VICTORY last Sunday for Champers On Ice at The Pigeons, where he triumphed by a dozen lengths (see page C4-5), ensured that there would be plenty of interest in the son of Robin Des Champs when he entered the ring at Brightwells Cheltenham Sale on Thursday evening.

A protracted duel between the Mullins and Pipe teams ended with the five-year-old becoming the property of Bryan Drew when he capped Harold Kirk’s bid of £200,000 with an extra £5,000. Drew was buoyed no doubt by the fact that he had previously bought Moon Racer, winner of the Champion Bumper this week, through Brightwells.

All but three of the 21 lots offered at the sale changed hands and the average for this second staging of the sale during the Festival was £75,667, down 28% from last year’s £105,500.

Champers On Ice was a wild card entry, as was Sutton Manor who sold for £125,000 to the Harold Kirk/Willie Mullins combine. A four-year-old son of the deceased Gold Well, Sutton Manor was runner-up at Lingstown on Sunday for Colin Bowe’s Milestown Stables and he is a half-brother to the smart bumper winner Relic Rock.