Last Sunday at Fairyhouse, the 5-year-old Al Boum Photo produced an impressive performance when beating dual Group 1 winner Shattered Love by a length in the Group 1 Ryanair Gold Cup Novice Chase. Trained by Willie Mullins, Al Boum Photo provided his sire Buck’s Boum, a rising star in the world of national hunt stallions in Europe, with his first Group 1 winner.

Bred by Henri Poulat at the Haras de Gouffern, Buck’s Boum by Cadoudal out of Buck’s, was born in 2005. He is the full brother of Big Buck’s, the nine-time Group 1 winning champion hurdler who was born two years before Buck’s Boum at the Haras de Gouffern. Even though Buck’s Boum might not have enjoyed the same success as his older brother on the racecourse, he nevertheless was one of the best 3-year-old national hunt horses in France, finishing his season as the runner-up to the great Long Run in the Group 1 Grande Course de Haies des 3 ans – Prix Cambacérès.

Retired to stud in 2011, Buck’s Boum, together with leading sire Saint des Saints, is the last son of Cadoudal to stand in Europe. In 2017, he was regarded a promising young sire, but barely a year later he reached new heights in the world of national hunt stallions thanks to Al Boum Photo, but also to Duc des Genièvres, who has been placed twice in a Group 1 race in Ireland.