Why Flemensfirth’s a class act
Waiting Patiently proves that he’s a chip off the old block, reports
WAITING PATIENTLY, such a poignant winner of Saturday’s Ascot Chase, was not only a fine tribute to his late trainer Malcolm Jefferson, but also to his sire and his breeder.
The progressive seven-yearold was a 14th individual Grade One winner for the splendid veteran Flemensfirth, and a second of the season for him after the high-class novice hurdler Poetic Rhythm. Both horses were bred by Co. Wexford farmer Vincent Finn.
Only four stallions, all Irish-based, have sired more than 14 individual Grade One winners: Oscar, King’s Theatre, Strong Gale and Presenting. Flemensfirth’s list is headed by 2010 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Imperial Commander and multiple top-level scorers Tidal Bay and Flemenstar.
A classy performer at around 10 furlongs when with John Gosden in the mid-1990s, Flemensfirth turned 26 this year and has now started his 21st season under the Coolmore banner at The Beeches in
Co. Waterford.
“You don’t get many like him,” said the stud’s Robert McCarthy. “He’s in great form and already has had a mare scanned in foal.”
In deference to his years, the son of Alleged will have a reduced book this year, at a fee of €15,000 (£13,300).
UNRACED DAM
THE dams of both Waiting Patiently and Poetic Rhythm visited Flemensfirth in 2010, after Imperial Commander’s Cheltenham triumph. The two are unrelated, but both are from families developed by Finn’s late father Ned, who died in his 90s in January last year after a lifetime with horses.
Waiting Patiently, who had a price tag of €16,000 at auction as a three-year-old, is out of the unraced Beneficial mare Rossavon, one of an extraordinary 18 foals from her dam Sparkling Opera, likewise unraced.
Rossavon had only five foals. Waiting Patiently’s older brother Walking In The Air won over hurdles but died in action as a six-year-old on his chasing debut, with that pair followed by an unnamed trio by Milan, of whom the youngest, the mare’s only daughter, is now three.
Different branches of the family descended from Rossavon’s third dam Shinaro have produced other high-class runners in the past, notably staying hurdler Mighty Mogul and Cheltenham Festival winners Ballynagour and Miller Hill.