Owner :
Pedigree
Sadler's WellsAsk
Request
Unnamed
2012 bay gelding
Sea Raven
Allgrownup
Penny Pincher
The family
There's can be no doubt that it was the conformation of 'Kerr'
that attracted us as bidders at the August 2014 Tattersalls
(Ireland) National Hunt store sale.
The family does not have a pedigree that would leap out at anyone in
the sales catalogue, without any black-type performers in the
immediate family.
That's not to say there are not winners there though. The Old Vic mare Vic O'Tully was unraced and she has 6 foals to date all as yet to set foot on the racecourse.
However, grand dam Miss O'Tully has produced winning
hurdler/point-to-pointer Carroll's O'Tully and winning pointer
Perdel.
3rd dam, The Bay O'Tully, has also bred a winner under rules and a
winning pointer.
About the sire
Gamut (bay horse, born 1999) raced in each of 5 seasons from 2 to 6
when trained by Sir Michael Stoute in the early 2000s. He won 6
races, and was ridden by Keiron Fallon in each of those victories.
And he showed himself as a top class racehorse, with all those wins
coming at around 12f, including the Group 1 Grand prix de
Saint-Cloud as a 5yr old.
At stud, although marketed as a dual purpose sire standing at
Sunnyhill Stud in Ireland, his progeny have been almost totally NH
focused.
Road to Riches is from Gamut's first crop and is a very useful
chaser/hurdler (a Grade 3 winning hurdler), as Gamut has built a
reputation as a sire of strong gallopers. From his 3rd crop, Joshua
Lane finished 3rd in the 2014 Festival Bumper. Donald McCain is a
big fan of his stock.
Our owner Charlie Whillans has enjoyed a fair amount of success in
acquiring horses with the 'Bollin' prefix out of Tim Easterby's stables
in recent years. Bollin Fiona is a good example of the raw, backward,
flat racing type that catches his eye.
Upon arriving at Dodlands at the tail end of 2006, Bollin Fiona had run in a couple of flat races
as a 2 year old, clearly showing that she need more time to mature.
Being honest, after a couple of seasons at Dodlands, she still showed signs
of needing time to mature!
So, following on from 3 novice hurdle outings, Fiona started off
her second NH season in a novice hurdle at Kelso in
November 2009, where she ran much more promisingly in 6th, although her jumping lacked a little fluency,
over 2 miles on heavy ground.
And that heavy ground has certainly proved the key to our mare.
We've always had to work hard on her jumping, and she progressed over the next
few months to gain her maiden win, under a fine ride by Callum
over 2½ miles at Carlisle in March 2010.
Over the course of the following two seasons, Fiona had been knocking on the door of a follow-up
victory, but despite staying on in races, it has often been
her patch jumping which has let her down.
But she did delight us all in June (at the start of the current 2012-13 season) when staying on
with ears pricked to prevail at Hexham in heavy conditions.
She'll be schooled over fences, and if we're happy she may take in a couple of novice
chases as well as handicap hurdling for the 2012-13 season.
| Season | win | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | other | |
| 2014-15 | NH Flat | 3 | ||||
