Can Elvis create lightning once more for Treannahow Stables at Punchestown?

Willie Mullins and Harold Kirk will be out to prove that lightning can indeed strike twice at Punchestown on Tuesday when King Rasko Grey makes his debut in the Goffs Defender Bumper (4.50).

The €250,000 son of Galiway topped last year's Goffs Arkle Sale when purchased by Mullins and Kirk from the draft of Treannahow Stables, the Costello family's farm that provided them with the 1-2 in the 2023 Goffs Defender Bumper.

Predators Gold at €100,000 was the most expensive store that Tony Costello, son of the legendary Tom, had sold prior to last June's store sale at Kildare Paddocks and the son of Masked Marvel made a winning debut in the Defender Bumper from a horse he had grown up alongside in the Clare countryside. Milo Lises, by Storm The Stars, was purchased by Aubrey McMahon for €55,000 from the Costello draft at the 2023 sale and, racing in the colours of Noel Kennelly, was also making his debut in the contest, which is confined to horses who have been entered in the Goffs Arkle Sale.

King Rasko Grey, known as Elvis to the Costello family, provoked a bidding war in the sales ring between the eventual winners and Paul Nicholls and Tom Malone, who were forced to give best to the man who would go on to be crowned champion trainer on both sides of the Irish Sea this season.

Costello said: "He was an unbelievably stunning individual as a foal and developed into a special horse; this is dream stuff for us. You know you have a nice horse but you never think something like this could happen. For it to happen you need two powerhouses like them to take each other on."

Speaking after securing the gelding, one of three by Galiway that Mullins and Kirk purchased at the 2023 Arkle Sale, Kirk explained why they had to buy Elvis.

"He's the nicest horse in the sale and by a sire with whom we've won five Grade 1s with two horses," he said. "He's just a special horse and a beautiful individual with a fantastic German pedigree.

Readin Tommy Wrong: his half-sister makes her debut for Put The Kettle On teamCredit: Patrick McCann

"Galiway is a fantastic sire on the Flat as well and there won't be too many chances to buy his offspring in the future as he has become so successful."

Those words of Kirk's proved prophetic as Sealiway's full-brother Sunway won the Group 1 Criterium International at Saint-Cloud.

This time around Tony Costello retains the possibility of repeating the feat and becoming the owner of a Land Rover Defender, the prize for the vendor of the race winner.

In addition to King Rasko Grey, who is now in the same ownership as dual Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Galopin Des Champs, Mullins and Kirk bought Runcok from Treannahow Stables and the son of Cokoriko will carry the double green silks of Simon Munir and Isaac Souede should he make the cut as he is currently third reserve. 

At €65,000 he cost approximately a quarter of what King Rasko Grey did, but he has a promising pedigree as the first foal out of a half-sister to Munir and Souede's Grade 2-winning hurdler and chaser Sceau Royal.

The champion trainer has four horses among the 28 who have been declared; 25 runners and three reserves. Jody Townend, who rode Milo Lises, is on board Heffay, an €80,000 Doctor Dino half-brother to Grade 1 Top Novices' Hurdle winner Lalor. He was bought from Katie Rudd and John Dwan, who combined forces to sell at Goffs for the first time last June.

Jonzac makes his debut in the colours of Lynne MacLennan, although the son of Masked Marvel was knocked down to Aidan Fitzgerald's Cobajay Stables for €62,000. Sold by Kilbeg Stables, he is a half-brother to Mon Lino, who has earned plenty of lower-case black type, out of a Listed-placed half-sister to the dam of Mullins' quadruple Grade 1 winner Don Poli.

Horses entered in both Part One and Part Two of the Goffs Arkle Sale are eligible to run in the Defender Bumper and the average price of the field is €54,729. That is higher than the average recorded in the first part of the 2023 sale, which was €52,224, while Part Two returned an average price of €19,725.

Micheal Conaghan and his grandfather Michael at the Goffs Punchestown SaleCredit: Goffs

Nopresentliketime, who is currently a reserve, is the only other horse with a six-figure price tag in the 28 accepters. The son of Doyen was purchased by Aidan O'Ryan and Gordon Elliott, whom he represents, for €135,000 from Peter Nolan and is a full-brother to Grade 2 mares' chase winner Ballyshannon Rose and a half-brother to Elliott's ill-fated Grade 1 Mersey Novices' Hurdle winner Three Stripe Life.

If Dino Roque were to come on the market now the daughter of Doctor Dino would surely command a premium on the €26,000 that trainer Henry de Bromhead paid for her last June, when sold by her breeder Walter Connors' Sluggara Farm.

Since then, her older half-brother Readin Tommy Wrong has not only made his debut, he has become a Grade 1 winner with victory in the Lawlor's of Naas Novice Hurdle in January. She carries the colours of the One For Luck syndicate, who enjoyed some memorable days with the De Bromhead family at Cheltenham, where Put The Kettle On won the Champion Chase and the Arkle.

Micheal Conaghan is another to be hopeful of a second lightning strike in the race having consigned and raced the 2022 winner Absolute Notions, before selling him to Robcour for €370,000 two days later at the Goffs Punchestown Sale. Sadly, the Grade 1-placed hurdler died in February so a return to better fortunes is required.

Conaghan's Evergreen Stud sold Kapgarde gelding Koukeo to Matt Coleman for Jonjo O'Neill and the €62,000 purchase makes his debut in Tuesday's race. He is from the family of Auteuil Grade 1 winners Kotkita, Kotkikova and Kotkijet.

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