TWO markedly different days of trade made up the 2025 Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale, but together they produced a set of results that were broadly in line with some of the best of previous editions of this sale.
Now into its second half-century, Part 1 of the sale saw turnover of more than €17.5 million, which was the fourth-best return in the sale’s history. The median equalled the third-best ever, and the average has been bettered just three times. The turnover on the second day was a record for a single session of the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale.
Thirty-one geldings and seven fillies reached the benchmark of €100,000 or more, and all four lots to exceed €200,000 were offered on the second day of selling. Lotting is done alphabetically by dam, and so it can be a matter of luck whether one day is better than another. The consensus after the opening day on Wednesday was that the better lots were on Thursday, and so it came to pass.
Kirk and Mullins busy
From the opening lot on Thursday, until the hammer fell after 8pm following a long day of selling that stretched to more than 10 hours, it was clear that there was plenty of competition for lots, with Harold Kirk and Willie Mullins buying more horses that would usually be the case.
English buyers were out in force, and especially active were Olly Murphy, represented by his father Aiden, Dan Skelton and Jonjo O’Neill. The major strength of the sale was the participation of members of the point-to-point fraternity, and none were more visible or active that the Doyle brothers’ Monbeg Stables. In total they spent more than €1.4 million for 27 lots. Their belief in the health of National Hunt racing was there to see when the final tallies were in.
French-bred lots were certainly to the fore as ever, though the best six geldings were bred in Ireland or Britain. When it came to fillies, the top three were French. Timmy Hillman’s Castledillon Stud in Co Kildare emerged as the clear leader among consignors, their 19 lots averaging a shade over €60,000.
Little wonder that Tattersalls Ireland CEO Simon Kerins was upbeat at the end of the second session. He commented: “The Derby Sale continues to deliver – not just in headline prices, but in real depth of trade.
“This week saw the highest-priced store sold this year, and across every key metric the sale has significantly surpassed last year’s strong figures.
“The 14 Grade 1 winners in the 2024/’25 season tell their own story. That level of success isn’t a coincidence.”
WIDELY tipped to head the trade, the Walk In The Park first foal out of the listed bumper and hurdle winner Posh Trish, a daughter of Stowaway, certainly did not disappoint, selling for €285,000 to Dan Skelton and Ryan Mahon,
The pair got the better of underbidder Megan Nicholls following a prolonged head-to-head, while Gordon Elliott and Eddie O’Leary were involved to the €200,000 mark.
The top-priced store of 2025 was consigned by John Dwan’s Ballyreddin Stud and Katie Rudd’s Busherstown (though the latter’s name was omitted on the catalogue page) on behalf of Joey Logan, and was the most expensive store Skelton has ever bought.”
Skelton summed the sale star up. “He has incredible movement, has good size, and has everything we want.
“He is a proper athlete, comes from a good hotel, he is out of a great mare and by the right sire. We thought he’d make €250,000, and then it was just a few arm wrestles after that.
“He deserves to be a lot of money because he is a beauty, and we are delighted to have him.
“He comes back to us now and he will be given time. We will take a longer-term approach; he is very much a chaser in the making. We are lucky to get him.
“He is for some fantastic American ladies, Myrteel Ward and Margaret Duprey, who have supported us for a while now. The best they have had so far has been Get A Tonic, but this is a definite step up for them – and for all of us!”
Ectot filly
Ballyreddin & Bushertown sold four lots, including Wednesday’s best two-year-old, Louis Vambeck’s filly by Ectot who made €100,000 and was also bought by Skelton and Mahon.
“I will be watching the form of the yard closely,” laughed Dwan. He added: “[The Walk In The Park] came to us to prep and has been a star. He is very straightforward, and is a very intelligent horse. He never missed a beat and for the four days showing here he has been busy, but it has not affected him one bit.”
The gelding was bought as a foal by Joey Logan at the November National Hunt Sale from breeder Oliver Loughlin for €85,000.
“He was a beautiful foal when we bought him off Oliver, and from the day we got him home he has just been a gentleman,” said Logan.
“He grew into himself and obviously the stallion has done very well, especially this year with a Gold Cup and Grand National winner.
“The dam was a very good racemare and I am delighted Dan Skelton bought him. It was a lot to spend on a foal, but he was a gorgeous foal and a gorgeous horse, a lovely pedigree and he turned into a beautiful individual, so I wasn’t nervous. We’ve sold a couple of good horses – we like buying good horses and we like selling them!”
AN hour or so after Dan Skelton bought what was to be the sale-topper, Peter Vaughan’s Moanmore Stables looked to be a contender to knock the gelding off his perch.
However, at €260,000 bidding was a little short, but the sale of Moscovite, a Tunis half-sister to four winners, was a very satisfying outcome for the vendor, who paid €43,000 for the filly last year.
Tom Malone on behalf of Owen Daley was the successful bidder, while and Gavin Cromwell will handle the filly’s career. “Owen was looking for a lovely horse and I said that this lady was a standout; she is a very smart filly,” said Malone.
The filly’s Network dam Russie, who raced without even being placed in France, is a half-sister to Natal who won 11 races, four of them Grade 2 and 3 races over hurdles and fences, and he was Grade 1-placed.
Ciaran ‘Flash’ Conroy sold three lots this week for €530,000 under his Glenvale Stud banner, and two of them brought the lion’s share of that total. They also were the third and fourth highest-priced lots of the two days.
Early on Thursday, he offered a €100,000 foal purchase from Yellowford Stud, and that brave outlay was justified when the Walk In The Park son of a Presenting mare, from the immediate family of Grade 1 bumper, hurdle and chase winner Bellshill, sold to Aiden Murphy for €210,000.
The gelding was part of a strong opening to the second session. “This is the nicest Walk In The Park at the sale,” said Murphy.
“I loved him, he is for Olly [Murphy who was not at the sale as he is expecting his first child] and for a new partnership in the yard – existing owners who have got together to increase their firepower.”
Hours later, and Conroy enjoyed another pinhooking success, this time with a Blue Bresil half-brother to this year’s Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase winner Handstands, himself a graduate of the Tattersalls Cheltenham November Sale in 2023. He was bought by Gordon Elliott for €235,000.
“He is a lovely athletic horse, one we have been waiting for all week,” said Elliott of the gelding who was sold at the Tattersalls Ireland November Sale for €70,000. “We will get him home now and broken in. His half-brother, Handstands, is a very talented horse.” The gelding hails from the family of blacktype winners such as Be My Belle, Empire Of Dirt, Monalee and Monty’s Star.
WHEN the curtain fell on Wednesday’s opening session, Castledillon Stud’s Nathaniel gelding, the first foal of the dual listed hurdle winner Floressa, stood at the top of the pile.
The British-bred was actually sold as a yearling in France. He is by a sire who will always be remembered for getting high-class flat winners such as dual Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Enable. This gelding’s Poliglote dam was trained by Nicky Henderson and she won the Gerry Feilden Hurdle at Newbury. Goldford Stud sold him as a yearling in Arqana for €87,000. He now sold to Harold Kirk and Willie Mullins for €180,000.
Floressa is a full-sister to Polygona whose eight successes were headlined by a pair of Grade 3 Auteuil wins over hurdles. The pair are daughters of a three-time winning full-sister to Grade 1 hurdle winner Don Lino. Nathaniel’s best runner over jumps to date is the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle winner Burning Victory. Hillman said: “I bought three by Nathaniel that year, and I did go out to target his stock for this year’s Derby Sale. This lad was bought for plenty of money as a yearling, and bred by Goldford Stud and David Minton.”
Jumping pedigree
Harold Kirk added: “It’s very hard to get a Nathaniel out of a jumping pedigree; he didn’t cover that many National Hunt mares. This horse is out of a Poliglote mare, which I love. A lot of the Nathaniels that have gone jumping are out of flat mares, so you’re hoping that when they have jumping pedigrees they will be even better, as they will be bred for the job. We’ve had two Nathaniels and both won at Cheltenham.
“Burning Victory won the Triumph Hurdle and was very good on the flat - she was fourth in the [Group 1] Ascot Gold Cup - and Concertista won the mares’ novice hurdle. Up to now Nathaniel has been lucky for us, and both of those fillies are out of flat mares. He is a beautiful horse, ticks a lot of boxes, and just needs luck after this. And an owner!”
“Harold does all the work,” Willie Mullins said when asked about his and Harold Kirk’s modus operandi at the sales. The pair spent €1,230,000 on nine lots, seven geldings and two fillies. The more expensive of the latter pair was Oak Tree Farm’s Miss Man, a Masked Marvel filly from the family of two mares that Mullins has enjoyed success with.
Kirk said: “She is a gorgeous filly and I am a big fan of the sire’s fillies. We had Quel Esprit and Ashroe Diamond who were both Grade 1 horses, and they are both in this pedigree. Quel Esprit was one of the first very good horses we had. She is a beautiful individual, a beautiful mover, and from a very good consignor in Norman Williamson. She is one of the top fillies in the sale, and is definitely one we could target at the bumper in December.” The filly was bought by Williamson for €47,000 in 2024.
Mullins and Kirk spent €125,000 on Clifton Farm’s Mystic Des Bordes, a half-sister by Jeu St Eloi to the listed cross-country chase winner Doralou Des Bordes. This is the immediate family of this year’s Grade 1 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner Kopek Des Bordes, bought at this sale by the same team for €130,000.
FEW consignors have a better record with winners of sales races than Norman Williamson of Oak Tree Farm has, and he will be dreaming of one of his four lots sold for €545,000 winning the €100,000 Tattersalls Ireland MLS Mercedes-Benz Sales Bumper at the Leopardstown Christmas Festival in 2026.
The most expensive of the quartet was a gelding by the dual Derby winner Harzand, and tracing back to a female family that has been developed and nurtured by the Parkhill family for many years.
“He is a lovely horse, and was the one we really wanted,” said trainer Jonjo O’Neill, after going to €180,000 for the gelding out of Sea Rocket, a winning daughter of Shantou. “He has everything – looks, action, pedigree, and is for sale!”
Sea Rocket, an own-sister to the listed Cheltenham Festival chase winner Tully East, is dam of Moon Rocket, a winner and Grade 2 runner-up twice over hurdles. It is the further family of multiple Grade 1 winners Ballyburn and Bob Olinger, along with fellow Grade 1 winner Final Demand and The Railway Man.
Once again, brothers John, Niall and Hugh Bleahen sold six-figure lots. Coming out best this time was John’s Lakefield Farm, his eight lots making a bid short of €600,000. Leading the way was a gelding by dual champion sire Walk In The Park, one of three purchases by Gordon Elliott. Pinhooked as a foal for €52,000, at the November National Hunt Sale, he resold for €175,000.
“He is a good goer and we liked him every time we saw him over the last few days, so hopefully he will be lucky now,” said Elliott.