TRADE at Mullingar’s Horse and Pony Sale on Saturday proved solid throughout and was largely dominated by Jim Derwin of Derwin Equestrian and Felix Burke of Rock House Stables who, between them, accounted for 10 lots, almost a fifth of the lots forward at the Co Westmeath venue. However, online buyers, including some repeat customers from the UK, also made their presence well felt at the sale securing several lots.

Mullingar’s Declan Fagan said: “Overall, we had close to 80% clearance (79%, 33 of 42 lots shown), there was a particularly nice selection of performance horses, with some very well-bred lots. Among the three-year-olds, Ronnie White’s three-year-old bay gelding by Cobra was an exciting one, sold for €6,200 to Wesley Ryan, WR Sporthorses, and we are looking forward to seeing this horse perform.’’