John Ingles highlights the achievements of a veteran stallion who delivered two Grade 1 winners at Cheltenham this week.
Several sires ended the week with more than one winner at the Cheltenham Festival and Jukebox Jury topped the list with three. His trio was headed by Il Etait Temps in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, while Johnny's Jury in the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle and Holloway Queen in the National Hunt Chase were successful over much longer trips.
Of those sires who had a couple of winners, Well Chosen was notable for striking twice at Grade 1 level thanks to Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner Old Park Star (replay below) and the Champion Bumper winner The Mourne Rambler. Interestingly, both Well Chosen and another sire who had two winners, Great Pretender (responsible for Champion Hurdle winner Lossiemouth and BetMGM Cup winner Jingko Blue) must be two of the oldest jumps stallions in service, both having turned 27 this year.
Unlimited Replays
of all UK and Irish races with our Race Replays
Discover Sporting Life Plus Benefits
Not many horses with a Timeform Flat rating as low as 84 would be given a chance as a stallion, but at least Well Chosen had an excellent pedigree to recommend him even if he didn’t live up to it on the track. He had some size about him too, with Timeform describing him as ‘a good-topped, angular colt’. Trained by Ed Dunlop for Maktoum Al Maktoum, Well Chosen gained his only win in a maiden on the all-weather at Lingfield over thirteen furlongs.
As for his pedigree, Well Chosen was by Sadler’s Wells, coming from the same crop as one of his Derby winners High Chaparral, and was out of the smart filly Hawajiss, winner of the Musidora and Nassau, and placed in the Oaks and the Irish Oaks in between.
Standing in County Tipperary at Kedra House Stud, Well Chosen’s initial focus was on producing sport horses rather than thoroughbreds, but he turned out to get some good results with the thoroughbred mares he covered.
Old Park Star is now Well Chosen’s highest-rated jumper on the Timeform base with a hurdles rating of 157p, though he’s hardly typical of his sire’s other leading jumpers who have tended to be staying chasers. They include Adamantly Chosen who was placed in Grade 1 novice chases, the Thyestes winner Carefully Selected, the Grade 2 Florida Pearl Novices’ Chase winner Jury Duty, also successful in the Grand National Hurdle in the USA, and the National Hunt Chase runner-up Chemical Energy. All four of those contested a Grand National, the first two for Willie Mullins and the other two for Gordon Elliott, albeit without making much impact.
Mullins also trained Billaway, a son of Well Chosen who won the Hunters’ Chase at the Festival in 2022, having twice finished runner-up in the race, and Well Chosen went close to having a third winner of the week at Cheltenham this year when Will The Wise finished runner-up for Gavin Cromwell in the Plate Handicap Chase.
Another of Well Chosen’s best jumpers is Chosen Mate who is not only a full brother to Old Park Star, but a Festival winner too as he started favourite when winning the Grand Annual as a novice in 2020 for Elliott. Underlining the fact that he was a lot pacier than most by his sire, Chosen Mate even had the speed to win a maiden on the Flat at Killarney later that year, so it’s not surprising that Old Park Star has been hugely effective over two miles himself.
There is a thorough stayer among their more immediate relatives, however, as Old Park Star’s dam is a half-sister to the dam of useful chaser Milborough whose wins included the Eider Chase. Further back, the family produced a much earlier Supreme winner, Bannow Rambler in 1975. He stayed further over fences later in his career, starting favourite for the 1977 Gold Cup, but was brought down on the first circuit and remounted to no avail.
Meanwhile, The Mourne Rambler took his record in bumpers for Noel Meade to two out of two (replay below) and looks more of a staying type than Old Park Star, having finished second previously in his Irish point. His dam Lobinstown Girl ran her best race for the same stable when second in a three-mile hurdle and has bred two other winners by Well Chosen. They included Sixshooter who also won both his bumpers before proving a useful staying hurdler for Meade, finishing third in the Galmoy, but sadly never got the chance to build on an impressive debut over fences.
Unlimited Replays
of all UK and Irish races with our Race Replays
Discover Sporting Life Plus BenefitsLike Old Park Star, The Mourne Rambler has a big Festival winner back in his pedigree. His great grandam was a half-sister to Anzum who gave Richard Johnson his first Festival victory when he won the Stayers’ Hurdle at 40/1 in 1999.
More from Sporting Life
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
