Miss Heritage to join Put The Kettle On after topping August Sale at £78,000

Miss Heritage looked the standout offering among the Goffs UK August Sale catalogue and the Grade 2 winner duly topped the market in Doncaster on Wednesday when knocked down to agent Richard Venn at £78,000.

Venn was stood in the bidders’ area opposite the rostrum just one row above owner Simon Davies, who operates under the DahlBury banner and stands Trueshan’s sire Planteur alongside Bangkok and Walzertakt at Chapel Stud.

Miss Heritage will now join Davies’ burgeoning broodmare band, which includes the likes of Arkle and Champion Chase heroine Put The Kettle On, who is in foal to Planteur having been acquired for £380,000 at the Goffs UK Aintree Sale earlier this year.

“She was the standout quality in the sale today and she fits with what we’re trying to achieve at DahlBury in terms of breeding from those top-quality mares,” Davies said of Miss Heritage. “She’s a great addition to what we have already with mares like Put The Kettle On and the others.”

Miss Heritage, who was trained by Lucy Wadham and consigned by WH Bloodstock, won six races under rules, with her biggest success coming just across the road from the sales complex having landed the Grade 2 Yorkshire Rose Mares' Hurdle at Doncaster.

The eight-year-old daughter of Pour Moi was offered in foal to Nathaniel, sire of Classic-winning Flat performers like Desert Crown and Enable as well as jumping talents like Burning Victory, Concertista and Zanahiyr.

“I’ve sent mares to Nathaniel before and think he’s a great stallion so the covering fits too,” continued Davies. “I’ll need to look into it before her next covering, but there’s a good chance she’ll go to Planteur.”

Davies also turned seller during Wednesday’s session when three DahlBury-owned lots were sold through Cobhall Court Stud, headed by the well-related Motiva. The six-year-old daughter of Motivator, offered with her Planteur colt foal at foot and carrying to Bangkok, fetched £40,000 from Bobby O’Ryan.

“In terms of mares we’ve got 34 now as we’ve bought and sold today,” said Davies. “We sold Motiva and her Planteur foal was a really nice individual, which helped push the price up. That foal was a great advert for Planteur and he does throw them like that. The reason we brought the mares here was to help get the progeny of these sires into different hands and hopefully into different trainers' yards in time.”

On his purchase, O’Ryan added: “Motiva is going back to Ireland with the foal for a client of mine who will reoffer the colt, who’s an absolute cracker.”

Bailey on the mark at £60,000

The second-top lot emerged from the point-to-point section of the mixed catalogue as agent Ed Bailey gave £60,000 for Townhill, a four-year-old son of Presenting who won a Loughrea maiden for Sam Curling and owner Wilson Dennison of consignor Loughanmore Farms.

Townhill, who struck by 20 lengths after his nearest rival fell at the last, was making his second public auction appearance of the year having first gone under the hammer at the Goffs UK Aintree Sale, where he went unsold at £80,000.

Bailey said: “I can’t disclose too much at the moment as the owner is still making a plan but I really liked him.

“Obviously he was in the Aintree Sale when he didn’t sell, but we were interested in him there too. I love a chestnut Presenting and it was a really game performance to come around the outside on debut and he looked to have the race put to bed when the other horse fell.

“Perhaps if he was a bit bigger he might’ve made more money but he’s a nice horse with a pedigree that I like as we already have some from this family from under the second dam and they’ve been successful for us. Hopefully this guy can follow suit.”

Bailey’s purchase helped Loughanmore Farms top the consignors’ chart for the day with four lots sold for receipts totalling £120,000.

Kelleway and Hosie link up

Another buyer to snare a winning pointer was Gay Kelleway, who struck a late bid of £50,000 to land Tara Line from the draft of Aidan Fitzgerald’s Cobajay Stables. Tara Line was purchased in conjunction with Dorset-based owner and permit holder Syd Hosie, who is set to take out his licence in the not too distant future.

Newmarket-based Kelleway said she was excited to be working with Hosie, who struck at Cheltenham’s hunter chase meeting with Coup De Pinceau, and added that the pair had ambitious plans that would be revealed soon.

“I bought her for Syd Hosie, a young and talented trainer who’s hopefully getting his full licence soon,” said Kelleway. “I’m excited to be joining up with him so watch this space. I liked the horse and Syd’s bought from Aidan Fitzgerald before and he likes the way he prepares his horses.

“She’s an outstanding-looking mare with a lot of quality about her and we both liked her. She’s got a bit more progress to do in her training so we’ll kick on with her and see where we go. She’s a really nice mare.”

Tara Line, a five-year-old daughter of Kayf Tara, made four starts in Irish point-to-points having been bought by Fitzgerald for €14,000 at the 2020 Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale. She opened her account at the fourth time of asking in a mares’ maiden at Largy in late April.

Expanding on her connection with Hosie, Kelleway said: “Syd was an assistant to me for six months and I’ve known him since he was 12, he came to my yard at Whitcombe so I’ve known him and his family for a long time and he’s a good guy.

“He’s got a two-year-old by Havana Gold in training with me and I’ve got a share in a Telescope with him. This [buying Tara Line] feels like going back to my roots as I trained a good jumper called Absalom's Lady who won the Grade 2 Haldon Gold Cup back in 1996 during the years I was down at Whitcombe.”

Reddington restocks

The enthusiastic owner-rider John Reddington has some promising recruits to look forward to after his buying team secured two of the pricier lots offered on Wednesday for a combined spend of £70,000.

First up came the five-year-old Eire Street, who ran in two Irish point-to-points and was last seen finishing runner-up in a Sligo bumper. Offered by Denis Murphy’s Ballyboy Stables, the son of Flemensfirth fetched a final bid of £30,000.

“He’s been bought by John Reddington, who’s an owner and amateur jockey, so the plan for this horse is to run him in bumpers with John on board,” said the owner’s racing manager Lottie Ingleton.

“For us this horse showed great promise at Sligo and we thought he ran on really well over two miles two furlongs. He looks like a nice horse who can fit with our programme so hopefully he’s lucky for us.”

Just a few lots later, Ingleton struck a winning bid of £40,000 to secure Shiroccosmagicgem from the draft of Colin Bowe’s Milestone Stables. The daughter of Shirocco ran in two point-to-points, finishing third on debut at Punchestown before opening her account in a four-year-old mares' maiden at Dromahane in late May.

“We really liked her and the way she’s bred too,” said Ingleton. “First time out she was probably just a tad green but she really got her head down and did the business to win next time. She looked great here today so we’re really pleased to have secured her. We use both Thomas Gallagher and Martin Brassil to train the horses so we’ll see where these two go further down the line.”

Reddington, founder of the construction firm JRL Group, has partnered two winners during the current Turf campaign, having recorded a nose success on Sean Curran’s Courtside before victory aboard the Richard Hughes-trained Tynwald at Hamilton in June.

Coleman sees juvenile appeal

The sale also featured a selection of two-year-old stores, which were offered with a view to 2023’s Junior National Hunt Development Hurdle races. The new series, which aims to provide jumps prospects with an earlier start to their racing careers, is set to kick off later this year with contests open exclusively to three-year-olds from October to December and four-year-olds from January to April.

The most expensive lot from the two-year-old section was the Walzertakt gelding Don Virginia, who went the way of Matt Coleman at £32,000 when offered by Little Oakwell Stud. The grandson of Montjeu is out of Virginia Bella, whose siblings include the dam of the Grade 1-winning hurdler Grandouet.

“I’ve bought him for an existing client to aim at those three-year-old hurdle races next season,” said Coleman. “I thought he was the best two-year-old here, he has a load of quality and there’s a lot of Montjeu in him. He’s a very elegant horse and he reminds me of those Montjeus you used to get on the Flat.

“I also thought he was quite like Grandouet, who’s in the pedigree, as he’s a refined, quality horse. Lizzie Kelly, who was selling him, showed me a video of him doing some work over tyres so hopefully he’s done plenty already and will be ready for those races next season.”

The youngster was sourced, prepared and sold by Lizzie Kelly and her husband Ed Partridge, who trade under the Valentine Bloodstock banner.

“We’re delighted with that,” said Partridge. “We bought him as a foal in France from Pascal Noue. I loved the female side of the pedigree and he’s been an absolute dream to deal with; he’s got the greatest temperament you could ask for.

“When Goffs UK put the two-year-old session into this sale we thought we’d send a nice horse to support them and he’s exactly what this sale is meant to be about. The main thing for us starting out is that our horses go to good homes so we’re really pleased Matt Coleman bought him.”

Partridge and Kelly said they were big fans of the Junior National Hunt Development Hurdle initiative as they are already well accustomed to giving their stock an early education.

“We’re in a purpose built facility that we’ve put everything into ourselves," said Partridge. "We’ll hopefully be able to grow as we’ve plenty more horses that will hopefully come through the system and be ready to run in these juvenile races.”

Kelly added: “That’s our passion, teaching young horses to do things the right way so that they have a long and successful career.”

Coleman also gave the Junior National Hunt Development Hurdle series his seal of approval, although suggested the industry would require a degree of patience before forming a judgement on its merits.

He said: “The concept is excellent but I think this year’s races might be a little thinly contested simply because the horses won’t be ready as people didn’t know these races were coming.

“I bought a Kapgarde filly in France last year as a two-year-old and we’re going to aim her at the races but I know generally people didn’t buy two-year-olds last year as they didn’t know about these races. People might need to be a bit forgiving for the first year but I think in years to come it will work out very well and I know there are owners and trainers now actively sourcing horses for those races.”

Facts and Figures

A few of the more choice lots failed to reach their reserve, which was reflected in a clearance rate of 73 per cent.

However, 169 lots from an offering of 232 did find a buyer and those transactions brought turnover of £1,602,600, a 36 per cent year-on-year drop, an average of £9,483, which was down one per cent, and a median of £6,000.

At the close of trade, Goffs UK’s managing director Tim Kent said: “The August Sale offers something for all National Hunt owners, trainers, breeders and pinhookers and we introduced two new sessions to enhance it in 2022. The small selection of National Hunt mares was well received by the market and were likely bought to support the many new National Hunt stallions available in the UK.

“The new two-year-old session, which was introduced to support the new BHA and TBA junior hurdle series, is a concept which we believe will grow as the new series develops over the coming seasons.

“Trainers and pinhookers can also benefit from our other sale of National Hunt two-year-olds, the Yorton Sale, for which the catalogue has just been released and will offer a quality line up of 46 entries - 17 of which are by the leading sire Blue Bresil.

"The Yorton Sale is now an established event on the European sale calendar and has produced some fantastic pinhooking and race results from only three sales, and we look forward to joining the Yorton team in Wales on 8 September.”

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