Nice Guy finishes first in sparkling week for Kilbarry Lodge

Con O'Keeffe received the best possible tonic for the dose of the flu with which he is currently afflicted when The Nice Guy leapt from maiden hurdle success to victory on jump racing's greatest stage in the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle.

The Fame And Glory gelding is now unbeaten in four starts and was bred by O'Keeffe at his Kilbarry Lodge Stud in Waterford. On Friday he helped make racing history for Willie Mullins, who became the first trainer to record a double-figure tally of winners at a single Cheltenham Festival.

O'Keeffe purchased The Nice Guy's dam Kilbarry Beauty privately from her breeder Ger Quirk after she was unsold at the Tattersalls Ireland November Foal Sale in 2007, the year her older half-brother Massini's Maguire won the Ballymore Properties Novices' Hurdle for Philip Hobbs.

"I liked the family and she was by Saffron Walden and a half-sister to a Cheltenham Grade 1 winner," explained O'Keeffe. "It was a lovely family and she was a smashing mare.

"I gave her to John Kiely to train and he won a bumper with her and a maiden hurdle; she went in foal then to Fame And Glory."

O'Keeffe sold The Nice Guy to the Hit The Diff Syndicate for €33,000 as a foal at Tattersalls Ireland in November 2015.

Watch The Nice Guy's win in the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle here

The second Cheltenham Grade 1 triumph for the family is, sadly, laced with poignancy as The Nice Guy is the only foal out of his star-crossed dam.

O'Keeffe said: "Unfortunately she died the same year she foaled The Nice Guy. It's a dreadful shame, I would love to still have her, she was a gorgeous mare so it's very bittersweet."

Something which provided added meaning to the victory was a connection to winning jockey Sean O'Keeffe, who was celebrating his second Cheltenham success and first Grade 1 triumph.

One of the young rider's first wins on the track came on Kilbarry Angel in 2018, a half-sister to Irish Grand National winner Rogue Angel, trained by his namesake, who is no relation.

"It was a fantastic ride by Sean; myself and Sean go back a long way in that his brother Conor worked for me here at the stud a couple of years ago and I gave Sean one of his first winners on the track," said O'Keeffe.

"Sean's a smashing jockey and comes from a lovely family. They are a Wexford family and steeped in National Hunt breeding; his grandparents and parents would have bred a lot of good horses."

L'Homme Presse was the first Cheltenham Festival winner for Kilbarry Lodge Stud's Diamond BoyCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

On Wednesday, another Kilbarry Lodge homebred had performed well but with no reward at Cheltenham; Journey With Me looked nailed on for a place behind Sir Gerhard in the Ballymore but for a fall at the last.

The son of Mahler is unbeaten in his completed starts and hails from O'Keeffe's foundation family, as his dam Kilbarry Demon is a half-sister to Racing Demon and to the dam of Askanna and Abolitionist. His second dam is a half-sister to triple Grade 1-winning chaser Merry Gale.

Kilbarry Lodge is also very much in the stallion business and the triumph of L'Homme Presse in the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase was a milestone for Diamond Boy, who has stood at the Waterford farm since 2018.

The Venetia Williams-trained chaser became his sire's first Grade 1 winner earlier this season and is now his first Cheltenham Festival winner.

"That was wonderful and the horse jumped beautifully," said O'Keeffe. "It was great for Diamond Boy, he really needed that. It's nice to see L'Homme Presse doing so well, and Diamond Boy's stats are fantastic.

"L'Homme Presse's crop (foaled in 2015) has produced five black-type performers from just 24 runners. He has small numbers but he will have big crops coming from next year, his Irish-bred crops."

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