Tattersalls Ireland hosted the last store sale of the season when the two-day July Store Sale kicked off on Wednesday. Persistent rain failed to dampen the enthusiasm of buyers and trade was perfectly adequate for the stock on offer.

A pair of geldings shared top billing when selling for €55,000 each, while the key metrics were broadly similar to last year’s session.

A well-bred son of Shantou set the early pace when selling to Hamish Macauley and Matthew Flynn O'Connor's Ballycrystal Stables for €55,000. From Railstown Stud, the gelding is the first produce out of the Oscar mare The Princetonian who won over hurdles and who - even more significantly- is a full-sister to Champion Hurdle winner Rock On Ruby.

“We saw this horse yesterday and we weren’t going to go home without him,” Macauley said. The agent has been lucky with Shantou already having bought this year’s Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Hurdle winner and Shantou-sired Stay Away Fay as a three-year-old before he won a point-to-point for Matthew Flynn O’Connor and was sold to Paul Nicholls and Tom Malone for £305,000.

Macauley is hoping lightning can strike twice with this purchase, adding: "He is the one we really wanted. He is a great sort, by Shantou out of an Oscar mare and from a fine family. Let's hope we can do the same again."

The joint session-topper came late in the day when John McConnell successfully bid €55,000 a son of Noroit from Niall Bleahen’s Liss House. The gelding had plenty going for him on paper, being a full-brother to the Venetia Williams-trained high-class chaser Funambule Sivola, who has won two Game Spirit Chases and finished second in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

“He is not overly big, but he’s athletic and is a great mover and he’s a full-brother to a good horse,” McConnell said of Kow Boy Sivola. “He’s from a very good farm and came highly recommended. Being a bit small doesn’t concern me, I would be just as happy to win the Champion Hurdle as the Gold Cup! I don't have an owner for him as yet so he is for sale,” McConnell added.

Brown Island wildcard

Johnny Collins’ Brown Island stables enjoyed a lucrative Derby Sale and he kept up the momentum when selling one of the wildcard offerings for €54,000.

The son of Buck’s Boum, named Krishna Bellevue, is related to Oh Crick, a former high-class chaser for Alan King and was bought by David Phelan.

“He is for a client and will be staying in Ireland," Phelan said afterwards. “No trainer has been decided yet. He will get broken in and they will decide what to do with him then. He is a fine horse and he has been bought as a racing prospect."

Collins said: “I bought him as a foal in France. He was due to go to an earlier store sale but just pulled a muscle and couldn’t go. I entered him here as soon as I knew that all was back on track. He is a grand horse.”

The vendor had earlier sold his only other offering in the sale, another Buck’s Boum gelding, for €33,000 to Colin Bowe’s Milestone Bloodstock,

Shirocco gelding

On what turned out to be a long day of selling another late highlight came when Galbertstown Stud sold a son of Shirocco to Stuart Crawford for €50,000. This gelding is out of the bumper winning Kayf Tara mare Kayf Hampshire and has some smart performers such as Optimus Prime and Strontium on his page, while his as-of-yet unraced four-year-old full-brother is the subject of positive reports from his trainer Evan Williams.

“I thought he was the best of the day, though the page is slightly light for what he cost,” Crawford said. “I’ve been waiting for him all day and I had to go a bit further than I wanted to, but it’s hard to buy a bit of quality without spending a bit of money. If he gets a result he will be cheap, if he doesn't he will be expensive!

"This horse is very correct and I spoke to Evan [Williams] a few minutes ago and he loves his horse. He highly recommended the full-brother which gave me the encouragement to push on. The right boys were bidding against me and if the right people like him at this end, hopefully the right people will like him at the next stage. Hopefully he will show me enough that I will have to make a decision between pointing or going down the bumper route but he will be trained to sell,” Crawford added.

Malone strikes

Tom Malone rarely leaves a sale empty handed and he struck for a Hillstar gelding offered by Matt O’Connor’s Graigue Farm who cost €42,000. Out of the blacktype performer Annamatopoeia, the gelding is from the family of jumps stakes winners Doctor Duffy and Flash The Steel.

One of the best-bred horses offered on the day was a son of Galiway from Liss House. He is a half-brother to the Nicky Henderson-trained Buzz, a nine-time winner which includes a victory in the Grade 2 Ascot Hurdle. The gelding was knocked down to Wexford point-to-point trainer Mick Goff for €40,000. The same price was given for Kaiser Karl, a son of Gris de Gris consigned by Drumlin. This gelding, out of a half-sister to the high class Natal, was bought by another Wexford pointing operation in Denis Murphy’s Ballyboy Stables.

Nicky Richards has been a long-term supporter of this sale and that support has unearthed the likes of Grade 1 winner Simply Ned and the high-class Duke Of Navan. The trainer was back searching for his next star on Wednesday and he struck early when signing for a son of Wings Of Eagles offered by Ger Hannon’s Ralahine Stud for €37,000.

The gelding is out of four-time winner Perfect Woman who was placed in a Grade 3 chase and comes from the family of prolific stakes winners Merry Masquerade, Over The Bar and Merry People.

“This sale has been good to me,” Richards said. “I have not had anything by the stallion, but he was a good racehorse and this is an athletic horse.”

Richards has further insight into the pedigree having purchased the horse’s year older half-sister for €40,000 at this sale last year.

The sale concludes with Part 2 on Thursday.