TOP PRICED FOALS.

  • Declan Fegan’s Berkleys Touch Of Sol, colt foal by United Touch S (dam by Come On) €46,000 (Cavan Elite Sales).
  • Declan Phelan’s Unnamed, filly foal by Emerald Van’t Zuuthoeve (dam by Sheyenne de Baugy) €31,000 (Cavan Elite Sales).
  • JP Finlay’s Cushlas, filly foal by United Touch S (dam by Apache d’Adriers) €27,000 (Cavan Elite Sales)

    • There appears to be no end to the demand for top jumping bred foals, and dominating the specialist renewals was the Elite Foal sale at Cavan. Topping a glittering night in September and breaking sale records in the process, Declan Fegan’s well related Berkleys Touch of Sol headed the edition at €47,000. A real stand out, Declan Fegan’s sale topper was a colt foal by the highly regarded United Touch S out of the well related Solara (Come On). A sibling to the Eric Lamaze ridden Chacco Kid (1.60m) as well as to Fiona (1.30m) he was eventually secured by Brian Cash on behalf of American customer and international rider Audrey Schulzer.

    As former Cavan sale toppers, Declan and Ciara Phelan came very close to scoring again when their filly foal by Emerald out of Biscaya d’Eversem (Sheyenne de Baugy) realised €31,000. A sibling to the €36,000 and €28,000 former sale toppers, the filly was out of the wonderful brood mare Biscaya d’Eversem (1.60m) who was a top performer under Joan Greene and has already bred Full Speed D’Eversem (1.35m) and BGS Biscaya View (1.30m), and is sister to Capacity D’Eversem (1.60m). The successful purchasers were the mother and daughter team of Denise and Jessica Finnegan from Newry.

    The Westphalian registered United Touch S is the new talking sire, and another of his progeny to sell well at Cavan was JP Finlay’s filly out of Une Ardente de Vie (Apache d’Adriers). Already a sibling to Cushlas Fryday (1.60m) and others, she was snapped up at €27,000 by DJ O’Sullivan on behalf of regular foal customers Bulimba Sport Horses.

    Further foal sales at the Breeders Classic and at the Mayo and Roscommon breeders also gained some notable returns.

    In the country

  • Ballyv Stables’ Ballyv Ernie, colt foal by Ermitage Kalone (dam by Taloubet Z) €14,000 (Goresbridge October).
  • Anna Dillon’s AKD Phoenix, filly foal by Aganix du Seigneur (dam by Chacoon Blue) €11,000 (Goresbridge October)
  • Isabel Kenny’s Mo Chara Kalone, colt foal by Ermitage Kalone (dam by Berlin) €10,000 (Goresbridge October)
  • M Cummins’s Brockaghfield Conrad, colt foal by Conthargos (dam by Cassini 2) €10,000 (Cavan September).

    • Divided market

    There were contrasting fortunes for breeders in the country, as figures once again revealed a divided market. Despite the major shift in breeding trends over the past ten years and the improving pedigrees and catalogue content, the headlines remain the same. Higher stud and veterinary fees make life even tougher for breeders, and the answer seems as remote as ever. As ever, the top drawer, black type jumping foal will command a premium, but it is in the middle and lower end of the market that is of real concern. Many astute pin hookers and customers cited both poor conformation together with an unattractive blend of genetics as the reason for the sluggish demand, while others comment that too much emphasis is put on stallion pedigrees and not enough on mare suitability.

    There were of course plenty of exceptions, and selling for €14,000 at Goresbridge in October was Ballyv Stables’ Ballyv Ernie, a beautifully bred colt by the popular Ermitage Kalone. An offspring out of the imported five-year-old mare Tagine SA (Taloubet), she was snapped up byTed Donohoe on behalf of Robert Kent, father of junior show jumping gold medalist Jack.