THE pick of the foals on offer at Kildare Paddocks this week was a €72,000 son of Soldier Of Fortune who will return to the sales ring as a three-year-old after selling to Adrian Costello. The colt was offered by Garryrichard Stud on behalf of his breeder Michael Murphy and he is the first produce of a Flemensfirth half-sister to the classy dual-purpose runner Swamp Fox.

Costello was again to the fore during the opening session when he forked out €49,000 for a son of Walk In The Park out of a winning Westerner mare who was sold by Pat Connell.