Owner : Chas. N. Whillans
Pedigree
Saddlers HallSilver Patriarch
Early Rising
Bollin Fiona
2004 chesnut mare
Rock Hopper
Bollin Nellie
Bollin Magdalene
The family
Bollin Fiona is out of that sound, multiple winning flat performer Bollin
Nellie.
She is a half sister to Bollin Judith, who was a
useful staying flat handicapper on the flat for Tim Easterby winning 6 times.
She is now hurdling with trainer Jim Best, and opened her NH account in April
2012.
The grand dam Bollin Magdalene won 4 hurdle races, has bred 5 winners including
winning hurdlers Bollin Felix, Bollin Thomas & Bollin Annabel.
Multiple flat winner Bollin Derek is a close relative to Bollin Fiona being out of Bollin Magdalene,
and sharing the same sire - Silver Patriarch.
The 3rd dam Klairlone bred 12 winners from 12 runners, and all in all a
very good racing family.
About the sire
The grey Silver Patriarch was proving such a success as a stallion
under both codes, that his passing in 2009 was such a bitter
disappointment.
As a racehorse, he was a classic winning top class runner trained by
John Dunlop winning 8 of his 24 races from 2 to 4 years. These wins
included 3 Group 1s, and a second place in the Derby to Benny the
Dip.
At stud, he was proven to be equally successful - siring the winners
of over 40 races on the flat, and over 100 in the NH sphere (and
still counting).
His best known sons are Lucinda Russell's 2010 Blue
Square Gold Cup hero Silver by Nature, and Grade 2 winning hurdler
Rimsky, Listed flat winner Party Boss and My Arch.
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 | |
| 2008-09 | hurdles | 3 | ||||
| 2009-10 | hurdles | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 2010-11 | hurdles | 1 | 4 | |||
| 2011-12 | hurdles | 1 | 4 | 2 | ||
| 2012-13 | hurdles | 1 | ||||
