HORSES fit to grace the winners’ enclosure at Epsom this weekend were instead the leading lights at the Tattersalls Ireland May Point-to-Point and Horses-in-Training Sale on Wednesday evening.

A late addition to the company’s calendar, the sale took just an hour to complete, and the evening’s highlights were among the earlier offerings. A €28,000 Arqana purchase last summer, the four-year-old Arslan was runner-up at Tralee on Saturday for Co Wexford-based Richard Black, and his appearance in the ring ensured a full bidders’ area.

A son of Wootton Bassett and the dual Grade 1 winner Harmonious, Arslan attracted bids from numerous quarters, including bloodstock agent Tom Malone, Timmy Hillman, the eventual underbidder, and Niamh Spiller, the latter pair on their mobiles, but the late intervention of Harold Kirk resulted in all the others having to concede, and Kirk’s final bid to Simon Kerins saw him emerge successful at €180,000.

Black was all smiles after the sale. He said: “He had been in training in France and came recommended. We built him up slowly and he did a couple of good bits of work lately. He was still green when he ran, and there is still some a good bit of improvement in him. I am delighted with where he is going. He is a beautiful animal in every way.”

This is not Black’s best sale. He topped the Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale with Maire Banrigh in 2017, when that daughter of King’s Theatre sold for £320,000.

Harold Kirk, buying for Willie Mullins, said: “This is a beautiful horse, by a fantastic sire and with a pedigree. I spoke to trainer Francis Graffard who had him in France and he said the horse was just big and backward, and he did not really train him. I loved him in his point-to-point.

“He could be a two-miler, could be a mile and a half flat horse, could be a good hurdler. He could do two jobs and we are hoping he will make a good dual-purpose type.”

Long Branch, a son of Idaho out of a half-sister to the Grade 1-winning chaser Nacarat, beat Arslan at Tralee, but he failed to sell at €70,000.

Zarak filly

Minutes before the top lot was sold, the pace was set by a four-year-old daughter of Zarak out of a Cape Cross half-sister to the brilliant Goldikova and the Group 1 Prix Vermeille winner Galikova. Well touted in advance as one of the sale stars, Dippedinmoonlight ran out a 40-length winner at Inchydoney, and in a time that was an impressive 10 seconds better than average. Emmet Mullins, standing with owner Paul Byrne, secured the four-year-old at €130,000.

Dippedinmoonlight was sold by Daragh Berry’s Furziestown Stables, having been bought by Danny Hussey and Darren O’Dwyer Bloodstock for just €9,500 in February at Goffs. Mullins said: “She’s got a brilliant pedigree, it was a brilliant performance and, fingers crossed, she can be a nice filly, going forward.

“We will get her home as she has had a busy spring. She was only bought in February and came out pointing, so we will give her some time off and see what she is like then. She ought to be a nice dual-purpose filly, and owner plans are to be made. Zarak had the Galway Hurdle winner last year [Zarak The Brave] and he has been flying on the flat too, and had some Group 1 winners this spring.”

There was some disappointment when the second lot in the ring, The Great Nudie from Colin Bowe’s Milestone Stables, was led out unsold at €145,000. The four-year-old daughter of Wings Of Eagles never looked in any danger when she won on her debut last weekend at Ballingarry.

The gap between the best and the rest was wide, and apart from those that sold for six-figure sums, the next highest priced lot was one of the last through the ring. Eleanor Broderick’s Dance Rules, a five-year-old son of Dansant out of a winning Kings Theatre mare, ran a cracker on debut when second to the more experienced Coolberrin Hill [unsold at €52,000]. Webb Hill purchased Dance Rules for €48,000.

After a couple of private sales, 16 of the 23 lots offered sold for €718,500, an average of €44,906 and a median of €32,500.