WITH just two-thirds of the lots offered being sold, the reintroduction of Part 2 of the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale revealed the vast difference that exists between the top of the market, and those animals in the second tier.
Every cloud, however, has a silver lining, and without the active participation of the point-to-point men and women, yesterday’s results could have been a great deal worse than they turned out.
The sale could not have made a better start than it did, the second lot in the ring bringing €52,000. Little did we know it would end up being the best price of the day.
The price also reflected the huge popularity of the gelding’s sire, Poet’s Word, and this lot is likely to go point-to-pointing, having been bought by Denis Murphy’s Ballyboy Stables.
Murphy said: “I know this pedigree well and love Poet’s Word. This is the first by him that I have bought; I have not been able to buy them! He is one for myself and Cormac Doyle.”
The half-brother to four racecourse winners is not the first son of the sire that Murphy will have trained. He had Taurus Bay, the stallion’s first Irish point-to-point winner who was subsequently sold at the Tattersalls Cheltenham February Sale for £155,000, bought by Jerry McGrath and Ben Pauling.
Sold by Drumloose Stables, this three-year-old’s siblings include Wild Romance, a runner-up in the Grade 2 Hyde Novices Hurdle at Cheltenham. She was produced by Murphy to finish second in a point-to-point.
Murphy again
Denis Murphy was very active and made five purchases in the name of Ballyboy Stables. Among them was Karen O’Driscoll’s Walk In The Park half-brother to a couple of winners, and out of the Oscar mare Karen Mag, winner herself of a point-to-point and a hurdle race. Meelin Stud consigned the gelding who realised €41,000.
Also joining the Co Wexford team and Murphy is Jill Farrell’s Crystal Ocean half-brother to five-time winner No Regrets, those victories comprising two hurdle races and three chases. He cost €35,000 and sold from Glen Stables.
Doyen gelding
As the sale entered the final furlong, point-to-point handlers thronged the ring for a half-brother to Pic Rock. This son of Doyen was offered by Churchlands Stables, and Jim O’Neill and James Doyle of Baltimore Stables were successful at €50,000.
“We have bought him together –we buy a few together and have done it a long time,” said Doyle. “This lad was on a lot of radars; he is a lovely horse. We will go pointing with him and, hopefully, he is lucky.”
O’Neill had luck buying from Churchlands before. “I bought Stumptown, winner of the Festival Cross Country race from Jamie [Codd] and he was a good horse, so hopefully this one will be the same!” This was a fine pinhook result; the three-year-old was bought for €11,000.
There was a flurry of better sales in the dying embers of the sale. Liss House sold a Linda’s Lady gelding to the Crawford Brothers for €46,000, and three lots later Clonmore Cottage Stables traded a Yeats gelding from the wonderful family of Makounji and Bilboa to Monbeg Stables for €38,000.
HALF a century ago, Martin Doran topped the inaugural Derby Sale. He is still selling with his family through Parkville Stud, and in the previous days sold two lots, with a top price of €110,000 given by Charles Shanahan and Mark Speelman for the farm’s daughter of Mastercraftsman who is set to be trained by Dan Skelton.
On Friday trainer Mark McNiff and his owner John Doyle spent €45,000 on the farm’s Maxios gelding out of Ebony Empress, a daughter of Kris Kin who won three times and was third in a listed chase at Cheltenham.
She is the dam of two winners from two runners, including Bay Empress, a winner of her only start in a bumper. The family includes Doncaster’s Grade 2 Lightning Novices Chase winner Woolcombe Folly, and the Grade 2 Persian War Novice Hurdle winner El Bandit.
“We will get him home and see how he comes on,” said McNiff, who is based in Sligo. “He is a lovely looking horse and has a pedigree, being out of the good mare Ebony Empress.”
Curling’s buy
Tipperary trainer Sam Curling spent €42,000 on a son of Tirwanako from Cnoc na gCapall Stud. You have to go some way back to find good winners in the family, but the sire is doing well. The gelding was the last of three in the catalogue by the Knockhouse Stud stallion.
Results have been consistent for the stallion. A filly from Liss House was bought by Gerry Hogan and Tim O’Driscoll for €32,000, while David Bamber’s gelding made €40,000, sold by Corbally Farm to Ash Tree. Tirwanako’s best runner to date is Jasmin De Vaux, winner of last season’s Grade 1 Spa Novices’ Hurdle, the Grade 1 War of Attrition Novice Hurdle at Punchestown, and the Grade 1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper in 2024.
Grade 1 pedigree
Monbeg Stables will have no shortage of firepower for the point-to-point season, and joining the team after his sale for €40,000 is Lisloran Stud’s son of Sumbal from the family of Grade 1-winning siblings In Compliance and One Cool Cookie. Another Grade 1 star is Mount Benbulben, and he is out of the gelding’s bumper and hurdle-winning third dam, Dramatic Dame.
The best filly in Part 2 was Ballincard’s daughter of Doyen, out of an unraced Stowaway half-sister to the Grade 1 chase winner Kalashnikov. Their dam was a full-sister to the Grade 1 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Kicking King.