THE first ever Flanders embryo auction in Dublin set a new record with an average price of €20,000 and a top price of €40,000.

Of the 20 show jumping foals still to be born out of well-bred dam lines, 19 were sold last Friday night, and Irish investors grabbed their chance and bought nine of them.

In view of the rule that sport horses must have been born in Ireland in order to qualify for the popular young horse finals at the Dublin Horse Show, the idea was born to auction embryos in Ireland itself.

Luk Van Puymbroek and Gerald Lenaerts who head the Flanders auction travelled to Ireland, while Ronan Rothwell from Boleybawn Horse Farm supported the initiative.

With a few hundred people in attendance, numerous online bidders from all over the world and several bids made by telephone, the price of the first embryo, a Chacco-Blue out of a full-sister to former world champion Vigo d’Arsouilles, immediately went up to €20,000.

Like the week before at the foal auction in Beervelde, Belgium, the Chacco Blue’s were most popular.

There was fierce bidding among the Irish bidders for Lot 7, the €40,000 sale-topper. By Chacco-Blue out of the Diamant de Semilly-sired Hiamant van ’t Roosakker, the embryo is closely related to numerous 1.60m Grand Prix showjumping horses.

The next best price was €34,000 for yet another Chacco-Blue-sired embryo, Lot 13. The dam of this one, Vibelle Z, is a full-sister to Shane Breen’s Golden Hawk and numerous other 1.60m performers. It was knocked down to British-based Old Lodge Stud, owners of Golden Hawk.

The final of four Chacco-Blues, out of a mare by Elvis ter Putte, was sold for €25,000.

Kenny buys Balou embryo

Irish international show jumping Darragh Kenny managed to secure Lot 12, the embryo by his five-star Grand Prix- winning mount Balou du Reventon, for €20,000 on the night.

There were four Cornet Obolenksy-sired embryos in the sale, the best of which (Lot 2) was sold for €24,000. He/she is out of a full-sister to the Harrie Smolder-ridden Emerald. The only lot not sold was Lot 14 (Cornet Obolensky x Norton d’Eole).

French bidders were also active via the online bidding process, securing both Emerald embryos, Lot 3 and Lot 17, for €18,000 and 19,000, respectively, as well as Lot 5, by Tobago Z for €18,000.

Van Puymbroeck and Lenaerts were pleased with the results from the first venture into the Irish market. “You know what we liked best? That we managed to sell all but one of the embryos! And that for realistic prices. It was great, the location, the whole package of bidding by telephone, online and on the spot. Even some Irish show jumping riders were interested. Darragh Kenny bought the Balou du Reventon out of the Grand Prix mare Coronada for €20,000.

“We also liked the fact that the majority of the embryos went to Ireland. Ireland is possibly the best country to have horses trained for an international career.

“The Irish are real horsemen, you can trust them to train a youngster correctly. We will certainly hear more from these embryos in the future,” the orgainsers said.

Ronan Rothwell added: “The Irish are more skeptical than anyone else, wondering whether the embryos were really sold or not, but we have all been able to see here that there was an enormous amount of interest.

“I am delighted that nine of these high class embryos will be born in Ireland. As founder and organiser of the Irish Breeders Classic, a €50,000 euro competition for five and six-year-old horses, I hope to see them again at these shows. And I would like to thank the Flanders Foal Auction team for this pleasant co-operation. They are all round professionals.”

Results provided by Flanders. Full list of buyers were not made available.