Gordon Elliott sees off Tom Malone to secure £90,000 Doncaster top lot

A clash between Tom Malone and the Gordon Elliott and Aidan O'Ryan axis saw winning point-to-pointer Music Drive top the Goffs UK Autumn Sale in Doncaster on Thursday, with the team from Cullentra House Stables winning out at £90,000.

The Colin Bowe-trained son of Muhtathir had looked set to make a winning debut at Tipperary in April, only to fall when in with every chance at the last. However, he put that mishap behind him to make a stylish reappearance at Monksgrange in late September.

Malone, standing in his usual spot on the top deck of the auditorium, got involved early and was soon joined by Elliott and O'Ryan, who were stationed in the bidders' area opposite the rostrum. After a rapid-fire back and forth it looked like Music Drive was set for six-figure territory, but at £90,000 Malone shook his head and the gavel came down in favour of his opponents.

View full Goffs UK Autumn Sale results and stats

"He's a grand horse and he's by the right stallion," O'Ryan said of the four-year-old, who shares his sire with Envoi Allen. "Obviously we've been lucky with Muhtathir before and Colin recommended him well. In my eyes he was the standout here, and by miles."

O'Ryan revealed that Music Drive had been sourced on behalf of owner David Barnard, who was with Elliott and O'Ryan in Doncaster to see the pair secure the latest addition to his string.

"He's a relatively new owner to the yard," said O'Ryan. "He has a piece of Motown Maggie, who was second at Tramore last week, and he's bought into Smoking Gun, who we bought off Gigginstown here last month.

"He's an enthusiastic guy and loves the craic. He's from Cornwall but he's off to Sligo tomorrow to watch his horse Minella Crooner run in the bumper. Hopefully the horses he's bought will be lucky for him."

Music Drive sells for £90,000 in the Doncaster sales ringCredit: James Thomas

On the price, O'Ryan added: "I was happy to get him for that kind of price, although if Tom wasn't here he might have made less! He's proven his ability and in the grand scheme of things he's probably a bit of value."

Music Drive is out of the unraced Zabeel mare Acland Street, making him a half-brother to the Grade 2-winning Street Name and Konig Drive, a Listed scorer at Pau. However, having overseen the early development of Envoi Allen, Bowe said it was the youngster's sire that really caught his eye.

"He's a smart horse and was probably going to win the day he fell but he was good the last day at Monksgrange," said Bowe, who operates out of Milestone Stables in County Wexford. "I bought him privately from France. The stallion is what made me buy him as he's by the same sire as Envoi Allen. He's from a good pedigree too and I hope he's good for Gordon and the new owner."

Elliott and O'Ryan dipped into the Milestone Stables draft again later in the session when giving £31,000 for Reddys Island, a four-year-old daughter of Soldier Of Fortune who made a winning debut at Oldcastle.

McCain's talent search continues

A familiarity with the pedigree also helped inform the purchase of Silver Flyer, as Donald McCain secured Donnchadh Doyle's Umma House winner for £50,000.

The five-year-old son of Malinas, who failed to complete on his first two starts before running out a four-length winner, is a sibling to two three-time scorers, namely Silver Sheen and Miah Grace, both of whom boast a peak Racing Post Rating (RPR) of 138.

The trio are out of the Listed-placed Silver Gypsy, a daughter of Luso from the family of Moscow Flyer who spent the latter part of her racing career under McCain's care.

"I actually tried to pinch his brother at Cheltenham [Silver Sheen, bought by Kate Harrington for £30,000] and he turned into a fair horse," said McCain.

"He's only completed the once but he won going away and he's a big fine horse with a good pedigree. He's shown he can gallop now and we've bought plenty of horses off Donnchadh in the past and it's worked well, so fingers crossed. I trained his mother for a spell too. I have an owner in mind but we'll have to see what happens."

Donald McCain (left) and Colin Bowe deep in discussion in DoncasterCredit: Sarah Farnsworth/Goffs UK

Silver Flyer was making his second appearance at public auction, having been pinhooked by Monbeg Stables at €37,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale in 2019.

McCain has been busy restocking over the last week, as he was also in action during the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

He said: "We bought seven yearlings at Tattersalls last week, some for Tim Leslie through David Redvers and I have a bunch of owners who wanted to chance buying some middle-distance yearlings to make up into three-year-olds.

"I thought there was a bit of value in them. We've come back with three by Nathaniel, a Mastercraftsman, a Golden Horn, a Zoffany and one by Australia, so they're by the right sires. If you went to the store sales and tried to spend what we were spending you'd struggle."

Big Jim Beam, a five-year-old son of Westerner, was led out unsold at £48,000 but was later acquired privately by Highflyer Bloodstock at £42,000 outside the ring. The €75,000 Derby Sale purchase by Rob James looked set to make it second time lucky between the flags, only to fall at the last when in command at Monksgrange.

Musselburgh in mind for Jardine and McGladery

Trainer Iain Jardine and owner Gerry McGladery secured the highest-priced horse-in-training on offer when the pair landed Excelcius from Tom Mullins' Doninga Stables at £40,000.

The five-year-old son of Exceed And Excel was catalogued as the winner of three races, but brought an important update to the table having produced a career-best effort to win a Fairyhouse handicap hurdle since the Autumn Sale entries were released.

A 110,000gns Book 1 buy by Gaelic Bloodstock in his early days, Excelcius changed hands with a peak RPR of 126 over hurdles and rated 81 on the Flat.

"I liked his profile when I first saw him and obviously he was a good winner the last day," said Jardine. "Hopefully he'll be a fun horse for Mr McGladery for the winter at places like Musselburgh."

McGladery, who also has horses in training with Lucinda Russell and John Ryan, has been crowned leading Flat and leading jumps owner at Musselburgh, the owner's local track.

Dixon snares the value with King Of York

The first noteworthy price of the session came when Scott Dixon went to £31,000 for King Of York, a son of Kingman offered by Kevin Ryan's Hambleton Lodge Stables. The two-year-old ran five times for Ryan, with his best effort coming on his third outing at Carlisle, for which he achieved an RPR of 80.

Although officially still a maiden, the youngster is a winner in all but name, having finished first past the post at Carlisle, only to be demoted to second for causing interference.

King Of York was making his third appearance at public auction. He was first bought by Cormac McCormack Bloodstock, who gave €270,000 at the Goffs November Foal Sale before he was resold to Ryan through Kilminfoyle House Stud at 350,000gns.

"His form is decent and his vetting was solid," said Dixon. "Obviously he was a very expensive yearling and I thought he was a very nice-looking horse. He's run recently, and to a good level, and is still relatively unexposed so he looks ready to go."

With the key European yearling sales having witnessed strong demand, and subsequently some sky high prices, Dixon hoped his decision to focus on horses-in-training like King Of York would ensure he snared some value for his owners.

"It's £31,000, which isn't small money, but at least we know this lad has ability already," he said. "We haven't bought at the yearling sales, we might have a look at the breeze-up sales but we're predominantly focusing on the horses-in-training sales. We haven't got millions to be spending and it's hard to compete with the superpowers at the yearling sales."

Bred by Hunscote Stud and Humber Bloodstock, King Of York is out of Archangel Gabriel, whose winning offspring include Ville De Grace, who enhanced the page further by landing the Group 3 Pride Stakes earlier in the month. Archangel Gabriel is a sibling to two top-flight winners, namely National Stakes scorer Kingsfort and her Arch brother Prince Arch.

Dixon added: "It's a great name too and a lot of our owners love going to York. I've got a couple of lads interested in him but there are shares available, so if anyone wants a nice horse to take you to York then give us a call!"

The mixed sale saw 113 of 170 offered lots sell for a clearance rate of 66 per cent. Turnover was £1,014,800, a 29 per cent year-on-year increase, while the average rose by 83 per cent to £8,980 and the median climbed by 67 per cent to £5,000.

At the close of trade, Goffs UK's managing director Tim Kent said: "It is always difficult to make direct comparisons between horses-in-training sales as any trade will be determined by the strength of the catalogue and the quality of the horses on offer.

"With that in mind, we were delighted with the strength of the sale and, as ever, we are indebted to all the vendors who put their trust in the Goffs UK team. We would obviously wish all buyers the best of luck with their new purchases, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back to Doncaster for the final time this year on Friday, December 3."

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