GB) and Walk In The Park (Ire) pull themselves up by the bootstraps after entering the stud book at relatively modest sums. There are few serious racing nations that provide as much of a chance for a stallion to flourish than France does. Take Kauto Star (Fr), the greatest staying chaser of the modern era, as an example. He hailed from the largely unheralded Village Star (Fr)...