PAPA Tango Charley. Remember the name. Just as Samcro had lit up the ring at the inaugural Goffs UK Aintree Sale when sold by Colin Bowe for a record £335,000, on Thursday night the same vendor smashed the sale record when his Liscarroll point-to-point debut winning son of No Risk At All realised £440,000 to the bid of Aidan Kennedy.

The four-year-old French-bred Papa Tango Charley is from the family of Grand National runner-up and was sold by Bowe who raced the gelding with Walter Connors. The pair have previously been involved with both Envoi Allen and Getabird, so the omens are good for their latest protégé. The gelding now heads to Jackdaws Castle and trainer Jonjo O’Neill.

The Aintree Sale had enjoyed enormous success since its inception, with three Grade 1 winners already having emerged from its ranks. The fourth edition smashed all previous marks set and Papa Tango Charley was one of 13 six-figure horses sold and one of a quartet to make £200,000 or more - driving the average to a record £127,920.

Another French-bred to light up the dull evening weather-wise was Josh Ryan’s debut winning point-to-pointer Adrimel. The son of Tirwanako won a four-runner maiden at Ballyarthur by eight lengths, and after a protracted duel he was eventually knocked down to Ed Bailey Bloodstock for £280,000. This was an incredible return for Ryan who last August paid just €11,000 for the relation to the Welsh Grand National winner Halcon Genelardais at the Tattersalls Ireland August Sale.

RECENT SUCCESS

Adrimel was followed into the ring by the Stowaway five-year-old and John Joe Walsh-trained Fiddlerontheroof, who gave Harry Swan a winning ride in a Navan bumper recently for his grandmother Trish Hyde. A €12,500 foal and €38,000 Derby Sale purchase, he was sold for £200,000 to Ross Doyle who was acting for Colin Tizzard.

The £200,000 mark was reached again five lots later when trainer Olly Murphy gave that sum on behalf of an unnamed client for Grandads Cottage, a six-length winner of a maiden point-to-point at Portrush for Donnchadh Doyle. This Shantou full-brother to Super Duty, runner-up in a Grade 2 hurdle at Aintree, was sold as a foal for €26,000 and more than doubled in value when Nicola Kent traded him on at the Derby Sale to Monbeg Stables for €58,000.

The sale got off to a spectacular start when Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown House Stud offered a pair of Grade 1 winning chasers, Don Poli and Outlander, and both were sold with guarantees to line up in the Grand National. While he hasn’t won since landing the Betfred Chase at Aintree and the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown in December 2015, Don Poli proved to be marginally the more popular of the pair and will now race for owner Darren Yates and trainer Philip Kirby.

Yates and Kirby had been disappointed a week earlier when their fancied Grand National hope Blaklion suffered an injury and was forced to miss the race. Don Poli cost Yates £170,000, but he will look good value should he land a share of the £1 million prize fund for the big race.

Gordon Elliott will set a new record for the number of runners in the race should all of his charges line up in the Grand National, but he will have to make do without Don Poli and Outlander. The latter sold for £165,000 to JD Moore but will be listed as trained by Richard Spencer when he lines up for the race in the colours of Rebel Racing. The son of Stowaway won the Grade 1 jnwine.com Champion Chase at Down Royal in November 2017 and he was fourth in the Irish Gold Cup back in February of this year.

LISCARROLL STARS

Big Bresil, a son of Blue Bresil, was runner-up to sale-topper Papa Tango Charley at Liscarroll a fortnight ago and that effort was enough to persuade Roger Brookhouse to part with £170,000 to secure him.

The Donnchadh Doyle-trained four-year-old was bought by his Monbeg Stables at the Goffs Land Rover Sale last June for €40,000. Pat Collins’ Meyer Lansky, third at Liscarroll, now joins Jonjo O’Neill after Matt Coleman gave £105,000 for the son of Mahler out of an own-sister to Grand National runner-up Oscar Time.

Coleman, of Stroud Coleman Bloodstock, and O’Neill were prolific buyers on the night and they paid £160,000 for Denis Murphy’s Oscar four-year-old On The Bandwagon who was runner-up at Monksgrange on his sole outing to date. Murphy, through his Ballyboy Stables, paid €30,000 for the gelding at last year’s Land Rover Sale for the relation to Ned Kelly and Nick Dundee.

Another fine piece of trading was the sale of It Sure Is from Colin Bowe’s Milestone Stables to Highflyer Bloodstock’s David Minton for £150,000. Bought by Robert James at the Derby Sale for €48,000, he won a nine-runner maiden at Ballynoe on his debut days before the sale, he and the runner-up finishing 15 lengths clear of the rest of the nine-runner field. The son of Shirocco is out of a full-sister to Hennessy and a half-sister to Voler La Vedette.

Bowe also sold the best priced mare at the sale, Imperial Monarch’s first winner Cill Anna. The four-year-old won a 13-runner mares’ maiden at Monksgrange and Tom Malone partnered with Paul Nicholls to see off all opposition for this €38,000 Land Rover graduate and they secured her for £115,000.

Goffs UK managing director Tony Williams commented after the sale: “The Aintree Sale has firmly established itself as an elite boutique outlet for high-class pointers and form horses. The results this sale has been achieving on the track, headlined most recently by Topofthegame, and a vintage 2019 catalogue allowed us to attract the who’s who of the National Hunt world and tonight’s results reflect its ever-growing status.

“We are indebted to the Aintree executive for their enthusiastic partnership and to our vendors who sent us outstanding horses once again which created an electric atmosphere in the ring.

“We now look forward to Saturday’s Randox Health Grand National and to seeing the next generation of Aintree graduates excel at the highest level.”