COOLEY Farm’s Richard Sheane bought four lots at the Goresbridge Go For Gold Sale in the Amber Springs Hotel on Tuesday night when his quartet of purchases included the top-priced older horse, Brian Flynn and Meabh Bolger’s MBF Flash Back.

Bidding on Lot 15 opened at €10,000 and the four-year-old gelding, a son of the Dutch Warmblood stallion Quidam Junior I, came on the market at €35,000. Sheane had the final say at €40,000, the price which was first asked for the chesnut who was bred in Co Laois by Helena Kirwan out of the traditionally-bred Diamond Imp Lad mare, Midlands Rosie.

“This fellow will have a quiet week or 10 days, as he was ridden and tried hard at the sale, then we will get him back into work and assess him at home,” said Sheane who was impressed by the sale, commenting: “There was a good bunch of horses here.

“The three three-year-olds I bought all went straight from Barnadown to Thomas Quigley at Kellistown Stud (Co Carlow) where he will break them and get them going.

"However, they will have at least a week off – many people don’t realise what a sale takes out of a horse, especially the better ones who are constantly being pulled out and inspected.”

Evan O’Connor’s Ballygriffin Cyril (Lot 17), who finished second in an EI90 at Clyda on his only Eventing Ireland start, came on the market at €20,000 before finally being knocked down for €30,000 to New Zealand international, Tim Rusbridge.

The four-year-old bay gelding by the Holstein Ars Vivendi, was bred in Co Tipperary by John Quigley out of the Carrick Diamond Lad mare, Diamond Lodge.

Rusbridge, who was present on the night, was well-advised on his purchase as he is a son-in-law of The Irish Field’s eventing and sales correspondent Sally Parkyn and her husband Shaun, being married to their daughter, Bryony.

The couple run a large, and very successful, thoroughbred breaking and pre-training yard in Gloucestershire. One of their graduates, the Andrew Balding-trained Kameko, recently carried the colours of Qatar Racing to victory in the Futurity Trophy at Newcastle, the first Group 1 race to be run on an all-weather track in Britain.

Based in Britain, J.P. Equestrian gave €30,000 for Jason Higgins’s Ogue Verdi (Lot 11) who was second in two Young Eventhorse Series qualifiers this year and seventh in the final at Dublin.

The four-year-old bay gelding, who was bred in Co Wicklow by Anne Murphy, is by the Dutch Warmblood sire Verdi out of Ogue Luil who is a daughter of another KWPN-registered stallion, Eurocommerce Pittsburg.