TWO days of selling at Doncaster this week ended pretty much on a par with a year ago, thanks in large measure to the supplementary lots among the horses in training section on Thursday. Fourteen lots on the second day made £30,000 or more and half of them were wild card entries.

The top lot was from the catalogue proper and this was the David Elsworth-trained three-year-old bumper winner Aggressive. The son of Declaration Of War won at Huntingdon on his debut in early October by 10 lengths and this feat, from a horse already standing 17 hands, impressed many.

Tom Malone made a strong bid to get Aggressive but he was thwarted by agent Hamish Macauley’s winning bid of £150,000.

The gelding will be heading to the USA and Pennsylvania where he will tackle the lucrative jumps scene. With the jumps season there going into hibernation until the spring, Aggressive is expected to benefit from this time to mature and he could be a most exciting recruit to the American racing scene.

Only one other lot strayed into six-figure territory and this was the Colin Bowe-trained Pistol Whipped, a four-year-old son of Beneficial. The gelding slipped up on his first start in a maiden at Loughrea back in May and he recently returned to the same venue to finish second.

Tessa Greatrex, representing Highflyer Bloodstock, once again got the better of Tom Malone for the gelding, a €35,000 Derby Sale buy in 2017, at £110,000 and revealed that he would be joining Nicky Henderson to continue his career.

Pistol Whipped finished two lengths behind Mary Doyle’s Unexpected Depth at Loughrea and minutes earlier the winner sold for what now looks like a bargain £75,000 to bloodstock agent Kevin Ross.

A son of Shantou, Unexpected Depth was making his debut at the Co Galway venue and his dam is a full-sister to the dual Thyestes Chase winner Preists Leap. The gelding was bought as a foal for €15,000.

Mary Doyle also sold the four-year-old Trans Island gelding Heavey to trainer Neil Mulholland for £45,000. The gelding has shown useful form on both his starts to date in point-to-points, most recently when finishing third to Buck’s Bin’s at Moira.

The aforementioned French-bred four-year-old Khalkevi gelding Buck’s Bin’s is from the family of Big Buck’s whose 23 wins included the Grade 1 World Hurdle at Cheltenham four times and the Grade 1 Liverpool Hurdle, again on four occasions. Runner-up at Dromahane on his debut back in the spring to the subsequent four-time bumper winner Longhouse Sale, Buck’s Bin’s made amends recently when he won at Moira for Donnchadh Doyle. He is now in the ownership of Roger Brookhouse after he paid £60,000 for the gelding.

Brookhouse made a second acquisition from Monbeg Stables when he gave £55,000 for Cormac Doyle’s Rock On Rocco, a four-year-old son of Shirocco who was third in the Loughrea point-to-point won by Unexpected Depth. The gelding is a grandson of the Grade 2 winning chaser Queen Of Spades.

Just three of the Willie Mullins draft of eight made it to the sale but they included Susannah Ricci’s six-time winner Montalbano. The six-year-old won over hurdles at Leopardstown and Punchestown and subsequently has added chase wins at Gowran Park and Ballinrobe.

Since the catalogue was printed he ran second to Tombstone and will now join Jonjo O’Neill after Stroud Coleman’s Marcus Collie paid £52,000 for him.

The consistent Roddy, a four-year-old son of Roderic O’Connor, was the subject of a private sale at £44,000 after he went through the sale ring and was retained by the vendor at £42,000. Trained by Tom Tate to place six times, he was bought by Valurracingclub. Minutes earlier Tristan Davidson Racing sold the five-time winning Equiano four-year-old filly Island Song for £34,000 to Richard Ryan.

Colin Bowe sold Pistol Whipped for £110,000

Another Colin Bowe supplementary entry was the four-year-old Muhtathir gelding Monsieur D’Arque and he ran out a five-length winner of his maiden at Loughrea recently on his second start. From the family of the smart hurdler and even better chaser Stormez, the gelding was snapped up by Ryan Mahon for £32,000.

The Godolphin-consigned Brawler, a winner in France this year at three, is moving to Ireland after his purchase for £31,000 by trained Denis Hogan. The Teofilo gelding’s third dam was the Group 1 winner Flagbird who was also successful at the Curragh in the Group 2 Pretty Polly Stakes. Godolphin also sold the three-year-old New Approach gelding Ice Pyramid to Philip Kirby for £30,000. The gelding was runner-up on his only start at Redcar for Saeed bin Suroor.

A €300,000 yearling purchase and winner over just short of seven furlongs in France this year, the three-year-old Frankel gelding Juyush was sold this time for £30,000 to Derek O’Connor on behalf of Direct Bloodstock Limited. The gelding was part of the Shadwell Stud draft. O’Connor also signed for Onthefrontfoot at £30,000, this time for Donald McCain. The four-year-old son of Shantou just four days earlier won a point-to-point at The Pigeons.

Wednesday saw yearlings sold and the poor clearance rate of 46% says much about the demand for young stock at this level of the market. The two top lots from Worsall Grange, a colt by Sidestep and a filly by Finjaan, were both bought by a representative of the stud taking telephone bids.

The Sidestep colt, a €6,000 foal purchase, was put down to trainer Tony Carroll for £50,000, while the daughter of Finjaan was listed as sold to Liberty for £35,000.