BRIGHTERDAYSAHEAD was at the top of Matthew Flynn O’Connor’s shopping list at the 2022 Derby Sale, but when she went over budget, he found a fine consolation prize in Final Demand. The Kenneth Parkhill-bred gelding made an impressive debut for the Ballycrystal Stables handler at Lingstown and, after selling to the Willie Mullins’s camp, has gone on to win two Grade 1s by a combined 28 lengths. Amy Lynam spoke to him ahead of next week’s renewal at Tattersalls Ireland.

You bought Final Demand with Joey Logan at the Derby Sale for €230,000. What convinced you to give such a price, considering you were buying to resell?

To be honest, I thought he was the standout gelding of the year, and in the last two or three years since then, that I’ve seen, he was that much of a standout. He was just a gorgeous horse, with a good pedigree by the right stallion.

The way it actually worked out, I thought I was going to be able to buy the filly, Brighterdaysahead - that was the plan, believe it or not. We didn’t get her and then this fella came along. We did something crazy and bought him and it all worked out.

Did you ever have a moment’s worry with him?

I came home from the sales that day and rang Joey Logan and I said, ‘Insure this fella quick before he comes over the wall here in the stable!’ He was climbing the walls. But I have to say, from a breaker right through to when we ran him, he never put a foot wrong in my yard.

I was never going to run him early. The plan was to run him as a back-end four-year-old, and I brought him away for a schooling bumper one day with 14 or 15 other horses. He was only half ready and he came down the straight on his own, so we had a fair idea, if we could keep him in one piece, we had a chance of having something special.

Would he be the best horse you’ve bought at the Derby Sale?

He’s got the form all there and he’s very exciting. He’s definitely the best that we’ve bought at the Derby Sale.

We’ve been lucky with what we’ve got in the last couple of years. It’s unusual to pick up horses like that and to actually go on and actually win a Grade 1. So, we’ve been lucky.

Is there a horse we should be keeping an eye out for?

There’s a horse that went to Willie Mullins this year by Doctor Dino, a horse called Heldam [bought at the 2024 Derby Sale for €110,000]. He won his four-year-old maiden in Punchestown in February. Funnily enough, he was bought by the same owner that owns Final Demand, Bryan Drew. He could be an exciting horse to follow next year. I think the reports are good on him.

What are your predictions for next week’s trade?

We actually thought it was going to be back a bit in Goffs; that’s what all the talk was down here. But the trade last week was exceptional, So I can’t imagine it getting any less next week, bar people have filled their orders. I’m expecting the trade to be very strong next week at the Derby Sale.

I suppose it’s good news for the point-to-point handlers that English buyers are spending plenty at the store sales, it bodes well for when you’re selling your own horses.

Hopefully they haven’t filled up all their orders and left something for us! We need England going well, so it’s good to see them back, buying strong.

Will you be looking at the two-year-olds catalogued?

No, I’ll focus on the three-year-olds. I don’t think the two-year-olds fit in well to my system. I think I have to wait maybe the extra year on it, if I’m being honest.

But look, there are plenty of people talking about it and interested in doing it, so I can’t see why it won’t work down the line.

Do you have a preference for French or Irish pedigrees?

I’m open-minded. I believe that you could pick up a horse anywhere - it could be up in the field off someone, you could be lucky enough, it could be the right one. These good horses, they kind of seem to find you more so than the other way around.

If you’re lucky enough to get them, to become a Grade 1 horse, they have to improve probably another two stone after they leave us, to find the next level and then stay sound and end up in the right hotel and everything. So in my opinion, and maybe I am completely wrong, but I think they have a lot of bridges to cross before they get to that level.

Are there any sires you particularly like at the moment?

Leaving out the obvious ones, like your Walk In The Parks and things like that, the obvious one to me at the minute, that’s standing out, is Poet’s Word.

I think a stallion that could make it, if it gets the right mares, is Success Days. We’ve had one or two of them now last year and they’re grand horses. I bought a nice one at the Arkle Sale this year, I gave €70,000 for it, off Peter Moloney.

The obvious ones, the Walk In The Parks, the No Risk At Alls, I think you can’t really go wrong with them if they have any ability whatsoever. Crystal Ocean would be another one I like.