PART 2 of the Goffs Arkle Sale exceeded many people's expectations on Thursday when nearly 77% of all lots offered changed hands. The day's average price of €18,140 and median price of €16,000 were up on last year's level.
A total of 29 lots made €30,000 or more, compare to just nine last year. Four of the day's top 10 lots were by Boardsmill Stud stallion Poet's Word.
Top price of €70,000 was paid by agent Gerry Hogan for a Crystal Ocean gelding from Woodhouse Stud. Bred by Nick Rockett's breeder Kieran D. Cotter, the gelding is out of a full-sister to Grade 3 winner Cup Final. Paul Nolan will train the top lot.
“He's a lovely horse, a very good, smooth mover and by a stallion on the up, so we were anxious to get him," Hogan said. "He's been bought for an existing client of Paul Nolan's to go racing. He's a young horse, foaled at the end of May, and the lads say they’ll take their time with him and bring him along nice and quietly. But he looks a runner.
“I'm very fond of [Crystal Ocean]. I watched a lot of them in point-to-points last season. His runners look brave and they’re good jumpers. He had a great year, especially with first time out winners. He's definitely a sire to take note of. There are some lovely horses here and it's created a great market. I've been trying to buy all week. There’s a big desire to find nice horses. If you have them here, people will come out and really go for it. It's lovely to see.”
Boardsmill Stud is home to stallion Poet's Word and the Flood family's farm sold a three-year-old by the sire for €55,000. The buyer was Highflyer Bloodstock, whose representative Tessa Greatrex revealed that her purchase was on behalf of owner Lynne Maclennan. He will be pre-trained by Aidan Fitzgerald before joining Ben Pauling.
Maclennan, a prominent owner in Britain and France, said: "To be quite honest I think it’s financially more viable, given the state of UK prize-money and other costs, to buy young stores. It’s the only way for a lot of owners to buy good horses at a certain level of expenditure. I was going to head off to do some other shopping today but I decided to come along.
“There were a few more lots on the third day this year that could have been in Part 1. This is one of them, he's a smasher. We go to every sale, always turn up, because you just never know what might be missed.”
Vendor John Flood commented: "It has been very strong trade this week. There was a bit of nervousness beforehand; the top end was always going to hold up, but it was uncertain how strong the rest of the market would be. It has been very, very good across the board, which is encouraging and important for the whole industry. Breeders got on well, pinhookers had lots of success, and when pinhookers get on well they are going to plough into the foals again which helps the breeders - and the wheel keeps turning.”
Earlier in the day Greatrex paid €46,000 for a Harzand gelding which her husband Warren will train.
Consigned by The Glebe Farm and bred by Grove Lodge, the gelding is out of the unraced Carrigeen Diamond (by Old Vic), from the family of Gold Cup winner Minella Indo.
Greatrex said: “He’s a gorgeous horse. I saw him this morning and absolutely loved him. I didn’t want to leave him behind. It's a lovely page. I've tried to buy a few Harzand pointers this year but haven't been able to. The market has been super strong. All the way down there are plenty of people to buy in the 50-80 bracket. I managed to get some bought, but it’s been hard.”
Welsh trainer Evan Williams paid €47,000 for a son of the Polish-bred sire consigned by Niall Bleahen of Liss House. The horse is already named Bourbon Floridhe.
“We have been very lucky with horses off the boys [Bleahens]," Williams said. "I saw him on Tuesday and I have been waiting and waiting and waiting to have a crack at him. He’s not a big horse by any stretch of the imagination, but he is so active and it is all about movement, so I am chuffed with him.
“I never get fixated on a stallion. I’m always buying on a budget, so I nearly always have to forgive lots of things, I just worry about the individual, and to me he was just a fine individual. It has been tough to buy on a budget this week because there are so many nice horses here and it is very competitive. Sometimes you have to wait to get what you want and, luckily, I got him.”
Terence O'Brien will train the €43,000 Tirwanako gelding bought by investor Hugh Mulryan. “Myself and Terence bought a Poet’s Word filly here last year [Poppies In July] and she was third first time out at Monksgrange." Mulryan explained. "We think an awful lot of her, and we're going to run her back in the autumn. We would've been sick if we hadn’t bought anything this summer, she came out and won her point-to-point and we got paid.
“This is a lovely horse by a good stallion, that's all you really need to know. He'll go point-to-pointing with Terence too. We usually try to buy one or two each year, but I think we’ve done our budget with this one!"
Other notable transactions on Thursday included:
>Matthew Flynn O'Connor paid €42,000 for a Poet's Word gelding from Sladoo Farm, who cost €7,500 as a foal.
>Robert Tyner, who has an outstanding record in the Goffs Defender Bumper, gave €40,000 for a Poet's Word gelding who was a €7,000 foal. He said: "This fellow is a classy horse and might go for the bumper. I think he was a bit of value and could well have been in the sale on the first two days. It wasn't a case of waiting to buy today - more like I was forced to [due to the prices]”.
>Rob James outbid Mouse O'Ryan at €41,000 for a Poet's Word gelding from Peter Nolan Bloodstock, a €9,000 foal purchase.
>Ian Power was reinvesting after winning with both his pointers this year. He bought a Mahler gelding and a filly by Order Of St George, both for €40,000.
>Danny Mullins was not at the sale but he is the new owner of a Success Days gelding who sold for €42,000. He was a €13,000 foal. Another Success Days gelding sold for €35,000 to Robert Tector’s Coolbawn Stables and Sue O’Gorman’s Rayfield Stud.
>Crawford Brothers were the top buyers on the day, spending €156,000 on seven horses. Their top buy on Thursday was a €38,000 Old Persian gelding from the family of Tourist Attraction.