Winter Million bumper star Our Jester and his fittingly unconventional pedigree

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Here he digs down into the unconventional pedigree of Lingfield bumper winner Our Jester - subscribers can get more great insight from Martin every Monday to Friday.

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The obituary pages of The Times often make for an enjoyable if bittersweet read, featuring as they do fascinating tales of lives less ordinary.

The article written about Tim Billington – the late joint-breeder of Our Jester, an easy winner of the Winter Million bumper at Lingfield on Sunday – after his death in August 2020 was full of rich detail.

Billington was the son of accomplished tennis players Henry, who competed in the Davis Cup and was also a keen point-to-pointer, and Susan, the last woman to serve underarm at Wimbledon, apparently. The parents played mixed doubles together on Centre Court at the championships.

Billington was pretty nifty with a racquet himself, playing tennis at county level. He was also the uncle of Tim Henman, one of four successive generations in the family to have competed at Wimbledon.

Henry and Susan Billington also ran a small thoroughbred stud at their Pangfield Farm near Reading, from where they bred Country Wedding, who carried the silks of the International Lawn Tennis Club and gave Bob Champion his first ride in the Grand National.

Tim Billington inherited the farm upon his father’s death in 1980 and specialised in growing potatoes and seasonal vegetables, earning the nickname of Mr Asparagus among locals. He also became a champion of the Countryside Stewardship scheme, protecting natural habitats on the property to benefit wildlife.

He trained a few point-to-pointers with some success and drew his wide circle of friends into the syndicates that raced the stud’s produce, many of whom were the results of inexpensive matings.

Fittingly, Our Jester – trained, like most of Billington’s horses, by his friend Hughie Morrison – has a less than conventional pedigree.

The six-year-old, an impressive winner on his last two starts in bumpers, is the only winner among the 15 runners in the National Hunt sphere by the Group 1-winning sprinter Garswood. The sire has hitherto been best known for supplying five-furlong specialists Little Kim, Pendleton and Significantly.

His half-sister Urban Artist, by Cityscape, was also a dual bumper winner for the same connections, including in a Listed mares’ race at Cheltenham. She didn’t seem to appreciate being sent over hurdles but flourished for a switch to the Flat, winning three races and running second in the Group 3 Bronte Cup at York last season.

The trajectory of Urban Artist’s career mirrored that of her dam Cill Rialaig, a rare top-notcher by Environment Friend.

She also scored in two bumpers, including a Listed contest at Cheltenham, and went on to shine on the Flat – in her case by winning four races, including the Duke of Edinburgh Handicap at Royal Ascot, and notching four third-place finishes in Listed company.

It’s quite something that Cill Rialaig and two of her three offspring to have raced should have proven to be so talented, as the mare was the only surviving produce of her own dam Pang Valley Girl, an unplaced daughter of Rock Hopper – another far from glamorous stallion, albeit one who gave Morrison his Champion Hurdle runner-up Marble Arch.

Pang Valley girl was, in turn, the first foal Billington bred from Riverine, a daughter of Risk Me related to the great Ballymacoll Stud mare Hellenic who he bought for buttons after she was well beaten on both her starts.

Riverine produced four winners, three of whom achieved a Racing Post Rating of 100 or more, all trained by Morrison for the Pangfield Partners – Pango, Sohraab and Valencha.

In a remarkable echo through the generations, the smart Sohraab and his exciting ‘great-nephew’ Our Jester both defied their fathers, though in directly opposite ways.

While Our Jester has sufficient stamina for a two-mile bumper despite being by the sprinter Garswood, Sohraab was a sharp sprinter who excelled over the minimum trip despite being by the Derby winner Erhaab.

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Pedigree pick

The breeding of Patsy’s Honour, who on Tuesday bids to improve on a first-time-out sixth in a Fairyhouse bumper in a similar event at Down Royal today (4.10), represents a bit of turf history.

The Cape Cross six-year-old, trained by Tony Martin for John Breslin, is the first produce of Busted Tycoon, a daughter of Montjeu who became the first ever three-time winner during one week at the Galway Festival when scoring in two staying handicaps and a hurdle race for the same connections in 2013.

Patsy’s Honour made up a little ground on his debut, so it’s not out of the question he could run well against some likely looking sorts from the powerhouse stables of Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins.

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Good Morning Bloodstock is our latest email newsletter. Martin Stevens, a doyen among bloodstock journalists, provides his take and insight on the biggest stories every morning from Monday to Friday