THERE was a sensational outcome to the Goffs UK Summer Sale this week, with a new world record price for a National Hunt horse in training. Dual bumper winner Regent’s Stroll changed hands for £660,000, but returns to Paul Nicholls in new ownership.

The five-year-old Walk In The Park gelding was the highlight of an incredible draft of horses sold by owner Chris Giles, and was consigned by Juliet Minton’s Mill House Stud. Bloodstock agent Tom Malone signed for the top lot, and indeed he was central to most of the sale’s top lots. Nicholls later revealed Regent’s Stroll will race for a syndicate headed by leading owners John Hales, Ged Mason and Sir Alex Ferguson.

Earlier this year, once again at a dispersal but this one staged by Tattersalls Ireland, that same trio of owners bought Caldwell Potter out of Gordon Elliott’s yard for €740,000, which at the time was a record price itself for a jumps horse in training. Caldwell Potter has not raced since that purchase. Unbeaten in two starts, including the £100,000 Goffs Spring Sale Bumper, Regent’s Stroll was fully expected to top the sale.

Bidding was initiated by Goffs UK managing director Tim Kent, who was acting for a client on the telephone, at £400,000, and it was Malone, standing with Nicholls and Hales, who traded bids across the ring until the agent landed the winning blow. The Chris Giles dispersal, all offered by Mill House Stud, saw all 11 horses sold for a total of £1.9 million, with Nicholls and Malone securing eight of the lots, all for new owners.

Formerly the August Sale, the ‘new’ sale changed dates and its name to coincide with the summer National Hunt break. The Giles dispersal made a significant impact on the final figures. Giles is taking a break from racehorse ownership, after a most successful association with some household names. His distinctive pink and purple colours have graced many enclosures, and he owned the winners of some 20 Grade 1 races.

Among those to race for him have been the multiple Grade 1 winner Zarkandar, the dual King George VI Chase and Aintree Bowl winner Silviniaco Conti, while more recently we have seen his silks sported by the likes of the Tingle Creek hero Greaneteen and the Cheltenham Festival winner Stay Away Fay. Many hope that Giles will return again to the sport in the future.

Scottish Champion

Malone and Nicholls went to £200,000 each to secure last year’s Grade 2 Scottish Champion Hurdle winner Rubaud, as well as the unraced Blue Bresil four-year-old Rocket Scientist. A son of Air Chief Marshall, Rubaud won on the flat in France before going on to add six victories over hurdles. His most recent win was last November in the Grade 2 Elite Hurdle at Wincanton, and on his last start he failed to defend his Scottish Champion Hurdle crown, finishing sixth.

A €68,000 foal purchase, the unraced Rocket Scientist has a lofty home reputation, and is the first produce of his dam, the unraced Stowaway mare Potters Den. She is a half-sister to the multiple listed-winning hurdler Polly Peachum who was runner-up in the Grade 1 David Nicholson Hurdle, and their dam, in turn, is a full-sister to the Grade 1 winners Denman and Silverburn.

Nicholls and Malone also partnered with Dave Staddon to land the 2023 Cheltenham Festival’s Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle winner Stay Away Fay for £325,000. A point-to-point winner at Lingstown in December 2021, Stay Away Fay’s first season chasing produced a set of mixed results, his two victories highlighted by a Grade 2 win at Sandown, while he pulled up on both his most recent outings, in a Grade 1 at Cheltenham and in the Scottish Grand National.

At the conclusion of the sale, Tim Kent commented: “What an incredible day in Doncaster and we must start by thanking Chris Giles for entrusting Goffs to handle such a prestigious dispersal of quality horses.

“It has been a pleasure to work for Chris and we hope to see his colours back in the winner’s enclosure in the not-too-distant future. It has also been a pleasure to work with Juliet Minton and the Mill House Stud team who did such a fantastic job of presenting the horses for sale.

“We received a huge amount of interest for today’s sale, and it was great to see so many of the leading owners and trainers in Doncaster, which helped to create an electric atmosphere inside the sales ring. We would also like to acknowledge the underbidders for their part in creating these prices, and it’s nice to see many of the horses sold returning to the same stables to run in new colours.”

TRAINER Henry de Bromhead bought the top-priced mare, and the second highest-priced lot in the sale, when he acquired the French AQPS Grade 1 winning mare July Flower, who was also offered by Mill House Stud.

Winner of the AQPS Grade 1 Prix Jacques de Vienne at Fontainebleau on the flat at three, the now five-year-old July Flower placed third on her most recent outing in the Grade 1 Grande Course de Haies d’Auteuil, and she was knocked down to Goffs representative Harry Fowler on behalf of de Bromhead for £350,000.

July Flower raced for owner Caolan Woods and was at one time trained for him by de Bromhead, racing just once for the Waterford handler. Twice a winner at three on the flat, she also won two hurdle races over two and a quarter miles at Auteuil last year, and was runner-up in the Grade 1 Prix Renaud du Vivier Hurdle.

A daughter of Pastorius, July Flower is the best of a pair of winning offspring from the Astarabad mare Aurelle D’Arthel, herself a winner on the flat and over jumps in France. Two of Aurelle D’Arthel’s seven winning siblings were successful in listed chases in France, Enjeu D’Arthel and Jardin D’Arthel. The latter, a son of Cokoriko, won his listed chase last year at four.