Bloodstock notebook: Aintree's boutique market holds steady as key buyers try to go native

The market for elite point-to-pointers remains such a strange one to grasp. Last month’s Cheltenham Festival Sale surged to a clear record average, with a new high for a top lot, following a similar theme to the fiery events in January and February.

One or two of the earlier post-race auctions this jumps season had hinted at a possible market correction. Not a downturn, as such, but perhaps a sign that the giddy heights of the previous four or five years would not be sustainable in a period of stagnant prize-money and wider racing, and broader economic, issues.

It is a fact that owners, and quite a range of them, do keep coming back for more. Goffs UK put a brave spin on a falling average of nine per cent at Thursday’s Aintree Sale by pointing to an improved median of 16 per cent to £110,000, and to the fact that more horses had sold for six figures than at its record-breaking 2022 edition.