CHEVELEY Park Stud has signalled its intention to continue investing in National Hunt racing by paying £360,000 on Friday evening for a recent Irish point-to-point winner.

There had been speculation that the Newmarket nursery would focus purely on flat racing following the death of David Thompson in late 2020. Although Cheveley Park’s top jumpers such as A Plus Tard, Allaho and Sir Gerhard have continued to win big races in the meantime, the stud has not been active in acquiring new recruits for the winter game.

However, that all changed at Friday’s Tattersalls Cheltenham November Sale when bloodstock agent Alex Elliott paid £360,000 for the Denis Hogan-trained Mahon's Way, winner of a Lisronagh maiden last weekend.

Elliott said: “He’s been bought for Cheveley Park Stud to go to Henry de Bromhead. They very kindly gave us an order earlier this year after A Plus Tard won the Gold Cup. I came down here, it looked a great catalogue so I thought there’d be some options.”

Mahon's Way is by sire-of-the-moment Walk In The Park. "His physical and his pedigree and his performance at the weekend all added up,” Elliott said.

“They can be very impressive but sometimes the physicals don’t add up with the race performance, but if they do they’re generally good horses. I actually spoke to Norman Williamson, who pinhooked him as a foal, and he said he couldn’t speak highly enough of him. It’s a great result for Denis and it’s great to have Cheveley Park back in action in the ring.”

Consignor Denis Hogan said: “From day one we’ve loved him. I wouldn’t have bought him without one of my friends, Tadhg O'Shea. Obviously he’s based out in Dubai but he was with me at the sale. We failed on another horse from Norman Williamson's, but he told us he had another horse to have a look at. He’s a great salesman and he’s a great judge of a horse – if he hadn’t told me about him I wouldn’t have bought the horse.

“We went really over budget on the day but thank God we did because he’s paid us back. I’m delighted he’s gone to a good home in Henry de Bromhead and Cheveley Park, and Alex Elliott too, they’re top connections.

“I hope he goes on to win a Gold Cup for them because he’s definitely got the makings of a Grade 1 horse. He was good at the weekend but that’s only a fraction of what he can do, I think there’s a load more to come. I’ve got to thank my team back in the yard because I could not do this without them, they’re top class and they make my job very easy.”

Gordon Elliott buys

The second-highest price of the evening was £330,000, which trainer Gordon Elliott gave for the four-year-old filly Working Away, a winner for handler Denis Murphy at Tattersalls point-to-point on October 30th.

A daughter of Workforce, she was a €34,000 store horse when bought by Joey Logan.

“For me she was the standout of the sale,” said Elliott. “I was at the point-to-point the day she won and she looked very good, so hopefully she’s lucky now. We’re not sure who’ll own her yet but we’ll get her home and get her sold. We’ll probably go for a bumper with her. There’s such a great programme for mares nowadays.”

Murphy reflected: “I hope she’s very lucky for Gordon and they get lots of fun out of her. Her walk is massive, she covers so much ground, she just finds everything simple.”

One for Willie

Willie Mullins will train the only other lot from Friday’s sale to sell for more than £200,000. The horse is named Tullyhill and he won his won his maiden in October at Moira for trainer Colin McKeever and owner Wilson Dennison.

The Martaline gelding was bought for £220,000 by agent Harold Kirk, who said: “He’s from a proven source that we buy a lot of horses off. Martaline is a top-class sire, Wilson Dennison’s is a very good academy and the horse came highly recommended by Colin McKeever.

"Hopefully this horse can improve a lot. He’s a strong sort of Martaline and he moves well. We’ve been lucky buying off this team before with horses like Yorkhill, Bellshill, Shaneshill, there’s a load of them, we’ve bought a lot of good horses. He was bought for an existing owner of Willie’s.”

Overall, 48 of the 54 horses offered for sale found buyers. The average price of £85,729 almost matched last year’s figure exactly and the median price of £72,500 was up 14% on last year.