IT’S a widely-held view that four-year-old winners by the most in-vogue stallions fetch the biggest prices, but Friday’s Ferbuary Sale at Tattersalls Cheltenham proved that performance outweighs both factors, as Gordon Elliott gave £310,000 for Terence O’Brien’s impressive newcomer Uncle Pad.

The five-year-old son of Vadamos provided O’Brien with his greatest result in the ring, and it’s not the first time he’s seen the handler commit a career first, O’Brien revealed. “He did an exceptional piece of work a couple of weeks before his point-to-point, and I recommended him then; I have never recommended one before he has even run!” he said.