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GOFFS witnessed a very strong day’s trade on Tuesday in a session which saw 13 National Hunt foals sell for €70,000 or more. The corresponding figure from this day last year was just three.
At the very top end it was all about Walk In The Park. The Coolmore stallion was responsible for five of the top six lots.
These big money buys helped drive turnover up by 31% and the day’s average price soared by 20%. However, the clearance rate saw a more modest increase of just 4% and the median price was up by just 2%.
Coomore’s Gerry Aherne bought three of the top lots by Walk In The Park but he was denied the day’s most expensive foal, a Walk In The Park colt from the family of Denman who was bought by Peter Molony for €120,000.
Bred by Louis Vambeck and consigned by John Dwan’s Ballyreddin, the colt is a half-brother to six winners, including the prolific winning hurdler Hearts Are Trumps.
Vambeck said: “He was the standout - a great foal, lovely mover and he is only a baby, born in the middle of May. You don't get a page like that too often. Under the second dam (Polly Puttens) you couldn't get all the heavy blacktype in.
“A lot of the horses in the second dam are by Walk In The Park - you have The Enabler, Gidleigh Park, and Regent's Stroll, all by the sire. I was lucky enough to buy the mare, and she is back in foal to Walk In The Park again. I hope it goes on. I really do believe that he gets incredible looking animals.
“The mare isn't very big herself but all her produce are 16.2 or 16.3, and they do better with age. It is so, so nice to see him going to a good home, I'm delighted and for the kids - the Christmas presents are back on again!”
Molony commented: “He's a fabulous horse by the best sire around and with a wonderful pedigree: just really smashing breeding, as good as it gets.
“He's been bought for a client and he'll come home to Rathmore Stud. He's possibly for resale or could possibly even go down the academy hurdle route. We'll work out a plan. We were very keen to get him and we knew we were going to have to go pretty hard to do it.”
Jukebox Jury
The only foal to spoil Walk In The Park’s domination of the top lots on Tuesday was a grey Jukebox Jury colt from joint breeder Stephen Lanigan-O’Keeffe. Closely related to Jukebox Jury, the colt was bought by Joey Logan for €100,000.
Logan said: “We waited all day for him. He’s a very well-bred foal and a beautiful mover. I loved him from the moment I saw him. He’ll come home to Grangeclare Stud and hopefully he’ll come back to be resold here at the Goffs Arkle Sale.
“He has the pedigree and physical, so let’s hope he’s lucky. Sadly, there won’t be many more Jukebox Jury foals. They’ve been selling so well all week, and it’s been really hard to get the nice ones. I just thought he was a bit special.”
Lanigan O’Keeffe added: “This is getting to be a bit of a habit. At the last sale I got €120,000 for a Jukebox Jury, and now this. I was one of the people behind getting Jukebox Jury to Ireland [in 2018]. He's been so good to us in so many ways. He was a lovely, kind horse and he got horses that were lovely to handle and he has done me such a good turn. I am very grateful to him.
“I went to Germany to buy the dam, a half-sister to Princess Zoe, as a two-year-old in training, and I had the dilemma, do I race her or cover her? Jukebox Jury was getting on, so I covered her and she had this one, her first foal, and she is back in foal to the stallion - well she was yesterday! The colt's dam is by Best Solution and he was an odd horse, a stayer by Kodiac.
“You have to reflect on the genius of John O'Connor in terms of selecting stallions. When you think that he sourced Bob Back, King's Theatre, Shantou and Jukebox Jury - it is quite amazing, and that’s just the National Hunt sires.”
Aherne acquisitions
On Monday Gerry Aherne bought two Walk In The Park colts here, for €100,000 and €80,000. He was just getting warmed up because on Tuesday he bought three more colts by the same sire, for €92,000, €85,000 and €80,000.
The dearest of that trio is a full-brother to Mossy Fen Park, a £235,000 buy at the Spring Sale in 2024.
Vendor Michael O’Neill of Sand Valley Stables in Rosscarbery, Co Cork said: “We have three mares, all National Hunt – so far! – and we always sell the produce as foals in Goffs.
“I bred and raced Msmilan myself. She won two races and then got hurt, but she was a good mare and so we bred her to Walk In The Park. We’ve used him a good few times and we’ve always been very happy with the foals.
“Mossy Fen Park is still running well at the moment, so hopefully he can go on and win a few more big races to help the boys who bought the colt today. The family goes back to Fourth Degree (Oats), the dam of Flagship Uberalles, Viking Flagship and Glenstal Flagship.
“When you get into a good pedigree like that, and are prepared to wait, they often come back to life. The colt today made more than we expected. We knew we had a nice foal, but you’re never sure. That was our one foal this year, and it’s the best ever result for the farm.”
Aherne commented: “It’s a lot of money to give for a National Hunt foal, but we charge for the stallion because he’s an elite sire, so the people who breed the nice foals deserve to get paid. It’s important that the good ones are making money because the business doesn’t work otherwise. We’re underbidders ourselves too at times, we don’t buy everything, but we like to think if we like a horse, we’ll make a good effort to buy him. If somebody wants to give more, we’ll wish them the best of luck.”
Aherne’s €85,000 purchase came from the Mariga family’s Coolmara Stables. He is the second foal out of Grangee (by Great Pretender) who was a Grade 2 bumper winner a few years ago before being sold to the Marigas for €120,000.
Cathal Mariga said: “We’re delighted. He made a great price. He’s a lovely model, he could walk, he’d size, scope, everything. He is a gorgeous horse. We actually bought the mare here so it’s kind of come full circle. We’re delighted with the price and there’s good trade for the right foals here. We’re happy as we’ve sold everything we’ve offered so far.
“We try to breed good stock and have good pedigrees on the mares, because it helps a lot when you bring them to the sales. We’ve seen yesterday and today there’s good trade for those foals. If you have the goods, you’ll get well rewarded.”
It was a private transaction which saw Aherne buy a Walk In The Park colt from Ballyreddin for €80,000. Another bred by Louis Vambeck, this colt is a full-brother to the foal who topped this sale last year when bought by French agent Nicolas Bertran de Balanda for €160,000.
Ciaran ‘Flash’ Conroy of Glenvale Stud paid €85,000 for a Walk In The Park colt from Brian Mehigan’s Hawthorn Villa Stud. The colt is out of the blacktype bumper mare Miss Sapphire.
Conroy said: “I thought there was a lot of Montjeu about this colt. We love the stallion, he gets horses with a lot of quality and we’ve always been big supporters. I think it’s great what the boss in Coolmore is doing, trying to keep some as full horses to make a stallion out of one of his sons. He could have a great influence.”
Asked to comment on the strength of the market, Conroy added: “Like everything now, it’s very good for the good ones. We’ve seven bought between here and Fairyhouse, so I hope there’s a few nice ones among them. It’s rare we’d buy more than 10 jumps foals.”
Mehigan was delighted with the colt’s price. “He had that stamp of quality and lovely walk you often see in Walk In The Parks,” he said. “Miss Sapphire is back in foal to Walk In The Park and her two-year-old colt by In Swoop would be sold at the Goffs Arkle Sale next year. He is a lovely model.”
The only Walk In The Park filly to break into the day’s top 10 lots was the first foal out of Cheltenham Festival winner Love Envoi. She was bought by agent Jerry McGrath for €82,000.
The filly was bred by Shane Carmody, who bought the dam for £135,000 at the Goffs UK Aintree Sale last year through Rathmore Stud.
McGrath, who bought Love Envoi as a winning point-to-pointer, said: “I thought this was a cracking first foal. Walk In The Park needs no introduction, so she’s very exciting. She’s been bought to race for a client. She could go into training in Britain or Ireland when the time comes, all options are open at this stage. She’s a very smart filly.”
The sale will conclude on Wednesday with a mix of foals and breeding stock. The session will include a selection of top-class mares from the Willie Mullins yard, including Allegorie De Vassy, Brandy Love and Lady Vega Allen.
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