Super day at sales
Nine horses change hands for £1.3m
DESPITE THE worries and confusion of Brexit, and problems caused by the recent equine flu outbreak, Wexford point-to-pointers continued to dominate the ring at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Sale last Thursday, with one of them becoming the joint second most expensive pointer ever at £410,000 Stg.
This was Wide Receiver, owned and trained at Ballypreacus, Bunclody, by Cormac Farrell to win at Cragmore in Limerick the previous Sunday. There was a bidding war between the representatives of the big two trainers, Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins, with the horse finally going to Elliott.
Farrell, who has five pointers, was stunned by the price achieved by the horse he had bought for €25k at the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale last year. ‘We had £250,000 in our heads, and even that would’ve been amazing. This is a once in a lifetime situation,’ he commented.
The Mullins camp did prevail when forking out £300,000 for Ferny Hollow, trained by Colin Bowe for his cousin, J.J. Bowe, to win on his debut at Knockard in Cork just the previous Sunday. J.J. had purchased the horse for €38k at last year’s Derby Sale.
‘It’s a brilliant price; you can’t describe that feeling because there’s nothing else like it, it’s unreal,’ he told The Racing Post. ‘Colin is a brilliant trainer, but the whole team there is fantastic.’
Bowe also sold Go ahead with-the plan( by Stowaway) to Mag O’Toole and Noel Meade for a tidy £140,000, despite falling at the last in Belharbour in Clare, and Imperial Flem (by Flemensfirth) to Evan Williams for £40k.
Donnchadh Doyle and the Monbeg (Ballindaggin) operation got £200,000 from Mullins for Deploy the Getaway (out of Gaelic River), a good winner at Tallow a couple of weeks ago, having bought him at the Derby Sale last year for €25k.
Donnchadh’s brother, Seán, won at the Cragmore meeting with Off the shoulder, a five-year-old son of Gold Well, and this one went to Scottish trainer, Lucinda Russell, for £110,000. He had been bought at the Derby sale 18 months ago for €30k.
Richard Black from Ballinapark, Bunclody created a stir a few years ago when achieving a world record £350,000 price for point-to-point mare, Maire Banrigh, a couple of days after winning at Lingstown.
This time he got £65k for recent winner at Tallow, Casey Jem, owned by James Casey of Casey Enterprises, big supporters of racing in Wexford.
John Paul Brennan from Camolin got £50k for his five-year-old mare, The Three Wizards (by Oscar), from Waterford trainer Henry De Bromhead. She had won impressively at Ballinabolola in early February.
Regular rider Harley Dunne paid €5k six months ago for Alfa Mix (out of Fair Mix) and, despite falling at the second last on debut in Ballinaboola, trainer Gavin Cromwell was impressed enough to pay £42k for him.
In total, nine Wexford horses were sold for just over £1.3m – not a bad day’s work!
Moving back to the track, we really are into the last stages of the countdown to Cheltenham which starts on March 12, and it is the last chance for some to stake a claim for inclusion in the Festival.
The lack of rain has led to unseasonable firm ground all through the winter, and many trainers have been unable to get enough runs into their horses.
Seán Flanagan had a nice priced double at Punchestown on Wednesday for Noel Meade to bring his seasonal total to 43.
He was fighting out the closing stages of the good-quality Pertemps Hurdle qualifier on Cap York (13/2) and was left clear when J.J. Slevin crashed out at the last on the well-backed Joseph O’Brien’s Choungaya (4/1f).
Flanagan won another tight battle in the mares’ maiden hur- dle on The Caddy Rose (10/3), out-battling Jack Kennedy on Gordon Elliott’s Mount Ida (10/3) by three parts of a length.
Liz Doyle got second in the bumper with Scalor (2/1), a well-touted newcomer owned by her mother, Avril. Though well beaten, this one will be watched with interest.
At Naas on Sunday, Flanagan had a couple of places and Jamie Codd drove up from the point-topoint at Tinahely to take third in the bumper on Gordon Elliott’s Easywork.
In Britain, Daryl Jacob won on a likely Cheltenham candidate at Kempton on Saturday on the impressive looking Fusil Raffles (4/1), trained by Nicky Henderson in the Grade 2 Juvenile Hurdle.
Otherwise he had just one win from his 13 other rides, aboard Stone mad for speed (7/1) at Taunton on Tuesday.
Tom O’Brien also had one win in the week from 15 rides, at Chepstow on Saturday on Highest Sun (15/8f) for Colin Tizzard in a low grade handicap hurdle.