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DAN Skelton won't be denied his first British champion trainer title for long, based on his spending at this week's Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale.
Last week Skelton and agent Ryan Mahon spent almost €700,000 on seven horses at the Goffs Arkle Sale, and the two lifelong friends followed that up this week by shelling out close to €850,000 on nine new recruits at Fairyhouse.
Their Derby Sale haul included the top-priced lot of the week, a Walk In The Park gelding, the first foal out of the listed winner and multiple listed performer Posh Trish (by Stowaway). Skelton and Mahon had to go to €285,000 to secure him, outbidding Megan Nicholls. Gordon Elliott was also involved to the €200,000 mark.
The January-born gelding was sold by the consigning partnership of John Dwan's Ballyreddin Stud and Katie Rudd's Bushertown, and is the most expensive store horse sold this year.
"Wow!" smiled Skelton after being thanked by Dwan and pinhooker Joey Logan. "He is the most expensive store we have bought."
When asked why he felt his horse was one to push for, he said: "He has incredible movement, he has good size, and has everything we want. He is a proper athlete, comes from a good hotel, he is out of a great mare and by the right sire. We thought he'd make €250,000, and then it was just a few arm wrestles after. He deserves to be a lot of money because he is a beauty, and we are delighted to have him."
Of plans, he outlined: "He comes back to us now and he will be given time. We will take a longer term approach, he is very much a chaser in the making. We are lucky to get him."
"He is for some fantastic American ladies, Myrteel Ward and Margaret Duprey, who have supported us for a while now. The best they have had so far has been Get A Tonic, but this is a definite step up for them – and for all of us!"
It has been a fabulous Derby Sale for consignors Ballyreddin Stud and Bushertown, the duo also selling yesterday's two-year-old top lot, the filly by Ectot, who made €100,000 and was also bought by Skelton and Mahon.
"I will be watching the form of the yard closely" laughed Dwan, adding: "And I think I ought to give Dan and Ryan a Christmas present! This horse came to us to prep and has been a star. He is very straightforward, and is a very intelligent horse. He never missed a beat and for the four days showing here he has been busy, but it has not affected him one bit."
Of the price, he said: "We were hopeful, but for horses to get to those levels, it just all depends as to whether you have the one or two buyers to take them there."
And of the joint-consigning operation with Rudd's Bushertown, Dwan explained: "It came about four or five years ago – we were buying a lot of French horses and trading, and it made sense, to sell a few together and it works great, two heads are better than one."
The gelding was bought as a foal by Joey Logan at the November NH Sale from breeder Oliver Loughlin for €85,000.
"He was a beautiful foal when we bought him off Oliver and from the day we got him home he has just been a gentleman," said Logan. "He grew into himself and obviously the stallion has done very well especially this year with a Gold Cup and Grand National winner, the dam was a very good racemare and I am delighted Dan Skelton bought him.
"Megan Nicholls underbid him for Paul, Eddie and Gordon were on him, too, so we had all the right people there for him. It's brilliant."
Of the selling process, he said: "I wasn't nervous. It was a lot to spend on a foal but he was a gorgeous foal and a gorgeous horse, a lovely pedigree and he turned into a beautiful individual so I wasn't nervous. We've sold a couple of good horses – we like buying good horses and we like selling them!"
Final figures
Thursday's session saw significantly more spending than on Wednesday. The aggregate on day two was €10.4 million, compared with €7.1 million on day one. That €10.4 million spent today represented a big jump on last year's day two spending of €7.3 million, though admittedly this year's catalogue was 10% bigger,
The day two clearance rate was 87%, again well up Wednesday's 78% figure. Thursday's median price of €45,000 represented an 18% jump on the corresponding session from last year, and the average price was up 19% on Thursday to €58,421.
Overall the two-day Part 1 Sale returned a clearance rate of 82% (from 79% last year) and there were rises of 13% and 11% in the median and average prices.
A record 38 horses were sold for six-figure sums over the two days.
The most prolific buyers were, once again, the Doyle brothers of Monbeg Stables. They spent €1.4 million on 27 horses this week, which is about 10% more than they spent last year to acquire virtually the same number of horses, another indication that the market went up 10%.
Walk In The Park
Three of the day's six top-priced lots were by Walk In The Park.
"This is the nicest Walk In The Park at the sale," said Aiden Murphy after he spent €210,000 for the Glenvale Stud-consigned three-year-old gelding by the two-time champion jumps sire.
Murphy added: "I loved him, he is for Olly [Murphy] and for a new partnership in the yard – existing owners who have got together to increase their firepower."
Bred by Yellowford Stud, the gelding was a €100,000 foal and is out of the unraced Presenting mare La Bella Roma, a half-sister to the listed bumper winner Vegas Blue.
It is the family of Bellshill, an 11-time winner, his victories including the Punchestown Champion Bumper, two Grade 1 novice hurdles, the Punchestown Gold Cup and the Irish (Leopardstown) Gold Cup.
Ciaran Conroy's Glenvale Stud also sold a Blue Bresil half-brother to last season's Grade 1 winning novice chaser Handstands for €235,000. A €70,000 foal purchase, he was bought today by Gordon Elliott.
Elliott had earlier paid €175,000 for the Walk In The Park out of Que Pasa (Loup Solitaire), sold by Lakefield Farm, who pinhooked the gelding as a foal for €52,000 at the November NH Sale.
"He is a good goer and we liked him every time we saw him over the last few days so hopefully he will be lucky now," said Elliott. "We tried hard on the top lot - Walk In The Park has been a good sire for us and we like him."
Daley and Malone
Agent Tom Malone bought one of the top lots at the Arkle Sale on behalf of Owen Daley, an owner with Gavin Cromwell, and Malone did the same again on Thursday when spending €250,000 for a filly by Tunis.
"Owen was looking for a lovely horse and I said that this lady was a standout, she is a very smart filly," said Malone.
The grey filly, named Moscovite, was pinhooked by Peter Vaughan's Moanmore Stables last year for €43,000. She is a half-sister to four winners in France and her Network dam Russie is a half-sister to Natal, who won 11 races, four Grade 2 and 3 races over hurdles and fences, and she was placed in the Champion Chase at Punchestown.
Kirk and Mullins
Having bought the three top-priced lots here on Wednesday, agent Harold Kirk and Willie Mullins were busy again on Thursday. Their day two haul included three of the top 10 prices paid. They ended the two-day sale with nine purchases which cost a total of €1.2 million.
All bar one of their nine Derby Sale purchases were French-breds, as were the four they bought last week at Goffs.
After spending €165,000 on a Cokoriko gelding from Creighmore Stables on Thursday, Kirk said: "Cokoriko is one of the winning-most sires in France at this moment in time. This horse is a half-brother to Black Corton who was a superstar and there is blacktype the whole way down the page. He is probably the nicest Cokoriko I've seen for a long time. He's a beautiful horse, a fantastic mover and a great colour.
"He is everything that anybody could want in a Cokoriko and out of a mare who has done it more than once."
The gelding was pinhooked last November for €62,000.
Kirk and Mullins have done well buying from Walter Connors in the past and they returned to that source [Sluggara Farm] for a €160,000 Goliath Du Berlais gelding and a €130,000 Masked Marvel gelding.
The Goliath Du Berlais gelding is already named Fontaine D'Abbe. He is out of the Martaline mare Martalette, a three-time winner and successful in the Grade 3 Prix Andre Michel Hurdle and a mutiple graded-placed performer.
The gelding's four-year-old full-brother It's Only A Game finished second in a Punchestown bumper at the beginning of May on his career debut for trainer Martin Bressil.
Kirk said: "Goliath Du Berlais is probably the best young sire in France right now and his first crop are doing really well. I bought Kopek Des Bordes off Walter last year and this horse is a bit like Kopek Des Bordes - just beautiful."
The Masked Marvel gelding who cost €130,000 is a half-brother to five winners including dual Italian Grade 1 winner Mauricius and Nicky Henderson's Excello.
Norman Williamson
On Wednesday Norman Williamson's Oak Tree Farm sold a Masked Marvel filly to the Kirk-Mullins team for €150,000, and on Thursday the former top jump jockey sold a Harzand gelding for €180,000 to the Stroud Coleman agency, acting for Jonjo and Alan O'Neill.
"He is a lovely horse, and was the one we really wanted," said Jonjo O'Neill of the three-year-old. "He has everything – looks, action, pedigree, and is for sale!"
His dam Sea Rocket is an own-sister to the listed chase winner and Grade 2-placed Tully East, and is the dam of Moon Rocket, a winner and Grade 2 placed over hurdles.
Part 2 of the Derby Sale takes place on Friday.
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