This son of Saxon Warrior was purchased at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale — the same sale where we sourced Sir Busker for just €25,000 in 2017. Graduates of this sale are eligible for the €250,000 Super Auction Sales Race, in which we finished a close second with Flashcard, himself a €36,000 purchase, a few seasons ago. It is a sale that has repeatedly delivered outstanding value and success for Kennet Valley.

Saxon Warrior, a son of Japan’s legendary sire Deep Impact, is out of the Group 1-winning Galileo mare Maybe. He won the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy as a juvenile before landing the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket at three. At stud, his first crop featured Breeders’ Cup winner Victoria Road, helping propel his fee to €35,000. While his commercial momentum has steadied slightly since, his progeny continue to advertise his class, with Group performers such as King’s Gambit, Lumiere Rock and Rage Of Bamby keeping his name firmly in the spotlight.

Comic Hero’s dam, Sense Of Humour, was a winner over seven furlongs and boasts an exceptional pedigree from the Anthony Oppenheimer family. She is by leading European sire Dark Angel, now emerging as a highly influential broodmare sire, most notably through Havana Grey, one of the most exciting young stallions currently at stud. Sense Of Humour is out of a Bernardini mare — a top-class maternal influence — who is a half-sister to 2,000 Guineas winner Footstepsinthesand and Group 1-winning juvenile Pedro The Great, both successful stallions in their own right. It is very much a stallion’s pedigree, with depth and quality throughout.

Comic Hero made an encouraging start to his racing career and, despite being agonisingly denied a win as a two-year-old, showed himself to be a well-above-average young horse. He confirmed that promise when powering to a decisive victory on his first start of the current campaign on the all-weather at Kempton.

He has since returned to turf, most recently at Musselburgh, where he was unlucky in running but lost little in defeat. We remain very hopeful for the season ahead and confident there is plenty more to come.