OVER 500 lots were offered for sale at last Saturday’s auction of racing pictures and memorabilia collected by the late Nick O’Toole.

Conducted by Sean Eacrett in Ballybrittas, Co Laois, the auction saw a top price of €2,700 paid for “a quantity of racecards”, which included several of Nijinsky’s races from 1969 and 1970, signed by Lester Piggott and/or Vincent O’Brien.

An oil painting of Lester Piggott by Peter Deighan fetched the day’s next best price at €1,100, having been estimated to only make half that sum.

Some items went for as little as €10, such as two crates of racing magazines.

Sean Eacrett reported: “We had loads of bidders online, not a huge number in the room. The sale took about four and a half hours and was very successful. There were a few international buyers but most of the items sold will be staying in Ireland.” If you missed out, don’t worry. Another 200 items collected by Nick are expected to be offered for auction over the Christmas period.