Good Morning Bloodstock: Fact To File's feats remind us why his late sire Poliglote was such a prodigious talent

Poliglote established himself as one of the best French National Hunt sires this century. Butler’s Cabin, Don Poli, Hinterland, Let’s Dance, Lingo, Politologue, Sire Du Berlais, So French, Spirit River, Spirit Son, Top Notch: that’s merely skimming the surface of the deep pool of talent by the son of Sadler’s Wells.

Poliglote was retired at his long-term home of Haras d’Etreham at the age of 26 in early 2018 and died a few weeks later. He had covered only six mares in the previous year – resulting in a single live produce, the placed filly Izoard – which means that the 18 foals by him born in 2017 constitute his last full crop.

Those seven-year-olds by Poliglote are putting an exclamation mark on their sire's progeny record. Astadame, Colbert Du Berlais and Ha La Land have all won black-type races in France, while Hermes Allen looked a potential star for Paul Nicholls when he bolted up in the Challow Novices’ Hurdle at Newbury in 2022 but was sadly lost in action at Sandown this year.

Fact To File looks like being by far the best of that generation, though, judging by his game victory over Spillane’s Tower, Galopin Des Champs and Fastorslow in a hotly contested John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown on Sunday. 

The strapping bay was bred in France by Michel Pehu, a dealer in tractors and other agricultural machinery, and is one of three winners from four runners out of the Trempolino mare Mitemps. 

He is only the second horse with upper-case black type under his first four dams, after Auteuil Grade 3 scorer D’Vina, but further back it is Francois Dupré’s famous family of Prix de l’Abbaye-winning full-siblings Texana and Texanita. 

Fact To File was sold by Haras de Grandcamp as a yearling to Donnchadh Doyle for €40,000 at the Arqana Autumn Sale in November 2018. It took a while for the point-to-point maestro’s investment to mature, but it’s fair to assume it was a bumper payout when JP McManus did eventually step in to buy the horse privately after he strolled to success in a Belharbour maiden at the age of five.

Fact To File won first time out for new trainer Willie Mullins at the end of his five-year-old season, before finishing runner-up to A Dream To Share in bumpers at the Dublin Racing Festival and the Cheltenham Festival at six. He looks built to jump fences, and so was sent straight into that discipline last season, and won Grade 1 novice chases at Leopardstown and Cheltenham earlier this year.

A strong stayer with abundant class and a touch of grit, he looks worthy of his position as the new Cheltenham Gold Cup favourite. 

Poliglote owed the industry nothing, having sired 20 crops that contained no end of stars, but it’s still a shame that Fact To File, the one by him who could burn brightest, represents the end of his production line. 

He doesn’t appear to have any sons at stud in France, either, with Hello Sunday no longer in service and Irish Wells exported to Ireland. That’s a bit surprising when he fulfilled a dual-purpose role and other leading French sires such as Martaline, Saint Des Saints and Voix Du Nord all have a smattering of representation in the stallion ranks across the Channel.

French breeders’ closest access to his genes looks like being his maternal grandson Gary Du Chenet, a smart hurdler/chaser by Martaline and out of his daughter Tanais Du Chenet, winner of the prestigious Prix Cambaceres. He has covered books of 80, 88, 102 and 53 mares in his first four seasons at Haras du Lion.

Irish Wells has had no coverings registered with Weatherbys in the past three seasons and so it appears as though British National Hunt breeders are in the unusual position of having one up on Ireland and France in having a son of the wonderful jumps influence Poliglote close at hand.

Dink, a fair performer in Spain out of the Woodman mare Napeta, was rescued from an obscure stallion role in France to stand at the Skelton family’s Alne Park Stud in Warwickshire in 2021, on the back of his very few early runners including Dan Skelton’s Spanish-bred multiple Grade 2-winning and Grade 1-placed two-mile chaser Nube Negra.

Dink covered books of 47, 48 and 18 mares during his first three years at Alne Park Stud, but only four last year. His first British crop is aged two, and he sired the grand total of 36 foals in the preceding five years on the continent, so runners by him are still rare; and yet he has been in decent form nevertheless. 

Ace Of Spades, a five-year-old half-brother to Tolworth Novices’ Hurdle winner Tahmuras, looked smart when scoring in a maiden hurdle at the Cheltenham November meeting in recent weeks, while Denzil, a three-year-old full-brother to Nube Negra, won on debut over hurdles at Stratford last month and finished a close second at Warwick last Thursday. Both are trained by Skelton.

In fact, Dink has been represented by only six runners in Britain and Ireland, and four have won (the other, Noche Negra, is another full-brother to Denzil and Nube Negra) and the other two have finished placed. Admittedly, one of those, Quimba, was a distant third in a seller, but even without her it’s not a bad statistic. The sire deserves a little respect. 

With so few stallion sons, and no obvious chance of a sire-line descending from him, Poliglote might have to rely on his daughters to preserve his presence in pedigrees. They have done a fine job so far, as they have produced this year’s Grand National hero I Am Maximus (by Authorized), high-class siblings Goshen (also by Authorized) and Elimay (by another son of Montjeu in Montmartre), and other highly rated runners Cap Du Nord, Marble Sands and Polirico.

Breeders Noel and Kevin Heaney didn’t miss the affinity between Authorized and daughters of Poliglote, which creates 3x3 on-paper inbreeding to Sadler’s Wells, as they sent the Derby hero their Grade 1-winning Poliglote mare Fleur D’Ainay upon his return to Ireland to stand at Capital Stud this year.

Three foals out of Poliglote mares – colts by Affinisea and Bathyrhon and a filly by Dee Ex Bee – are due to sell at the Goffs December National Hunt Sale next month. The lot by Bathyrhon might prove especially popular, as he is a half-brother to Paul Nicholls’ promising novice Kalif Du Berlais (by another son of Montjeu in Masked Marvel, intriguingly).

With so few stallion sons, and no obvious chance of a sire-line descending from him, Poliglote might have to rely on his daughters to preserve his presence in pedigrees. They have done a fine job so far, as they have produced this year’s Grand National hero I Am Maximus (by Authorized), high-class siblings Goshen (also by Authorized) and Elimay (by another son of Montjeu in Montmartre), and other highly rated runners Cap Du Nord, Marble Sands and Polirico.

Breeders Noel and Kevin Heaney didn’t miss the affinity between Authorized and daughters of Poliglote, which creates 3x3 on-paper inbreeding to Sadler’s Wells, as they sent the Derby hero their Grade 1-winning Poliglote mare Fleur D’Ainay upon his return to Ireland to stand at Capital Stud this year.

Three foals out of Poliglote mares – colts by Affinisea and Bathyrhon and a filly by Dee Ex Bee – are due to sell at the Goffs December National Hunt Sale next month. The lot by Bathyrhon might prove especially popular, as he is a half-brother to Paul Nicholls’ promising novice Kalif Du Berlais (by another son of Montjeu in Masked Marvel, intriguingly).

It would certainly be worth looking out for any of the younger daughters of Poliglote if and when they come up for auction. A few by the sire have sold for peanuts in France, in the flesh and online, over the past year. They might not all have the best claims on their race or production records, but many will have fine pedigrees.

Indeed, Poliglote’s greatest strength as a sire might have been the Flat-standard class he put into matings, as he won the Criterium de Saint-Cloud and finished second in the Prix du Jockey Club for the Wertheimers, and he was incredibly well bred.

Not only was he by Sadler’s Wells, but he was also out of Prix Cleopatre winner Alexandrie, a daughter of Val De L’Orne who produced no fewer than 13 winners, including Pattern scorers Alexius, Animatrice and King Alex.

Other half-sisters produced Group/Grade 1 winners I’m Your Man and Special Ring, while descendants of Alexandrie also include Classic-placed Fleeting and Roosevelt as well as jumps celebrities Footpad, Hoo La Baloo and Heart Wood.

That breeding also no doubt aided Saddler Maker, a son of Sadler’s Wells and Animatrice and so very closely related to Poliglote, in becoming a brilliant source of National Hunt talent too, in spite of him achieving little on the track and covering at small fees. He left Alpha Des Obeaux, Apple’s Jade, Bristol De Mai, Gerri Colombe and Janika, as well as Fontaine Collonges, who sauntered to victory in what had looked a competitive Class 2 handicap chase at Haydock on Saturday.

Poliglote’s profile also entitled him to become a capable Flat sire, of course, and after his Wertheimer-bred and owned daughter Solemia ran down Orfevre to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 2012 he held the rare distinction of being France’s champion sire for both Flat and National Hunt that year.

It makes you wonder what jumps-oriented stallions in Britain and Ireland might be able to achieve on the Flat if they were given more of a chance. 

Surely it’s not out of the question that at least one of all those accomplished and well bred sons of Galileo, Montjeu and Sea The Stars who have headed straight into National Hunt studs could have come up with a top-class middle-distance horse if they had been sent a classy mare and had the resultant foal placed with a top trainer?

However, that's not to take anything away from Poliglote who, as Fact To File has reminded us, was truly one in a million.