Local connections dominate Cheltenham sale
THERE IS no let-up in the demand for Wexford point-to-point horses, and local connections dominated the Tattersalls sale at Cheltenham on Friday, providing 15 of the 28 horses sold and bringing home £1.46 million (€1.7m). Colin Bowe and Denis Murphy sold four each, for an impressive €705,000 and €418,000.
Bowe’s recent Cragmore winner, Brandy Love, a daughter of Jet Away, based at Eoin Banville’s Arctic Tack Stud in Newbawn, was a £200k purchase for the Willie Mullins stable. He was bought at the Goffs Land Rover sale last year just €15,000.
Top seller was Warren Ewing’s Only the Bold, a son of Jeremy, former sire at Denis Hickey’s Garryrichard Stud, Foulksmills. Unfortunately, Jeremy died at eleven years of age, cutting short a very promising breeding career.
The mare, Glenglass (Ocavengo), was an eye-catching Bowe winner against the geldings at Tallow ten days ago and fetched £155k, having been bought for €42k last year.
Bowe also sold Star Gate (by Imperial Monarch), a winner at Belharbour in Clare two weeks ago, for £140k, and Velvet Elvis (by Shirocco), a 20 lengths winner at Nenagh ten days ago under young Peter Kavanagh, for £95k.
Denis Murphy’s Ballyboy Stables once again proved that you don’t actually have to win to sell well. Guardino (by Authorised), a runner-up in Oldtown, got £170k from trainer Pauling, having been purchased last year by Murphy and Colin
Bowe for €74k. He sold Poppa Poutine (IRE), second to Glenglass, for £100k.
He sold Brooksway Fair (Mahler) who actually won at the Wexford Hunt meeting under Jamie Codd for £80k, and his Sambezi (Rajsaman) was a faller at Belharbour on February 2 in the race won by Star Gate, but still got £50k.
The Doyle brothers, Monbeg, sold two – Seán consigning Timeless Beauty (Yeats), a recent winner at Oldtown, for £100k, and Donnchadh got €42k for five-year-old Fashion Nova (by Flemensfirth) which dead-heated for Rob James at Belharbour.
Harley Dunne was second on his own Orbys Legend (by Milan), trained by Liam Kenny, at Knockmullen House, New Ross, and Tom Malone paid out £80k for him, and Matthew Flynn-O’Connor (Bunclody) got £82k for Bebraveforglory (Fame and Glory), third at Tallow.
Michael Goff’s five-year-old File Illico won by a distance on debut at Knockanard and was bought by Jonjo O’Neill for £58,000, and finally Kieran Roche (Adamstown) won at Knockmullen House with his five-year-old mare, Home Farm House, which was sold on for £24k.
The next big sale will be during the Cheltenham Festival.