THE four-day Tattersalls Ireland November National Hunt Sale comprises mainly foals, with a small selection of yearling and broodmares topping and tailing the catalogue. Trade for both these categories is limited and highly selective, and highlights were few and far between.

From a significantly smaller catalogue - the first time since 2012 (aside from the Covid year 2020) it contained fewer than 900 lots - the 449 foals sold produced an aggregate of just under €7.5 million, a drop of 27%. The clearance rate of 62% was four points behind that of last year. The median and average were down 4% and 7% respectively.

More than 200 buying entities signed for foals and yearlings, many from the UK, a number from France, as well as Qatari owner Mohammed Hamad Khalifa Al Attiyah. The final turnover for the whole sale reached €7.9 million.

Tattersalls Ireland CEO Simon Kerins commented: “After four days of trading there were positives to extract from this week’s sale, with two foals selling for €110,000, while the blacktype mare Instit topped the sale at €125,000.

“There has been sustained demand for what the market sees as commercially attractive foals, but the selective nature of the National Hunt market is clear to see, and has been evident throughout the year at other such sales.

“We recognise that a percentage of foals failed to meet what the market requires, and we empathise with consignors who found this week a challenge. That said, there were vendors who attained excellent prices and went away satisfied with their results. It was also encouraging to see buyers drawn to a broader range of stallions, with the progeny of six different stallions among the top 10 purchases.”

Instit tops sale

As mentioned by Kerins, the best price for a broodmare, and the highest of the week, €125,000, was achieved for Instit, who was one of the first into the ring in that section.

Consigned by Neilstown Stud, Instit is a six-year-old French-bred daughter of Saint Des Saints, and she was sold carrying her first foal, by the popular Walk In The Park. Trained by Willie Mullins for the Bruton Street Partnership, Instit was covered nine days after she ran at Punchestown, finishing second.

A winner over jumps in France before she joined Mullins, Instit won twice over fences and one of these was a listed chase at Fairyhouse. She was twice second in a Grade 2 mares’ chase at the Punchestown Festival. She is the first runner and winner for her dam Bonne Maman, and while she did not earn any blacktype racing in France, she won five of her eight starts over jumps and placed on the other occasions.

Bonne Maman is a half-sister to the leading hurdle and chase mare Line Marine, and her 17 wins, all over jumps, were crowned with Grade 1 victories in the Grand Steeplechase de Paris and a Grade 1 hurdle race for four-year-olds. That arduous racing career took no tolls on her as a broodmare, and she has two blacktype winners to date.

British buyer

Peel Bloodstock’s Will Kinsey signed for the top lot, not long after he spent €72,000 on a Walk In The Park filly foal. Both were bought in association with his brother-in-law, the former British champion point-to-point rider, Richard Burton.

“We have also got a few new partners into the industry, all fellow amateur riders,” Kinsey explained. Of Instit he said: “She is a rare sort, a Saint Des Saints broodmare. I have been trying to buy one for a long time. She is going back to Richard’s from here, and we have some plans to make for her next covering. There are lots of good options in the UK now.”

The foal that Kinsey and Burton purchased was Ballincurrig House Stud’s half-sister to Grade A hurdle winner Hearts Are Trumps and the French listed chase winner Go Fast Du Berlais, another fine sale for breeder Louis Vambeck. They are among five winners from the Presenting mare Polly’s Present, a full-sister to a pair of Grade 1 winners in Denman and Silverburn. The former won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the Royal & SunAlliance Chase, Lexus Chase and the Challow Novices’ Hurdle.

Kinsey said: “Options are open, but at the moment the plan is to race her and then, hopefully, breed from her. I know it is a long time from a foal to a broodmare, but the chances to buy this sort of pedigree are rare.” She brought one of the joint best prices for a filly foal this week.

SONS of two of France’s best stallions, No Risk At All and Saint Des Saints, dominated the final day of selling at this year’s Tattersalls Ireland November National Hunt Sale.

Both surpassed last year’s top price, and they each sold for €110,000. Ironically, both colts are heading to France to race in time.

Before noon on Thursday, Coolmara Stables’ No Risk At All and the first produce of the Grade 3-winning chaser Zarkareva, a daughter of Authorized, provoked a battle between Nicolas Bertan de Balanda and Timmy Hyde, victory going to the French agent. His immediate reaction was to say that “it is expensive coming here!”

He added: “He has been bought for owner Sofiane Benaroussi, who is building a team in France and the colt is going to race in France. This is a very good first foal, by a top stallion, and he has a great pedigree. He is probably going to be a tall horse and we will need to give him a bit of time. Sofiane is buying a lot of very good young stock and is going to have a nice team in France, moving forward.”

Coolmara’s Cathal Mariga commented: “We are very pleased; he made more than our expectations. We did not know if he would get into six figures, but we had hoped he would be standout and he has done just that. For a first foal, he is a lovely individual, and always has been. To make back half of the mare’s purchase price is very pleasing. She is now in foal to Blue Bresil.”

Four hours later, and the only foal in the sale by Saint Des Saints matched that of the No Risk At All, selling to Jerry McGrath. He had to see off challenges from Paul Harley and Joe Logan. “He has been bought to race in France,” said McGrath. “He cost a bit more than we expected. He is a lovely colt, and Saint Des Saints does not need any explaining. I am spending a lot of time in France and have seen Olympic Story, who is out of the half-sister. She is the best three-year-old filly racing in France.

“He won’t be gelded – the dream will be to keep him as an entire, and if he gets to the required level of form, we might be able to retire him to stud in France.” The colt was sold by James Sheehan’s Clonmult Farm for breeder Maurice Garde. Sheehan said: “Maurice bought the mare last November, and she produced this lovely foal. I saw him in the middle of August and loved him then and he has really developed since he came to me. He has a real pedigree, probably one of the best French pedigrees in the book.”

BOARDSMILL Stud’s Poet’s Word was very well represented all week, and two of his daughters caught the headlines. They were among a group of four fillies to bring €60,000 or more over the course of the sale.

Sunnyhill Stud consigned a Poet’s Word filly who is the first offspring of the Grade 2 chase winner Ballyshannon Rose - her sire Doyen stood at Michael Hickey’s Sunnyhill for a decade. Kevin and Anna Ross purchased this filly for €72,000 for Chris Jones’ Killeen Glebe.

Joey Logan provided the main opposition when he commenced his challenge with a bid of €60,000, leading to Anna Ross proclaiming that “I would have preferred if we had got her for that! We knew we’d have to go strong, and you have to for the ones that you want. She is the best foal we have seen. There is quite a good word about the sire, the trainers seem to like them. She is very well made, a lovely mover, and she has a stunning pedigree.”

Ross revealed that the filly would be back in the future for resale, when the pedigree could look even better. For now, six-time winner Ballyshannon Rose is a half-sister to the Grade 1 Mersey Novices’ Hurdle winner Three Stripe Life, and their dam’s half-brother Hirapour was a leading hurdler in the USA where his many elite victories included the Colonial Cup.

Magical Zoe

Another highlight filly for Poet’s Word was Mountain View Stud’s half-sister to the Grade 3 hurdle winner Magical Zoe, and that Henry de Bromhead-trained daughter of Shantou showed that she was up to being competitive on the flat too, scooping the valuable Ebor Handicap at York this year. The filly foal cost the recently-retired Grade 1-winning jockey Adrian Heskin €65,000.

Afterwards Heskin outlined plans for the filly and Magical Zoe. “I am delighted to secure her for two good friends of mine, Paddy and Scott Bryceland, the owners of Magical Zoe. She was on our radar for a while and I was down to see her at Louis Kennedy’s place, Mountain View, a couple of months ago. She had everything that day, and she progressed very well to the sale.

“The sire is going very well, she has a big walk on her, great trot, a great temperament, it’s a good deep pedigree and we are delighted to get her. The owners are from Scotland, and she will head back to my place in Kilworth for the next couple of years and the long-term plan is to race her. She is a breeding prospect down the line. Hopefully she will be lucky.

“[Magical Zoe] is going good. After her big win at York there are plenty of big sights on the flat for her. Hopefully this one can emulate what she has done.”

The yearling section on Sunday was headed by the €25,000 sale of a son of Poet’s Word to Dick and J.J. Frisby. From Boley Stud, the gelding is out of an unraced half-sister to Grade 2 Galmoy Hurdle winner Royal Kahala, and that daughter of Flemensfirth is out of an unraced daughter of the three-time Grade 1 Cleeve Hurdle winner, Lady Rebecca. He was one of the last yearlings to sell, which only took about an hour to complete.

Hogan’s delight

“She is a lovely sort, by a top sire, and looks a real racing prospect.” So said bloodstock agent Gerry Hogan after spending €60,000 for a Walk In The Park daughter of the six-time-winning King’s Theatre mare, Penny Jane.

The dam raced for Paul and Clare Rooney when she was trained by Gordon Elliott, and her principal victory came at the end of her racing career when she was victorious in the Grade 2 Kinsale Chase at Cork. Penny Jane is a full-sister to Grade 2 chase winner Minella Foru, and he won at Grade 3 level too over hurdles. The filly was consigned by Clonbonny Stud.

RICHARD ‘Dick’ Frisby and his son J.J. spent more than €250,000 on foals, and their choice of the week was a son of Walk In The Park. They faced a strong challenge to get him from Coolmore’s Gerry Aherne before Simon Kerins’ gavel fell at €92,000.

Dick, Tommy and J.J. Frisby spent €250,000 on foals this week \ Healy Racing

With sales of more than €600,000 from 25 lots, Michael Moore’s Ballincurrig House Stud was the top consignor and, in this case, he was acting for the colt’s breeder, Louis Vambeck.

The colt’s dam, En Vedette, won a listed hurdle race winner at Auteuil, and all of her six runners have won, two have been placed in blacktype races. The mare’s two most recent stores at the sales realised £105,000 this year and €140,000 at the 2023 Derby Sale.

“He has everything, walks well and a great pedigree,” said J.J. Frisby. “It is good price. She is still quite a young mare, has had some good sale ring results, and done it all.”

Earlier, the father and son combination paid €62,000 for Jukebox Jury’s son of the Fontwell bumper winner Corrie Lake, a daughter of Stowaway. J.J. commented: “The sire is on fire, and he’s as good a walking foal as was here all week. He is an outstanding model with a big walk.”

“It is our biggest result in the ring,” said a smiling Daniel Doran junior. “He is one of the better foals we have bred. We weren’t expecting that and it is a huge amount of money for a foal; we are delighted. My brother Peter and my cousin J.P. King are also involved in the mare.”

That €62,000 price was matched minutes earlier for another son of Jukebox Jury. Ballymarkham Stud sold the colt to Moanmore’s Peter Vaughan.

The object of desire is the first colt out of the unraced Presenting mare Cool Grove, and her full-brother Up For Review went from being a point-to-point winner to recording six wins under National Hunt rules, notably the Grade 2 Dorans Pride Novice Hurdle at Punchestown. Vaughan said: “He has a smashing pedigree and is by a good sire. He will come back to a premier store sale in Ireland.”

Forced

Joey Logan was forced on many occasions to accept defeat for some of the choice lots, but he bagged a son of Diamond Boy for €60,000 from Boardsmill Stud, and had good reason to want him. “Last year I bought his half-sister by Poet’s Word for a neighbour and she is a beauty,” said Logan.

“She is a cracker, a big type, like a gelding. This foal was bred just down the road; it is a lovely family. The mare is by Kapgarde, which is a positive too.

“I did not think that I would have to go so far. All the right men were on him. I saw him outside the ring, and he just jumped straight into his step.”

The colt’s dam placed in a Grade 2 over hurdles at Leopardstown, and is a half-sister to the dam of Saint Des Saints’ son Gaillard Du Mesnil, a multiple Grade 1 winner over hurdles and fences.

BLUE Bresil was the most represented sire of the week, with 41 of his sons and daughters selling.

Two among that group were highlights, with the top lot eliciting just a succinct comment from the purchaser Aiden Murphy. He likely feels that the pedigree page does the talking.

One of the last foals in the sale, a Blue Bresil son of the Old Vic mare Princess Leya, sold to Murphy for €80,000. The dam is a Grade 2-winning half-sister to the 21-time winner and dual Grade 1 Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Altior.

He was consigned by Mark Dreeling and Barbara Fonzo’s Coole House Farm for breeders Paddy and Rose Behan. Murphy said: “He is a fine sort, and he will be re-consigned as a three-year-old store through [Flash Conroy’s] Glenvale.”

Tony O’Callaghan’s purchase of the Blue Bresil colt out of the Montjeu mare Je T’Adore should have surprised no one. The Tally-Ho Stud owner paid €68,000 for the Grade 1 Spring Juvenile Hurdle winner A Wave Of The Sea, and he has gone on to perform well too over fences. The dam has four winners, the others being the US stakes winner Duvet Day, the Grade 2 hurdle runner-up Dark Voyager, and Hello Neighbour.

Reinvesting profits

The latter, a son of Harzand, was successful on his debut for O’Callaghan, trained by Gavin Cromwell, but when he won his second start recently, he did so in new colours. The Co Westmeath-based stallion master was surely only reinvesting a portion of Hello Neighbour’s sale price. The colt was sold by breeder John Yarr of Meadowlands Stud.

Kevin and Anna Ross were to the fore again, this time with Ben Case, when giving €74,000 on the only Golden Horn colt foal this week. The sale of the son of nine-time hurdle and chase winner Mill Quest was hugely poignant for brothers Kieran and Billy Kenneally, as the dam was bred by their late mother Cathy, who passed away very recently. The brothers said: “Mum bought the colt’s third dam Solar Jet. She will have been looking down with pride.”

Kevin Ross said: “He is a lovely moving foal and the sire is doing very well. We have this colt’s two-year-old half-sister by Vadamos at home, and she is a nice filly. Their dam was a tough, durable mare who won nine times, and this is a lovely type of horse. He was bought for Lady Jane [Grosvenor] and will be offered for resale at a premier store sale.”