THERE was a distinctly Gallic flavour to the results of the Doncaster Spring Store Sale held by Goffs UK this week, with many French stallions featuring at the head of the market, alongside Kayf Tara, the best National Hunt sire in recent generations to stand in Britain.

Furthermore, five of the top 11 lots, all of which brought £80,000 or more in the ring and all of whom are three-year-olds, were fillies.

The initially oft-derided enhanced race programme for mares and fillies is filtering back into the prices they now bring when offered for sale, and it appears that past prejudices among most agents and trainers have been buried.

Four lots brought six-figure winning bids, and the sale highlight appeared on Monday, the first of the two sessions devoted to stores. From one of the best families for half a century or more in racing, Lulham Bloodstock’s Kayf Tara gelding out of the once-raced Gaye Sophie, by Environment Friend, is a full-brother to the former Henry de Bromhead-trainer Monbeg Chit Chat, a four-time winner and now a successful hunter chaser in Britain.

Silver Hallmark

More importantly, two of the sale-topper’s half-brothers were successful in blacktype races, notably this year’s Grade 2 winning novice chaser Silver Hallmark. That son of Shirocco was making only his second start over fences, being beaten a short head by Fiddlerontheroof on his chasing debut.

The gelding’s trainer Fergal O’Brien made a strong play, along with others for the three-year-old sibling, but the hammer fell in favour of Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls.

Lulham Bloodstock is run by George Snell and his daughter Libby and they purchased the Kayf Tara as a foal, in a private transaction, from their near-neighbour Scarlett Knipe. The colt had been to the Tattersalls December Sale where he failed to attract a buyer at 28,000gns. His dam is a half-sister to Grade 3 winning chaser Simon, and to the dams of this year’s Irish Grand National winner Freewheelin Dylan, Cheltenham Festival winner and Irish Grand National second Oulart.

Mount Nelson

An hour earlier Malone and Nicholls combined again to pay £150,000 for a Mount Nelson son of the Sadler’s Wells winning mare Eos. Bred by Peter and Sandra McCarthy and sold as a foal to Clifton Farm for €46,000, he was resold on this occasion from Johnny Collins’s Brown Island Stables.

This half-brother to the Grade 2 chase winner Charbel and five other winners will eventually join the yard of the champion trainer, after a period spent in pre-training with Will Biddick.

Nicholls had to fend off a sustained challenge from Kim Bailey and Aiden Murphy for the son of Mount Nelson who sadly died in late 2019. The former Newsells Park and Boardsmill Stud stallion was equally at home siring Grade 1 winners on the flat and over jumps, and Bailey’s interest in his son was understandable, given that he trained Charbel and now handles the career of another sibling, last season’s four-time novice hurdle winner Ajero.

Murphy’s spending spree includes top lots

AIDEN Murphy and Kim Bailey may have been out of luck on the opening day of the sale when trying to secure the top two lots, but they struck on Tuesday for the session’s top lot, Rathmore Stud’s Saint Des Saints son of the listed-placed Martaline mare Nomad Attitude. The grey gelding is that mare’s first foal and cost £105,000.

Nomad Attitude was purchased for just €17,000 by Brian Grassick Bloodstock in 2016 and mated with Saint Des Saints before heading to Ireland where she is now based. Peter Molony was selling on behalf of a client, the gelding having sold as a foal for €42,000 to Rathbarry Stud.

Bloodstock agent Murphy had to see off Highflyer Bloodstock’s Anthony Bromley to secure the session’s best lot, and a few hours later the same pair locked horses over the top filly of the week, Goldford Stud’s Kayf Tara daughter of the listed hurdle winner Whoops A Daisy. Murphy came out on top again, this time with the killer bid of £100,000.

On this occasion Murphy was buying for Barbara Hester who is putting the filly in training with the agent’s son Olly. The trainer sent a half-sister, Angel Of Harlem, out to win five times and be listed-placed, while in March he saddled a half-brother Go Dante, in Hester’s colours, to win his bumper impressively on his sole run to date. Ironically, the Kayf Tara filly was bred by Goldford’s Sally Aston in partnership with Nicky Henderson who trained the dam.

No Risk

Aiden Murphy was extremely active throughout the sale and another of his major purchases was Trickledown Stud’s I Am No Risk, a son of No Risk At All and a half-brother to three winners in France. The agent was forced to £85,000 to secure him, a major advance on the €17,000 he cost just six months ago at Arqana.

On that occasion he was a speculative purchase by Highflyer Bloodstock’s Tessa Greatrex for Colin Tinkler, and he sent him to the sale from Paul and Sara Thorman’s Trickledown. His only store for sale this year, Tinkler will now have plenty of ammunition to reinvest.

Fillies proving their worth again

FILLIES are proving to be quite a desirable product and trade for them this week reflected that positive and ongoing momentum.

Highflyer Bloodstock’s Anthony Bromley was thwarted for the best one of the week, but he had earlier secured Ballincurrig House Stud’s daughter of Presenting, the first foal out of an unraced half-sister to the dual Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Master Minded.

Acting for longstanding clients Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, Bromley saw the hammer fall in his favour at £88,000. He was naturally attracted to the filly as he bought Grade 1 winner Master Minded and a few other siblings. The filly will now join Stuart Crawford.

Two daughters of Walk In The Park each sold for £80,000. An hour into the sale the Aston’s Goldford Stud presented their homebred second produce of a King’s Theatre half-sister to Grade 1 winning chaser J’y Vole, and she was knocked down to Ross Doyle. The filly will now join the Tizzard yard.

Kemble gamble

At the second session that price was matched by Simon Earle’s winning bid for the well-related daughter of Mille Et Une. That daughter of Trempolino was a three-time winner in France and runner-up in listed races over hurdles and fences. She has four winning offspring. Stephen Kemble sold the Walk In The Park which he bought for €28,000 as a foal.

Another filly selling for £80,000 was Ballincurrig House Stud’s Blue Bresil daughter of the Mount Nelson mare Pixey Punk. Her sire is now based in Ireland at Glenview Stud, and this second produce of her dam is a half-sister to a two-year-old winner. She sold to Tom Malone and will spend some time in Ireland before joining Michael Scudamore.

Impatient wait proves worthwhile

FRENCH stallions Montmartre and Crillon were responsible for two of the best-priced geldings of the store sale. Ian Ferguson had to wait until near the end of the sale to secure Impatient, a son of Montmartre, for £95,000.

The buyer, whose name was on the scoresheet as a trainer at this year’s Cheltenham Festival thanks to Galvin, has sourced many top-class winners over many years for clients. His latest purchase is out of a half-sister to the smart French hurdler Miss Sarenne. The gelding was sold by Norman and Janet Williamson’s Oak Tree Farm.

I Love My Baie, a well-named son of Buveur D’Air’s sire Crillon, was sold by Peter Vaughan’s Moanmore Stables to Highflyer’s Anthony Bromley for £80,000, one of 20 purchases over the two days by the agency. The gelding’s four-year-old full-brother is Hermes Baie, a dual Grade 3 winner on his two most recent starts, and he could add further lustre to the family page if he wins this weekend at Auteuil.

In total, 41 lots sold for £50,000 or more across the two days, a significant increase on 2019’s 22 lots. The final average of £32,105 represented a 21% increase on 2019’s figure and was 13% above the former 2017 record. The median also posted a new record of £27,000.

Delighted boss

A delighted Goffs UK managing director Tim Kent commented on Tuesday evening: “Following unprecedented vendor demand for places in this sale, which led to its expansion to two days, we were hopeful of a successful sale and we marketed this catalogue as arguably our strongest ever. It is wonderful to have delivered on that hype and produced the best set of statistics in the sale’s 60-year history.”

He added: “We are delighted to have delivered a strong buying bench who embraced the marked increase in quality and drove the market back to its rightful position as one of the premier National Hunt store sales of the year.”