Lankill Louis (lot 312) by Whitethorn Buachaill Bui out of Lankill Pearl €3,400

Bay Linda (lot 320) by Bohola Mirah out of Stars Beauty €3,200

Cruckcorragh Saffire (lot 240) by Kilberan Mike out of Knocknorths Shadow €2,800

TRADE at the final Connemara Pony sales of the year in Clifden last weekend held strong with stand-out ponies making large sums, without breaking any records.

Closing out a steady year on a high, the sale topper was a pony produced by Irish European pony team event rider Molly O’Connor who went for €10,500, down on the top price from the 2022 December sale of €12,200, but consistent with the top price paid at the sales in October of this year, €10,800.

In total there were 452 ponies entered for the two-day sale but bad weather was cited as the main reason for 80 not appearing in the ring.

Of those presented, 242 were sold, yielding a clearance rate of 68%.

Ann de Courcey, manager of the sales said: “We were very happy with Saturday in particular, anything nice was making plenty and there was a lot of UK interest, and a lot of online interest, so we were very pleased. There is definitely bigger demand for anything that is broken and riding, so anyone with a three or four-year-old should consider getting a bit of work done to reach those higher prices.

“On Sunday, we feel we were impacted quite a bit by the weather with people choosing not to travel in freezing conditions and that meant some entered lots did not appear and some regular buyers didn’t appear, which is fair enough. You would want to be fairly brave to hitch up and travel across the country in those kind of conditions.

“Sunday got off to a great start but tailed off slightly in the afternoon. Thankfully, we had plenty of online buyers, which offset that and there was a bid for every lot even if it was not as high as what the vendor was hoping for. The feeling generally from buyers was that the October standard of foals was a bit higher.

“Overall the year held up very well, we had a big turnover, every sale was fully subscribed and we had 17 sale days versus 10 from a couple of years ago, which we hope to continue. We are grateful to all our buyers and vendors and those who travel from far and wide from all over Europe for their support.”

Sale Topper

The aforementioned sale topper was Paul O’Connor’s Ballinchalla Atlas, a beautifully turned out 148cm grey four-year-old gelding by Tempo Active Atlas, who was previously the top-priced yearling in the same sales ring three years ago. He was sold to Niall Daly after some lively bidding, and is destined for a show jumping future having shown serious promise loose jumping and under saddle.

Event rider Molly O’Connor, who is out of ponies and headed for the young rider ranks next year, also presented the fourth best-priced pony, Ballyard Echo, on whom she has had many successes including an Eventing Ireland win at Tyrella earlier this year. This 148cm eight-year-old gelding by Ballyard Prince was also a sale topper at Clifden when he was sold for €6,000 as a four-year-old. He was knocked down to sale regular Pat O’Gorman for €9,100.

Lot 81, Glenview Annaghbay Flash, made €10,400 in the ring on Saturday \ Rynes Walker

O’Gorman also signed the docket for several other lots including the second highest priced pony, Glenview Annaghbay Flash, a 158cm dun gelding by Silver Shadow consigned by Michael Robinson and sold for €10,400. O’Gorman went home with four other lots from the top 20 including two sport horses; lot 183, an unnamed four-year-old dun gelding by Roches Dunn for €6,000 and lot 187, a skewbald mare with an Irish Draught sire and Cob dam for €5,800.

O’Gorman was not the only buyer to take home six lots, Charles Hanley had the same number, as did L&K Kelly and Bryan Dagg and Harold Lusk and Tom Vaughan took home five apiece.

Niall Daly signed for three lots and Gerty Tynan went home with two.

The third highest priced individual was Moonlight Bobby, a 153cm grey Black Shadow gelding out of Hill Grace, who was consigned by Eamonn Rodgers, and sold to UK buyer Tony Hamilton for €9,400.

The last two lots to make €8,000 were the top priced mare, Clounanna Lady April, a 153cm grey by Ard Ri Oisin out of Easter Sweet, who went to UK buyer Georgina Eyre, and Coolfin Yellowhammer, a 146cm six-year-old gelding by Coolfin King, who went to Farwood Equine (UK).

Foals

Suileen Shadow (lot 216), a striking black colt by Silver Shadow out of Suileen Lass was the top foal sold on Sunday, consigned by Marcus Donnellan and sold to Kevin O’Donnell for €4,400.

Lot 216, Suileen Shadow was the highest priced foal of the December Clifden Pony Sales making €4,400 \ Rynes Walker

Michael Holmes’ Carnane Viking (lot 395) by Banks Timber out of Blackforest Vivienne was next highest, going for €3,500 to Damien Gill.

Selling for €3,400 to UK buyer Russell Hand was Cathy Heanue Hughes’ Lankill Louis (lot 312) a dun colt by Whitethorn Buachaill Bui out of Lankill Pearl.

The top priced filly foal was Hubert Flaherty’s Bay Linda (lot 320) by Bohola Mirah out of Stars Beauty, who went to Padraic Kelleher for €3,200

Cruckcorragh Saffire (lot 240), by Kilberan Mike out of Knocknorths Shadow, was the second highest priced filly and fifth highest priced foal, going for €2,800 to Terry Brady.

UK buyers represented the majority of the overseas spend, taking home 27 lots in total. A whopping 19 lots are bound for Benelux countries, while five are off to Germany, three to France, and one to Norway.

Entries are now open for the first Connemara Pony sales of 2024, which will be held on Saturday, February 10th and Sunday, February 11th.