It's a Walk In The Park at Goffs as Coolmore sires dominate upper echelons of trade

The seven-kilometre distance between Goffs' sales complex and Punchestown racecourse was bridged easily on Tuesday as one stallion dominated proceedings at both venues.

Walk In The Park sired the three most expensive foals on the second day of the December National Hunt Sale and two winners at the course including Jetara, successful in the Listed mares' novice hurdle. That followed on from Jonbon's Tingle Creek success on Saturday and the victory of Silent Approach in the Grade 2 mares' novice chase at Cork on Sunday.

Sales ring success doesn't always correlate with that on the track, but the 21-year-old son of Montjeu has combined the two and this week edged ahead in the sires' standings, leading the race to be crowned champion National Hunt stallion.

With his first Irish-bred crop rising seven and containing Grade 1 luminaries Facile Vega and Ashroe Diamond, both trained by Willie Mullins, the demand for Walk In The Park's progeny has only increased as the evidence on the track has proven his worth.

His opening day at Goffs contained the top-priced National Hunt foal sold so far this year in the €110,000 three-parts brother to Stage Star and, although he failed to breach the six-figure barrier on Tuesday he supplied the three most expensive lots of the day and four of the eight to make a minimum of €50,000.

The Coolmore team has never been shy about supporting their star National Hunt sire, regularly snapping up the best of the Walk In The Park progeny to come to auction and they were back in action on Tuesday, purchasing the colt out of dual winner and Listed third Appy Days for €90,000.

Ballincurrig House Stud's Walk In The Park colt sells to Gerry Aherne and Charles Shanahan for €90,000 at GoffsCredit: Goffs

Consigned by Michael Moore's Ballincurrig House Stud on behalf of his breeder Cathal Ennis, the June foal is inbred 3x3 to Sadler's Wells as his dam is a King's Theatre full-sister to Fairyhouse Grade 2 novice hurdle winner Royal Alphabet. 

Appy Days, who was bred by Ennis too, is closely related to Lady Chapp, by High Chaparral, and she is the dam of Phil Kirby's dual Grade 2 Yorkshire Rose Mares' Hurdle winner Lady Buttons. 

The pleased breeder reported: "He is a quality foal and has a smashing temperament. I was a bit worried that he was a June foal and that it might be a bit much for him, but he never turned a hair and I’m delighted he is going to a good home in Coolmore. 

"I prepped him myself at home and Michael and his team in Ballincurrig have done a grand job with him here. The mare is promising, she has a Getaway three-year-old that is highly thought of and hopefully this foal will be lucky for his new connections." 

Those new connections have plenty of options for the latest Walk In The Park to join the fold, this one taking the eye in particular of Tom Wachman. The Irish international showjumper was taking the horsemanship skills and eye for a horse that have helped him become one of the leading young riders in the country and transferring them to potential jumpers of a different kind as part of the Coolmore team at Goffs.

Gerry Aherne, who signed for the colt along with Charles Shanahan, took up media duties once purchasing formalities had been completed.

Gerry Aherne: "He is a beautiful horse from an excellent farm"Credit: Goffs

"He is a beautiful horse from an excellent farm and bred by a great breeder. He was Tom's [Wachman] pick of the sale and there are plenty of options for what direction is taken with the colt," added Aherne.

Two lots later Castlefarm Stud offered a son of Walk In The Park out of the Listed Boreen Belle Mares' Novice Hurdle winner Ard Abhainn. An April foal, he is the second offspring of the Jeremy mare and his family traces back to the legendary two mile chaser Moscow Flyer.

Anna and Kevin Ross went to €80,000 to secure the bay and they were operating on behalf of Chris Jones' Killeen Glebe.

"He is a lovely foal with lots of scope and a very nice page. It's a lovely family and the plan would be to bring him back here for resale at the Arkle Sale," remarked Anna Ross.

Fitting tribute to a successful partnership

Buyers needed to set their alarms for the first big lot of the day as Thistletown Stud's Walk In The Park colt out of a half-sister to Katchit was the sixth foal into the ring. Trained by Alan King, the son of Kalanisi became the first horse since Kribensis to follow up his Triumph Hurdle victory in the following season's Champion Hurdle.

His Shirocco half-sister Valjan was placed twice as a juvenile hurdler and is also a half-sister to the Listed Lingfield Oaks Trial winner Miracle Seeker. She has produced four foals to date, three of them by Walk In The Park, and their success in the sales ring has been a fitting tribute to the friendship between Jimmy and Eileen Furlong of Thistletown Stud and the late John Bernard, who helped the couple source many of their mares, including Valjan.

"She has been some mare for us," commented Eileen Furlong. "We bought her privately in England. John Bernard sourced her for us, he sourced a lot of mares for us and she was the last one he found on our behalf before he died."

Peter Molony of Rathmore Stud went to €70,000 for the colt, who he reported will be aimed at the Goffs Arkle Sale of 2026, and the Furlongs, while confident they had a quality foal to bring to market, did not anticipate the June arrival making quite so much.

Eileen and Jimmy Furlong of Thistletown StudCredit: Goffs

Jimmy Furlong said: "We thought he was a cracker, and oozes quality but we weren't expecting him to sell that well. We thought he would make around €50,000 as there was plenty of interest in him, but we didn't think he would make as much as he did."

Valjan's family also includes Listed-winning fillies Midnights' Gift and Giving Glances and her oldest offspring could be seen in a point-to-point soon.

"Her three-year-old by Mount Nelson is with the Doyles and Michael Carty of Kilmoney Cottage Stud bought the two-year-old and yearling full-sister and brother to this colt privately from us. Valjan was scanned in foal to Walk In The Park, he has been lucky for us so we weren't going to go anywhere else with her," the couple reported.

Walk In The Park's fourth big-priced foal of the day was Oliver O'Loughlin's homebred half-brother to the Listed winner Presence Of Hand. Out of Alleygrove Lass, an unraced Alderbrook half-sister to Jonjo O'Neill's dual Ryanair Chase winner Albertas Run, she made €50,000 to Alan Harte. 

That sale helped Walk In The Park earn a day-two average of €54,834 for six foals sold out of the nine offered.

The upper reaches of the sale were dominated by Coolmore sires, who were responsible for all eight of the foals that made at least €50,000 at Goffs on Tuesday. 

Surfing the crest of a wave

Walk In The Park is an established source of success but it was two of his younger colleagues on the roster that supplied the other four foals to reach that figure, with Crystal Ocean and Order Of St George siring two apiece.

Crystal Ocean's first crop are two-year-olds so their mettle has yet to be tested on the track, but buyers have been hot on the collection of Crystal Ocean foals assembled for this sale and Rathmore Stud's offering, on behalf of Cyril Crowe and Mags Melody's Ballykilty Farm was the highest-priced filly of the day when bought for €62,000 by Nicky Bertran de Balanda.

The bay has her origins in France. She is just the second foal out of the Listed bumper and hurdles winner Cap Soleil, a ten-year-old daughter of Kapgarde trained by Fergal O'Brien for Sally Noott, breeder of Constitution Hill. 

Peter Molony of Rathmore Stud and Katie Rudd who bought the Crystal Ocean filly on behalf of Nicky Bertran de BalandaCredit: Sophie Webber Photography

She was offered for sale at Doncaster in January through Throckmorton Court Stud and bought by Peter Molony on behalf of Crowe and Melody for £75,000. The sale of her Crystal Ocean foal has gone a long way to repaying that investment.

"It’s been a quick turnaround, but she’s a lovely filly and we’re delighted with that price," said Cyril Crowe, who went on to explain why they purchased Cap Soleil.

"We had a good foal sale last year and we were keen to improve the calibre of mare that we have and take it up a level. Given the selective nature of the market, you really need to have those quality mares. We had found ourselves getting well paid for good colts, but even our good fillies were only bringing in their stud fee, so we wanted to get ourselves a mare that we could get paid for a filly too. 

"When Cap Soleil came up for sale in January, we asked Peter to have a look at her and he approved, so he bought her for us."

The Clare-based breeder, who has entered into the political arena as a candidate for the local elections scheduled to take place next year, is keen to continue to improve the quality of the equine stock on the farm.

"We’re cattle breeders and dairy farmers by trade, so we’ve decided to keep our stock as selective as possible," he said. "We’ll have five mares to cover next year, so it’s a great result. 

"We used to do a bit of pinhooking, but found that we were getting squeezed out of the type of foal that we used to aim to buy, which made us step back and evaluate what it was we were trying to achieve. Instead of competing for those foals, we decided to try to supply them to the market."

The couple's Kapgarde mare is one of those quintet of high-class mares but there will be no repeat performance for her at next winter's foal sales.

Rathmore Stud's Crystal Ocean filly out of Cap Soleil sold to Nicky Bertran de Balanda for €62,000 at GoffsCredit: Goffs

"Cap Soleil's not in foal this year, but we’ll aim to get a nice, early cover into her next year," added Crowe. "We haven’t decided on a stallion just yet, but she has all options open to her. 

"We have three more foals to sell this week, so we’ll get them sold and sit down to discuss it among ourselves afterwards.” 

Her current foal is returning to the land of her dam's birth, with NBB Racing purchasing her for a client who, like the foal's breeders, is determined to invest in top-class fillies to eventually breed from.

Bertran de Balanda said: "I have bought him on behalf of Sofiane Benaroussi, who is building up a good young team of horses in training in France. He is looking to buy very nice fillies to race and then breed from and that is the plan with this foal."

The filly's page could feature several black-type updates as Cap Soleil is a full-sister to Miss Bailly, the winning dam of Romeo Coolio. That four-year-old son of Kayf Tara made £42,000 at Cheltenham in March following a debut point-to-point success for the Monbeg team and so impressed was Gordon Elliott by the Will Kinsey-bred gelding, that he went to €265,000 to buy Romeo Coolio's full-brother at the store sales in June.

Bertran de Balanda added: "She is a gorgeous filly physically and from a good family that has a little bit of France and a little bit of Ireland in there. She is well-bred and the reports about Romeo Coolio are very positive. We are very happy to have her.

"I bought lot 102 yesterday, the Order Of St George filly out of Sainte Opportune, for the same client and there are two or three more on the list for tomorrow we are interested in."

Order and Ocean in demand

Successful pinhooker Kieran Shields went to €50,000 for Conna Stud's Crystal Ocean colt out of Cheryls Dream, a Getaway full-sister to Tolworth Hurdle winner Minella Class and Deputy Dan, who won the Grade 2 Leamington Novices' Hurdle and was placed in the Long Walk Hurdle and Spa Novices' Hurdle.

Order Of St George has muscled his way back into the limelight at the foal sales on the twin pillars of positive reports from the point-to-point handlers about the first crop three-year-olds by the Gold Cup winner in their yards and the performances of his first two track representatives.

First up was Gore Point, who was second on his debut in a Ludlow bumper in early November for Anthony Honeyball, but it was the debut success of Mighty Bandit in a juvenile hurdle at Punchestown later that month which really made people sit up and take notice.

The ease of his victory for Gordon Elliott and Jack Kennedy was impressive and it was telling that Joey Logan, who buys for Mighty Bandit's owners Andy and Gemma Brown, bought the top-priced foal by Order Of St George at Goffs on Tuesday.

Cathal Ennis, Sarah Rohan and Michael Moore with the session-topping Walk In The Park coltCredit: Sophie Webber Photography

Logan went to €52,000 for the foal who was consigned by breeder Caroline Berry and is bred along similar lines to Mighty Bandit, being inbred 3x3 to Sadler's Wells. This colt is the fourth foal out of Darlana, an unraced Milan full-sister to Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle and Top Novices' Hurdle winner Darlan. It is the Aga Khan family of Group 1 winners Daryaba, Daryakana and Dariyan.

White Horse Stud were the buyers of Cleaboy Stud and Coppice Farm's half-brother to Captain Teague, who won the Grade 2 Persian War Novices' Hurdle in October for Paul Nicholls, with the son of Doyen also third to A Dream To Share in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham in March. 

He is also a half-brother to Sky Pirate, winner of the Grand Annual for Jonjo O'Neill, and their dam, Dancingwithbubbles, is a daughter of Supreme Leader and the Cleeve Hurdle winner Kates Charm.

At the end of the session, Order Of St George returned figures of 11 sold for an average of €20,091, which was higher than the session average.

Away from the headline prices and big sales, it was a tricky day for vendors, as has been the case at many sales this autumn and winter. Trade is highly selective, which was reflected in a clearance rate of 58 per cent. 

Despite the disappointing number of horses not sold – 94 out of the 226 offered – the demand for the best quality foals ensured that neither the aggregate nor average price deviated from those recorded on the equivalent day of the 2022 sale, while the median grew by 20 per cent to €12,000. That, more than anything, indicated just how strange prevailing market conditions are.

The third session of the December National Hunt Sale begins at 10am on Wednesday.

Read more 

'He was like a member of our family' - Ballyhane Stud's long-serving Group 1 sire Dandy Man dies aged 20  

'He's been a lovely colt from birth' - close relative to Stage Star ignites Goffs sale at €110,000