KEN and Peter Parkhill’s Castletown Quarry Stud hit a pinhooking homerun when selling a Belardo colt to Robin O’Ryan and Richard Fahey for €80,000 at Tattersalls Ireland this week.

The colt had been bought at the February Sale in Goffs for just €6,500 and, while he obviously bloomed physically in the meantime, he also benefitted from a timely update when his half-brother Gunfighter, the dam’s first runner, broke his maiden for Hugo Palmer earlier this month.

“He was a lovely foal and turned into a good yearling,” Peter Parkhill said. “He has been very simple all the way.” Having successfully pinhooked a Teofilo colt from 21,000gns to €70,000 on Tuesday, Parkhill added: “We’ve had as good a week as we’ve had in a long time.”

The Gleeson brothers, Michael and Laurence, of Aughamore Stud in Mullingar are also making a name for themselves as shrewd operators and they did well out of a Make Believe colt they consigned. Knocked down to Amanda Skiffington for €75,000, the half-brother to three winners from the family of stakes winners Know It All and Astrophysical Jet showed a healthy return on his €17,000 foal price from last year.

Bloodstock agent and Teme Valley Racing advisor Richard Ryan wasn’t present at the sale but that did not stop him buying one of the highest priced lots. Via agent Matt Houldsworth, Ryan secured a Teofilo colt from Clare Manning’s Boherguy Stud for €82,000.

Bred by Jim Bolger, the colt has a high-class pedigree, being out of the winning mare Slaney East, herself a half-sister to the brilliant Poetic Flare and a full-sister to stakes winner Glamorous Approach.

Speaking remotely, Richard Ryan said: “The colt came highly recommended by his breeder and I have seen plenty of footage of him.

“He is a physical doppelganger of Gear Up, a horse by the sire we had previously. Teofilo is a top sire and this horse has a classic page. He has been bought for a successful partnership and will remain in Ireland.”

Italian investors have long been important participants in this sale and among the 11 horses purchased by Razza Latina this week was an €80,000 son of Earthlight from Tally-Ho Stud.

The buyers’ interest was no doubt piqued by the exploits of the colt’s half-sister Suicide Squad, a stakes-winning juvenile in Italy in 2020. Razza Latina ended up the leading buyer, by number of horses, acquiring 11 yearlings for a total of €334,000.