TWO marathon days of selling, 10 hours each session, was tough on vendors and auctioneers at the latest renewal of the Tattersalls Ireland July Store Sale.
Two in every five lots offered returned to where they came from, while median and average figures of €6,000 and €8,843 only highlight that the vast majority of lots sold were traded at a loss for breeders or pinhookers. There were some highlights, but they were sadly few and far between.
The sale did provide a second chance for many who, for various reasons, had missed an earlier opportunity to sell at the better store sales, and it was many of these who were among the lots at the higher end of the table. Some of these benefited greatly from the extra time afforded them with the later date, while one of the most prominent vendors suggested that an even later date in August, after the buzz of Galway week, should be a consideration for the sales company.
This suggestion was presumably put to the company’s CEO Simon Kerins, and is likely what he was referring to when he issued his post-sale comment on Thursday night. He said: “The store season concluded with this week’s July Sale, which remains an important final opportunity in the National Hunt store calendar. It follows a month after a hugely successful renewal of our Derby Sale.
“This week’s sale does, however, illustrated the challenges faced by vendors, and whilst a significant number of store horses have already gone through the sales ring this year, it would be remiss not to acknowledge the challenges that face vendors at this level of the market, as witnessed by this sale’s clearance rate [58%]. We will review all aspects of our store sales at the end of the year.”
PTP support
Looking back at earlier sales, he added: “This summer’s store sale season has delivered standout results, with the Derby Sale being a particular high point. It produced the highest-priced store sold in Ireland this year, and across every key metric it significantly surpassed last year’s strong figures. A record-breaking 38 lots sold for €100,000 or more, while a spend of €10 million on day two was a record for a single session at the Derby Sale.
“Irish point-to-points play a crucial role as the grass roots of National Hunt racing, and this week’s sale has seen good support from handlers. The sale produced some smart four-year-old winners during the spring, and it was encouraging to hear purchasers immediately earmark spring targets between the flags. I look forward to seeing this group of graduates build on the success of past graduates of this sale.”
All horses catalogued and offered in the July Store Sale are eligible for the €100,000 Tattersalls Ireland MSL Mercedes-Benz Sales Bumper at Leopardstown in December 2026.
GALWAY’S Niall Bleahen sold two lots during the week from his Liss House base, both sons of Order Of St George, and topped each session in the process.
This fine achievement also concerned two lots who had been, or intended to be, at earlier sales, and were among the large number of wildcards among the pages of the catalogue. They sold for €55,000 and €50,000 respectively, and were among 17 lots sold by that Ascot Gold Cup and dual Irish St Leger winner who averaged €13,076.
The best of the two from Liss House, and top lot of the week, was a gelding who returned unsold from the Goffs UK Spring Sale at £30,000, having cost €37,000 as a foal.
He inspired a bidding duel between Ian Ferguson and Charles Shanahan, and while the latter was successful, it transpired he was acting for Jonathan Fogarty.
“He will go back to Gaynestown to be broken and go point-to-pointing in the spring,” Fogarty said. “He is a quality horse, a lovely mover, and out of a Shantou mare - everything I like. He is the first Order Of St George I have had. I’m looking forward to getting him home.”
Knows the family
On Thursday, Bleahen emerged as top dog again when selling an Order Of St George gelding to former jockey, turned bloodstock agent, Darren O’Dwyer for €50,000. This session-topper, and the third-best price of the week, is the third foal out of the Yeats mare Little Miss Poet.
She won a bumper, three hurdle races and a chase when trained by Philip Hobbs, while her seven runner-up finishes significantly included a listed mares chase at Cheltenham on her final run. Her own dam, R De Rien Sivola was second in a Grade 2 novices’ hurdle at Cheltenham.
O’Dwyer knew the family already. He said: “He comes from a good consignor, and I rode the mother [while with Hobbs] and I know all about her. She was a good mare. For me, he is a standout today. I am undecided where yet, but he will go down the point-to-point route and will be for resale.”
Derby Sale absentee
After the second sale, Bleahen provided his thoughts on both of his lots, starting with Thursday’s sale. “He is a big strong horse, and out of a mare called Little Miss Poet, so perhaps he shouldn’t be as big as he is.
“But she was a good racemare and she won a bumper at four and was placed on the flat at three, so that will help with the precocity of this horse. He was a big, strong foal [cost €35,000], and has grown into a big, strong horse.
He missed the Derby Sale as he got cast in his box here, and was a late withdrawal. He was a real Derby Sale horse, and it is nice to get him back to a sale.”
About the sale of Wednesday’s session topper, Bleahen added: “That horse needed the time through to this sale, and he has furnished out great with a summer at grass. We perhaps don’t purposefully target this sale, but if we have a horse who still needs a summer out then it suits, as we like to give them all the time they need.”
Not be been left out in the cold, John Bleahen’s Lakefield Farm sold the only lot catalogued by Tunis for €32,000 to Jimmy Kelly. The gelding is from the family of Bacardys, winner of the Grade 2 Weatherbys Champion Bumper at Aintree before going on to capture a pair of Grade 1 novice hurdles at home.
Kelly commented: “This is the second horse today I’ve bought for Laura [Morgan] who is rebuilding her stock, looking to up the quality of the yard and move to the next level.”
THE first lots sold on each day were among the highlights of the sale. None of the first three lots on Wednesday sold, but the arrival from Jacqueline Ferris’ The Glebe Farm of a son of the dual Derby winner Harzand and the two-time hurdle winning Falco mare Aiguille Rouge changed all that. The dam is a half-sister to the Grade 1 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner Labaik, a horse who made headlines on and off the track.
At this year’s Goffs Arkle Sale, Niall Bleahen’s Liss House sold Labaik’s three-year-old half-brother by Walk In The Park for €140,000 to Matt Coleman and the father-and-son team of Jonjo and A.J. O’Neill.
This son of Harzand has a point-to-point campaign ahead of him after his sale to Brian Lawless for €52,000. Bloodstock agent Tom Malone was the disappointed underbidder. Lawless said: “He will go for a point-to-point and then be for resale; hopefully we will get to Tattersalls Cheltenham in the spring.
“He is a fine model and a fine specimen of a horse, and he moves well. We are happy to get him, and there will be a few of us involved. It is the first by Harzand for us.” Unsold as a foal at €15,000, he did not take up his place at the Derby Sale last month, and was a wildcard entry for this week’s sale.
A handful of people were present in in the sale ring for the first lot on Thursday morning, yet the daughter of Pastorius from Railstown Stud sold for €25,000 to Pimlico Racing.
She was purchased in November at Arqana for €9,000 by Eugene Cullen Bloodstock. Pimlico Racing has a number of horses racing in Britain and Ireland. Here they have five with Henry de Bromhead, two with John McConnell, and one each with Willie Mullins, Gavin Cromwell and a flat horse with Paddy Twomey.
ROB James made a couple of significant purchases on Thursday, one of them not having been his original plan. This was a son of Born To Sea that cost him €42,000, and the French-bred was sold by Rathurtin Stud. A half-brother to two winners over jumps in France, the gelding, who missed his turn at the Derby Sale, was the subject of a battle between Rob James and Gerry Hogan.
“I had a filly by Born To Sea last year and I was lucky with her [Royale Navy sold in May for £80,000],” he said. “Denis [Cummins, Rathurtin Stud] took me down to look at him and I liked him, so I waited for him.
“The sire is doing well in France and hopefully this lad will be as lucky as the filly; they are both solid sorts. He is a great walker, a hardy-looking sort and he goes point-to-pointing. We have 30 pointers in, around 10 or 11 for the autumn.”
Earlier in the day James spent €35,000 on a son of Poet’s Word from Peter Nolan Bloodstock. The property of Westwinds Farm, the gelding is the second offspring of his Al Namix dam, herself a daughter of three-time French listed hurdle and chase winner Change Partner.
Successful seven times, Change Partner is now the dam of the Grade 2 hurdle and chase winner Stolen Silver, dual listed hurdle winner Jamal Malik, and Karalee who placed in the Grade 1 Mares Champion Hurdle at Punchestown.
James commented: “He is the nicest walker all day, and I’ve been waiting for him. We have tried hard on a few, the nice ones, as always, have been hard to get. He will go point-to-pointing and has come from a good home with Peter [Nolan] and the owner.
I have not had any before by the sire, but have bought two by him this spring. He had a great time of it last winter, is an up-and-coming sire and he is stamping his stock. They are great walkers.”
Hughes stocks up
A son of the leading former trainer Pat, Thomas Hughes hopes a few purchases made this week will help his training career. His biggest buy cost €35,000 from Boardsmill Stud, home to popular young sire Poet’s Word.
A half-brother to a pair of four-time winners, the gelding is out of an unraced half-sister to the Irish Grand National winner Niche Market, while the pedigree also features a winner of the Grand National at Aintree, Amberleigh House.
Hughes said: “I bought this one for Pat Byrne from Galway. The gelding has an outstanding pedigree and is by a very promising young sire. He is a nice-sized horse, not over big, and a good mover. He looks to me to be a racehorse and has a good attitude.
“This is a horse for the future as he is from an out and out staying pedigree. I am trying to get going as a trainer and horses like these can help.”
AGENT Tomáš Janda from the Czech Republic has been a prolific buyer at Tattersalls Ireland, but rarely has spent as much as the €23,000 he paid for a son of Mahler, sold by Rita McLoughney from Railstown Stud.
The gelding’s hurdle and chase-winning Stowaway dam is a full-sister to Outlander, a multiple graded hurdle winner before winning three Grade 1 chases, the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown and the Champion Chase at Down Royal among them.
A private sale for one of the last lots on Thursday, made by Janda Bloodstock, took the number of purchases the Czech team made to 10, the most bought by a single entity, and they were the leading purchasers by value, topping Rob James’s spend by €200.