Amschel provides impressive return as August Sale posts across-the-board rises

Three-time winner Amschel led the way at Wednesday's Goffs UK August Sale in Doncaster, selling for £155,000 to turn a tremendous profit for his connections.

Part of the anticipated point-to-point and form horse section introduced to the sale by GoffsUK this year, Amschel was snapped up by Harold Kirk on behalf of Paul Byrne to continue his career in America. Although his £155,000 sale fell short of the £190,000 ceiling recorded at this sale two years ago, paid by Tom Malone and Ditcheat Thoroughbreds for Jessber’s Dream, the figure eclipsed last year’s top price of £36,000, as did a pair of other pointers out of the same section in The Con Man and Black Centaur.

Amschel’s sale also provided a big return for owners Raymond and Gillian Cody, who paid just 2,000gns for the Nathaniel gelding at last year’s Tattersalls July Sale. Then unraced, Amschel has racked up a sequence of three wins over hurdles under Rachael Blackmore since then, latterly for John O’Shea, who sent him out to win a novice at Roscommon last month.

“He’s to go jumping in America,” said Kirk after coming out best in a battle with Roger Brookhouse. “He goes on quicker ground, he’s a good jumper and he stays well.

“They love their jumping in America. You need a classy one to go over there.”

Overall, the form horse section lived up to expectations, producing a competitive run of trade that also included the sale of The Con Man for £70,000 to Donald McCain. The five-year-old Oscar gelding was the impressive six-length winner of his sole start, a Monksgrange point-to-point, for Colin Bowe in April.

“He’s for Tim Leslie,” said McCain. “Obviously we’ve had a bit of luck with Oscar - we had Peddlers Cross by him.

“I followed this horse after he won at Monksgrange - he had a little niggle afterwards that prevented him from being sold immediately after. But he came highly recommended by Colin Bowe and he’s a lovely, good-looking horse with scope.”

Retired Coolmore stallion Oscar was also responsible for the day’s other popular pointer, Black Centaur, who was the seven-length winner of his point debut for Eric McNamara at Tralee in May. Colin Tizzard went to £45,000 for the gelding on behalf of a partnership that will include Ashton Selway and Paul Wavish, owners of the yard’s Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle winner Kilbricken Storm.

“I thought he was value when you consider where trade has been all year,” said Joe Tizzard. “He’s a lovely looking horse - in fact we thought he was the nicest horse here. He came within our budget, so we’re very pleased.

“We’ve had a lot of fun with some of the Oscars over the years. Obviously we have Kilbricken Storm and this horse has been bought for the same owners, though some others might be involved too. We’ve bought a few stores by the stallion this summer and this one came with point-to-point form.”

Haslam lands Hasanoanda

Progressive three-year-old Hasanoanda looked one to keep on side when successful at Newmarket for John Gosden last month, and he duly attracted plenty of attention, ultimately selling for £115,000 to Tom Malone and Ben Haslam.

Malone had to outbid Mark McStay to secure the Champs Elysees gelding for owner Derek Barclay, a long-time supporter of Haslam and his late father Patrick. Time will tell whether Hasanoanda can scale the heights of Barclay’s classy hurdler King Revo, who provided Patrick Haslam with a first Cheltenham success in December 2004, but his new connections are looking forward to seeing how far his new recruit can progress under both codes.

“We’ll try to go the dual-purpose route with him,” he said. “We’ll school him and see how he gets on. But he has a nice, progressive Flat record and I thought he handled the softer ground well last time at Newmarket.

“He’s still a frame of a horse - he’s a good-looking type but still unfurnished. Besides, the Champs Elysees horses do nothing but improve.”

Champagne West to Dunn

Former Thyestes Chase winner Champagne West was the leading act of a collection of horses belonging to Roger Brookhouse, selling to Stephen Dunn for £50,000. The talented group also included Stellar Notion, runner-up to Tiger Roll in the 2016 Munster National. Once again, Dunn was the winning bidder, this time for £38,000 under the name Lewisham Developments Ltd.

Fuelled in part by competitive trade for those select form horses, this year’s sale recorded significant rises across-the-board, led by a 74 per cent increase in aggregate to £2,127,000 for 184 horses sold. The average rose by 40 per cent to £11,560.

“We have enjoyed a very good day in the sale ring,” said GoffsUK managing director Tony Williams. “We catalogued some high-class horses and to sell two for six-figure prices is very pleasing and shows yet again that Doncaster Horses-in-Training Sales deliver the results when we are entrusted with the horses.

“This is a sale that’s performing, having produced a Grand National winner and three Grade 1 winners in the last 15 months, and those results, along with a good catalogue, attracted a big crowd of buyers from around the world and from the Gulf region in particular. We would like to thank our vendors for their support and wish our buyers all the best.”

Goffs UK August Sale results