HOSTING his first renewal at the helm of Goresbridge Sales, Ed Donohoe will have been more than satisfied at the seasonal opener last week. The bumper catalogue attracted an equally sizeable crowd, with the result that the one-day fixture was a resounding success. Both the clearance rate of 80% (77% in 2023) and the turnover of €692,650 (€680,750) exceeded the strong figures of 12 months ago and, while in line with recent trends, the average dipped to €5,870 (€6,674) this was well above figures from the pre-Covid era.
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Having stepped up to take over the company from his brother Martin earlier this year, Donohoe and family have hit the ground running. Supported by his wife Siobhan, son Ted and daughter Hannah, the pair will have been delighted by these returns and are now looking forward to staging a new thoroughbred sale, due to take place on April 18th. “We are absolutely thrilled with the results of the first sale of the year, which was very well supported by both vendors and purchasers and led to a particularly satisfying overall clearance,” commented Ed Donohoe. “There were a significant number of new registrations from the UK. Horses have gone to Ireland, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, with our top lot heading to an established client in the USA.”
It was also good to see Martin Donohoe back on the rostrum in his role as auctioneer. This is a position he enjoys and hopes to continue, as well as running his regular antique sales, the first of which is at the end of the month.
Lot 169, Crosshue Delboy, a four-year-old by Dignified Van't Zorgvliet, went for €13,000 \ Sally Parkyn
Sale topper
For the past three years, producers MBF Sport Horses and Higgins Sport Horses have dominated the returns at Goresbridge and, accounting for three of the top five prices between them, they scored again when the jointly owned Petar D (Lot 149) headed the day’s renewal at a lofty €25,000. A son of the Kannan-sired Qatar Ter Saleghem, the four-year-old is out of the KWPN registered Ereda M (Victory) and was sourced abroad last year. “He is an absolute gentleman,” commented MBF spokesman Brian Flynn. “He was easy to break, easy to do and credit must be paid to Louise Plascott, who has put a huge amount of work into him.”
The gelding’s polished production attracted a number of potential customers to ringside, but once on the market at €15,500 the bidding developed into a competitive two-way tussle between a telephone and an online bidder. Moving up rapidly in increments of €1,000, the gavel finally fell in favour of the USA-based online customer, Mikayla Howard.
Older horses
Delivering the day’s best clearance rate of 86%, the older stock commanded a very strong trade. Despite the high prices, the bulk of the better buyers hailed from the commercial sector and one who had to dig deep was Athlone man Jim Derwin.
Unusually for him, Derwin accounted for just one lot over the course of the day, but looked to have bought well when paying €12,500 for Eddie Wright’s seven-year-old mare Bella 18 (Lot 61). A flashy bay with four white socks, the daughter of Cobra 18 had racked up 32 SJI points under 17-year-old Galway-based Ted Wright, but was now sadly outgrown.
MBF Sport Horses featured again when their five-year-old mare MBF Musical Note (Lot 51) realised €11,000. One of a number of lots purchased by British customer, Ben Arrowsmith, this Jorado-sired mare was sourced from her breeder, Ronan Tynan, as a three-year-old and is the first foal out of the Lanaken campaigner Vivian Lee (Ars Vivendi).
Earlier in the proceedings, Co Limerick producer D.J. O’Sullivan did well when his six-year-old mare (Lot 39) changed hands at €10,000. Ridden on the day by Daisy Duggan, this Clearway-sired mare had bred a foal two years ago and, out of the smartly bred Holstein dam Vuttion Va, was knocked down to regular trade customer, Nicole Browne from Oxford.
Demand was very lively for horses with potential, and one that filled the bill for Co Cork buyer Ciaran O’Connor was Ronan Fahy’s Lagans Shuraz Lad (Lot 78), a five-year-old gelding by Vivant Van de Heffinck out of Shannondale Shuraz (Cascaletto St Ghyvan Z). Selling for €9,000, the well-related grey is a half-brother to Lagans Shaz Girl (1.40m) and was bought to produce further and trade on.
Lot 61, Bella 18, a seven-year-old mare by Cobra 18 went for €12,500 \ Sally Parkyn
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Four-year-olds
Garnering the day’s best average of €6,253, the four-year-old trade was lively throughout. Sale topper aside, the age group produced a further two, five-figure returns, the best of which at €13,000 was Higgins Sport Horses’ Crosshue Delboy (Lot 169), a small gelding by Dignified Van’t Zorgvliet out of Crosshue Lui (Luidam). Bought from his breeder, Joe Walsh last year, this gelding had since been broken by Thomas O’Leary and had hunted with the Bree Foxhounds. He was another knocked down to Ben Arrowsmith, who also snapped up Tom Hearne’s Dasalent (Lot 210) for €9,700. A catalogue pick on paper, Dasalent was by the highly successful event horse sire Valent out of a Bonnie Prince dam.
Prices held up well late in the day and another stand out was Mary Kehoe’s unnamed gelding (Lot 191) by RC Mr Flint (I’m Special de Muze), who changed hands at €11,500. Sourced through the same sale ring as a foal, he was out of RC Olympic Iroko (Iroko), whose blacktype maternal line goes back to Cummer Beauty, dam of several international jumpers including Camblin and Dorada. The locally based Mount Juliet Equestrian were at ringside to account for this useful sort, who will now be produced for show jumping before being exported to America.
Just five three-year-olds passed through the ring, two of whom changed hands averaging €2,800.
Lot 6, Cullinagh Chancer, a 12.2hh gelding was the top priced pony going for €9,500 \ Sally Parkyn
Ponies
As one of 12 ponies to change hands (15 offered), Grace O’Donnell’s six-year-old Cullinagh Chancer was the stand out when selling for €9,500. Standing just 12.2 hands and sourced from Ballinasloe three years ago, the gelding put up a super performance under 10-year-old D.J. Kent and, despite strong opposition, was secured by a very determined Keith Donovan from Borrisokane. Accompanied by his daughter Nadia, who was celebrating her ninth birthday, Donovan explained that he had been impressed by the online video footage and, having sadly put an old pony to sleep, was looking for a replacement. “I loved how he jumped and he is so cute,” said an excited Nadia, who later revealed that she hoped to compete in the under 10 jumping classes.