TWO days which comprised nearly 290 lots on each provided buyers with plenty of choice at the final National Hunt store sale of 2026 in Ireland or Britain this week.
The Tattersalls Ireland August Sale moved back to its more traditional date from July, and the catalogue benefited from the addition of some 60 stores that had originally been aimed at earlier premier sales. Seven of the top 10 lots came from that source.
The top lot was a case in point. David and Grace Fenton, who in June were presented with a Connolly’s Red Mills/The Irish Field Breeder Award, consigned a son of Rich History who was earlier catalogued at the Derby Sale. He had obvious appeal, being a half-brother to Old Park Star (Well Chosen), the unbeaten hurdler who won the Grade 1 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in March, the victory which led to the Fentons’ award.
Old Park Star is not the only blacktype winner out of his unraced dam, as she previously foaled his full-brother Chosen Mate. A Grade 2 hurdle winner, he too was a Cheltenham Festival winner when carrying Davy Russell to success in the Grade 3 Grand Annual Chase six years ago. Their Rich History half-brother is just the fourth offspring of his 20-year-old dam.
Emotional reaction
David Fenton stood alone on the balcony as he watched the sale being conducted by Simon Kerins, and he was pleased and emotional about the sale. He said: “I am happy with that; he was entitled to make it. He is going to a good home, and hopefully will be another star for the mare.”
Point-to-point handler Jimmy Kelly was acting for the absent Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls, taking his instructions by telephone. Malone and Nicholls combined in 2023 to purchase Old Park Star for €120,000, and the gelding was placed on all of three bumper outings for the trainer before he was moved to Nicky Henderson. Kelly said: “Tom couldn’t be here, but he was all over this horse when he knew he was coming. Paul was keen to get back in with the family. He deserved to make that as he’s a quality horse with a very good pedigree.”
Rich History stands at Kedrah House, and this is his first-crop. He is a winning son of Dubawi. Kelly added: “He is a bit of an unknown but he is a well-bred horse, as was Well Chosen, sire of the two half-brothers.”
THOUGH he was present on both days, British trainer Tom Lacey bought his three lots on the opening day, which returned the stronger results this week. Two of the three were for a group of owners and Lacey signed for them as UK P2P, and the pair were among the top four lots this week. The strength of the first days catalogue is best exemplified by the fact that 12 of the 13 lots to bring €36,000 or more came at the opening session.
The most expensive of Lacey’s purchases was a son of Nirvana Du Berlais from Micheál O’Brien’s Creighmore Stables. The gelding failed to sell at the Goffs Arkle Sale at €28,000, but he benefited from the extra time afforded him when he realised €55,000, matching the top price at the equivalent sale in 2025. He was the best of three sons by leading French sire Nirvana Du Berlais who averaged €35,667.
When the catalogue for the August Sale was published, the Nirvana Du Berlais was a half-brother to two winners, all being out of the two-year-old winner Larabelle who went on to be Grade 3-placed over hurdles at Auteuil, though she did not win in that code. Days before the sale, Larabelle’s four-year-old daughter Alicious (Pastorius) gave the gelding’s sale prospects a big shot in the arm when she made a winning debut in a Wexford bumper for Willie Mullins.
Lacey was delighted with the purchase, and said: “We’ll get him home and break him. There is every option with him but he will probably be for resale; he was bought for a group of owners. I thought he was a lovely individual by a good sire, and he has a lovely recent update. I’m very happy to get him and thought he was one of the standouts.”
Tongue in cheek, he added: “We haven’t had any by the sire, but he is pretty good, isn’t he? We come to this sale when we need to get our numbers up. As the Derby Sale was so strong, we were left a bit short, and there is strength in numbers when you’re trying to trade.”
Very shortly afterwards, Lacey took home another of the sale highlights when he paid €45,000 for a wildcard entry from Peter Vaughan’s Moanmore Stables. The gelding is from the first crop of the Grade 1 German Derby winner In Swoop, and he has already shown his ability as a sire with a son from his first crop being placed in the same classic recently.
“This fellow is going the same route as the Nirvana Du Berlais,” revealed Lacey. “He is the first In Swoop I have bought, and they were well received in the spring. He’s a loose, athletic, good-bodied horse and I think he’s value.”
LAMBOURN trainer Toby Bulgin bought a single lot at the sale, and it was a good one. He spent €50,000 for a son of Soldier Of Fortune who was a wildcard entry from Walshtown Stables as agent for Gavin Coleman. Bulgin revealed that the gelding would sport the colours of his wife Nicola, before joking that he would not receive any training fees!
“I think he is one of the nicest horses of the day, and my heart was set on him,” said Bulgin. “He’ll run in a bumper at some stage and then we’ll look to resell. I don’t think he’s too backward, it is very hard to know until you get them home and you do something with them. I would hope he’d run in the spring before the ground goes off. He’ll have a couple of easy gallops around Kempton and we’ll take it from there.”
The gelding’s dam is a Presenting full-sister to the seven-time winner Slate House, and that Colin Tizzard-trained runner gained his biggest success under Robbie Power in the Grade 1 Kauto Star Novices Chase at Kempton. Also appearing prominently on the pedigree page is the 23-time winner Big Buck’s, who won 10 times at the highest level over hurdles. He died as a 23-year-old last weekend. Those top-level wins came in just three races, as he won the World Hurdle at Cheltenham four times, and captured both the Aintree Hurdle and Newbury’s Long Walk Hurdle on three occasions each.
BLOODSTOCK agent Jerry McGrath was one of the busiest buyers over the two days, and he signed for five lots in all. The two most expensive among them were purchased to stay in Ireland and they will head first to Ballyea Farm.
A Boardsmill Stud homebred by their hugely exciting sire Poet’s Word, who had 20 lots sell over the course of Wednesday and Thursday, McGrath’s €44,000 spend got him a half-brother to three winners, two on the racecourse and one between the flags. This was the most expensive offspring to date from their winning dam, a Westerner full-sister to a listed hurdle winner. The family is that of the four-time The Irish Field St Leger winner Vinnie Roe.
McGrath was in a jovial mood when asked about his purchase. “You can cut and paste the same comments I made about the lot [44] I bought earlier. He is for the same client. The only thing to add is that Poet’s Word is a sire on the up. I bought a son of his, Taurus Bay, for Ben Pauling and he was beaten a short head in a Grade 2 at Cheltenham earlier this year, and looks very smart.”
The lot referred to by McGrath in his comment was the best-priced filly at the two-day sale, Eli Creek House’s daughter of Jukebox Jury.
The agent has a special reason for being a fan of the late Burgage Stud sire, whose leading daughters include dual Grade 1 winner Bambino Fever and the Group 1 winner Princess Zoe. McGrath gave €38,000 for hie acquisition.
The family is already well-known to McGrath as, on behalf of Ballyea Farm, he had previously bought the filly’s four-year-old full-brother, the unraced Lincoln Avenue. He cost €16,000 as a foal, but could well be a horse to note. The fact that they came back to invest in his full-sister is a good omen.
McGrath explained his admiration for the filly’s sire. “I suppose being a Jukebox Jury filly was one of the main characteristics for me. I am a big fan of the sire. I bought Holloway Queen (Jukebox Jury) and she won at the Cheltenham Festival for us this year. Hopefully this filly is lucky. She might head to the racetrack or might go point-to-pointing first. She could even be for resale at some stage. The new owner is a trader; she is staying in Ireland for the time being, I think.”
LIMERICK trainer Eric McNamara sits tall at the top of the purchasers’ table after the August Sale, his five purchases cost a total of €140,000. He finished €1,500 ahead of Cudgley Stables’ Gary Murphy who too home eight lots. The table is slightly misleading, not in a bad way, but it does not account for purchases made by some in other names.
That is not to take from McNamara’s busy and productive buying spree, and he believes he got great value for some, if not all, of the lots. A Santiago gelding from Mount Eaton Stud at €40,000 and DAR Bloodstock’s Poet’s Word at €36,000 were his leading buys.
He spoke on Wednesday after buying the Santiago half-brother to the Grade 3-placed hurdler Timesareachanging (Mahler) and Major Fortune (Soldier Of Fortune), the latter a six-time hurdle winner and successful twice over fences. He would go on to purchase again.
“We’ve bought four nice horses and I think there’s value there compared to the big sales,” he said. “I am delighted with him; he is a lovely horse and really good moving. All four of them will go to the track, they are bumper horses and he could be a candidate for the €100,000 MSL Mercedes-Benz Sales Bumper.”
Speaking earlier after getting the Poet’s Word, he said: “We’ll get him home, broken and riding, and see if he any good! I bought him on spec. He is a fine, gorgeous-looking horse; as nice a horse as I’ve seen today. He should be an easy sell – the plan is for him to run in someone else’s colours!”
BROWN Island Stables’ Nirvana Du Berlais gelding was a wildcard entry, and Nicky Richards tried hard to buy him, eventually coming to a halt when Aubrey McMahon bid €42,000. The grey is the first foal out of two-time jumps winner Junta Post (American Post), from a deep French female line that also produced Alan King’s dual Grade 1 hurdle winner Yanworth.
McMahon said: “I thought he was the nicest horse I’ve seen over the last few days and Plan A was to buy him. I went to bed last night thinking he was the one I wanted and hoping we could get him. We were probably at our ceiling, so it’s great to come out on the right side of the battle. I’ve bought him for Kingdom Bloodstock and he will probably go to Pat Doyle.
“He’s by an exciting sire who has produced two Grade 1 winners from his first crop. If [this one] produces the goods, he’d look well walking around the sale ring at Cheltenham! He’s the first horse I’ve bought from Johnny Collins, who sold plenty of good horses over the years, and hopefully this one will be lucky for us.”
A Jukebox Jury full-brother to five-time hurdle winner Tankardstown Diva, from Denise O’Brien’s Clonbonny Stud, found favour with Ross Doyle and Gaynestown at €41,000.
Trainer Cian Collins added to his team when spending €40,000 on a wildcard entry from Copper Beech Stud. The son of Crystal Ocean is half-brother to a bumper winner out of an unraced half-sister to the eight-time Grade 1 winner Sizing Europe. This was one of two lots for Collins.
“He is a lovely horse. For me he is the nicest horse I have seen here today,” said Collins. “I have no client at the moment. He’s a lovely horse and I love him. I haven’t had one before by Crystal Ocean and it is nice to get one. We’ve only heard good news about them. The plan will be to point-to-point and then go for resale. Hopefully we can get to a Cheltenham sale.”
Tom Keating signed as Glennconnor Stud when he gave €40,000 for Galbertstown Stables’ Crystal Ocean half-brother to the listed juvenile hurdle winner Belfrina. This was one of four purchases Keating made.
“THE National Hunt store market has been extremely buoyant this year, with record trade at the Derby Sale, and there was strong anticipation ahead of this week’s sale,” commented Tattersalls Ireland CEO Simon Kerins on Thursday night.
He went on: “Following the change in sale date from July to August, we were very pleased with the continued support from our vendors, as well as the strong participation from buyers, and to see increases across the board. Buyers were particularly focused on horses with commercial appeal. We had a strong presence of clients looking to prepare, race and trade horses, which contributed to healthy competition for horses with the right profile.
“However it would be remiss not to acknowledge that it was selective for those horses that did not meet with the exacting requirements of the market.
“Most of Ireland’s leading point-to-point handlers were on site over the two days, and we look forward to following the progress of our graduates in the point-to-point fields next spring. It was also encouraging to see a strong UK presence, with owners and trainers from across the water featuring prominently on the buyers’ table.
“From a National Hunt perspective, our attention now turns to the November National Hunt Sale, with our inspectors currently carrying out visits nationwide with entries closing over the coming weeks.”
All horses catalogued and offered in the August National Hunt Sale are eligible for the €100,000 Tattersalls Ireland MSL Mercedes-Benz Sales Bumper at Leopardstown on 28th December 2027.