'He's been a lovely colt from birth' - close relative to Stage Star ignites Goffs sale at €110,000

Baroda Stud's Walk In The Park colt out of Sparky May takes to the stage at the Goffs December National Hunt SaleCredit: Goffs

A story that began on a wet April night in Somerset back in 2005 electrified the sales ring at Goffs on Monday, where the latest chapter in the tale of Sparky May unfolded during the opening day of the December National Hunt Sale.

The Midnight Legend mare was a Grade 2 winner for owner-breeder Billy Muddyman and trainer Pat Rodford, who rescued the filly the night she was born having found her lifeless on the wrong side of an electric fence.

Dragging the little filly 20 yards back to the paddock where her dam waited, Rodford felt the wrath of the electric fence and when it came to naming the fighter, the memory of the electric shock Rodford received while saving her life was the inspiration. 

Sparky May now resides at Baroda Stud outside Newbridge and David Cox and his team consigned her Walk In The Park colt foal who galvinised bidders at Goffs on Monday evening.

All the big players were in position for the supplementary entry to the catalogue as darkness fell with vantage points filled around the ring. With bids flying in from different positions, the race came down to a two-horse contest between Coolmore's representatives and the father-and-son pinhooking duo of Richard and JJ Frisby.

The gauntlet was thrown by the Kilkenny family who raised the stakes to €100,000 and showed no inclination of relenting when they quickly countered the Coolmore team with a bid of €110,000. That proved to be the decisive move and the hammer came down in favour of their Glenwood Stud, with Sparky May's son one of three foals added to the Frisby's pinhooks for the 2026 store sales.

They also added two foals by Blue Bresil; a colt out of winning hurdler Sailingtobyzantium from the family of Shattered Love, Irish Cavalier and Make A Track from Railstown Stud for €45,000, and Clonbonny Stud's €32,000 daughter of Onefortherose, a half-sister to Patrick's Park.

The outcome wasn't a surprise to the experienced team at Baroda as all the signs pointed to a successful sale.

Cox remarked: "We knew going up to the ring that he was going to sell well because of the questions people were asking and how he was going. Hopefully he works out well for the lads."

Richard Frisby after purchasing Baroda Stud's Walk In The Park three-parts brother to Stage Star at GoffsCredit: Goffs

It was Baroda where her son Stage Star, successful in the Grade 1 Turners Novices' Chase and Challow Novices' Hurdle over the past couple of years, was foaled.

Trained by Paul Nicholls for the Owners' Group, Stage Star made a successful seasonal reappearance at Cheltenham last month in the Paddy Power Gold Cup and that prompted the team, and the foal's breeders Ruxley Holdings, to supplement the January-foaled bay for this sale.

Cox added: "He has been a lovely colt from birth. Walk In The Park is on fire and Stage Star was very impressive when he won the Paddy Power and he looks like he is even better this season." 

The foal is closely related to Stage Star as the Cheltenham Festival winner is by the late Irish Derby, Gold Cup and Coronation Cup winner Fame And Glory, a son of Montjeu as is Walk In The Park.

He is also a full-brother to La Malmason, who was third to Found A Fifty in a beginners' chase at Down Royal last month for Gavin Cromwell, and Sparky May is also the dam of Lanspark, a winning son of Milan.

"She is a very good mare and back in foal to Walk In The Park," Cox confirmed.

He was also quick to pay tribute to Brian Delahunt and the team back at the farm for the pivotal role they played in raising not just this foal but every foal born at the Newbridge stud.

Quevega's princess opens the show

When Sparky May was runner-up in the David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle of 2011, she was behind Quevega at her imperious best when winning the third of her six runnings of the race.

Like Sparky May, Quevega has excelled as a broodmare and she too is the dam of a Grade 1 winner in Facile Vega, but it was her yearling granddaughter by Order Of St George who kicked off the sale when making €48,000 to Swanbridge Bloodstock.

Consigned by the Irish National Stud, where Quevega and her brood reside, the May-born filly is the first foal out of Princess Vega, a daughter of Beat Hollow. Princess Vega is her own dam's first born and the now eight-year-old mare made a winning debut in a Tramore maiden hurdle for Willie Mullins and her owner-breeders, the Hammer & Trowel Syndicate.

Liz Lucas of Swanbridge Bloodstock was delighted to acquire Quevega's granddaughter. 

Quevega pictured with her daughter Princess Vega, by Beat Hollow, when she was a foalCredit: Caroline Norris (racingpost.com/photos)

"Fillies with pedigrees like this don't come on the market very often so when they do, you have to try and buy them," she said. 

"We will take her home to East Yorkshire and see how she goes, but the plan is to send her into training when the time comes. If she has a quarter of the engine her grandmother did, she will be a very good horse."

Lucas is hoping to add more well-bred fillies to her list of buys at Goffs as the sale continues this week.

This purchase has a grandmother who is the dam of three winners from as many runners. Princess Vega was followed by Facile Vega, who has so far accumulated four Grade 1 victories in his career, with the Champion Bumper, Punchestown Champion Novice Hurdle and Future Champions Novice Hurdle winner making a successful transition to chasing at Navan in November.

The latest black-type winner for Quevega is her daughter Aurora Vega, who was successful in the Listed Mucklemeg Mares' Flat Race at Gowran back in September. A Walk In The Park full-sister to Facile Vega, she too carries the colours of her owner-breeders Ger O'Brien and Sean Deane, and is trained by Mullins.

Princess Vega has a filly foal by Santiago, while Quevega has a yearling full-brother to Facile Vega and Aurora Vega, and is back in foal to Walk In The Park.

While the dispersal of Gestut Ammerland's stock made poignant headlines in France a couple of days ago, the renowned operation's legacy is assured through the bloodlines that Dietrich von Boetticher has established, most significantly in the stallions at Ballylinch Stud that Ammerland have bred. 

One of those is Waldgeist, a son of Galileo who carried the Ammerland silks to glory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, and a colt from his third crop, who was the sole representative of the quadruple Group 1 winner in the catalogue, is bound for France following his €52,000 sale to WYC Bloodstock on Monday.

Consigned by John Dwan and Katie Rudd's Ballyreddin and Busherstown, the chestnut has a dual-purpose pedigree as a half-brother to last year's Italian 1,000 Guineas winner Swipe Up and Rayna's World, who was third to last year's Goffs December National Hunt sale-topper Concertista in the Grade 2 Dawn Run Mares' Novices' Hurdle.

Their dam, Salmon Rose, is an unraced Iffraaj half-sister to Godolphin's Group 1 Dubai World Cup and Al Maktoum Challenge winner Prince Bishop, by Dubawi. She was picked up for just €35,000 by Pascale Menard in 2021, in foal to No Risk At All. 

Aine Ryan with Kells House's Blue Bresil filly who was bought by Jerry McGrathCredit: Sophie Webber Photography

Nicky Bertran de Balanda signed for the colt on behalf of a French client.

"My client could race him or resell him as a store," commented the agent. "He is a very nice horse, athletic and moves well from a good family. It is an interesting pedigree with the mix of Flat and jumps horses on the page, but he is a very nice foal."

Bertran de Balande had a busy spell having purchased the preceding lot into the ring, another with a pedigree the contains Flat and National Hunt black-type horses. 

A daughter of Order Of St George and out of Sainte Opportune, by Le Havre, she was consigned by Marie Harding's Glen Stables and cost €16,000. Her dam was third in the Listed Prix Occitanie and is a half-sister to Yeats mare Yellowstone Cay, the dam of last month's Grade 1 Prix Maurice Gillois winner Amy Du Kiff.

He added: "She will go to France but there is no long-term plan in place for her yet. She has a good physical and it is a family that I know well."

It was a reversal of the dominant trend in National Hunt pinhooking which sees Irish buyers scour France for foals to sell back home, but Bertran de Balanda has been active at foal sales in Ireland over the last month.

"Sometimes it is interesting to bring good Irish families back to France but the obvious ones make plenty of money so you need to find an different angle, although this filly has a lot of French form and breeding on her page," he answered in response to inquiries about buying horses in Ireland for France.

O'Ryan full of praise for Dee Ex Bee

Two foals who will be staying in Ireland were purchases by the wily Bobby O'Ryan, although his most expensive buy was on behalf of his absent son Aidan, who was otherwise engaged inspecting horses in Wexford.

The Motherway family of Yellowford and Drumlin offered a Walk In The Park colt on behalf of breeders the Dillon family and O'Ryan bought the half-brother to Conflated, whose Grade 1 victories have both come at Leopardstown in the Irish Gold Cup and Christmas Chase.

Bobby O'Ryan signing for the Walk In The Park half-brother to ConflatedCredit: Sophie Webber Photography

The buyer said: "I have bought him for a friend of my son Aidan, and he has been bought to race. He is athletic and a great mover from a good family."

The late May foal is also a half-brother to Ordinary World, who was placed no fewer than seven times in Grade 1 chases for Chris Jones and Henry de Bromhead. Their dam, Saucy Present, is a Presenting half-sister to the Listed-winning chaser Nolans Pride, dam of Grade 2-placed Peckhamecho, and to Gaybric, dam of Rehearsal Chase winner Aye Right.

O'Ryan was most enthusiastic when queried about an earlier purchase from the first crop of Farhh's Derby runner-up Dee Ex Bee.

"I loved him," said the agent of Ashwood Stud's colt out of the winning Oscar mare Pat's Oscar. The bay is the second foal of his dam who is a half-sister to Hiddenvalley Lake, winner of the Grade 3 Cork Stayers' Novice Hurdle last December for De Bromhead and Robcour. Like that son of Sholokhov, this colt was bred by Pat Kinsella.

Dee Ex Bee was trained by Mark Johnston to win the Henry II and Sagaro Stakes, and earn Group 1 placings in the Derby, Gold Cup, Goodwood Cup, Prix du Cadran, Grand Prix de Paris and Grosser Preis von Bayern. 

He stands at Arctic Tack Stud in County Wexford and has a beautiful pedigree. He is out of Dubai Sunrise, a Seeking The Gold full-sister to Dubai Millennium, and a daughter of Fall Aspen, a Grade 1 winner and dam of five individual top-level winners. Her great-grandson's first foals have impressed O'Ryan.

"I've looked at a few by Dee Ex Bee and they are nice," he said. "This foal has been bought for resale, hopefully to come back here for the Arkle Sale."

Another foal whose pinhooking purchasers have aspirations of returning to Goffs for the Arkle Sale of 2026 is the Blue Bresil colt, who was the first consigned at the sale by Milly Harwood and John Nugent as Kells House.

Jerry McGrath signs for Kells House's Blue Bresil colt out of Ruaille Buaille on the first day of the Goffs December National Hunt SaleCredit: Goffs

Bought by Jerry McGrath for €50,000, he is the first foal of Ruaille Buaille, the winner of four races for Willie Mullins and the Ri Ra Syndicate. Third in the Grade A Glasscarn Handicap Hurdle, she was bred by Ronnie O'Neill out of Cyclone Lorraine, a Stowaway full-sister to the Grade 2 winner and multiple Grade 1-placed Hidden Cyclone.

"He has been bought for a client of Noel [Fehily] and mine who wanted to pinhook a few foals for the store sales," explained McGrath. 

With McGrath signing for the colt, it will be Fehily who oversees the next steps of the process.

"He will go back to Noel's to be looked after for the next couple of years and prepared for the store sales, either back here or at Doncaster," added McGrath.

McGrath's association with the Seven Barrows yard means he knows what Blue Bresil is capable of producing as a sire. 

"He has a lot of class," he said. "He is a very good physically and you would think there is something there for the next person when he is sold on. The mare was rated 135 over hurdles and comes from a good family."

Trade on the day generated €1,957,000 in sales, which represented a 27 per cent increase on the opening day of the 2022 sale, although the drop in the clearance rate was indicative of the overall trend to a patchy market. A total of 119 of the 196 youngstock offered at Goffs on Monday were sold, which is 61 per cent, as opposed to 65 per cent on day one of last year's sale.

However, both the average and the median grew, with the former up eight points year-on-year to €16,446, while the median increased by 12 per cent to €12,000.

The sale continues at 10am on Tuesday.

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