“WE had an absolute flyer again, didn’t we?” was how a delighted Ed Donohoe described Wednesday’s Goresbridge Go for Gold sale of select event horses. Some 73 of the 91 catalogued horses sold on the night (four were withdrawn) representing a clearance rate of 84%, edging the 83% achieved in 2025. The total turnover of €1,949,000 was up from the 2025 result of €1.75m and the average price was €26,699, down from €34,500 in 2025.

Some 29 lots are bound for Britain with US buyers particularly active, taking 18 lots across the Atlantic. Other international buyers at the sale came from Italy, Canada, Belgium and Switzerland.

While trade for the ridden four and five-year-old horses was sticky in places with 18 out of 28 sold (71% clearance), this was the cohort from which the €52,000 sale topper came as well as another top lot at €50,000. The three-year-old market was flying, however, and among those the turnover was 90% with the top lot here going for another €50,000 (see pages 88-89).

The horses, selected by Sally Parkyn, Chris Ryan and Nicky Roncoroni, were presented for viewing and trial at Barnadown Showjumping on Monday and Tuesday and then sold under the hammer at the Amber Springs Hotel on Wednesday evening with the inimitable Brendan McArdle (advertising and marketing manager at The Irish Field) acting as MC. It was a glamorous affair with a packed room of eager buyers, breeders and vendors who enjoyed fabulous food and musical entertainment.

The standout performances on the night, however, were undoubtedly put on by the Goresbridge auctioneers including Martin Donohoe, Richard Ryan and the exuberant Darren Hessian who kept the guests entertained, and the buyers engaged, from start to finish.

The sale topper, as reported on pages 98-99, was Jodie and Emma Skelton’s Borris Donny Darling (Lot 12), on whom bidding opened at €20,000, and was purchased for €52,000 by American visitors Jamie and Glen Santos for their 13-year-old daughter Sydney. They attended the sale on the advice of trainer Courtney Swartz who was also in attendance with her cousin Sasha Hargreaves.

Perfect horse

A thrilled Sydney Santos said she only had eyes for this bay son of HHS Cornet after she tried him. “When I first saw him I thought he was so floaty and beautiful and such a good jumper,” she said. “And then I rode him and he has so much scope, but he’s the calmest horse ever and was so sweet in the barn. He is the perfect horse.”

Sydney, who recently outgrew her pony and is fairly new to eventing, aims to bring her new ride through the eventing ranks with the help of her trainer Swartz and “take him as far as he can go”.

The 2026 Go For Gold sale topper Borris Donny Darling (Lot 12) was purchased for €52,000 by American visitors Jamie and Glen Santos for their 13-year-old daughter Sydney \ Thomas Doolin Media

The family, from Maryland, said the Go For Gold experience had been hugely enjoyable and educational and that they would be recommending it to their equestrian friends back home.

Buying up big

While he did not purchase the sale topper, British entrepreneur David Mitson signed for eight lots in total, all three-year-olds, two of which are earmarked for Olympic event rider Oliver Townend who was also in attendance.

The top price Mitson paid was €42,000 for Lot 58, MBF Holloway, a filly by Diadaro out of Trend De Luxe bred by Phil O’Reilly and sold by MBF Sporthorses. He paid a further €37,000 for another Diadaro in Lot 83, Urneypark Diardoro, a gelding out of Ian Perry’s Urneypark Bella. He also paid €34,000 for Lot 66, Kilcannon I’m Special by Colandro out of Heritage Kilcannon bred by Mary Bolger.

His first purchase of the night was Lot 36, Kobe, a three-year-old consigned by Patricia Flynn and bred by Michael Farrell. By CMS Gunfire out of Lon Dubh, this lot is the full-brother to a four-year-old Townend already has and said he thought highly of. He went for €15,000. The other of Mitson’s purchases bound for Townend’s yard is Lot 60, an unnamed gelding by Carrabis Z out of Carriday (TB) by Coroner who looked well bought at €16,000. Mitson, who owns a stable of businesses, is also a breeder and producer of young horses and will take the other six lots home to be produced initially as show jumpers.

“Oliver and I met last year and we put together a plan, essentially to try to find his next five-star horse together. We had a good look and Oliver picked out those two lots especially,” said Mitson. “The others are coming back with me to do some show jumping so fingers crossed that they’re all successful. Our strategy is first of all identifying what’s in the catalogue and looking at the videos, but considering those videos are two months ago and a lot can change for the young three-year-old horses, we also like to have a good look at them to see what they’re like in the flesh, looking for sparkle, watching them when they loose jump, and obviously seeing how they handle as well. So it’s a lot of those things, and the breeding is important as well.”

“I hope I got it right!” quipped Townend. “But we got some great value, and two very very nice horses - a full thoroughbred mother by a jumping stallion, for me that’s what an event horse is.”

Commission free

The successful renewal was the 17th running of the sale and the third with Ed Donohoe at the helm after the retirement of his brother Martin. “It was very well received, the whole night went very well and it was a good, buzzy occasion,” Donohoe said. “I was worried about the figures at the start with a few five-year-olds that didn’t work, but after that it rocked on and was as good as we could ever have hoped for, even better than last year.

“There was a great diversity among the buyers and an incentive that we ran in the US where we supported the East and West Coast eventing championships with prizes of a commission-free sale was very successful with all four prizes being used on the night including a couple sold to (international event rider) Kelly Hutchinson.

“David Mitson was obviously a very strong buyer again, he was our biggest buyer last year too. As he says himself, it’s like bringing a child to a candy shop with all these smashing horses and it saves him from trawling the country – instead he comes here armed to buy and buy he does!

“We had a seriously good bunch of horses, thanks to the work of our tireless selectors - it’s not an easy job to whittle down from the 400 presented to us. We also wanted to try and make an occasion of it as well. It’s a long season and this is kind of the finale and thanks to Siobhan and her team a great night was had by all!”

Read more coverage from Go For Gold and see the full results here.