THURSDAY'S one-day store sale at Tattersalls Ireland ended with a clearance rate of 71%, two points ahead of last year, which was respectable given current market conditions. All other metrics declined by 10%.

Topping the session at €45,000 was a three-year-old French-bred Bathyrhon filly from Pa Doyle's Galbertstown Stables.

Sourced as a yearling in France by Gerry Hogan for just €9,000 and already named Lady Blackmore, the filly was sold to Colin Bowe and James Kenny.

A half-sister to a winner and out of a five-time winner, the filly’s pedigree received a significant boost when a half-sister to the dam produced the Grade 1 Tolworth Hurdle winner Jango Baie.

Kenny, who produces horse with his father Liam, said: "I love her, she has a very good temperament, has a lovely way of going, walks well, and has a lovely presence. Her sire has not done a whole lot wrong. Hopefully we will see her out in the point-to-point field."

The sale came during a particularly buoyant period in the early evening of the sale, and her price bettered that achieved a lot earlier by John Bleahen’s Lakefield Farm with the sale of a son of Jack Hobbs for €42,000 to prolific purchasers Monbeg Stables, this one for Sean Doyle.

The gelding is out of the bumper-winning Presenting mare Penelope Pips, and that mare’s grandam Auntie Dot was a legend for the Webber family in the 1980s, winning 18 times.

Doyle said: "He is a big, strong horse, and very good mover, I looked at him three times today and he stood out every time I saw him. He comes from a good farm and we have had luck with them before. This is the first by the sire we have had, and I love to buy horses out of Presenting mares."

John Bleahen added: "I paid £10,500 for him as a foal and he was then as he was today, he just walked. Though I am a fan of Jack Hobbs, there is a lot of Presenting in him from the mare. I had some shrewd men on him, with Warren Ewing and Sean Doyle and Mick Goff. They have been lucky with our horses in the past, and it is all about repeat business.

"He was accepted for other sales and I thought he might be a bit of a stand-out here, which he was. There is an adjustment in the market at present, and we adjust with the market. We have crops coming behind them and we have to keep moving forwards.”

Three lots later and another Bleahen brother was in the news, this time Niall. His Liss House sold a son of Affinisea to Stuart Crawford for €40,000, Bred by Whytemount Stud, the gelding was bought as a foal in the same ring by Bleahen for €11,000.

Crawford said: "We will get him home, get him broken in. He might be a bit more of a bumper horse, but he is a nice type. There have been two or three by Affinisea in today and they have all been very athletic and nice horses.”

Niall Bleahen was happy with the outcome, saying: "Last year I topped the sale and got the second-highest price, and I wanted to bring another good horse to the sale again. He is a very nice horse and has a very good attitude.

"He has gone to a good customer. I recommended this horse to him, and to the underbidder Sean Doyle as well. I am delighted to see that they have taken my word – those clients are good to us. Whether you lose money or gain it, you have to do right by the clients and the horses."

As the sale rolled to a conclusion, Liss House sold the 10th lot of the sale to realise €30,000 or more, making them the leading consignor, when Tom Dreaper’s bid of €31,000 secured a French-bred three-year-old son of Vol De Nuit, already named Let’s Is Go. The striking grey is a half-brother to a couple of placed horses.

DAUGHTERS of Success Days for a long period were leading the way, on a day when the point-to-point handlers were key to trade.

Rob James spent €37,000 for Cnoc Na gCapall’s daughter of a winning King’s Theatre mare. The best runners in the family appear under the fourth dam, Mill’s Girl, and that mare bred the Sun Alliance Novices’ Hurdle winner Putty Road, the Group 2 flat winner Quilted, and she is grandam of the Grade 1 hurdle winner Nobody Told Me.

“As soon as I saw her, I had to have her," said James. "She has size and scope and strength, she looks like a gelding, and Success Days is obviously by the good, late sire Jeremy. She will go down the point-to-point route and will be one we will look to get going with early."

Co Clare-based Cnoc Na gCapall Stud’s Fachtna Twomey said: "I bought her as a foal out of a field. She was always a cracker, always a big, strong filly and straightforward to handle.”

Moyfinn Stud’s daughter of the same sire, also a three-year-old, sold for €36,000 to Ballycrystal Stables. The dam of the filly, a placed Peintre Celebre mare, is a half-sister to a pair of blacktype National Hunt performers. "It is the second I have bought by Success Days today," said point-to-point handler Matthew Flynn O'Connor. "These are the first by the sire I've had; we are going in blind! It is not easy to get the good ones, but we will keep trying.”

A three-year-old Joshua Tree gelding from Clenagh Castle Stud realised €32,000 to Pat and Jack Doyle’s Suirview Stables. The son of the winning Classic Cliche mare Kilbarry Cushty is related to a host of high-class runners, notable among them being Minella Cocooner, Racing Demon, Abolitionist, Journey With Me and Silent Approach.

Jack Doyle said: "He is a gorgeous horse, as nice a horse as is here today. We had one by the sire before, he went well and we liked him and he had a lot of ability. He is from a good farm, and will go pointing. We watched the online video of him loose schooling – he can certainly jump!"

Consignor Adrian Costello added: "He's a lovely, big, chasing type of horse and I think he deserved to make a fair price. Hopefully he will work out for his new owners. If he wins his point-to-point, I think he will be very valuable. I bought him here as a foal from Kilbarry Lodge and he has a lovely pedigree, from one of their good families. I sold one to Pat before and he is a great man to train a pointer.”

Progeny of Affinisea proved popular, and Warren Ewing was among those to purchase his stock. He paid €31,000 for the first produce of an unraced Flemensfirth mare from Ballywooden House Stud. The gelding is from the family of J’y Vole, My Sister Sarah, Lifetime Ambition and Ilovethenightlife.

Monbeg Stables bought a total of 15 lots for €300,500, making them by some distance the leading purchasers at the sale. Among their haul was a pair of lots that sold for €30,000, a daughter of Night Wish and a son of Telescope. Clonmult Farm’s filly is out of a winning Doctor Dino mare, while Clonamery’s gelding is a half-brother to a couple of winners. His grandam was the Grade 2 Long Distance Hurdle winner Maid Equal, successful eight times over hurdles and once over fences.

"Telescope is going well, this lad caught my eye in the yard and we have waited for him," said Monbeg Stables’ Cormac Doyle. The gelding was bought for €8,000 as a foal at the Tattersalls Ireland November National Hunt Sale.

COMMENTING on the results of the May Store Sale, Tattersalls Ireland CEO Simon Kerins said: "The trade today has indeed been selective, consistent with what we witnessed at the earlier store sale this month. However, it was pleasing to see an improvement in our clearance rate compared to last year's sale. Whilst the market has been challenging at this level there has been a real sense of pragmatism by the vendors."

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