THE team behind Saturday’s impressive Cheltenham winner Pied Piper bought one of the highest-priced lots at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Sale after racing when paying £175,000 for Dromahane point-to-point winner Queens Vic.

The daughter of Shirocco was bought by Joey Logan for £175,000 and will be trained by Gordon Elliott for owners Andrew and Gemma Brown.

She was sold by Aidan Fitzgerald of Cobajay Stables.

A well-bred daughter of Shirocco, she is closely related to the Cheltenham Gold Cup runner-up Minella Rocco.

Joey Logan said: “We saw her and thought she was a very nice filly, a very big, scopey filly. If she can go on and get blacktype she will be a lovely broodmare – she has a lovely pedigree. The Browns are buying a few, smart well-bred fillies and that is the long term plan. She moves well, hopefully she is lucky!”

Fitzgerald said: “She really won well, she has a savage pedigree – the third dam is six from six, the second dam is six from seven. I can see her winning her bumper and then becoming a blacktype runner over hurdles next year.”

He added: “I love training mares, with a pedigree like that she was always going to be a good mare. She is owned with Barry Geraghty and Enda McDonagh, two very good friends.

“She won the same race as Queens Brook who was third at the Festival in the bumper. I have 25 for the spring, hopefully some more to come back!”

Top lot for Twiston-Davies

Nigel Twiston-Davies also had a big Cheltenham winner on Saturday (Torn And Frayed) and he came away with the sale’s top lot, Weveallbeencaught.

The five-year-old gelding by Getaway fetched £210,000 and was bought by owner Jimmy Wenman from Michael Kennedy Racing.

Cork-based Kennedy said: “He is a smasher, I train a few for Conor Murphy who bred him. We broke him and brought him along , we were hoping he would sell well and we are happy enough with that. It was always the plan to point him and sell.

“It is a good family and you will see a lot more winners from the family over the next few years.”

The gelding won his point-to-point at the end of December at Dromahane.

Wenman was thrilled with his purchase. “I think he is the best horse in the sale, he is a real film star of a horse,” he enthused. “He is an out-and-out stayer and he is going to a top-class trainer, Nigel Twiston-Davies, who specialises in top-class chasers. One day, please God, he comes up that Cheltenham hill for me, that is what I want!

“I haven’t had a winner at Cheltenham, but Nigel has trained lots of winners for me. I have fallen out with my pocket tonight! The horse has been bought with a good friend Edward James and we hope to have lots of fun!”

Essex-based Wenman and James, though not business partners, are in the same line of business and own mobile home retirement parks.

Vaughan to train

Copperfasten, by Flemensfirth and out of Copper Dusht, was sold by Terence O’Brien’s Woodstock Stables to Louise Bowtell and Select Racing for £160,000.

The five-year-old mare will go into training with Tim Vaughan, and there were special reasons behind the team’s purchase.

“She has been bought for Paul and Louise Bowtell, who owned her half-sister, the listed-placed Copper Gone West,” said Vaughan.

“Copperfasten is a lovely, big mare who won first time out. She has a lovely pedigree. Hopefully she will be one to breed from,” said Vaughan. “We saw the video of her win and we liked what we saw. We loved Copper Gone West. We thought she would have been in the first three in the Pertemps Final, but sadly we lost her. Hopefully this will be a nice filly.”

From the family of the blacktype winners Copper Bleu and Give Me A Copper, Copperfasten won her maiden at Boulta on December 12th.

Supreme Commander (by Fame And Glory), who finished second to Weveallbeencaught at Dromahane, was bought by Tom Malone, on behalf of Sherborne Utilities, for £120,000 from Matthew Flynn O’Connor’s Ballycrystal Stables.

It is another good Cheltenham result for the handler having sold the top and third best-priced lots at the December Sale.