A REMARKABLY strong current trade for horses of all ages and types continued at the one-day Goffs UK September HIT Sale on Wednesday. The insatiable demand for racehorses showed in a superb clearance rate of 94%.

Topping the sale was Ballyhampshire Stud’s debut bumper winner Royal Creek, a wildcard entry following her victory in late August. Owned, bred and trained by Edmond Kent, the four-year-old daughter of Getaway was retuned at odds of 40/1 that day, but she held on well to beat an odds-on shot of Willie Mullins. She was one of a number of purchases made by Kevin Jardine, who purchased her for £90,000. She will now be trained by Ann Duffield and assistant Pat Neville.

A full-sister to a bumper winner and a half-sister to a hurdle winner, Royal Creek is out of an unraced half-sister to Grade 2 hurdle winner Mwaleshi, listed chase winner Crossbow Creek, and the listed bumper winner Candy Creek. This is the immediate family of Grade 1-winning hurdler and chaser, Bacchanal.

The annual Gigginstown House dispersal was well anticipated, and it accounted for five of the top seven lots. Heading the draft of 16 lots which sold for an aggregate of £373,000 was the Grade 1 hurdle and chase winner Battleoverdoyen. The nine-year-old son of Doyen, with eight wins to his credit, sold to agent Aidan O’Ryan, and will be staying with trainer Gordon Elliott and owners Pioneer Racing for £67,000.

Next best was the Grade 2 Troytown Chase winner Tout Est Permis, and his four wins over the larger obstacles also included the Grade 2 Kinloch Brae Chase at Thurles. However, it was January 2019 when he last visited the winner’s enclosure, but he sold for £48,000 to Marcus Collie.

Laura Morgan spent £40,000 to acquire the nine-year-old Daly Tiger, winner of the Grade 1 Dan Moore Chase at Fairyhouse in January 2021, and he was most recently successful over hurdles at Limerick in December. Ian Ferguson and Philip McBurney combined to spend £37,000 on another nine-year-old, the dual Grade 1 winner Notebook.

Downpatrick winner

Successful at Downpatrick last month, the seven-year-old Fame And Glory gelding Uhtred has won four times, notably a listed bumper at Navan. Craig and Laura Buckingham’s £32,000 bid was enough to secure him.

Purchaser of the top lot on the day, Kevin Jardine had earlier signed for Ganapathi at £38,000. The six-year-old son of the German Derby winner Samum was trained by Willie Mullins after winning once in France, and this Cork maiden hurdle winner showed a liking for fences and Wexford, winning twice there this year. On his latest run he was placed in a Grade 3 chase at Galway.

Successful at Down Royal, Perth and Roscommon, the Stuart Crawford-trained Homme D’Un Soir, and the Gearoid Brouder-trained Kilbeggan bumper runner-up Court Cian, both realised £30,000, bought respectively by Jonathan Harper and J.D. Moore.

‘Superb’

Goffs UK managing director Tim Kent commented at the sale’s conclusion: “Recent sale results have demonstrated the demand for racehorses shows no signs of slowing and that was evident again today with our September HIT Sale producing a superb clearance rate of 94%.

“Our feature draft once again this year was the Gigginstown House dispersal, which has become an annual highlight on the Goffs UK sale calendar, and it lived up to the hype with all 16 lots finding new homes. We wish to extend Gigginstown a sincere thanks for their ongoing support of the September HIT Sale, and we wish all our buyers the very best with their purchases.”