Knight, Elliott and Magnier among big spenders as records tumble at Derby Sale

A buying frenzy drove trade to extraordinary new heights on the second and final day of the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale, which saw five horses sell for in excess of €200,000 apiece and records tumble.

The insatiable demand for future stars of the point-to-point field coupled with big-spending owners looking for festival glory created the perfect conditions to set record figures.

Although the catalogue was trimmed and only 321 horses were sold over the two days of the sale, the aggregate exceeded €18,000,000 for the first time in history, coming in at €587,000 above that level. This ensured an average of €57,903, which was another record, and the median reached €50,000 for the first time.

The two highest-priced geldings on the day represented the two pillars on which the market is built, with one going down the point-to-point route and the other heading for the yard of one of the country's leading trainers.

First of the pair who fetched €230,000 into the ring was a gelding by Maxios from one of the most familiar and successful families in both Flat and jump racing.

Catherine Dwyer with the Maxios gelding sold by Oaks Farm Stables for €230,000Credit: Www.healyracing.ie

Mark Dwyer's Oaks Farm Stables consigned the first foal out of Walkure, a winning daughter of Nathaniel and a half-sister to the dam of Vauban, who took last season by storm with a hat-trick of Grade 1 triumphs in juvenile hurdles at the major spring festivals for Willie Mullins.

Second dam Gifted Icon is a Peintre Celebre half-sister to St Leger winner and emerging National Hunt sire Masked Marvel and to Waldlerche, the Group 3-winning dam of Arc hero and exciting young sire Waldgeist. The family also includes German Derby winner Waldpark and descends from the multiple Group 2 winner Wurftaube.

Unsurprisingly, given the nature of his ties to Vauban, Mullins' right-hand man Harold Kirk made a strong play for the son of Coolmore's Group 1-winning son of Monsun but, in a sales-ring imitation of the race to the trainers' title, his greatest opposition came from Gordon Elliott.

Unlike on the track, it was Elliott, with Bobby and Aidan O'Ryan, who bested Kirk with a winning bid of €230,000, and Bobby O'Ryan was delighted to have secured a gelding who had been top of his list coming into the sale.

Bobby O'Ryan (left) and Aidan 'Mouse' O'Ryan sign for the joint sale-topperCredit: Www.healyracing.ie

He said: "He is for an existing owner with Gordon and I loved this horse. Gordon already has a very good horse by Maxios [bumper winner The Mediator, bought by O'Ryan for €80,000 as a store] and I think this horse is gorgeous with a great pedigree. He was the one I really wanted today."

The sale represented an enormous profit for Dwyer and his partners in the horse, who was bought in France as a yearling for €30,000.

"Brendan Holland bought him as a yearling and three more of us – Roger Marley, Willie Browne and myself – took a leg in him," Dwyer explained.

"He has turned into a lovely horse. For me, this horse is a great advert for the sire and he has a great mind. His dam is a winning Nathaniel mare and the page had the updates with that good horse of Willie's [Vauban]."

It's a Walk In The Park for buyers

Castletown Quarry's deep bloodlines from families nurtured by the Parkhill family for more than four decades have yielded success on the grandest of stages. When those pages, so laden with bold black type that the ink cartridges are working overtime to print them, combine with a red-hot sire and a horse with the imposing physique and handsome good looks to match, then fireworks in the sale ring are to be expected.

MV Magnier was the buyer of Kilminfoyle House Stud's Walk In The Park geldingCredit: Pat Healy

That was the outcome when lot 225 took his turn in the Tattersalls Ireland sales ring. The son of Walk In The Park out of the Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed hurdler Zuzka, a Flemensfirth half-sister to Kennel Gate Novices' Hurdle winner Puffin Billy from the family of Grade 1 winners The Railway Man and Bob Olinger, had been mentioned as one of the potential stars of this sale and so it came to pass.

Joey Logan and Matthew Flynn O'Connor decided to pool their resources in a joint attempt to land the sought-after gelding, and they were prominent bidders all the way through.

When the Coolmore team tested Logan and Flynn O'Connor's mettle by jumping into the action with a bid of €220,000, the duo were not found wanting. Logan countered with an offer of €230,000 and his adversaries, sensing that he was not in a mood to countenance defeat having finished as underbidder on a number of big-ticket horses on Wednesday, failed to return fire, leaving Logan and Flynn O'Connor planning a point-to-point career for the youngster.

Lot 201, by Doctor Dino, was purchased by Joey Logan for €120,000Credit: Tattersalls Ireland

"He is one of the best Walk In The Parks that I have seen," commented Logan. "I have bought a lot by the sire and they have been lucky for me. This horse has a great pedigree and the dam has already produced three winners from three runners."

Logan, who had earlier spent €120,000 on a Doctor Dino half-brother to Grade 3 winner Fanfaron Special, consigned by Johnny Collins' Brown Island Stables, added: "Myself and Matty have bought him together, we knew he would be too expensive for either of us to buy on our own so we decided to team up, though he ended up costing more than we expected. Matty will train him and he is a really good, up-and-coming trainer."

The Coolmore team quickly regrouped and with the €220,000 they had bid unsuccessfully for the Castletown Quarry gelding, they bought Kilminfoyle House Stud's Walk In The Park half-brother to the Champion Bumper third Wait For Me. He is one of five winners from eight runners out of the winning River Mist mare Aulne River.

Aiden Murphy signed for the gelding on behalf of MV Magnier and said: "He is one of the nicest by the sire here and we tried on the one earlier but didn't get him. It was between one and the other, this is a really nice horse with a good pedigree."

Again, it was an excellent bit of pinhooking business as he was purchased by JC Bloodstock for €43,000 from Peter Nolan at the 2019 November National Hunt Sale.

Grech expanding his horizons

Henrietta Knight was one of the busiest and biggest spenders during the second day of the Derby Sale, purchasing three horses for a total of €525,000, including two for Mike Grech who fetched more than €200,000 apiece.

The former trainer had some inside knowledge of her first purchase, having fallen in love with the Authorized gelding during one of her regular trips to Walter Connors' Sluggara Farm in County Waterford.

Henrietta Knight with her Authorized purchaseCredit: Www.healyracing.ie

Knight said: "I have bought him for Mike Grech and I had seen him a lot before today. I always love the foals that Walter buys in France and I enjoy seeing them growing up in the fields. Walter never tells me what sires they are by, but I take a few photographs and I have one of this horse last year as I picked him out. I've always loved him."

Her €220,000 purchase Cheytac is out of the Listed Prix Isola Bella winner Cheyrac, by Smadoun, and he is a half-brother to the Listed-placed chaser Nambiti, by Walk In The Park. Knight could see the gelding developing into a classy dual-purpose performer.

"He is a gorgeous horse, such an athlete. I love his action," she enthused. "He is a real racehorse and on his pedigree he could win on the Flat and over jumps, he is a proper all-rounder. He will come back to me and when he is ready will go to Willie Mullins."

That move is part of Grech's growing interest in the sport in Ireland, and he indicated that his involvement and presence in the country is set to grow in the coming months and years.

Grech said: "The Irish set-up is very much on my mind, in terms of spending more time in Ireland. Some decisions are going to be made around that during the course of the off-season and you will probably see a lot more of me in Ireland."

Connors ended the sale as one of the best-performing consignors, with seven horses sold for €780,000 at an average of €111,429.

He explained why Knight was kept in the dark as to the gelding's parentage as he grew, saying: "It was on a need-to-know basis. I told her which was which when the catalogue came out. Hen saw him in the field and has loved him ever since, and we've always liked him. Seamus Murphy buys a lot of my foals, including this one, and I need to thank him."

Norman Williamson thanks Henrietta Knight, who purchased his Getaway geldingCredit: Www.healyracing.ie

Just over an hour later, Knight emerged into the sunlight once more after a successful joust in the ring. This time her prize was a Getaway gelding offered by Norman Williamson's Oak Tree Farm and he was related to one of the star horses from the first session.

Lot 337 cost €95,000 as a foal here in November 2019 to Summerhill from Yellowford Farm and is out of a Yeats half-sister to the Grade 1 winners Wichita Lineman and Rhinestone Cowboy.

Knight, who also bought a Kapgarde filly for €95,000 from Moanmore Stables, said: "He is another gorgeous horse and I am a big fan of Getaway. He has been beautifully prepared and come from a wonderful female line."

Facts and figures

Overall the sale recorded its best ever returns, with the two days as a whole posting 15 per cent higher turnover year-on-year. The sale average grew by seven per cent on last year while the median increased by a more modest four per cent.

The figures from Thursday's second session were even more impressive.

A total of 149 horses were sold, which gave an aggregate of €9,833,000, which was another milestone figure in the Derby Sale's history. That represented year-on-year growth of 16 per cent on last year's figure, which had been a record in itself.

Thursday's average reached the dizzying heights of €60,698, which is a record for a single-session of the store sale and was an increase of seven per cent on last year, which was the previous best-ever figure. The same applies to the median of €50,000, a jump of four per cent on the same day last year.

The clearance rate for the session was 94 per cent and a total of 19 horses achieved a six-figure price tag, with 35 such sales over the entirety of the sale.

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