FRIDAY’S sale was not long underway when one of the most-anticipated lots in the catalogue for the Goffs UK Doncaster British NH Breeders Showcase entered the ring.
Swanbridge Bloodstock’s May 7th son of Walk In The Park, the only colt in the sale by the sire, is out of the winning hurdler Princess Vega, and the dam was acquired carrying the colt in February at Goffs for €150,000.
Now, her breeders got more than half of their investment back when Gerry Aherne’s £70,000 bid proved to be enough to take home this trophy lot.
Princess Vega is a daughter of the great hurdling mare Quevega, and six of her 16 wins were gained in the Grade 2 (now Grade 1) David Nicholson Mares Hurdle at Cheltenham. At Grade 1 level, Quevega won four times at Punchestown.
Two lots later and it was the turn of Dahlbury’s Golden Horn filly out of the Grade 1 Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Put The Kettle On to shine. Offered from Cobhall Court Stud, the filly cost Ed Bailey Bloodstock and the OLBG Racing Club £62,000. The Henry de Bromhead-trained Put The Kettle On was sold at the Goffs UK Aintree Sales two years ago for £380,000, and this is her second foal.
Bloodstock agent Bailey bought the previous lot too, another filly foal by Golden Horn. Part of the Mill House Stud consignment, this filly is a daughter of the French jumps winner Protektrice, and that mare’s half-brother is the multiple Grade 1 winner Protektorat. One of his biggest wins was at Cheltenham in the Ryanair Chase. The filly cost Bailey £36,000.
Also selling for £36,000 was James and Jean Potter’s son of Gentlewave, the third foal of a bumper placed daughter of No Risk At All. The colt’s grandam bred the dual Grade 1 hurdle winner, and Cheltenham Festival hero, Whipper, and she is grandam of the Grade 1 World Hurdle winner Lisnagar Oscar. Jerry McGrath signed for the colt.
One of the last of the foals to go through the ring was Yorton’s son of Blue Bresil out of the Nickname mare Nicknack. The February-born colt is a half-brother to two winners, and Mark Dwyer’s Oaks Farm secured him for £34,000.
Yearlings
Just two of the small selection of yearlings sold, Ballincurrig House Stud’s daughter of Walk In The Park, a full-sister to the useful The Changing Man, trading for £20,000. Luke Cummins’ Belleville Bloodstock bought this filly who is out of the Grade 1 hurdle winner Bitofapuzzle.
Three of the handful of mares on offer sold. Coolmara Stables spent £45,000 on the bumper and hurdle winner Ony For Love, a Kalanisi half-sister to two blacktype winners over jumps who was consigned by Yeo Barton Bloodstock. Only For Love is due to foal next February to Choeur Du Nord. Simon Cox paid £35,000 for the following lot, the Grade 2-placed three-time winner Elusive Belle, and she is carrying her third foal, this time by Golden Horn. A third sale took place privately in the immediate aftermath of the sale.
This second edition of the sale failed to live up to expectations, and the aggregate was down from last year. The clearance rate was a disappointing 59%, though both the average and median were level with last year.
REMEMBERING two stalwarts of the National Hunt breeding world, Richard Aston and Robert Chugg, the foal classes that preceded the one-day Goffs UK Doncaster British NH Breeders Showcase carry their names, and offer a tasty £5,000 prize to the winners of both.
Aston, who owned Goldford Stud with his wife Sally, has his name appended to the class for colts, while ‘Chuggy’ has the filly class named in his honour. He owned Little Lodge Stud with his wife Jackie. Ireland’s Luke Cummins, Highflyer Bloodstock’s Tessa Greatrex and Frenchman Antonin Pelsy had the difficult task of picking winners.
Little Lodge Stud won the inaugural colt’s class last year, and they presented this year’s winner too. Trull House Stud’s Crystal Ocean colt out of the Kayf Tara mare Teesdale was an outstanding first foal, and his win came on the same day that The Beeches Stud stallion sired his first National Hunt winner. The Pat Murphy-trained three-year-old filly Watamu made a stunning debut at Stratford to win the junior bumper by almost nine lengths.
It was another good judge, the Sweeting’s Overbury, who won the battle in the ring for the colt, the hammer falling at £40,000. Teesdale is a daughter of the Aintree listed bumper winner Candy Creek, while the star of the family is the Grade 1 Cheltenham Stayers’ Hurdle winner Bacchanal.
Juliet Minton’s Mill House Stud acted as agent for Jos and Nicky Hanbury, the breeders of a Nathaniel daughter of the high-class racemare Atlanta Ablaze. That daughter of Kayf Tara won three listed mares’ chases when trained by Henry Daly. Ironically, the filly won the class from a foal that was homebred by Minton.
Showing again how demand is strong for well-bred and well-made fillies, the class winner went on to light up the sale ring, eventually selling for £70,000 to the Mariga family’s Coolmara Stables. This Cork-based stud farm is noted for its fine collection of well-bred mares and fillies, and this was another gem to add to their collection.