Gordon Elliott spent €265,000 to secure the most expensive purchase at the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale on Thursday.
Lot 397, a gelding by the late Kayf Tara and offered just 17 lots from the end of the sale, fetched a sale-topping amount.
The February-born gelding out of the Kapgarde mare Miss Bailly is the highest-priced National Hunt store horse sold this year and a full-brother to Romeo Coolio, who was sold for £420,000 at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale in March, also to Elliott.
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Bids for the good-looking gelding consigned by Castledillon Stud came from all over the ring as well as online, but it was Eddie O'Leary, standing with Elliott, who was successful.
Elliott said of the purchase: "He was the stand-out for the sale. He looks the part, and he looks a little like his brother."
It was a first Derby Sale top lot for Castledillon Stud, the sale’s leading consignor, and a smiling Timmy Hillman said: "We bought him privately off Will Kinsey through Covid and it is all credit to him, as well as to our team at home.
“He was a smasher when we bought him and he has done nothing wrong at all. He is by a great sire and his brother looking such a promising type has stood him in good stead. Let’s hope he is lucky for his new owners."
Leading French-based stallion Doctor Dino was a red-hot sire over the two-day sale and after getting the top price on Day 1, the gelding offered by Johnny Collins’s Brown Island Stables took the Day 2 runner-up spot selling for €240,000 (Lot 249).
Collins was enjoying a quick, profitable and strategic transaction – he bought the horse for just £58,000 in January with the objective of re-offering the horse here just five months later.
“It was always the plan to come here and resell,” said Collins after his pre-planning paid off. “I was wanting something by the sire – I had been trying to buy one by him in France and I could not get anything.”
He added: "Doctor Dino is an amazing sire and this gelding is an incredible mover. He was the same horse in January as he is now – he came from a good farm and was well prepped, I was just in the right place at the right time."
The purchaser Ian Ferguson was buying for owner Wilson Dennison.
"He will go and be broken and after that a decision will be made as to whether he goes to a trainer or down the pointing route, I would think, possibly, he will go to a trainer," said Ferguson. "He is a scopey sort and is by a sire who can do no wrong at present.”
A number of the other horses towards the top of the price list were sold to UK-based trainers.
On Wednesday, a half-brother to Douvan and Jonbon was sold for €250,000 to Olly Murphy and Aiden Murphy, while the son and father team also forked out €200,000 on Moanmore Stables' gelding by Saint Des Saints.
Meanwhile, Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls splashed €205,000 on a Walk In The Park gelding offered by Peter Nolan Bloodstock.
Over the two-days, 33 horses sold for €100,000 or more, a third-best result at a Derby Sale, while five have made €200,000 and above, only one behind the record six sold in 2022 and 2007.
A total of 300 horses changed hands at a clearance rate of 81 per cent achieving gross sales of €16,075,000, an average price of €53,583 and a median of €43,000.
Commenting on the conclusion of the Derby Sale, Simon Kerins CEO of Tattersalls Ireland said: "There are so many positives to take out of what was witnessed at Tattersalls Ireland the last few days. We had the honour of once again selling the highest-priced National Hunt store this year at €265,000 and he headed 33 horses selling for €100,000 or more, as well as five horses selling for €200,000 or more, both of which are the highest number seen at any Store sale this year.
"Last year’s Derby Sale was a record breaker, and it held its historic position at the top of the Store sale table. This year’s statistics produce the same outcome however, polarisation of the market and select choice of stallions has probably resulted in a drop in the clearance rate. Our average and median have not quite kept pace with last year’s record-breaking figures but the average of €53,583 is still the highest produced at any Store sale this year.
"To achieve such figures we needed the support of our vendors and they once again entrusted us with their top-quality stock. It was wonderful to welcome so many UK agents and trainers as well as their owners to the Derby Sale and we must also mention the strength of the Irish purchasers. Our thanks go out to each and every vendor and purchaser who produced the goods and to all the team at Irish Thoroughbred Marketing. "
"We look forward to rounding off the Store sale season in July."
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