This weekend Doyen enjoyed a double at Loughanmore, the scene of success for the subsequent Grade 1 winner Battleoverdoyen.
In the opening mares' maiden The Mean Queen was a very impressive scorer and has become the highest rated four-year-old mare of the season so far and looks a very exciting prospect for handler Ellen Doyle.
She easily accounted for Oldastle runner-up Caoimhe Lady and looks to have a very bright future.
Half an hour later the four-year-old geldings' maiden saw Undersupervision score for Cormac Doyle. This fine strapping chasing sort enjoyed this galloping track and looks set for success on the Grade 1 tracks around the UK and Ireland in the future.
At Dromahane Paul O’Connell produced Doyen Queen to take the winners race having won a four year old maiden at The Pigeons in 2018 and she is now back to her best and looks a nice mare to look forward to for connections having been lightly raced so far.
Meanwhile at Cheltenham on Saturday John McConnell produced Streets of Doyen to win his fourth race in succession to win the Novice hurdle by three lengths and this followed victories at Roscommon, Gowran and Cork since 28th September which is an exceptional rise from a mark of 113 to bypass the 130 mark recently and he is still improving.
Michael Hickey’s Sunnyhill Stud have long been associated with leading National Hunt stallions and the emergence of Doyen in recent times is making a notable mark on the NH stock presently.
Even from his early crop’s horses such as Valdez, Pine Creek and Golden Doyen showed that he would become a strong force in the NH sphere when the opportunity allowed.
He was then sold to Gigginstown House Stud for £235,000 at the Tattersalls Cheltenham sale and won a Grade 1 Hurdle at Naas earlier in January of 2019 and by December he had added a Grade 1 success over fences at Leopardstown also.
Gordon Elliott was also responsible for the sadly ill-fated but hugely talented Rapid Escape who was another point-to-point graduate.
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