IN the history of pinhooking there has possibly never been another like it. A €6,000 yearling purchase turns into a £410,000 breezer in a matter of months. It is the stuff of dreams, and it is a life-changing happening.

Given the recent strong trade at all sales of thoroughbreds, it is perhaps no surprise that the €315,000 price tag for East, a daughter of Frankel and the previous record-holder for the Goresbridge Breeze Up Sale, would be bettered. However, the new record, and the manner of its occurrence, will be a talking point for a long time to come.

The son of Yeomanstown Stud’s Dark Angel sold for £410,000 to Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock, having been pinhooked last autumn by Katharina Irmer and Jerry Horan, signing as Paragon Bloodstock.

Bloodstock agent Brown described the transaction as “probably one of the best sale ring touches ever”. He saw off a determined, though ultimately frustrating, challenge from the underbidder Alex Elliott.

Brown added: “Well it was significantly more than I had expected or hoped to pay! I thought he did an outstanding breeze and obviously he is by one of the top sires in Europe.

“He is a gorgeous big horse, and when I spoke to my client last night we highlighted him as the one – as obviously my underbidder had too! He is a smashing horse and you always have to pay more than you value them.

“I was on the telephone to my client throughout the sale and I would say that was our last bid. I am delighted to get him, he was never going to be a cheap horse, but when you get to those echelons the pressure is on! I can’t say who my client is, but he will be trained by William Haggas. Good on them, they prepared him to a very high standard.”

Dolmen Bloodstock

After buying their colt, Irmer and Horan sent the half-brother to three winners, from the stakes-placed Arch mare Venturous Spirit, to Clare Manning of Boherguy Stud to break in, and then to Justin Timmons and Danny O’Donovan of Dolmen Bloodstock to prepare him for the sale. Horan and Manning were both on the Irish National Stud course in 2016, while Irmar was at Tully a year later.

“He has never been lame, he has never missed a day work. He is just an amazing horse. It is great for the guys; they have done such an amazing job,” said Irmer of her first breeze up ownership venture. “It was a perfect time of the year to sell, we were never tempted to sell earlier as we wanted to give him the time.”

Horan, who selected the colt as a yearling, continued the story. “Katharina and I know each other through the sales.

“We were in France trying to buy horses to breeze, Katharina was there working for Grove [Stud] and she said to me that if got anything to let her know. I bought this horse and we went out for dinner and the rest is history!

“Clare Manning broke him and then he went to the lads, they did all the work, we were just lucky enough to own him. He always had a big stride, he has always been a big horse.”

Applause

After the hammer was knocked down there was a round of applause from onlookers. Timmons said: “Everything went well. It is magic.

“He was a big raw horse in October, but everything has gone well and he has matured great through the winter; he has never put a foot wrong. He did a very professional breeze, he has a lovely floating action and skipped along the ground, it was effortless. He is just a beautiful straightforward horse. He has been a dream at home.

“We never expected a figure like that. There is a lot of pressure to get to a sale. Then you have to breeze and then all the other aspects; you need a lot of things to go right. It is life-changing stuff. Jerry and Katharina invested and took a punt.

“It is a great story.”

Select purchases by agent Elliott

ALEX Elliott may have lost out on the day’s top lot, but he made a pair of purchases and both were among the sale’s top 10 lots.

The sale and its relocated venue at Newmarket have been lucky for Brendan Holland of Grove Stud. They topped last year’s sale with a £220,000 Kitten’s Joy filly, and did even better this year when another filly, a daughter of Bated Breath, sold for £240,000.

A smiling Elliott said: “She did a very good breeze, she has got a pedigree, and she is by a sire that I admire. When you want to buy these horses that can do everything, you’ve got to get the head down and buy them. She has been bought for a partnership, I don’t know who will train her yet but she will stay in England. I am very happy.

“It is good throw, let’s hope it works out. I think Bated Breath is one of the best value sires in Europe; he gets colts, he gets fillies, they do well in the [United] States.”

Holland said: “She is a lovely filly, gorgeous, did a great breeze. At the end of the day that is what this game is all about – breezing well.” The filly is a half-sister to a Group 3 winning juvenile and out of a stakes winner at Newmarket. Asked how he managed to buy her for 30,000gns, Holland admitted: “I not sure really! I thought she was a nice yearling, there was no mystery. Hopefully the filly is lucky for the next guy, she has been good to us.”

Summing up

This sale represented the end of the breeze up season. Holland summed it up: “I’ve had a good year. I had a strong team. It is great when you get a good result, when it works out. The staff put so much effort into producing the horses. Once they breeze well we are all happy.”

Elliott’s other buy was a son of Cable Bay for £95,000 from Katie Walsh’s Greenhills Farm. The colt, from the family of Damson and Requinto, was a £24,000 yearling purchase last September.

Brown’s spending spree

BLANDFORD Bloodstock ended up as the leading buyer at the sale, their seven purchases costing their clients £787,000. Numerically they were beaten by Marco Bozzi who bought nine two-year-olds, costing £132,500.

Michael O’Callaghan, Kevin Ross Bloodstock and BBA Ireland were all very active, making six purchases each. The Curragh trainer spent £427,000 on his half a dozen while Ross and BBA Ireland splashed out £293,000 and £143,000 respectively.

Among Blandford’s other buys was the £160,000 Point Of Entry colt sold by Church Farm and Horse Park Stud. Afterwards Richard Brown commented on the trade and his purchase. He said: “It has been absolutely bouncing trade, there was a whole load of bidders there over £100,000. This is a smashing horse, gorgeous individual, he is a big horse and to do the sort of breeze he did was really impressive.

“We have been going to Fairyhouse for this sale, and it has been a great hunting ground for us. This sale is on a very steep trajectory.” Previous Blandford buys With Thanks and Haqeeqy were two of the three horses on this year’s catalogue cover.

In the first hour of trading Brown spent £115,000 on an Acclamation filly from the family of Grade 1 winner Megahertz. It provided the biggest touch in the sale ring for Eddie Linehan’s Lackendarra Stables, the filly having cost just 6,500gns.

Linehan said: I got her home, there were no issues with her, she has done nothing but thrive. The last couple of months she really started to shine in her last few bits of work. Everything has gone right here – her temperament is very good – everything went smoothly and she breezed very well.”

The filly is going into training with Ed Dunlop.

O’Callaghan hoping for some Bolger good fortune

MICHAEL O’Callaghan has enjoyed plenty of success with breeze up purchases, and he has been very active throughout the spring sales this year.

Two of his half-dozen purchases this week were for six-figure sums. He will be hoping some of Jim Bolger’s magic rubs off after he paid £185,000 for a son of Belardo that was bred by the Coolcullen master.

The colt was sold by Johnny Collins of Brown Island Stables, and was bred by Bolger out of a full-sister to four-time Group 1 winner Dawn Approach. He was bought as a yearling for €40,000 by Collins.

O’Callaghan said: “Physically he is one of the nicest horses here, and he did a very good breeze for a horse who is going to take a little bit of time. I really really like him and think he is something a little bit special. The pedigree is current, and he is by a stallion that is not too bad either.”

Collins said: “It is a great result and he is a beautiful type. He will be a lovely horse for the autumn. I left him back for this sale; he was supposed to go to the Craven Sale but just was not ready. He will make a beautiful three-year-old and he did a lovely progressive breeze.”

Later O’Callaghan’s bid of £100,000 secured a Cotei Glory out of a Sea The Stars mare from the family of Group 1 winning siblings Hermosa, Hydrangea and The United States. Bought as a foal for €25,000, he was retained as a yearling by Tally-Ho Stud last year at £15,000. The decision paid dividends. “He is a lovely horse, it just didn’t pan out last year as a yearling,” said the vendor. “The sire is doing well, he has had nine winners now – they all try hard in their races.”

First and last

Lot 1 in the catalogue was the subject of a private sale, and this No Nay Never colt was bought by Charles Shanahan and the American-based trainer Patrick Biancone for £100,000. Sold by Mocklershill, he is out of the Dalakhani mare Eleanor Roosevelt, dam of a winner and half-sister to the Group 2 winner and Group 1 Middle Park Stakes third Captain Marvelous.

The very last lot in the ring, a late entry, was the Dark Angel colt out of Jet Setting. He was bought by Global Equine Consultant Services for £180,000 from Star Bloodstock.

Kerins’ delight is evident

AS Britain and Ireland look to emerge from the darkness of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is another encouraging sign for the bloodstock and racing sectors that demand for racehorses appears to be as strong as ever.

This edition of the Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze Up Sale, held at Park Paddocks, produced a record set of metrics.

In addition to a new benchmark for the top lot, the sale also produced a number of other records, led by an aggregate of €6,539,427, an improvement of 69% on last year. The average price of €37,156 was an increase of 22% on last year, while the median improved by 5% to €22,989. The 175 lots sold produced an exceptional clearance rate of 91%.

Eight lots sold for £100,000 or more, up from four last year. Little wonder that Tattersalls Ireland CEO Simon Kerins was beaming, saying: “It has simply been a remarkable day of trade. We witnessed incredible demand for top-class two-year-olds and we are delighted by the record figures that have been achieved.

“The obvious highlight was the new record top price of £410,000 for Jerry Horan and Katharina Irmer’s outstanding Dark Angel colt consigned by Dolmen Bloodstock. It was box office viewing outside the sales ring when the hammer came down and it was a fantastic result for the young vendors.

“We strongly believe that this sale will continue to go from strength to strength and we look forward to returning to Fairyhouse in 2021.”