The rebranded Goffs Arkle Sale in partnership with Defender got off to a flying start on Tuesday.

A big delegation of British owners, trainers and agents - combined with the home buying team - contributed to an increased level of trade compared to last year’s opening day.

Just 20 of the 224 lots offered failed to sell and the average price came in at €53,248. The median was €50,000.

There was plenty of pre-sale chat about how the progeny of stallions like Walk In The Park, Blue Bresil and No Risk At All would likely be in huge demand and so it proved with the top end dominated by a fairly select few stallions.

However it was the previously unheralded stallion Beaumec De Houelle who stole the show when his son Zamek topped the session when selling to Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls for €160,000.

Consigned by Mark Dwyer’s Oaks Farm Stables, Zamek is a half-brother to the listed-winning French hurdler Zarisk. Beaumec De Hoelle, a son of Martaline, was a Grade 1 winning hurdler himself and his first crop are just three years old.

“He is a lovely, sharp horse and we’re delighted to get him,” multiple champion trainer Paul Nicholls said afterwards. “He actually reminds me a lot of Call Equiname, who was a similar lovely-looking grey horse. Hopefully he can be as good as him. I think the sire has a good chance, being a son of Martaline and this horse probably would have cost a lot more if he was by one of the more established stallions,” Nicholls added.

Malone and Nicholls also combined later in the afternoon to purchase a Walk In The Park gelding for €130,000. Offered by the Frisby family’s Glenwood Stud, the gelding is out of the stakes-winning hurdler and chaser Antartica De Thaix, who was also trained by Nicholls. The gelding had been by bought as a foal by Richard Frisby for €64,000.

Nicholls and Malone, who bought Grade 1 winner Stage Star at this sale, struck yet again when going to €120,000 to acquire a Doyen gelding from Norman Williamson’s Oak Tree Farm. This one was a £34,000 yearling purchase by Mags O’Toole at Goffs UK two years ago.

Holden digs deep

The first six-figure horse to go through the ring on Tuesday was a son of Burgage Stud’s Jukebox Jury who was knocked down to Paul Holden for €150,000. The grey gelding had excellent credentials on paper, being a half-brother to triple Grade 1 winner Appreciate It, but as a physical he matched up too and it took plenty of determination from Holden and his daughter Ellmarie to secure the son of the mare Sainte Baronne.

Offered by Ballincurrig House Stud on behalf of Fiona Magee, the three-year-old is also a half-brother to Paul Nicholls’ useful operator Danny Kirwan.

Team Holden have been rewarded for some brave store pinhooks in the past, multiple Grade 1 winner Jonbon being a case in point. After signing for the good-moving grey, Paul Holden said: “He’s got the pedigree, the conformation and he ticks all the boxes. He will go point-to-pointing next year and hopefully he will be lucky. We have a Jukebox Jury left over from last season that we like, so we were keen to get this horse.”

The sale represented a good bit of business by Fiona Magee who purchased the horse as a foal in Tattersalls Ireland through Richard Rohan for €70,000.

Paul Holden had earlier signed for a gelding by Blue Bresil which was knocked down to him for €95,000. Offered by Aisling Noone and Simon Kavanagh’s Mullingar-based Drumloose Stables, the gelding out of the six-time winning mare Rattlin is a half-brother to the smart David Christie-trained young hunter chaser Ferns Lock.

Walter Connors has enjoyed fantastic success with his store sale graduates over the years and he sold an Authorized gelding to Ross Doyle for €110,000. The gelding is out of Sainte Des Bordes who Connors bought as a foal in France but kept for breeding and the pedigree includes the smart Willie Mullins-trained mare Risk Belle.

Connors’ Sluggara Farm had another good result not long after, selling a gelding by No Risk At All to Toby Jones for €100,000. The gelding is a full-brother to the listed-winning filly Shekidame from the family of the Grade 1 winning French hurdler Shekira.

“I’m delighted with that, they were two nice horses and they sold accordingly,” Connors said. “Trade is solid, perhaps a bit patchy in places but if you bring the right article you’ll get paid.”

Connors has been sourcing foals in France for resale for a long time now and, while this approach has paid dividends for him over the years, it’s becoming quite a crowded space. “It’s definitely getting harder to buy the raw material in France but we’ll keep going anyway, what else would we do, we’d have to get a real job if we stopped!”

Davy Russell sale

Another horse sourced as a foal in France but this time at public auction was another son of Beaumec de Houelle who was knocked down to The Two Amigos at Arqana in 2020 for €16,000.

Reappearing on Tuesday from Davy Russell’s Whitebarn Stud, the gelding’s prospects were enhanced by his half-brother Predator’s Gold winning the Goffs Defender Bumper at Punchestown for Willie Mullins and Gigginstown Stud. It took a bid of €92,000 from Matt Coleman and Jonjo O’Neill to secure him.

The French-bred domination at the upper end continued apace as the sale progressed with Peter Vaughan’s No Risk At All gelding fetching €125,000 from Monbeg Stables. This fellow is out of the six-time winning Layman mare Voulay.

John Bleahen’s Lakefield Farm had five lots catalogued on Tuesday and he enjoyed a very productive day which kicked off when he sold a French-bred to Tom Malone for €90,000. Already named Onyx D’Ainay, this gelding is by No Risk At All and his pedigree traces back to the top class Crystal D’Ainay.

Four lots later Bleahan offered another French-bred, this time a filly by Muhtathir, and she was knocked down to Colin Bowe’s Milestone Bloodstock for €85,000. Named Katira Du Mestivel, she is out of the Loup Solitaire mare Royal Solitaire who has bred four winners from six runners.

Bleahen was back in action soon after with a gelding by Choeur Du Nord, a dual National Hunt winning stallion who retired to stud in 2016 and who has sired a number of blacktype winners already.

This gelding also caught the eye of Paul Holden and was knocked down to the Kilkenny man for €90,000.

Bleahen’s fourth offering was a gelding by the Polish-foaled Tunis that went the way of Ian Ferguson and Nigel Twiston-Davies for €75,000, while Bleahen’s fifth and final store of the day was a son of Galiway who completed a very successful day’s work for the Galway farm when selling to Harold Kirk and Willie Mullins for €90,000.

Trade continued strong until the end of the evening and bloodstock agent Ryan Mahon got his name on the buyers’ sheet when purchasing a Shantou gelding for €100,000. This one was consigned by Chris Jones’s Killeen Glebe, while the day’s final offering, a gelding by Cokoriko, made €105,000 to the bid of Olly and Aiden Murphy.

Part 1 of the Arkle Sale continues on Wednesday, with Part 2 on Thursday.

DAY ONE FIGURES

Offered: 224

Sold: 204

Aggregate: €10,862,500

Average: €53,248

Median: €50,000