WHILE Monday’s store sale at Goffs UK raised concerns over the market for unproven National Hunt stock, the ensuing Spring HIT & P2P Sale proved that demand remained high for proven and promising horses.

The encouraging results posted at the opening session continued into the final day on Thursday, with final clearance rate coming in at 89%, while the average increased by 12% year-on-year to £26,371. The median – often the best reflection on the depth of trade – rose by 30% to £16,250. From 18% less horses offered, the aggregate fell by just 0.5%.

Nicky Henderson teamed up with Jerry McGrath to purchase last year’s £400,000 top lot Minella Premier, but was less successful this week. After underbidding Wednesday’s top lot Poetisa, who sold to Harold Kirk and Willie Mullins for £300,000, he filled the same role for Thursday’s highlight, Kingston Pride. To make matters worse, Aiden and Olly Murphy’s £285,000 purchase also left Henderson’s yard.

Henderson’s eagerness to retain Kingston Pride encouraged the successful buyers, the grey’s new trainer later noted. “He’s a lovely individual, all quality,” Olly Murphy said. “Fingers crossed he’ll have a lovely career over fences. He looks like an out-and-out chaser, doesn’t he?

“It’s obviously a good sign that Nicky was trying hard to keep him, but then his form reads very strongly, going all the way back to when he finished a close second to Tripoli Flyer in a bumper.

“I’m chuffed to have the horse, he’s the one we really wanted for the last three days. We had to pay a lot for him, but he looks like a horse who can win Graded chases down the line and we’re having to give double that for point-to-point winners first time out as well.”

Strong at the top

Like Henderson, Murphy was also selling over the two days, and on the week’s trade, he commented: “It’s been remarkably strong, even from the point of view of selling a draft of 12 horses of our own, as they all sold really well. It’s been hard to buy this week; there’s big demand and lots of competition for the good horses.”

Aiden and Olly Murphy also came away from the preceding store sale with an exciting recruit, landing the top lot for £125,000. Their most expensive buy of the week first displayed his talented for Tom Keating, for whom he won a four-year-old maiden on debut, before selling to Alan Tobin for €200,000 at the Goffs Punchestown Sale.

The Kingston Hill gelding went on to win a bumper and maiden hurdle for Henderson, but the performance that most influenced Thursday’s price was his latest win in a novice hurdle at Kempton.

The grey stayed on strongly to justify favouritism by five lengths, while even-money shot Quebecois finished a clear second. It was the second time the pair had run against each other, with Quebecois finishing second in a Grade 2 in which Kingston Pride was sent off favourite, but pulled up.

NICKY Henderson may be grateful that Timetoshine, who he sold for £145,000, will continue her career in the US, so that any future accomplishments are further out of sight. Her sale was also expected, as part of a regular dispersal by the Million In Mind Partnership, for whom Highflyer Bloodstock’s Anthony Bromley bought her in November for €30,000.

A three-time winner on the flat in her native France, the daughter of The Grey Gatsby went on to win her first three starts over hurdles by a combined 30 lengths. Two of those wins came on good ground, which appealed to her new trainer, Mark Beecher.

“She’s been purchased for Runnymoore Racing,” the Waterford native reported. “She’s light across the ground and when I watched her races she looks like she wants good ground. Nicky said that to me as well.

“I’ve got some great owners, owners who want to be very competitive, and they wanted to buy a good mare. They were willing to come over here and I felt this was the best mare in the sale. We waited for her, and thankfully we ended up getting her.”

On the National Hunt division in the US, the jumps-jockey-turned-trained explained: “The prize-money is very good, although the schedule isn’t as rigorous as over here. It’s usually one or two meetings a week.

“Our spring season came to an end last week, now we have a summer campaign between Saratoga in New York and Colonial Downs in Virginia, then we’ll get back into the fall campaign. There's not as much racing [as in Britain and Ireland] but it’s just as competitive.

“Our barn has a mix of pedigrees, I’m not for having all European horses, I kind of mix and match. If there’s quality here, we’ll make an attempt to come over here and buy, but if not, there’s plenty in America. The breeding in America is all centred around the flat, so the horses are bred to five furlongs to a mile and nothing further. That’s why it’s nice to be able to come here.”

THE third and final six-figure horse sold by Seven Barrows on Thursday will make a shorter trip to Cheshire, where he will join Donald McCain on behalf of owner Jimmy Fyffe. Haddex des Obeaux sold without ever running for Henderson, having been previously trained by Gary Moore, for whom he finished third in the Tingle Creek Chase when last seen in December 2023.

“He’s the one we were really after today,” Fyffe revealed after securing the eight-year-old for £105,000. “We’ll give him the summer off, get him ready for next season and see what happens.

On the five-time winner’s appeal, McCain commented: “Well, he’s shown he’s a genuine Grade 1 horse, hasn't he? Look, we probably wouldn’t have been able to afford him if he didn’t have an issue along the way, but he’s had his time off and he’s ready to come back into work.

“It’s a roll of the dice but Jimmy’s a punting man and this is the right sort of horse to take a punt on. We also said that it was better value than paying for a point-to-pointer who hasn’t proven he’s nearly as good as this horse.”

Money well spent

Mark Walford shares McCain’s view that older campaigners may be a safer bet than the headline-grabbing point-to-pointers, according to his comments after securing Push The Button for £105,000. By Kingston Hill, like the session-topper, the six-year-old was offered and underbid by Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies, who had secured three six-figure recruits the previous day.

The horse leaving their yard was sourced by owners Jimmy & Susie Wenman for £20,000 at the venue’s Spring Store Sale three years prior and proved progressive during his latest campaign, finishing second in a valuable handicap hurdle at Windsor and taking sixth in the Martin Pipe Hurdle.

On future plans for his buy, Mark Walford said: “He’ll go chasing. We’ll give him a break as he’s had some hard races this season; he’s run in a lot of handicaps at the big festivals. He’s been highly tried.

“He looks a ready-made novice chaser. I like the sire, he’s a good model and he vetted nicely. It was a good sign to me that they wanted him back. I knew they did, so we had to push a bit. He’s got the form in the book but you could easily buy an Irish pointer for that sort of money that wouldn’t be as good.”