THIS week 10 years ago The Irish Field was reporting on racing at Punchestown and one of the most significant early season chases. The Daily Star Chase pitched the 2005 Gold Cup winner Kicking King against War Of Attrition and it was the Mouse Morris inmate who prevailed on the day. It was the start of a season that saw Michael O’Leary’s gelding go on to land the Cheltenham Gold Cup and then double up at the Punchestown Festival with a victory there in the Gold Cup.

Nick Mordin was getting it right and wrong in his Time Will Tell column. He was not so impressed with Sir Percy’s defeat of Horatio Nelson in the Dewhurst Stakes and felt that the race time was barely group standard! We know now that the colt went on to win the Derby and run second to George Washington in the 2000 Guineas. He did however also highlight a Class 2 handicap winner Notnowcato and said of his trainer Sir Michael Stoute that he would bet on him progressing the colt to group class the next season. He won three Group 1 races over the next two years.

Neil O’Donnell carried a profile of Martin Donohue of Goresbridge Sales who told the paper of his commitment to the thoroughbred sector following the firm’s decision to dip their toe in that market in 2001. They had a two-day thoroughbred sale scheduled for the following week (the sale produced a top price of €12,200). The company’s breeze-up sale this year saw a record price of €170,000 and more than €4.5 million traded on a single day. Quite a progression.

Highlander won the David Ashley Construction Limited Maiden Stakes at Nottingham on his debut. The son of Elusive Quality was trained by Saeed bin Suroor and Frankie Dettori was wearing the Godolphin blue. Why am I mentioning the race? Well, it was the 1000th success for a Godolphin-owned horse. Sheikh Mohammed’s organisation narrowly missed out on achieving the notable feat in a Group 1 when their 999th win was with Cherry Mix in the Gran Premio del Jockey Club – their 123rd win at the highest level. What ever happened to Highlander? He never ran again for Godolphin but instead found his way to Saudi Arabia where he was successful eight times.

The great racemare Makybe Diva got the perfect barrier draw for the Cox Plate, a race that was to be her penultimate start. Run at Moonee Valley, the race is considered Australia’s premier weight-for-age event and Glen Boss steered the champion to victory and set up her up for the Melbourne Cup. The latter proved to be her swansong and she went into the annals of Australian and world racing as one of the greatest racemares in the history of the sport.

There was plenty of stallion news this week, headlined by the Darley group announcing their stallion fees for 2006. They had 32 sires on their roster in Ireland, England, France and the UAE. Shamardal’s initial fee was set at €40,000, while Dubawi’s first covering fee was announced at £25,000. Among the established sires Cape Cross and King’s Best were priced at €50,000 and €35,000 respectively. Coolmore announced that Powerscourt would join the roster at Ashford Stud, while Oratorio was due to stand in Ireland.

Tattersalls Ireland this week published their November National Hunt Sale catalogue with just over 1,500 lots due to come under the hammer. The Irish Field a decade ago carried a preview of the corresponding sale when 2,839 were catalogued. That is nearly twice the number and it took three catalogues to accommodate all the entries. The sale was due to run for two weeks.

Meanwhile their parent company published final figures for their Part 2 yearling sale which saw the average jump by a phenomenal 75% to 26,711gns and the median rose 80% to 18,000gns.