The Walk In The Park show picked up where it left off on Tuesday at Goffs when Gerry Aherne and Charles Shanahan went to €90,000 to acquire a colt by the Coolmore Stud sire.

Offered by Ballincurrig House Stud on behalf of Cathal Ennis’s Quill Farm, the colt is out of the dual-winning blacktype King’s Theatre mare Appy Days, who is a full-sister to the high class Royal Alphabet.

“He is a quality foal and has a smashing temperament,” Ennis said afterwards. “I was a bit worried that he was a June foal and that it might be a bit much for him but he never turned a hair and I’m delighted he is going to a good home in Coolmore. I prepped him myself at home and Michael [Moore] and his team in Ballincurrig have done a grand job with him here.

"The mare is promising; she has a Getaway three-year-old that is highly thought of and hopefully this foal will be lucky for his new connections,” Ennis added.

Two lots later another foal by the sire of Jonbon and Facile Vega lit up the ring when selling to Kevin and Anna Ross for €80,000. This colt is out of the Jeremy mare Ard Abhainn who was an effective operator on the track, winning a listed hurdle at Thurles and this was her second produce.

“He’s a lovely, quality foal by Walk In The Park and has loads of scope,” Anna Ross said of the Castlefarm Stud-offered foal. “He comes from a nice family and the sire is obviously going well on the track, so he made a lot of sense. He’s been bought as a pinhooking project for Chris Jones, so he will go back to Killeen Glebe now and hopefully make his way back here as a three-year-old. He’s one to look forward to,” she added.

Tough market

Despite plenty of action at the top end things were tough enough lower down the ranks, as evidenced by the 58% clearance rate which contributed to a turnover of €2,154,800, an average of €16,449 and a median price of €12,000.

Early in the session Peter Molony struck for a son of Walk In The Park from Jimmy and Eileen Furlong’s Thistletown Stud for €70,000. The June foal is out of the Shirocco mare Valjan who is a half-sister to Champion Hurdle and Triumph Hurdle winner Katchit as well as Lingfield Oaks Trial winner Miracle Seeker.

Peter Molony then swapped hats to act as consignor of a daughter of Crystal Ocean who sold to Nicky Bertran de Balanda’s NBB Racing for €62,000.

Molony was selling the daughter of very smart racemare Cap Soleil on behalf of Cyril Crowe and Mags Melody of Ballykilty Farm and the trade represented a very decent return on investment, given Molony’s Rathmore Stud had purchased Cap Soleil carrying this foal at Goffs UK in January for £75,000.

“It’s been a quick turnaround, but she’s a lovely filly and we’re delighted with that price,” Cyril Crowe said afterwards. “We had a good foal sale last year and we were keen to improve the calibre of mare that we have and take it up a level. Given the selective nature of the market, you really need to have those quality mares.

"We had found ourselves getting well paid for good colts, but even our good fillies were only bringing in their stud fee, so we wanted to get ourselves a mare that we could get paid for a filly too.

"When Cap Soleil came up for sale in January, we asked Peter to have a look at her and he approved, so he bought her for us. We’re cattle breeders and dairy farmers by trade, so we’ve decided to keep our stock as selective as possible. We’ll have five mares to cover next year, so it’s a great result.

"We used to do a bit of pinhooking but found that we were getting squeezed out of the type of foal that we used to aim to buy, which made us step back and evaluate what it was we were trying to achieve. Instead of competing for those foals, we decided to try to supply them to the market.

"Cap Soleil is not in foal this year, but we’ll aim to get a nice, early cover into her next year. We haven’t decided on a stallion just yet, but she has all options open to her. We have three more foals to sell this week, so we’ll get them sold and sit down to discuss it amongst ourselves afterwards,” Crowe added.

Mangan sale

Crystal Ocean was also the sire of a colt who sold to Kieran Shields for €50,000. This transaction concluded a good day for Jimmy Mangan’s Conna Stud as the Cork trainer and breeder had earlier saddled Spillane’s Tower to win a novice chase in the colours of J.P. McManus at Punchestown.

Another by Coolmore’s veteran stallion Walk In The Park who sold well was a colt from Oliver Loughlin who went the way of Alan Harte for €50,000.

Out of Alleygrove Lass, who is a half-sister to the brilliant three-time Cheltenham Festival winner Alberta’s Run, the colt is a half-brother to a blacktype horse in Presence Of Mind, while his own-brother is the progressive Gigginstown-owned Will Do.

Fellow Coolmore stallion Order Of St George got in on the act late in the session when Joey Logan bought a colt by that stallion for €52,000. Offered by Caroline Berry the colt is out of Darlana, a full-sister to the brilliant hurdler Darlan.

Moments earlier another Order Of St George foal proved popular when a well-related colt from Cleaboy Stud & Coppice Farm sold to White Horse Stud for €50,000. The colt out of Dancingwithbubbles is a half-brother to the high-class pair of Captain Teague and Sky Pirat,e and a grandson of Grade 1 winner Kate’s Charm.

The third day of foals continues on Wednesday from 10am.