One of Willie Mullins' Punchestown Festival winners is to be sold at auction next week.
ThoroughBid will offer the Rich Ricci-owned Aione, who won a handicap chase at the Co Kildare venue last month, at next Wednesday’s May Sale
Having previously sold Jon Snow for £50,000 to George Baker at the November Sale last year, racing’s online auction house has once again been picked as the preferred, explained Ricci's racing manager Joe Chambers.
He said: “Aione now has plenty of experience over fences and has shown his ability to travel and stay really well over a variety of trips, most notably at Punchestown last week. We felt there may be better opportunities for him to take on some big pots in the UK, as there are a greater number of handicap chases there than in Ireland. Also, as he’s now likely to have a UK mark that would have got him into this year’s Randox Grand National, he should appeal to a broader audience looking for a staying chaser that can take them to some of those big days. He’s a horse that will give somebody a lot of fun.
“ThoroughBid’s online platform has provided us with a good experience as vendors. It’s easy to enter, very user friendly, and becoming very popular, as we saw with the result of Jon Snow selling well for us back in November. To be able to sell flexibly, in this case just a week after our horse's Punchestown win, is great and I hope he attracts plenty of interest.”
Aione will be joined by a number of horses in training, including the Henry de Bromhead-trained pair of Spyglass Hill and Minella Escape, Gordon Elliott’s Rock On Cassie, Olly Murphy’s What Will Be and the Jonjo O’Neill-trained duo of Sermando and Walk In My Shoes.
ThoroughBid’s Point2Rules Bonus, which offers £5,000 to the connections of any pointer bought with the online auction house that goes on to win on debut under Rules, has lured in more eligible entries, including Sea Music. The Sea The Moon 5yo gelding was last seen finishing second at Punchestown, where the winner sold for €255,000 to Gordon Elliott.
Phil Rowley’s Delilah Bucks, recent Bitterly P2P Flat race winner Just Aidan and Kayley Woollacott’s Azolo are all eligible for the Point2Rules Bonus.
Lot 16, a '20 filly by Casamento (IRE) ex. Hurricane Junior, is a NH store out of a full sister to 2021 King George winner Tornado Flyer and from the family of Hurricane Fly, while Lot 8, a '20 gelding by Idaho ex. Gift of the Gods, is another unraced jumps prospect out of a P2P-winning dam.
CEO of ThoroughBid, James Richardson, said: “The addition of Aione, who was winning at the Punchestown Festival just last week, to our May Sale catalogue will have heightened the interest for prospective buyers looking for a ready-made high-class horse in training. He looks a dour stayer, who also had the speed to win bumpers and hurdles over two and two-and-a-half miles, so he’s a very exciting one to have.
“Having broken the season price record for a British P2P Flat race horse at our Spring Sale last month, we’re delighted to see another exciting bunch of pointers in this catalogue too. Any horse bought on Wednesday that goes on to win first time out under Rules will land £5,000 for their new connections, so hopefully that incentive continues to drive trade.”
The full catalogue is available here and bidding will begin at 9am on Wednesday May 10.
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