Ryan Mahon and Colm Donlon take the biggest Risk at February Sale

When the great white stallion Martaline sadly died aged 20 last year, Aliette and Gilles Forien of Haras de Montaigue were devastated at the loss of the brilliant source of Grade 1 winners and sale ring stars.

While Martaline is irreplaceable, the Foriens stand one of the most exciting young National Hunt stallions In Europe in the shape of No Risk At All, the Group 3 winning and Group 1-placed My Risk half-brother to Grade 1 winning chaser and sire Nickname.

Just 13 years old and with his oldest crop only recently turned six, No Risk At All has burst into the limelight over the past two months, siring his first two Grade 1 winners; the Christmas Hurdle winner and current Champion Hurdle favourite Epatante, and Esprit Du Large, winner of the Henry VII Novices’ Chase.

View full February Sale results here

As well as that, he is also the sire of Henrietta Knight’s £370,000 record purchase last week of Keskonrisk, winner of a Fairyhouse bumper on debut on New Year’s Day.

To those achievements can be added that of most expensive foal at Tuesday’s Tattersalls Ireland February National Hunt Sale. Rahinston Stud consigned the colt, lot 259, on behalf of breeders Nigel and Sarah Faulks, owners of last year’s Grade 1 Cheltenham Mares’ Hurdle
winner Roksana.

Out of the Medaaly mare Sardagna, successful over hurdles and fences, the late April born colt is a half-brother to five winners from five runners headed by the Faulks’ homebred Listed Future Stars Intermediate Chase winner and Grade 1 Kauto Star Novices
Chase third Amore Alato.

Bloodstock agent Hamish Macauley appeared to have seen off the competition when bidding €52,000 for the chestnut colt but Ryan Mahon entered the fray at €55,000 and although Macauley, who was on the phone,raised the stakes to €58,000, when Mahon
countered with a bid of €60,000 Macauley had to give way.

Ryan Mahon signed on the dotted line on behalf of Colm DonlonCredit: Healy Racing/Tattersalls Ireland

Mahon revealed that his purchase was for owner Colm Donlon, who has horses in training with Paul Nicholls and Dan Skelton in England, including recent Sandown Listed Mares’ Hurdle winner Silver Forever and Langer Dan, winner of the Listed Wensleydale Juvenile
Hurdle, and in France with Augustin de Boisbrunnet.

"He is a lovely foal, strong, correct and athletic and he will be kept to go racing by Colm Donlon. No Risk At All is a sire going places and the mare has already produced good horses,” remarked Mahon.

Indeed her five-year-old Shirocco gelding Eva’s Oskar, was third in the Grade 2 River Don Novice Hurdle on Saturday for Tim Vaughan.

Murphy wins the Battle

For the Berry family of Banbridge in Co Down, January 2020 has been a tense month as they prepared their colt by Mount Nelson for the sale.

The striking chestnut was anticipated to be one of the star lots of the sale as a son of the late Boardsmill Stud stallion, whose progeny are much sought after, but also as a half-brother to Battleoverdoyen.

Trained by Gordon Elliott for Gigginstown House Stud, the
seven-year-old is unbeaten over fences, his most recent success coming in the Fort Leney Novice Chase at Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival.

That was a second Grade 1 victory for the gelding by Sunnyhill Stud’s Doyen, who won the Slaney Novice Hurdle at Naas last January.

Aiden Murphy was forced to go to €55,000 to secure the close relative to Treackle Tart, the winner of three chases for Charlie Longsdon, and placed in a Listed mares’ chase.

A delighted Caroline Berry (right) with the team behind Battleoverdoyen's half-brotherCredit: Tattersalls Ireland

“The mare has produced two good horses and this colt was a fairly obvious one with that pedigree; it’s improving all the time and he has good size about him. The plan is to bring him back here for the Derby Sale,” said the winning bidder, who was the leading purchaser on
the day buying four horses for a total of €129,000.

He also signed for a Walk In The Park colt from Coolmara Stables for €35,000 and a second son of Mount Nelson, Ardrums House Stud's lot 97 for €21,000.

"He is just a baby really,” commented a delighted Caroline Berry, who led her pride and joy around the Tattersalls Ireland sales ring. “He is a June foal so he was never going to be ready for the November National Hunt Sale and we waited for this one.”

Network remains in demand

2019 was a tough one for the French National Hunt stallion farms, with Network, another behemoth of the industry passing away. Only six foals by the sire of Sprinter Sacre were born last year and just two mares were covered by the Monsun horse in 2019.

One of that 2019 half a dozen was offered at Tatteralls Ireland on Tuesday and, with rarity value assured, sparked a bidding war that was won by Jim Mernagh of J and J.

The bay colt was consigned by Thistletown Stud and is a half-brother to the winning Youmzain filly Enki Girl. Their dam Holly Girl is a winning daughter of Testa Rossa and from the family of Group 3 Prix Exbury winner Matarun.

After securing the colt for €42,000 Mernagh said: “He is one of the last of the Networks and he is a smashing colt, all quality. He will be offered for sale as a three-year-old.”

Another colt with a Grade 1 winning half-brother ensured some more fireworks towards the end of the main session of the sale, which dealt with 2019’s foal crop.

Lot 292 was consigned by Foxleigh House from the final crop of the Group 1 winner and promising National Hunt stallion Champs Elysees and is a half-brother to the Grade 1 Neptune Investments Novice Hurdle and Grade 1 Aintree Hurdle winner The New One.

Nigel Twiston-Davies’ charge won 17 times over hurdles and was a real crowd favourite. His youngest half-sibling was purchased by Hamish Macauley for €40,000.

Bobby McCarthy’s brilliant National Hunt sire Flemensfirth is now 28 and with time not on his side, the scramble to add a Flemensfirth to the team for pinhookers and end-users alike ensures huge demand for his offspring at the sales.

Three members of his 2019 crop were offered for sale at Tattersalls Ireland on Tuesday for an average price of €29,167 which is
almost double his covering fee and more than two and a half times the sale average.

His trio was led by one from The Beeches Stud, and although the colt is just six months old he demonstrated plenty of scope and athleticism which Ian Ferguson paid €40,000 to obtain.

The colt has an old-fashioned proper Irish National Hunt pedigree as he is out of Florafern, a winning hurdler by Alflora and a daughter of Le Moss.

“I’ve had a lot of luck buying from The Beeches Stud over the years and this colt looks a real athlete,” said Ferguson. “I saw him on the farm last summer when he was just two weeks old and I really liked him so I followed him from then on.”

Final figures

At the end of a marathon day of trade, figures were mainly on a par with last year, which posted the best set of results in over a decade.

An increase of 23 per cent in the median, from €7,500 in 2019 to €9,250 on Tuesday is a positive indication of the strength of demand
for last year’s foals, while the improvement of one point in the clearance rate to 57 per cent is also welcome.

There was a minor dip in the aggregate and average with both figures dropping a single percentage point. The aggregate was down slightly from 12 months ago to €1,928,950, which is still a higher figure than recorded in the ten renewals prior to 2019.

Tuesday’s average price of €11,482 was down from the 2019 average of €11,620 but was also the second best average achieved by the sale since 2002.