‘I’m absolutely over the moon’ - Piper Park walks into profit at £205,000 as fillies hold sway at Cheltenham

Fillies held sway as selling returned to Prestbury Park for the Tattersalls Cheltenham November Sale on Friday evening. 

Leading the way at the brisk session was Piper Park, a four-year-old daughter of Walk In The Park who made a winning start at Umma House for trainer Harley Dunne. After underbidding a handful of earlier lots it was trainer Tom Lacey who won out at £205,000. 

That price left Dunne with a tidy bit of profit as the youngster had been sourced in partnership with Rob James at €58,000 at last year’s Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale. 

Lacey left the sales ring in a hurry after making his purchase but Dunne reflected on the transaction by saying: “I was hopeful she’d make that as she’s a beautiful filly. She was well entitled to make that but you just don’t know when you come here. 

“I’m absolutely over the moon for everyone involved in her and all the lads in the yard. She was going down well so I was hopeful she’d get to that kind of money, but you never know until you get into the ring.” 

Tom Lacey: trainer was in action when securing top lot Piper Park at the Tattersalls Cheltenham November Sale Credit: Debbie Burt

Piper Park is out of the King’s Theatre mare Shannon Theatre. The dam is a sibling to Blacklough, who has bold black type after winning the Easter Handicap Hurdle, and the Listed-placed Banjo Girl. 

The same pedigree was also responsible for Lisronagh winner Youhadmeathello who sold to Gwent Holdings for £90,000 when offered by Pat Doyle’s Suirview Stables earlier in the session. 

Piper Park was one of nine six-figure lots sold during the session, four less than when the market was headed by the £360,000 Mahon’s Way 12 months ago. A smaller offering meant turnover was always likely to drop and aggregate sales duly fell by 46 per cent to £2,300,000. 

The average price was down by 13 per cent at £74,194 while the median was back by nine points at £58,000. The clearance rate was 76 per cent as 31 sold from 41 offered. Last year saw 50 lots sell at a clip of 93 per cent.

Mahon takes Honky Tonk Highway

Agent Ryan Mahon saw off the attention of Lacey and the Gwent Holdings team, which included Richard Johnson, to secure the second top lot, Colin Bowe’s Tattersalls winner Honky Tonk Highway, at £165,000. 

The four-year-old daughter of Milan made an impressive start to her racing days with a three-length success in late October, with the runner-up Diva Luna fully 25 lengths clear of the third. Honky Tonk Highway always looked to hold the upper hand under jockey Barry O’Neill and a particularly fluent jump at the last sealed the deal before she pulled clear of her main rival despite still showing signs of inexperience. 

Honky Tonk Highway: Colin Bowe's winning daughter of Milan sold to Ryan Mahon and Dan Skelton for £165,000 at the Tattersalls Cheltenham November SaleCredit: Debbie Burt

“She’ll go to Dan Skelton,” said Mahon, who sat besides the trainer. “She’s a good staying mare, she jumped well on heavy ground and kept on strongly at the line. There’s a few clients at Dan’s that are looking to get a few nice fillies at the moment and this client in particular already has a few nice good ones, so we were just looking to expand on that. With any luck they turn out to be good and then they’ve got some residual value for further down the line.” 

Not only is Honky Tonk Highway by Milan but she is also out of the Presenting mare St Gregory, meaning she is bred on the same cross as high-class talents Beat That, Monbeg Notorious and Roaring Bull. 

Honky Tonk Highway had been to the sales on two previous occasions, first when Thistletown Stud sold the youngster to Jason Higgins for €24,000 at the Goffs February Sale in 2020. She reappeared under the F and H Bloodstock banner at the Land Rover two years later when Bowe’s Milestone Bloodstock signed at €55,000. 

Joy for Jeu St Eloi fanclub 

Warren Ewing’s Saint Kristobal was pulled up on debut in the spring but showed that performance completely undersold his potential as he made virtually all the running to open his account by two and a half lengths at Tattersalls late last month. He faced a strong challenge from Jim The Wolf approaching the last but produced the slicker jump then found more up the run-in to put the race to bed. That effort convinced Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls to go to £155,000 for the four-year-old son of the up-and-coming Jeu St Eloi. 

His sire has been something of a talking horse after a string of his French imports caught the eye, including the likes of Blueking D'Oroux, It's For Me and Inthewaterside. The Cashman family were among the 12-year-old stallion’s fans as they acquired the son of Saint Des Saints for their Glenview Stud operation. He had previously stood alongside Cokoriko at Haras de Cercy. 

Tom Malone bought Warren Ewing's Saint Kristobal alongside Paul Nicholls at Prestbury Park Credit: Debbie Burt

Nicholls also confirmed himself a fan of the stallion, saying of his new recruit: “He’s by a sire that I like. I’ve got Blueking D'Oroux and Inthewaterside so he’s an up-and-coming sire. This is a nice horse who won his point-to-point well. I think that money is probably fair value. He’s only four, he’s won his point-to-point so he can run in a couple of bumpers in the spring but he won’t run over hurdles this year. He’s a nice horse at sensible money.” 

Saint Kristobal was bred in France by Jacques Vayssier from Belle Josee, a daughter of the Mtoto stallion Merlingo Mago. The dam won five races and was placed no fewer than 16 times, including when runner-up in black-type company in the Prix Dominique Sartini at Enghien. 

Although he was bred in France, this was not Saint Kristobal’s first trip to the sales on this side of the Channel as he was signed for by Ewing at £21,000 at last year’s Goffs UK Spring Store Sale, when he was presented by Sewstern Grange Stables.

Despite his lofty position in the market, Ewing said he felt the buyers snared themselves some value. “I was a bit disappointed by Saint Kristobal as I thought he might’ve made a bit more,” said the Bernice Stables man. “He’s going to be a very good horse. He’s still only a big frame so I think he could be a bit special. The sire is really going places too.” 

Dawn Run form upheld as Russell runs riot  

The sale’s leading purchasers were Lucinda Russell and Paul McIvor who secured four recruits at a combined £430,000. The priciest of the quartet at £150,000 was Moon Phases, a homebred son of Ol’ Man River who was sold by Robert Tector of Coolbawn Stables. 

The four-year-old finished fourth on his sole start in a warmly contested Dromahane maiden won by the Gordon Elliott-trained Patter Merchant. 

“He went down well here and Lucinda has been lucky buying from me before,” said Tector. “I hope this lad is lucky for her as well. He’s a big raw horse and has a high cruising speed.” 

Moon Phases: "He’s exactly what we love and I love the way Robert Tector produces horses"Credit: Debbie Burt

The Tector family have been involved with this pedigree for several generations dating back to the 1978-foaled Love-In-A-Mist, a daughter of Paddy’s Stream. There is also a particularly strong piece of form back in the pedigree, as Robert’s father Neil took up the story. 

“We bred the whole family back along the page,” he said. “It goes back to this horse’s great great grandam Love-In-A-Mist. That’s who I started off with when I was a 15-year-old. My father [Nevile] gave her to me and I won a bumper on her. Somewhere in between I actually rode her to beat Dawn Run on her first run in Clonmel! She won two or three races and the family has bred all these horses since.” 

He added: “This is a huge moment, especially when you see all the work that Robert puts into these horses. Instead of taking this horse to the sales as a three-year-old I gave him to Robert and said have a go with him. This is the end result, it’s brilliant.” 

Reflecting on her haul, Russell said: “They’ve all been bought for owners in the yard and we’re lucky to have such fantastic support. Moon Phases is actually related to Snake Roll and we’d seen him already in Ireland and loved him. He’s exactly what we look for and I love the way Robert Tector produces horses. We bought El Elefante from him and he’s already won three for us.” 

The trainer said she hadn’t particularly targeted the sale, rather that the horses they liked just happened to all fall within budget on this occasion. 

She said: “We put a value on all these horses and we’re just lucky that we’ve had owners behind us to buy them on the day. It’s all done with Paul McIvor, who does a lot of research and we make a shortlist from there. All of the horses we’ve bought will keep improving, hopefully! We’ll take them home and see what they’re like but they should all run this season. Hopefully they’ll be back here next season.” 

The haul also included the £100,000 Visual Impact, runner-up at Lisronagh for Jonathan Fogarty, the £140,000 Reflection Of You, a daughter of Jack Hobbs who landed a Loughanmore maiden for Warren Ewing, and the £40,000 Santapietra, a runner-up at Knockmullen House for Denis Murphy. 

Ewing added of Reflection Of You: “She’s a lovely filly and I really liked her. She’s going to be a very good filly so I’m looking forward to seeing her progress. She’s a queen. I had Intense Approach, who’s also by Jack Hobbs, and he’s won two bumpers for John McConnell. On the strength of those two I’ve bought eight by the sire, so I’m a big fan.” 

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