Wexford horses in the money
THE DELAYED Tattersalls Ireland January sale at Cheltenham was staged on Thursday and the Wexford connections were in the thick of the action as usual, with nine horses sold for over half million pounds sterling.
The local headliner was James Doyle, training for the Monbeg set-up; they got a very tasty £170,000 from Welsh trainer Evan Williams for Bitingthebullet, a four-year-old son of Goldwell, winner of the four-year-old maiden at Punchestown under Harley Dunne only last Sunday week.
Michael and Ashleigh Murphy from their Redbridge Stables in Duncormick got £145,000 for their four-year-old bay gelding, Frozen Flame (Frozen Fire/Flame Supreme). In his only outing, this one was a short head second in a four-year-old maiden to a Gigginstown hotshot at Ballinaboola a couple of weeks ago under Gary Murphy.
Donnchadh Doyle and the Monbeg Stables got £60,000 from Roger Brookhouse for Celtic Rising, a five-year-old bay gelding by Curtain Time which had won on debut at Dungarvan under Jimmy O’Rourke in late January.
Donald McCain paid £35,000 for Doyle’s Uppertown Prince, a bay gelding by Strategic Prince/Tarrawarra, which won the five-year-old geldings’ maiden at Belharbour in Clare two weeks ago under Jimmy O’Rourke.
Cormac Doyle, brother of Donnchadh and Seán and the third of them to train for the Monbeg operation, sold Lady Avery, a five-year-old bay mare by Westerner/Bobs Article, for £25,000.
This one provided Cormac with his first winner as a trainer at Borris in early December.
Colin Bowe and the Milestone Stables got £25,000 for The Real Snoopy (Presenting-Senora Snoopy), a winner up north under Barry O’Neill ten days ago..
Paul and Andrew Pierce from the Blackhall Stables, Killurin, got £50,000 for Princess of China, a bay mare by Stowaway/Handful of Euros, purchased in June, 2015, for €11,000 and winner on her debut at Oldtown in early February under Jamie Codd.
Michael Goff and his Moate Stables from Clondaw, Ferns, got £13,000 for Robin The Hare, a bay gelding by Robin Des Champs/ Pretty Puttens, which dead-heated at Tallow two weeks ago.
There was one Wexford horse sold that did not go down the point-to-point route.
Myles Sunderland and the Kilcorral House Stables near Castlebridge got £36,000 for Sense of Urgency, a chestnut mare by Captain Rio-Itsallaracket, which was placed in her only two runs, bumpers at Limerick and Cork, prior to Christmas.
A world record was set at the sale for a point-to-point horse with Flemenshill, a Flemensfirth gelding that really impressed when winning on his debut in a four-year-old maiden at Oldtown two weeks ago, going to agent Tom Malone and trainer Colin Tizzard for an eye-watering £480,000.
The horse was trained by Colin McKeever and owned by Wilson Dennison, a strong North of Ireland partnership.