A smaller catalogue led to a drop in turnover at Brightwells’ Cheltenham November Sale, although the average price of over £44,691 was virtually identical to last year.

Moving the breeze-up section of the sale to the forthcoming December auction – thereby avoiding a clash with the racecourse’s busy Countryside Day – was bound to affect figures, while a notably dry autumn in Ireland has led to fewer runners at Irish point-to-points, a staple source of horses at Cheltenham sales.

Recent rain came too late for many trainers to get their youngsters onto the track, although those who got a run and a win into their horses at the previous weekend’s meetings featured on the top-10 board.

Heading this list at £130,000 was five-year-old Stilletto, a winner at Maralin six days earlier for 24-year-old Wexford trainer Andrew Latta and his grandfather, 82-year-old William Powell-Harris, who bred the gelding from his mare Eastertide.

The purchaser was leading owner Roger Brookhouse, who earlier in the day had won a Grade 2 novices’ chase at Cheltenham with Brightwells graduate Champagne West. “I don’t mind buying five-year-olds, and this one is a big horse who needed time,” said the buyer. “You wouldn’t have wanted to rush him at four. I don’t know who will train him at this stage – we’ll do the usual and take him home tonight and give him a holiday.”

GERMAN BRED

The previous Sunday’s point at Kilworth gave Pat Doyle a chance to showcase Amber Gambler’s talents, and he duly won under Derek O’Connor. Sent on to Cheltenham, he made £125,000 to a bid from Gearoid Costelloe, partner of trainer Rebecca Curtis, who will now handle the four-year-old at her Pembrokeshire yard.

German-bred Amber Gambler, a son of Doyen, clearly stays a trip and had great size and substance, although half-brother Auenklang (by Big Shuffle) was a Group 2-winning sprinter in Germany.

Neil Mulholland, who trains near Bath, finished as underbidder for top lot Stilletto, but had better luck when Shantou Village came to the ring from Denis Murphy’s Wexford stables. A winner at Loughanmore last month, the four-year-old son of Shantou made £80,000 and will join Mulholland to run in the colours of Jane Gerard-Pearse, daughter of the late racehorse and racecourse owner Sir Stanley Clarke.

Jamie and Willie Codd teamed up at Ballinaboola a week before the sale to land a four-year-old maiden point with Milan gelding For Instance, who earlier this year had been placed in a Carlisle bumper for Tony Coyle’s yard. Subsequently sold privately to the Codd family, For Instance made his stay with them brief, but probably profitable, when knocked down to bloodstock agent Ross Doyle for £85,000. He now joins Jonjo O’Neill’s yard.

Aidan ‘Scobie’ Fitzgerald was another private purchaser who turned a profit when selling Kavanaghs Corner, a five-year-old gelding who had chased home Stilletto at Maralin the previous weekend. Fitzgerald bought the gelding as an untried three-year-old from a field in Ireland. Trainer Simon Earle brought the hammer down for the son of Coroner with a bid of £75,000.

There was another happy family occasion later in the session when the Daltons from Shropshire traded Shotofwine, a five-year-old son of Grape Tree Road, who made £75,000.

Shotofwine had finished second in two recent bumpers for trainer Henry Daly in the colours of farmer Neale Dalton. His son Andrew bought the horse for just £800 as a yearling, and it was his daughter, Anabel, who rode the horse when runner-up at Aintree recently. Donald McCain brought the hammer down for this one, following which Andrew said: “He ran really well at Aintree and I just hope he goes on and does a job for Donald. We usually have a job selling horses, so this is a great result.”

UNSOLD

Among the lots unsold or bought back by the vendor were Karl Thornton’s Down Royal bumper winner Round Tower (£95,000), Seamus Durack’s bumper winner Paolozzi (£90,000), John Paul Brennan’s four-time points winner Need To Know (£75,000) and Denis Hogan’s Thurles bumper winner Neatly Put (£78,000).

Changes to the catalogue and recent ground conditions meant 52 horses went through the ring compared to 80 at the same sale 12 months ago. Turnover of £1,459,500 was down by £861,000, but Brightwells’ head of bloodstock Matt Mitchell, emphasised comparisons were meaningless in the circumstances.

He said: “You cannot make comparisons with last year’s sale because it incorporated breeze-up horses – the combination of November and December Sales together will give a clearer indication of the market. The top level has definitely been affected by unfavourable ground conditions for the Irish point-to-point vendors. Until two weeks ago the ground was quick and it is ironic that we have had so much rainfall in the past fortnight. Despite that, vendors who were realistic with their prices have been well rewarded once again.”

COMPARATIVE FIGURES

YEAR CAT OFF SOLD AGGREGATE AVERAGE

2014 58 52 34 £1,519,500 £44,691

2013 94 80 55 £2,320,500 £44,700