Roll of the dice sees Melbourne 10 send March Sale top lot to Christian Williams

Midlands Grand National-winning trainer Christian Williams has enjoyed a breakthrough season, with Potters Corner, who landed Uttoxeter's flagship prize last Saturday, heading a list of 22 winners for the campaign.

And Williams is set to welcome an exciting new recruit to his Ogmore-by-Sea base, as the top lot from Thursday's Tattersalls Ascot March Sale is destined for the Welshman's growing string after the Melbourne 10 syndicate went to £50,000 to secure Sonru in a private deal outside of the ring.

The five-year-old son of Jeremy was offered by Monbeg Stables' Donnchadh Doyle, vendor of RSA Chase winner Topofthegame, having been last seen scoring in a Turtulla maiden on his second outing.

View full Tattersalls Ascot March Sale results

"He has great form, obviously he won last time and was third on debut to a horse who made £95,000 at Cheltenham [Enjoy D'Allen]," said the Melbourne 10's National Hunt racing manager Lucy Barry. "He's a nice athletic type too, and if he'd been at another sale he probably would've made a lot more.

"I went through all the horses in the catalogue and I thought he was the nicest horse by far."

Christian Williams (right) with Conas Taoi and Paddy BrennanCredit: John Grossick

Sonru, who is from the family of Buywise and Garrison Savannah, is the fourth jumps horse in the Melbourne 10's string, and Barry went on to explain the fortuitous series of events that led the syndicate to sending a horse to the upwardly mobile Williams.

"The guys were going racing and rolled a dice to decide whether they went to York, Newmarket or Newton Abbot and landed on Newton Abbot," explained Barry. "Christian got them tickets and had a bit of lunch with them, and after that they decided to have a horse with him. Then they rolled the dice again to decide how much they were going to spend!

"Christian's absolutely flying though, he's a really good trainer. I'm really excited about this horse, he could be anything. We'll see what he's like when we get him back, but he'll be off to have some fun on the beach before he runs again."

The session's second-top lot, the £42,000 Pearl Royale, was offered by Nigel Hawke's Thorne Farm Racing, and will be heading back to the trainer's Devon yard, albeit for new owners.

The daughter of Robin Des Champs has won three races for Hawke, including a three-runner Listed chase at Carlisle back in December.

Pauling reloads

Fresh from saddling Le Breuil to success in the National Hunt Challenge Cup Amateur Riders' Novices' Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, Ben Pauling added to his string on Thursday when going to £35,000 for winning pointer Whatsupwithyou.

The five-year-old son of Shantou was last seen running out a wide-margin winner of a Tyrella maiden for Denis Murphy of Ballyboy Stables.

"He struck me as a nice, active individual and I liked the way he jumped and found for pressure in his point-to-point," said Pauling. "He seems the type that's going to be hardy and looked to have a bit of speed about him and we could try and nick a bumper in the very near future."

Whatsupwithyou is the first foal of the winning Whats Up Britta, a Milan half-sister to talented hurdler Dedigout. He has been through the sales ring twice previously, bringing €15,000 as a foal before being knocked down to Martin Keating Bloodstock for £30,000 at the Goffs UK Spring Store Sale.

"I've had a few by Shantou and he's a sire I like," added Pauling. "I've had a lot of success buying from Denis, too - The Captains Inn came from him."

McPherson doubles up

Graeme McPherson was among the busier trainers at Ascot on Thursday, as he secured two lots who cost £32,000 apiece. The first of those was Elk Bridge, a daughter of Dansant who was placed in points before winning a Clonmel bumper for John P O'Callaghan.

"She's had a busy winter but she looks tough and definitely has ability," said McPherson. "She was placed in a point-to-point and, although the Clonmel bumper she won probably wasn't the strongest, the form of the recent Naas run looks pretty solid.

"We'll get her home and see how she is before we decide if she runs in one more bumper or if we give her the summer off and then go hurdling in the autumn. I haven't got an owner in mind, so if anyone is interested get in touch! We won't have a problem finding an owner for a nice mare like her, though.

"She's got a bit of speed on the page but she's already proved she can jump a fence."

Later in session McPherson landed Ajay's Ways from Alan Ahern's Knockbally Stud. The five-year-old son of Stowaway finished third on his two most recent outings between the flags.

"He's a lovely big staying chaser of the future, my favourite type of horse," said McPherson

Final figures

By the close of a busy session of trade, 129 of 157 offered lots had changed hands for a clearance rate of 82 per cent - up from 70 per cent 12 months earlier.

However, despite more lots changing hands, the aggregate dropped by four per cent to £936,300. In turn the average fell by 26 per cent to £7,260 while the median slipped from £5,100 to £3,500.

At the conclusion of the sale, Tattersalls Ireland's director of horses in training sales Richard Pugh said: "Today's sale has been well supported by Irish and UK vendors and has offered purchasers the opportunity to buy all categories of bloodstock.

"We welcomed a broad bench of purchasers, both domestic and international with countries represented including Germany, Poland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Jersey and Libya.

"Today's results measured well against last year's and it was really pleasing to produce a clearance rate of 82 per cent along with a top price of £50,000. We now look forward to the first European two-year-old breeze-up sale of 2019 here at Ascot in just under two weeks' time which offers a reduced catalogue of 91 lots."