NOW in its sixth year of hosting sport horse auctions, Bolesworth managing director Nina Barbour, described as “astounding’’ the positive improvement in both British and Irish breeding in recent years.

“Breeders have been investing in their broodmares, and riders have been looking at their top mares for embryo transfer, and as a result the quality being submitted to our auctions is really the black type standard that we set out to achieve,” said Barbour.

Bolesworth is hosting its upcoming Elite Foal Auction (see page 101) which for the first time, includes lots by top sire Chacco Blue.

“What a year to be able to do so, after Ben Maher and his amazing Chacco Blue-sired Explosion W recently were crowned Olympic Champions. The number of superstar dams is also overwhelming, but a few things are of particular excitement – it is an honour to have the first foal from Lauren Hough’s Ohlala. In a recent conversation, Lauren referred to her very talented mare as her ‘horse of a lifetime’, and we have her stunning Arko III colt coming to us in a weeks’ time.

“It is also so nice to see progeny of so many mares that we know so well and that are still out on the circuit, including Anthony Condon’s 1.60m ride Zira Van Het Kapelhof Z, and Billy Towmey’s Lady Lou. Another standout is the progeny of Grand Prix mare Whoopie C – this Catoki colt is uterine brother to licensed stallion Tobago Z,” explained Barbour.

Commenting on how Bolesworth have coped with the effects of the pandemic, Nina added: “We have been very lucky, and even through last summer we were allowed to hold two shows behind closed doors. This year we were able to invite members of the public back to Bolesworth for the first time in three years (2019 saw rain so bad that we weren’t able to open the doors to the public), and whilst we were still limited on numbers of spectators, the sun shone and the atmosphere was second to none. We had a fantastic Grand Prix built by Louis Konickx, and skillfully won by David Simpson – he was the only rider to finish on a zero score but it was a fantastic class to watch – the sport at its best.”

In July Bolesworth launched their ‘A-list’ concept, in conjunction with Malahide’s international sport horse agent and producer Barry O’Connor along with Dave Quigley, James Davenport and Angelie Von Essen.

“We sourced a very tight collection of top four to seven-year-olds. As with anything it was a learning curve for us, but we were delighted with the results – the four-year-old Hirina Z (Heart Touch) was sold to France, with top lot One Diamond (7yo) selling to a rider based in Holland,” concluded Barbour.