LAST year’s first staging of the Tattersalls Ireland May Sale of point-to-pointers and horses-in-training attracted just 25 entries and 16 sales, but this year it was better supported, and produced a satisfactory set of results.

The comparative figures are themselves irrelevant, but the fact that more than half of the sales are due to continue their racing careers in England shows that the sale has a real potential to grow in the future.

While he was pleased overall with trade, Tattersalls Ireland CEO Simon Kerins was also under no illusions, as he made clear in his post-sale statement.

He said: “This sale is now a viable alternative for vendors, with the added advantage of selling in Ireland and removing additional travel costs. It would be remiss not to acknowledge the selective nature of the trade, and the clearance rate of 73% underlines this.”

Last year’s edition of the sale was headed by the sale of Arslan, a placed point-to-point son of Wootton Bassett, to Willie Mullins and Harold Kirk for €180,000. He has been placed on his sole outing in a Fairyhouse bumper this year.

The same team combined to purchase one of the pair of lots who topped this year’s sale, Wilson Dennison’s four-year-old Getaway gelding Bentraghhill.

Kirk was quick to acknowledge the gelding’s source as one of the best he has mined over many years in his search for racing gold.

He said: “He is a gorgeous horse, and we have bought so many Grade 1 winners from Wilson Dennison, at least eight or nine individual horses.

“This horse ran fantastically well for a big horse on his first run; he was only beaten three lengths. He has a lot of filling out to do, he has a good pedigree and is a beautiful model. He will go to grass now; he needs time as he is a big horse.”

Bought at the same venue in February 2021 by Ian Ferguson for €40,000, having just turned a yearling, Bentraghhill is a half-brother to the very good bumper and hurdle-winning Yeats mare Party Central, and the Grade 3 hurdle winner Craigneiche. Their Definite Article dam won a bumper on the only occasion she raced.

Godolphin cast-off

That joint sale-topper was sold not long after Jewel Hope, a first-crop son of Masar who stands at Michael Hickey’s Sunnyhill Stud, also realised €150,000 to bloodstock agent Hamish Macauley, bidding from above the auctioneer and with his mobile stuck to his ear.

Afterwards, Macauley would only say that “I don’t know who he is for”.

The best of the draft from Cormac Doyle’s Monbeg Stables, Jewel Hope is Masar’s only runner in a point-to-point, and his impressive win at Ballindenisk prompted Hickey’s mobile to ring on many occasions since with fresh bookings for the Derby winner.

Doyle sourced him at last year’s July Sale in Newmarket for 25,000gns, when he was sold unraced by Godolphin who had paid 350,000gns for him as a yearling.

Described after his 25-length win as “clearly a horse of untapped potential”, Jewel Hope is a half-brother to nine winners and from the family of Sholokhov and the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup winner Subjectivist.

THE nine fillies sold at the sale averaged considerably more than the overall figure, and the median was also better. They averaged €53,611 and had a median price of €37,500. The top four sold for between €75,000 and €100,000, and only one sold for less than €30,000.

Heading the quartet of highest-priced fillies, all four-year-old, was the private sale of Walk In The Park’s daughter Ellie Marie.

Sold by Meadowview Stables, she was trained by Andrew Slattery to place on her only outing behind Cheers To You who was bought by Peter Nolan and Noel Meade for €140,000 at the Goffs Punchestown Sale.

Unsold in the ring at €110,000, Ellie Marie was secured for €100,000 by Tom Malone. The agent said: “Willie Slattery called her a good filly three months ago, and even though she was beaten she hit the line hard. I would say it will stand up as a good maiden in time, so I am happy to get her. She will come home to me now and we will get her sold.”

Tying for second-best among the fillies at €80,000 were Krystal Sky and Recite A Poem. They were sold by Cormac Doyle and Michael Murphy respectively.

A daughter of Snow Sky, Krystal Sky is yet another graduate of Cormac Doyle’s nursery, and Joe Cassidy picked her up after she was unsold in the ring. She won on her third start, at Ballingarry, by 40 lengths, and is out of a half-sister to Grade 1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper runner-up Regal Encore.

Noel Fehily and David Crosse won the battle for Recite A Poem, a daughter of Poet’s Word. She was none the worse for being brought down on her debut, and a fortnight later triumphed at Bartlemy by five lengths.

From the family of Stodoun who won 31 times, all but eight of them over jumps in France, plans are fluid for the filly.

Fehily said: “She’s a really racy filly and I liked her when I saw her this morning. The stallion can do no wrong at the moment, and she is the first we have had by him. She’ll come back to my farm, have a good summer break, and we get her going in the autumn, start her off in a bumper and see where we will go from there.”

The third lot in the ring after the 1pm start to the sale was an Irish-bred filly with a French-sounding name.

Bred by Ballinaroone Stud who sold her to Robert Tector for €12,000 at the Derby Sale last year, the Crystal Ocean filly Crystal Du Berlais heads to Leslie Young’s stable in the USA after she sold for €75,000 to bloodstock agent Hamish Macauley. She recently won at Loughrea in the fastest time of the day.

Macauley has a lot of clients in the USA and enjoyed plenty of success there this spring. He said: “She looks as though she is the right type for the US. She is not over-big and she looks quite fast. She was impressive when she won, and Rob [Tector] pointed her out to me when I was in his yard in March.”

BLOODSTOCK agent Tom Malone is a permanent fixture at sales of point-to-pointers, and he made two purchases on the day. His private purchase of the best filly in the catalogue, Ellie Marie, came as the sale neared its end, but in the first half of the day’s trade he secured the four-year-old Maxios gelding Inishbofin for €85,000.

Malone had mixed emotions about his purchase, and said of the recent Sam Curling-trained winner: “He is a lovely horse. He was fourth at Dromahane [on his debut] in a very good maiden, Tom Keating’s horse [Ballycommon Boy] won it, and he is one of the horses of the year.

“I am annoyed I was not a little bit sharper. [Inishbofin] duly went and won next time out at Dawstown, and Sam has liked him along the way. A big, strong horse who has probably taken a bit of time to get fit, I like him and am happy to get him. Horses like him are easy to sell.”

Inishbofin is out of a half-sister to Grade 2 chase winner Scarlet And Dove and his full-brother, the Grade 3 chase winner Lets Go Champ. Both are by the former Irish National Stud and Garryrichard Stud stallion Jeremy, while their dam was a half-sister to the sire’s brilliant but ill-fated Our Conor, winner of the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham.