THE shock news that Caldwell Construction were to disperse all of their horses came as a pre-sale blow to all the vendors with horses in the Tattersalls Cheltenham January Sale. Their trainer, Gordon Elliott, was among the high-profile absentees at the auction, held after last Saturday’s race meeting.

The catalogue for this year’s renewal of the sale was much smaller than that of a year ago, and an inevitable fall in turnover could have been anticipated. A 64% decline was probably not envisaged, along with significant falls in average and median of 32% and 54% respectively.

Matthew Prior, Tattersalls’ associate director, was putting a brave face on the sale outcome, pointing out that the absence of Irish four-year-old point-to-pointers was a major factor in the outcome of the trade. He said: “On the back of a record-breaking sales year in 2023, and continued excellent performances on the racecourse as typified by today’s thrilling Grade 2 Cleeve Hurdle victory for the admirable Noble Yeats, it is great to get our 2024 sales year underway, and to be back here at Cheltenham, the home of jumps racing.”

The session produced just four horses sold for six-figure sums, with a top price of £150,000 given for Old Tom Morris. Last year’s sale saw Wingmen top trade at £250,000, and he has since won his only run for Bective Stud and Gordon Elliott, comfortably landing a bumper at Naas in mid-December.

A son of Getaway, Old Tom Morris, who was an impressive three-and-a-half-length winner of his maiden at Turtulla on his pointing debut, was purchased by Hamish Macauley Bloodstock. The five-year-old gelding, who is out of the three-time-winning and dual graded-placed Milan mare Caheronaun, was sold by Rob James Racing.

James was in the saddle on Old Tom Morris when he won and, with Ger O’Connor, purchased him for €75,000 at the 2022 Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale.

Bowe’s sale

Admiral Stewart, consigned by Colin Bowe’s Milestone Stables, was bought by bloodstock agent Tom Malone and trainer Jamie Snowden for £130,000. This followed a rollercoaster weekend for the trainer, who won with Ga Law but sadly lost Datsalrightgino at the same meeting. After showing promise on his career debut as a four-year-old, Admiral Stewart, a son of Soldier Of Fortune, went on to record a victory in the first week of January at Tinahely, going away to win by six lengths from Skuna Bay who later sold to Donald McCain Racing for just £25,000.

Malone said: “Jamie Snowden and I really liked this lad. We had to take him on trust from Colin Bowe. In the video all you can see is about 40 yards of the race because of the fog, but Colin said that he could stand by him. I have had a big winner today by the stallion Soldier Of Fortune, and this horse is beautiful. Colin has not had to do too much with him to get him to win, and we are the ones who get to find out how good he is.

“Jamie has had an up and down day today, but he has been enjoying a great season, especially with purchases from here, and winning the Grand Military yesterday was a great training performance.”

Admiral Stewart was a €78,000 Goffs Land Rover Sale purchase from Manister House Stud by Milestone Bloodstock, and is a brother to six winners including the Grade 3 winner and multiple graded placed The Crafty Butcher.

TRAINER Emmet Mullins, who enjoyed a fine day on the track with the Grade 2 Cleeve Hurdle success for the 2022 Grand National winner and Tattersalls Cheltenham graduate Noble Yeats, went to £125,000 to purchase Melbourne Shamrock. By Hillstar and out of the Saddlers’ Hall mare Lucy

Murphy, the five-year-old won his second start in a fast-run maiden at Carrigarostig from Colonel Nelson (who was unsold on the night at £95,000).

Mullins said: “He bounced out and made all. He had one or two horses take him on all the way and he batted them away. Mags [Mullins] had a nice horse who finished second, the two of them quickened up like two smart horses and, hopefully, he can go on to bigger and better things.

“Plans are open at the moment, and we have not got an owner as yet. It is always exciting coming to Cheltenham, especially when a sale is on and we are able to be competitive to buy these better-quality horses.”

Melbourne Shamrock was sold by Matty Flynn O’Connor’s Ballycrystal Stables and he said: “He is a lovely horse. We bought him as a store and gave him one run last autumn, but he was still a big baby and ran green. He did it well last weekend. He was tough and hardy, they got racing plenty early enough, but he held the gallop to win in a fast time. Conditions were rough, but we got it done, so we are happy.”

A €70,000 store sold at the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale, Melbourne Shamrock is a half-brother to Barnaviddaun, a Grade 2 winner over hurdles. His dam is a half-sister to the Grade 2 hurdler Mossy Fen and is from the talented family of Sound Man, Master Of The Hall and Pairofbrowneyes. Of his four-year-old string, O’Connor said: “We should get rolling at the end of February, but we have a couple of nice five-year-olds still to run.”

Bailey buys

Completing the quartet of six-figure lots was the very first horse into the ring on the night, Seatoit. The five-year-old son of Affinisea was sold by owner Ray Devereaux to Kim Bailey and this was a real pinhooking success, as the gelding cost just €24,000 at the Goffs Land Rover Sale. Trained by Eric McNamara, Seatoit was runner-up to the smart Kish Bank in a Punchestown bumper in December, having shown promise on his debut at Thurles the previous month.