GORDON Elliott added further firepower to his yard after racing at Cheltenham on Thursday when he spent £840,000 on the two highest-priced lots at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale.

Elliott has consistently come away with the top lots from all of these monthly boutique auctions of point-to-pointers and horses in training at Cheltenham Racecourse all season.

In February he bought Jersey Des Brosses here for £370,000. In January he spent £250,000 on Wingmen, and in December he bought the top three lots for a total of £700,000. A month earlier Elliott spent £330,000 on the mare Working Away at a Cheltenham sale.

His latest big-money acquistions are Romeo Coolio and Jalon D’oudairies, both winning point-to-pointers for Donnchadh Doyle last Sunday at different venues. Each horse cost Elliott £420,000 today.

Widely tipped as a likely top lot, Romeo Coolio did not disappoint. The winning four-year-old son of Kayf Tara was bought by Elliott on behalf of the Keep The Dream Alive (KTDA) Syndicate, who have had Cheltenham Festival success with Mount Ida in the past.

Romeo Coolio won his maiden on his career debut at Belclare last weekend, a race that has previously produced a Cheltenham Gold Cup winner and an Aintree Grand National winner.

The bidding opened at £300,000 and swept upwards at speed until only Tom Malone and Aidan O’Ryan, standing next to trainer Gordon Elliott and with the KTDA team, were active.

After winning that battle, O’Ryan said: “I was not there when he won - I was at another point-to-point - but we saw lots of the four-year-olds in January. Donnchadh [Doyle] was mad about him. He is a gorgeous horse, a great example of a Kayf Tara. We saw him as a store horse at the Derby Sale.”

Bred by Will Kinsey, he was sold by Valyrian Bloodstock Ltd from Clononeen Stud at last year’s Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale for €92,000 when bought by Doyle’s Monbeg Stables.

A spokesperson for the KTDA Syndicate commented: “We like to win here. We trust Gordon and there is one exam question when we buy a horse – Will it get to Cheltenham? And we think this one will!

“We are really impressed with him and we are massively invested in Gordon’s yard. They have looked after us for four years now. We got lucky very early with Mount Ida and we keep on replenishing., We were really committed. We said this is the horse we wanted to buy and we’d do whatever it takes.”

Lingstown point-to-point winner Jalon D’oudairies is by No Risk At All, the sire of Allaho, Epatante and Friday’s Cheltenham favourite, Allegorie De Vassy. Elliott signed for this one himself and said: “He is a lovely horse, he came well recommended. He is by a lovely sire. We saw him in the yard before he ran. These are the sort of horses we want. We do not have an owner yet, but we will have by the time the night is out.”

No Risk At All is also the sire of the third highest priced lot on the night. This was Quebecois, a four-year-old half-brother to Cheltenham Grade 1 winner Brindisi Breeze. Trained by Donnchadh Doyle’s brother Sean, Quebecois finished second to Denis Murphy’s Queensbury Boy in a point-to-point at Castlelands earlier this month. He was bought today for £320,000 by the McNeill family.

The aforementioned Queensbury Boy was also sold at this sale, fetching £130,000 to the bid of bloodstock agent Jerry McGrath.

On a night which saw 20 horses sell for a total of £3,450,000, other trainers who acquired six-figure lots included Neil Mulholland, Jonjo O’Neill, John McConnell, Ben Pauling and Paul Nolan.