IT used to be thrown about by National Hunt diehards that flat racing was the game for high-flying millionaires, and that jumping was much more about the everyman, grassroots operator. The picture is by no means that straightforward nowadays, however.

Yes, taking on the global giants of flat racing, who have eye-watering budgets, can be a gargantuan task, but the gap between the top National Hunt operations at the rest has never been bigger than it is right now. Look no further than some of the staggering prices paid for point-to-pointers at the Goffs Punchestown Sale and Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale, and you’ll have a fair idea of the type of spend that is at those high-end jumping players’ disposal.

And that’s even not factoring in some of reportedly enormous amounts paid in private deals for the top-regarded French three-year-old hurdlers.

A fair barometer of how the flat can, at times, feel a more accessible avenue to premier winner’s enclosures can be found in the results at Irish flat racing headquarters this season.

Of course, there have been a share of blue-blooded, expensive purchases collecting on the big stage at the Curragh. However, these have been far outweighed by horses bought below the six-figure threshold across the track’s seven meetings so far in 2026.

That theme began on the opening day of the new flat season. The four maiden winners on the card were all well bought. First two-year-old maiden winner of the new campaign, Ruler’s Control, was a €30,000 foal, debut mile maiden winner Victory Tip was a yearling bargain at €10,000, Pollenca fetched 30,000gns as a yearling and Breaking Dawn was picked up at the breeze-up sales for 47,000gns. None required their connections to break the bank.

There was even better value among the handicap winners on the card. Irish Lincoln star Ribee had notably gone unsold at €4,500 as a foal, and six-furlong winner Smoke Them Out (peak rating of 84) was excellently sourced by Tom McCourt at just €4,000 as a yearling,

Martin Hassett’s smart sprinter Dmaniac was bought back by his vendor for only 1,000gns as a yearling, while €21,000 yearling Electric Beauty would have presumably been an inexpensive private horse-in-training buy for Mick Mulvany.

Slattery value

At the Curragh’s next card on March 28th, debut six-furlong maiden winner Opalite was a steal at £7,000 as a yearling for the Slatterys.

Likewise, handicap winner Bodhi Bear vendored at 1,000gns as a yearling, the bould Big Gossey (Listed Gladness Stakes winner on this card) went unsold for €21,000 as a foal and Red Charlie was a $45,000 yearling.

The best was saved for mile handicap scorer Perry Mason, who is proving the buy of a lifetime for Maurice Ahern at 3,500gns. The only other winner on the card, Rock Of Ireland, was a home-bred for owner P J Kavanagh, and the sire, Rock Of Gibraltar, stood for just €5,000 at his final reported fee.

The first day of racing on Good Friday in Ireland at the Curragh had a flurry of bargains too. The Mick Mulvany-trained Lars Soldier was picked up for just €3,500 as a yearling (beating 1,700,000gns yearling Confucius in a two-year-old maiden on the card), while in the feature €100,000 premier handicap, talented mare Fiver Friday (now a seven-time winner) cost only €10,000 as a yearling.

The admirable Layfayette (a multiple group winner and earner of nearly €500,000 in prize money) won for the 10th time in his career on the card, further emphasising what a buy he was at €54,000 as a breezer. Maiden-winning stablemate Galileo Noir was also well recruited at €35,000 as a yearling.

Flynn’s find

Group 3 Park Express Stakes winner Celestial Orbit was more expensive at 260,000gns as yearling, while fillies’ maiden scorer Chasing Paradise was unsold as a €70,000 yearling, but one of the bargains of the season (also found on the same card) is undoubtedly Pat Flynn’s Key Witness. The 15,000gns horse-in-training sale recruit from last July captured a €50,000 handicap here and is now rated 95 (originally rated 71 but has won three of four Irish starts). Royal Ascot could now be calling.

Sprint handicap winner Bint Majestic Roi, a revelation this spring for the Slatterys, was the standout buy on the Curragh’s April 19th card. At just 6,000gns from last year’s Tattersalls July Sale, she’s gone from a mark of 59 to 85 in her last five starts.

Half the winners on the day were either home-breds or never sold publicly, but course regular Stag Night was a clever purchase at €18,000 as a yearling (has earned €93,750 in prize money).

There weren’t quite as many diamonds in the rough on the Bank Holiday Monday card on May 4th, headlined by €1.85 million yearling Minnie Hauk in the Group 2 Mooresbridge Stakes.

That said, neither Listed First Flier Stakes winner Velozee (€92,000 yearling) or taking maiden winner Immortal Guard (€100,000 yearling) look expensive on what they’ve shown so far.

Handicap winners Summer Island (€32,000 breeze-up buy) and Spinning Around (€42,000 yearling) were cheaper routes to the HQ winner’s enclosure, while home-bred scorer Genesis is by Prince Of Lir, whose last published fee was just €3,000.

And that brings us to Tattersalls Irish Guineas weekend just gone. Yes, Gstaad, a 450,000gns yearling, rightfully hit the headlines in the Irish 2000 Guineas, and Paddy Twomey’s Group 2 Lanwades Stud Stakes heroine City Of Memphis wasn’t necessarily cheap at the time of her €370,000 breeze-up acquisition. The pair are obviously worth considerably more now, however. They have worked out in a big way for connections.

Group 1 winners Precise and Almaqam, as well as Purview, Comanche Brave and Causeway, were never available on the public market. However, it’s encouraging that a total of nine Guineas Festival winners did enter the sales ring, including the aforementioned Perry Mason in the €50,000 Keadeen Hotel Premier Handicap. The 3,500gns snip now has Irish earnings of €77,500 and counting. Gavin Cromwell’s Royal Ascot handicap hope Invincible Hope went unsold at €9,000 as a yearling, while wide-margin handicap winner Pretty Omagh Girl was a value €28,000 yearling bought by Andy Oliver. Sarah Lynam deserves credit for spotting the impeccably-bred Headmaster from William Haggas’ string at 48,000gns last year. On just his second start for the Lynams, he snared a major payday in the €50,000 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Habitat Premier Handicap. He could easily have more to come.

Available to buy

Sunday winners Sun Goddess, who looked potentially top drawer in the opening two-year-old fillies’ maiden, Green Carrera, now on course for a tilt at the Sandringham Stakes at Royal Ascot, and Westminster Moon, who landed a tidy touch in the finale, were all available on the market at £120,000 (yearling), €95,000 (yearling) and €260,000 (horse-in-training) respectively.

All in all, from a total of 57 winners across the seven Curragh cards so far this year, there have been 29 different yards taste success at the home of Irish flat racing. A most healthy spread.

Similarly promising is that of the 57 horses in question, 68% (39 horses) were available to be bought at public auction during some point of their career. Offering further encouragement again is that more than half (30 of the 57) never strayed into triple figures in whatever currency they were for sale at.

It must be a shot in the arm for the flat to say that more than a third (37%) of all winners at the Curragh so far in 2026 went through the ring at 35,000 or less, either bought by connections, vendored or going unsold. These include maiden winners bought as foals or yearlings for €3,500, £7,000, €10,000, €30,000, 30,000gns and €35,000, and valuable handicap winners on the market for 3,500gns, €4,500, €10,000, and 15,000gns.

National Hunt racing still has the potential to throw up a Hewick or Skyace type fairytale, but the very top Irish flat racing track is routinely bearing fruit for connections who haven’t had to spend a fortune to visit the winner’s enclosure - and the racing product is all the richer for it. Perhaps an even greater coup is owner-breeder Kelly Thomas buying back the dam of Gstaad and Vandeek for only £800 before producing those two champions. Now that is a proper dreamland purchase.