Timmy Murphy© Photo Healy Racing
Shirocco (stands at Dalham Hall in the UK for 7K) is the sire of the very exciting unbeaten mare Annie Power and the German-bred stallion was responsible for another breath-taking bumper winner, at Towcester today, as Red Sherlock sluiced up in the Free Tips @gg.com Intermediate Open National Hunt Flat Race.
Trained by David Pipe and owned by David Johnson, the four-year-old is out of the same connections high-class chaser, Lady Cricket, and he's a half-brother to Swing Bowler (that Galileo mare has won five from five thus far).
Red Sherlock went off the 7/4 favourite today. He 'strolled' through the contest under Timmy Murphy and he made light of the testing conditions to ease away up the straight – slamming Irish point-to-point winner, Indian Castle (making his debut for Donald McCain and Jason Maguire) by twenty three lengths.
Murphy told At The Races afterwards: "He's a nice horse - we've had him since he was a yearling so he was with us for two years and we always thought he was okay.
"Obviously when you send them down to 'Pipey' they always improve. I was impressed. He did it professionally. He was around here as a two-year-old so he knows what he's doing. He travelled lovely and enjoyed the ground.
"I always said he wanted a bit of an ease in the ground but that's fairly testing. He travelled easily. He didn't really have to quicken up to be fair – he just galloped to the line. He's alright.
"The mother (Lady Cricket) is proving to be as good a broodmare. All of Lady Cricket's off-spring have brilliant attitudes. They are broken in the stable – they're very straight-forward and I think that's a big help."
Stan James go 12/1 Red Sherlock for the Cheltenham Bumper. (EM)