WHILE it could not be described as a game of two halves, the Tattersalls Ireland November National Hunt Sale was certainly a sale of three parts, all of which had one thing in common – good foals sold well.
The market for those foals who fell into the €60,000 to €100,000 price bracket had endless likely buyers but, as we continue to see at all sales, there is pressure on any produce that fails to meet the exacting standards expected by buyers.
This was particularly evident on the final day of the sale, when just 58% of the foals sold, while demand for broodmares at the end was very limited. The sales company can only sell what it is offered, and the reduced catalogue, some 100 lots fewer than a year ago, was a subject of much comment in advance.
Even so, the lots sold came close to matching the 2025 aggregate, the sale’s record median of last year was equalled, and a 5% increase in average set a new high watermark.
Setting records lead to headlines, but it is on the ground that you get a feel for what is happening, and buyers were insistent that foals were making lots of money, while vendors of the better foals were happy with their outcomes.
One theme that raised its head on several occasions was whether a single day should be promoted as having the best of the foals, rather than all the foals being catalogued in order of their place in the alphabet, thus ensuring that quality lots are spread over three days.
In his post-sale comment, Simon Kerins said: “We will as always continue to listen to vendors and purchasers as we prepare for next year’s sale,” which suggests that he and his wider bloodstock team are aware of alternative opinions being expressed.
Leading consignor
John Dwan’s Ballyreddin took the top spot this year among the consignors, selling 22 lots for €813,500. Headlining this year’s draft was the sale-topping Doctor Dino colt whose half-brother Anzadam won on his chasing debut at Naas two days before his half-brother sold for €105,000.
One of a pair of Grade 3 winners out of their dam, Anzadam was runner-up in the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle last season to Golden Ace. Kevin Ross handed over bidding duties on this occasion to his wife Anna, acting for the Bahrain-bound Chris Jones of Killeen Glebe. When the gavel fell, Anna Ross spoke about the colt. “We all saw him on Sunday and liked him. He just looks like he is going to be a racehorse, and he will be for resale. He is a lovely horse with a lovely way about him, and a great mover.”
Dwan could not speak highly enough of the colt. “He is a beautiful model of an individual. He has been busy all week and we are delighted with the result. Louis Vambeck [the colt’s breeder] does a fantastic job. He’s got great pedigrees and we work closely together from an early stage to get these foals to the sale.”
On the final day of the sale Ballyreddin had the second-best lot of the session. A daughter of Jeu St Eloi, she caught the attention of Paul Cashman who won out when his €70,000 bid was successful.
The filly is the third progeny of the good Beat Hollow racemare Purple Mountain and she is from the immediate family of Willie Mullins’ Nakayama Grand Jump and Grade 1 hurdle and chase winner Blackstairmountain.
Cashman said that there were lots of options for the filly, racing, reselling or even going to France. It was the culmination of a rewarding few days for Dwan. He said: “It’s been a great week, and I can’t thank everyone here and at home enough.”
A RECURRING comment throughout the week was the regret that we have no more crops to come by the late Burgage Stud sire Jukebox Jury. He will be to the fore for years to come thanks to the future exploits of his stock, the last of which were born this year.
His 21 lots sold had a median more than twice that of the sale, and four of his sons sold for €75,000 or more. His best fillies both sold for €67,000.
Edmond Coleman’s daughter of a half-sister to his Gold Cup winner Lord Windermere, sold to one of the sale’s most prolific buyers, Timmy Hillman, with nine lots in partnership with Tally-Ho Stud, and buyer Peter Mulrooney transacted a private sale at the same price for the first foal of the Grade 2-winning Allegorie De Vassy, herself a daughter of No Risk At All. She sold from Mount Armstrong Stud in Donadea, Co Kildare.
Ballyreddin, the sale’s leading consignor, sold the best-priced of the quartet, Kenny Alexander’s colt out of the good racemare Gitane Du Berlais. He was the first of three foals to make a six-figure sum, and it took just a single bid from Toby Bulgin to secure him on behalf of Jenny Martin. Jarlath Conway and trainer Ian Donoghue were the underbidders. The dam was a graded winner over jumps in three countries, and her victory in the colours of Simon Munir and Isaac Souede in the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase was her racing highlight.
Bulgin said: “He has been bought to keep another foal company and will go into training with Dan Horsford. Jenny produces a short list of the pedigrees she likes, and I look at the physicals. Hopefully we have picked a good one.”
Dwan added: “He has gone well all week, been very popular, has excellent conformation and a real good family. We expected he’d go well but that price was very satisfying.”
A daughter of Gitane Du Berlais was also responsible for one of the week’s best prices. The Martaline mare Raffles Carlo had a No Risk At All son as part of Juliet Minton’s draft from Mill House Stud, and he cost Brook Lodge Stud’s Tom Howley €70,000. Howley said: “He is my pick of the sale. It is a good price, but he’s worth it.”
Burgage Stud’s Victor Connolly consigned two of the best sons of his former sire. The last lot in the ring on the first day of the sale was a colt out of an unraced Shantou full-sister to the Grade 1 bumper and hurdle winner Briar Hill, and he was another on the Timmy Hillman hit list. His price of €88,000 was the best ever paid on the opening foal session of the sale.
The Castledillon Stud owner commented: “He is a most lovely individual; the sire will have a rarity value when he comes back for resale as a store. There are few better pedigrees, and I just hope he will be lucky. He was the best on offer today,”
The following day Burgage sold their half-bother to the dual Grade 2 mares’ chase winner Impervious to Ian Donoghue and Jarlath Conway for €75,000, and the purchasers were thrilled to finally get their hands on a Jukebox Jury. Impervious gained her biggest wins at the Cheltenham and Punchestown Festivals for J.P. McManus. Donoghue said: “[Jukebox Jury] was a good, hardy sire. We’ve had a few of them over the years and have been lucky with them. This colt has a nice straightforward attitude.”
Yet another star of the week by Jukebox Jury was the second foal out of an unraced half-sister to the dual Grade 2 chase winner Westerner Point. He sold for €88,000 from Tony Gallagher’s Mount Rousse Stud to Kieran Shields, who hopes to come back to the Derby Sale in 2029 with him. Shields said: “The price was right up there; we were going on fumes!”
It was a family effort for Gallagher. “That’s great; we are thrilled. We keep seven or eight mares. It’s fantastic and he is from a good family.”
JAMES Sheehan’s Clonmult Farm in Cork had a most productive week, and provided the highlight of the final day, a Walk In The Park filly which he sold on behalf of a man who was himself one of the week’s busy buyers, Joey Logan. The filly traded for €80,000 to Ryan Mahon and was his sole purchase over the three days.
The filly’s dam Miss Tapley carried Edelle Logan’s colours to victory in a Bellewstown maiden and placed on three of her four other runs. She went to Walk In The Park on the back of being a half-sister to 11 winners, the best of which was the Colin Tizzard-trained Grade 2 hurdle and chase winner Third Intention. Coincidentally, he too won a Bellewstown maiden before joining Tizzard.
His final success was one of his best, in the Old Roan Chase at Aintree, and he failed by just a neck to win at the highest level over fences. Ryan was adamant that the market was strong for the good lots and he was pleased with his acquisition. “She is a big scopey filly, good moving, and with a lovely pedigree. She’s bought for a client to go racing.
“For now, she will stay in Ireland, but plans are fluid at the minute. The competition for the real quality lots has been very tough.”
Stretched
Having sold one on behalf of Joey Logan, James Sheehan’s draft included a colt that stretched the same man’s budget. Logan went the extra bid to take ownership of a son of Nirvana Du Berlais, sold by his breeders Richard and Mai Nolan. Initially shaking his head to indicate he was finished, Logan tried one more bid, €72,000, and the colt was his. He had a special reason to want him.
He said: “We bought the Doctor Dino out of the same mare last year [€35,000] and we love him. He’s grown into a beautiful yearling, and we were keen to get this one too. I did shake my head, and I didn’t expect to give that type of money. James does a great job; he is a very good consignor.”
Sheehan added: “This fellow is really scopey and looks a future chaser. Both of the mare’s foals are really good walkers; the pedigree is improving and his ‘uncle’ is just so good.” The uncle he refers to is a legend of French racing, Losange Bleu. He posted 15 wins including in five Grade 1 hurdle races before his unfortunate demise last month.
Walk In The Park is sire of Clonbonny Stud’s colt out of Strange Notions who cost Glenvale Stud’s Ciaran Conroy €75,000. He is the first foal of a dual hurdle-winning daughter of High Chaparral.
LOUGH Na Sollis Stud’s John O’Donovan took a single foal to the sale and hit the jackpot. His Walk In The Park colt travelled from Tallow, Co Waterford, impeccably well-presented by the breeder’s wife Eudora and, after a tense bidding duel, Richard Frisby outgunned Anna and Kevin Ross for the colt. O’Donovan was shocked at the price, a tasty €105,000.
The colt traces back to Chomba Womba, his third dam, and she was a high-class hurdler some years ago for Nicky Henderson. Visibly moved at the outcome, O’Donovan wanted to stress that the result was the responsibility of one person. “I am absolutely delighted, but it’s all down to my wife Eudora. We bought the dam [by Midnight Legend] a few years ago and she has been lucky for me.
“It’s a real team effort. My farrier, James O’Leary, is top-class. We have Daphne at home and our vets and they are all brilliant, but it is all down to Eudora. It is the best price that we have got for a foal.”
The underbidders had better luck on Monday when they combined with Ben and George Case to get Kilbarry Lodge Stud’s colt from the well-received first crop of Luxembourg on behalf of Lady Jane Grosvenor. He cost €85,000 and is from the immediate family of Don Poli, a three-time winner at Grade 1 level. The buyers hope that the immediate family will have significant updates by resale time.
Kevin Ross explained: “We think he could be a nice forward-going sort. We have seen everything by the sire, and this was the one for us. They are all good-walking, and this one has plenty of size and scope. His Santiago half-brother made €135,000 at the Derby Sale and has gone to Willie Mullins. That was the top of our budget, but you must pay for the good ones.”
POET’S Word has been popular with buyers since his first Irish-conceived stock, now five, were first put up for sale, and now they are delivering where it counts, on the racecourse. His stock is on every buyer’s list to see, and at the charity auction held in aid of Kaitlyn Ryan on Monday a 2027 nomination to him sold for €16,000.
Two of his sons realised €70,000 each, within an hour of each other, and were purchased by shrewd judges, Matt Coleman and Kieran Shields. First to the mark was Candlefort Stud’s son of Who’s Mary. It was a case of impeccable timing as Coleman bought him minutes after his full-brother Heron Hill, a point-to-point winner on his only run between the flags, made a winning debut in a bumper across the road at Fairyhouse.
Gavin Cromwell has a very bright prospect in Heron Hill, and Coleman is hoping for more. He said: “Billy Coonan, who worked for me at the store sales, was riding him and told me he was working nicely but probably wants a trip. This is the pedigree of In Compliance. He is for a British client and will probably stay in Ireland at first.”
The Kieran Shields purchase was sold through Sunnyhill Stud for Denis Cusack. He is the third foal but the first colt out of the Grade 2 chase winner Ballyshannon Rose, and she is a half-sister to Grade 1-winning hurdler Three Stripe Life.
One more lot that sold for €70,000 was Neville Reid’s Order Of St George full-brother to one of the best recent graduates of Tattersalls Ireland, Storming George. He won the Grade 1 novices’ hurdle at Aintree in April. Liam Cusack and Boston-based John Murray bought him and he now heads to the latter’s Cloughmoyle Stud in Offaly. “This is a nice, athletic horse. We will bring him home, break him and probably race him,” said Cusack.
COMMENTING on this week’s sale, Tattersalls Ireland CEO Simon Kerins said: “Despite a smaller catalogue we have virtually matched last year’s turnover, achieved a record average, mirrored the median and had an improved clearance rate.
“Day two was an outstanding session, with turnover exceeding €5 million. The average reached a record €29,796, alongside a record median of €25,000, reflecting phenomenal demand throughout the day.
“The smaller catalogue had generated some discussion beforehand, so it was particularly pleasing to see such a competitive market and our vendors rewarded for their confidence in the sale. The foals presented at Tattersalls Ireland attracted a strong buying bench from Ireland and the UK.
“Pinhookers were active throughout the week, providing further support for the market and reflecting confidence following this year’s store sales. The strength of demand, record figures and depth of the buying bench underlines the confidence in the National Hunt foal market which is heartening.
“Tattersalls Ireland is and always will be closely associated with the Irish National Hunt industry, and we are grateful to our breeders, consignors, and buyers for their continued support.
“We look forward to seeing how these foals develop and hope many will return to Tattersalls Ireland for the Derby Sale in June 2029. We will as always, continue to listen to vendors and purchasers as we prepare for next year’s sale.”