IT was no surprise to see Roger Brookhouse once again sign for the top lot at last weekend’s Brightwells Cheltenham Sale.

The leading owner paid £130,000 for Stilletto, a winner at Maralin just six days earlier for trainer Andrew Latta. Stilletto is by Westerner, sire of Roger Brookhouse’s Arkle winner Western Warhorse and also Champagne West, an impressive winner at Cheltenham hours before the sale. The stallion is on another fine run as he was also responsible for the Paddy Power Gold Cup winner Caid Du Berlais.

There were two six-figure prices, compared with five in last year’s bigger catalogue, and this wasn’t a huge surprise as buyers might have been cautious in assessing the merit of autumn point-to-points run on quick ground. What was very clear though is that all the big trainers and owners are in the market for a good horse.

Roger Brookhouse has enjoyed a lot of success with his Brightwells buys and the secret to that is he does his research. He comes to each sale with a shortlist which invariably has the ‘right’ horses on it.

He is not afraid to pay big money for the right horse as he knows the price will be forgotten if the horse wins a good race. I would certainly prefer to pay six figures for a winning pointer than for a horse off the flat who may not take to jumping at all.