While it might be a difficult market for National Hunt breeders looking to turn a profit on their young stock, there is certainly no shortage of value to be found in the stallion market for those looking to breed winning progeny on the track, which is highlighted by Yorton Farm Stud’s Pether’s Moon, who is standing for a fee of £3,000 this season.

The 15-year-old son of the outstanding six-time Gr.1 winner Dylan Thomas currently sits 12th in the leading young National Hunt sires’ table with an impressive 22 winners from 57 runners this season, which is nearly a 40 per cent winners to runners ratio. The only British-based stallion with a better winners to runners ratio than him this season is Overbury Stud’s Golden Horn (Cape Cross) at 41 per cent, and the only active British-based stallion above him in the leading table of winners is Alne Park Stud’s Ocovango (Monsun), with 40 winners from 136 runners at the time of writing.

Trained initially by Richard Hannon Snr, Pether’s Moon got off the mark on his first attempt as a three-year-old in a maiden contest over 1m on the all-weather at Kempton, before going on to win a handicap at Goodwood and a Listed contest back on the all-weather at Kempton later that season. The training licence was then switched to Richard Hannon Jnr and, during his four-yearold campaign, he was placed in the Gr.2 Jockey Club Stakes, the Gr.2 Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot behind fellow National Hunt stallion Telescope, and the Gr.2 Princess of Wales’s Stakes, before going on to win the Gr.3 Glorious Stakes at Goodwood, the Gr.2 Bosphorous Cup in Turkey and the Gr.3 Cumberland Lodge Stakes at Ascot. He then rounded off his racing career the following season with a win in the Gr.1 Coronation Cup at Epsom in 2015, before being retired to take up stallion duties at Yorton the following year.

Now in his tenth season as a stallion, he has produced a total of 44 winners from 89 runners, nearly a 50 per cent winners to runners ratio. He has sired 33 of those winners in Britain, with eight winners from just ten runners in France, and two winners from just six runners in Ireland. Once you take into account that his first three crops of foals were bred off a fee of just £2,250, these are impressive numbers.

His fine run of form this season has continued since the turn of the year as he kicked off with a winner on New Year’s Day in the form of the four-year-old gelding Pethers Lane, who made a winning debut in a 2m maiden hurdle contest at Exeter for trainer Jane Williams. Bred by Yorton Farm Stud, he will have learned plenty from this debut and looks more than capable of winning again, being from the family of the Listed-winning National Hunt sire Diamond Boy, the three-time Gr.1-winning chaser Golden Silver (both by Mansonnien) and this season’s Gr.1 Challow Novices’ Hurdle winner and current Gr.1 Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle second favourite The New Lion (Kayf Tara).

Just over two weeks later, Pether’s Moon enjoyed a memorable three days when he sired no less than five winners across five different cards from 18th – 20th January. Starting at Haydock on the 18th, the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained eight-year-old gelding Uncle Bert won for the fifth time over hurdles when landing a 3m1/2f handicap contest. Bred and owned by James and Jean Potter, he has been an excellent servant to his connections, hitting the frame in 12 of his 21 career starts and amassing over £85,000 in prize money in the process. With an official rating of 136 over hurdles, he holds entries for both the Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle and Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

Nigel Twiston-Davies also trained another son of Pether’s Moon to victory at Taunton on the same day in the form of the seven-year-old gelding Safe Destination, who ran out a two and a quarter-length winner of the 2m7f handicap chase on the card. Again bred by Yorton Farm Stud, he was purchased for £38,000 at the Tattersalls Cheltenham February Sale in 2022 and now runs in the colours of Malcolm Berryman. He has now hit the frame on all five of his starts over fences so far this season, winning on three of those occasions.

The following day Pether’s Moon enjoyed a winner at Windsor in the form of the Robbie Llewellyn-trained Titan Discovery, who landed a competitive handicap hurdle over 3m to notch his third career win. As well, another winner came for Nigel Twiston-Davies at Fakenham in the form of the six-year-old mare Mavis Pike, who won the 2m novices’ handicap hurdle on the card. The memorable three-day period for the stallion was rounded off by yet another Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained winner, with the six-year-old mare I Am The Moon making all to win a 2m3f mares’ novices’ hurdle at Warwick on 20th January, before she then finished runner-up on her next start at Uttoxeter earlier this month. Pether’s Moon has also sired two winners in February, to take his tally of winners for this calendar year to eight, which includes the Ben Pauling-trained five-year-old gelding Wolf Moon. Onceraced in a point-to-point, he made his debut under Rules at Huntingdon last month when finishing just two lengths behind Nicky Henderson’s Palladium (Gleneagles), who was purchased for a whopping €1.4m at the Arqana Arc Sale last year after he won the Gr.1 Deutsches Derby at Hamburg in July, before he then came out and shed his maiden tag in a 2m maiden hurdle contest at Southwell last week. He is a half-brother to the Gr.1 Punchestown Champion Bumper winner Redemption Day (Blue Bresil) and they are out of an unraced full-sister to the Gr.1 Champion Bumper and Gr.2 Scottish Champion Hurdle winner Cheltenian (Astarabad). Ultimately, Pether’s Moon is proving to be a reliable source of winners on the track for what is a relatively modest covering fee of £3,000. The only British-based stallion out-performing him this season in terms of winners is Ocovango, who stands at a fee of £4,500, and the only British-based stallion with a better winners to runners ratio than him this season is Golden Horn, who stands for a fee of £10,000. With that in mind, it is fair to say that Pether’s Moon offers both consistency and value for those looking to breed winning jumpers.

Written by: Killian Hunt, EBN 27th February 2025

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Pether’s Moon (IRE)