TWO lots made €40,000 apiece at Monday’s select sale of three-year-old show jumpers and eventers in Goresbridge where there was a clearance rate of 70% (up from 60% at last year’s inaugural sale) with an average of just under €17,000 (up from €14,200 in 2021).

“We were very satisfied with the sale,” commented Goresbridge Horse Sales’ Martin Donohoe. “A clearance rate of 70% is excellent and, in addition to the two top lots (both Irish Sport Horse geldings), we had another sold at €30,000. There was a good crowd at the sale itself with plenty of online bidders.”

As the main sport horse sales reporter for The Irish Field, Sally Parkyn is always present at Goresbridge but, as a selector for this sale, had to forego her journalist duties. However, her name still features in the report as the first of the top-priced lots, Mairéad Lacey’s home-bred Rosconnell Tango (Lot 2), was knocked down to Parkyn who finally saw off Mervyn Clarke.

From €20,000 upwards, bids were mainly increased by €1,000 and it seemed an interminable time before Ed Donohoe brought down the gavel at €40,000, naming the successful bidder as being Parkyn. She, in turn, revealed that she was acting on behalf of Ballypatrick Stables (Greg Broderick). “I liked the horse when I first saw him and recommended him to Greg. We did a similar thing at this sale last year, when Greg bought ABC Copperhead Road. He is very pleased with him, and hopefully this one will turn out just as well.”

Lacey bred Rosconnell Tango (by Tyson), out of the Goodluck VDL mare CSF Sophie who she purchased as a foal at Goresbridge in 2015 along with her dam, Surprise van de Somme (by Major de la Cour). The is the family of CBI Bella Donna (who won the six-year-old Cruising championship at the RDS last year and finished second in the Connolly’s Red Mills Munster 1.35m Grand Prix final last Sunday), Calgary Z (CSI4*-W), Garizona (CSI5*-W), etc.

Lacey, who describes herself as a hobby breeder, lives on the Co Laois/Kilkenny border where her father and grandfather, both dairy farmers, bred and raised horses before her. “Working with the horses is something I really enjoy doing to clear the head,” said Lacey, “and I knew from the time he was born that this fellow was going to be good.

“When I started working him during the summer, I realised just how good he was and, from then, was always going to aim him at one of these select sales. He has a natural ability and he likes jumping so I only jumped him a couple of times in the past month. Apart from the selection day, no one saw him before the sale.

“He is the first foal out of Sophie and I still have her two-year-old filly by Phil VD Wezelse Heihove and a yearling colt by Tyson. This year she had a colt by Cardento.” All these stallions, and Rosconnell Tango’s damsire Goodluck VDL stand with, or are available through, Ivor and Olive Broderick’s Kylemore Stud near Loughrea in Co Galway.

Snapped up

Select sales specialists Maeve Bolger and Brian Flynn sold the three horses they consigned including the joint-top-priced lot, MBF Golden Mix (Lot 5).

This son of Aganix du Seigneur was purchased by the USA’s Kim Meyer who saw off her opponents when making a jump to €40,000 for the chesnut who was home-bred by Flynn out of the unraced Milan mare MBF Nora. This is the family of Feroda whose 11 track wins comprised four over hurdles and seven over fences, including four blacktype contests over the larger obstacles.

Justin Nell purchased two lots, giving his higher price of €30,000 to secure Mary Bolger and Jason Higgins’s ISH gelding Kilcannon Rockshore (Lot 23), a Parco bay who was bred by Bolger out of her Herlequin du Carel mare Kilcannon Cavaquin, a half-sister to the Kroongraaf gelding JKF Vogue (CCI3*-L).

Three of the four fillies forward (five catalogued) found new homes headed by Evan O’Connor’s Ballygriffin Into The Max (Lot 7) who was knocked down to the aforementioned Ivor and Olive Broderick for €18,000.

Another by the couple’s increasingly popular Dutch Warmblood stallion Tyson, this ISH bay was bred in Co Clare by Mary McInerney out of her Chacoa mare Max Naughty But Nice.

“Tyson didn’t cover many mares abroad before he came to us but we bought one of his earlier progeny, Thunder GZ, and this filly was just like him.

“We thought the filly to be pure class. She is an out-and-out jumper with power and a big canter. She is also cool at her job, clever and a quick learner. Thankfully, Tyson is in great nick. He’s a very low maintenance stallion and still very fertile.”

Goresbridge