THE Goffs UK Aintree Sale returned to the sale calendar in 2022 after a forced absence due to Covid.

It was Denis Murphy’s Dromahane point-to-point winner Croke Park who topped the sale following an impressive performance the previous week, building on a second placed finish on his debut at Lingstown.

The then four-year-old son of Walk In The Park had cost a tasty €150,000 as store, having been a €47,000 foal, but when the hammer dropped in favour of Eddie O’Leary’s £400,000 bid, that bold investment was well rewarded. Gordon Elliott Racing was returned as the buyer.

Racing in the Gigginstown House colours of Michael O’Leary, it was 13 months before we saw Croke Park again, in a bumper at Kilbeggan, and he was a well-beaten second that day, 11 lengths behind the winner. Five and a half months passed and this time he was 11 lengths in front when winning a maiden hurdle at Clonmel, quickly followed by a Grade 3 novice hurdle at Navan. He disappointed on both his subsequent starts over hurdles at Naas and Aintree.

Didn’t impress

Croke Park returned to action at the beginning of last month, and while always doing enough to win his first chase, he didn’t impress many, and when found to have blood on both nostrils, he probably was knocked off many people’s 10 to follow lists. Consequently, he was the outsider of the three Gordon Elliott runners in the Grade 1 Bar One Racing Drinmore Chase, but came out best in a near four-way finish to the contest.

Croke Park is now the second Grade 1 winner for Toledana, a French-bred by the German-bred Protektor (Acatenango). Last December his year-older half-brother, Farren Glory (Fame And Glory), also trained by Elliott, went from winning a maiden hurdle at Clonmel to landing the Grade 1 Royal Bond Novice Hurdle. A bumper winner too, he has since gone on to win one of his three starts over fences, and two weeks ago was second in a Grade 2 novice chase at Punchestown. Both horses were bred by A V Bloodstock.

Bred, raced and trained by Guy Cherel, Toledana won four races in France, twice on the level and the same number of times over jumps, and she is one of five winners from Idylle Du Marais (Panoramic). The best of these was Oiseau De Nuit (Evening World), a Cheltenham Festival winner of the Grade 3 Grand Annual Chase, while another of her sons, Canardier (Crillon), was placed in a Grade 3 hurdle at Aintree.

There is plenty happening further back in the family. Idylle Du Marais is a half-sister to the dam of Sway (Califet), and that multiple listed winner over hurdles in her native France is the dam of Limerick Lace (Walk In The Park), successful in last year’s Grade 2 Barberstown Novice Chase. That performance was bettered when her full-brother Inothewayurthinkin (Walk In The Park) won the Grade 1 Mildmay Novices’ Chase at Aintree.

The Group 1 Derby runner-up Walk In The Park (Montjeu) needs no introduction. All but one of his blacktype winners have come under National Hunt rules, and that number stands currently at 43. Croke Park is the latest Grade 1 winner, joining such stars as Douvan (Arkle Challenge Trophy Chase, Supreme Novices Hurdle, Maghull Novices’ Chase, Colliers Novice Chase, Champion Novices Hurdle, Paddy Power Chase, Christmas Novice Chase, and Arkle Challenge Cup Novice Chase), Jonbon (Melling Chase, Tingle Creek Chase, Celebration Chase (twice), Maghull Novices’ Chase, Top Novices’ Hurdle, and Henry VIII Novices’ Chase), Min (Festival Trophy Chase, Melling Chase, Dublin Chase, Punchestown Chase (3 times), and Christmas Novice Chase), Facile Vega (Champion Novice Hurdle, Future Champions Novice Hurdle, Punchestown Champion INH Flat Race, and Weatherbys Champion Bumper), Spillane’s Tower (Champion Novice Chase, and Fairyhouse Gold Cup Novice Chase), Inothewayurthinkin (Mildmay Novices’ Chase), Ashroe Diamond (Honeysuckle Mares Novice Hurdle) and Ginto (Slaney Novice Hurdle).

Willie’s not-so-secret Champion Hurdle prospect

ANZADAM is a name to note, and while the son of Capital Stud’s Authorized (Montjeu) is just a three-time winner, in as many starts, there is no doubt that trainer Willie Mullins holds him in high regard.

Twice successful for Arnaud Chaille-Chaille back in late 2023, he only made his Irish debut for Marie and Joe Donnelly at the weekend in Fairyhouse, taking the honours in the Grade 3 WillowWarm Hurdle with consummate ease. Bred in France by Richard Corveller, Anzadam is a half-brother to Astadame (Poliglote), a Grade 3 chase winner at Auteuil.

While she gained her biggest win over fences, Astadame was runner-up four times at Grade 3 and listed level over hurdles in France. Her dam Astaradame (Astarabad) won three races over jumps in France, but this pales in comparison with the next dam, Summer (Lomitas), as she was a 10-time winner over jumps.

Not uncommon in French pedigrees, Anzadam’s first four dams are all winners, a mix of flat and over jumps, and all went on to breed winners. There are a number of familiar names under the third and fourth dams of Mullins’ emerging star. Third dam Move Again (Noir Et Oir) is the dam of two blacktype winners among her five successful offspring, and the best is Cap Soleil (Kapgarde). Peter Molony spent £75,000 to buy her nearly two years ago, and she won two listed bumpers and a listed hurdle race in England.

Rathmore Stud

Cap Soleil, and the family in general, has had a boost since the Rathmore Stud man purchased the mare.

Cap Soleil’s full-sister Miss Bailly (Kapgarde), a three-time jumps winner in France, is the dam of Romeo Coolio (Kayf Tara), and he was second this year in the Grade 1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper at Cheltenham. At the weekend he was runner-up in the Grade 2 Royal Bond Novice Hurdle, and he will surely go on to win some blacktype contests before long.

Under the fourth dam in this family are two more runners who will be familiar to readers. Blood Cotil (Enrique) was a Grade 1 novice chase winner at the Punchestown Festival a few years back, and won at Grade 2 level as a juvenile hurdler. More recently, Blood Destiny (No Risk At All) was a Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed in novice chases.

The Group 1-winning juvenile Authorized went on to win the Group 1 Derby and Group 1 Juddmonte International. He has been as much at home siring Group 1 winners on the flat (Santiago, Hartnell and Sea Of Approval) as he is with his jumpers. Names such as Tiger Roll, I Am Maximus, Nichols Canyon and many more show what a success he has been.

One of the highlights of the sale at Goffs next week will be a placed half-sister to I Am Maximus in foal to Authorized (Lot 718), while there are a couple of blacktype-placed winners also in foal to him and carrying their first foals.