'He was one of the standouts' - Elliott team not to be denied for €265,000 sale-topping son of Kayf Tara

All week at Tattersalls Ireland the whispers about one particular horse grew louder and louder, and they reached a crescendo as the Derby Sale drew to a close on Thursday evening.

The horse in question was Castledillon Stud's Kayf Tara full-brother to Romeo Coolio, who had made £420,000 at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale in March. Following the precedent set by his year-older sibling, the gelding fought his way to sale-topper status when bringing the hammer down at €265,000.

Donnchadh Doyle bought Romeo Coolio for €92,000 in this ring 12 months ago, preparing him to win a Belclare maiden point-to-point on his debut just days before he lit up the dark of a March evening in Cheltenham. Having enjoyed success with the exciting four-year-old, he made a play for his younger brother, opening the bidding at €50,000.

A determined online bidder provided stiff opposition to Doyle, and both Ian Ferguson and Matt Coleman played strong hands when the price reached the upper echelons, with Ferguson returning to the fray at €220,000. However, as at Cheltenham, it was Gordon Elliott, positioned with Eddie O'Leary and Aidan O'Ryan, who had the winning hand.

The €265,000 price tag is the highest commanded by a store horse at auction this year.

"He was one of the standouts of the sale for us,” said Elliott. “He’s not too unlike his brother and hopefully will be lucky for us.”

The fourth foal out of Miss Bailly, a winning Kapgarde full-sister to Cap Soleil, a Listed bumper and hurdle winner, he was bred, like Romeo Coolio, by Will Kinsey of Peel Bloodstock. Kinsey sold him privately as a foal to Timmy Hillman of Castledillon Stud and Tony O'Callaghan of Tally-Ho.

"It was during Covid when we bought him from Will," said Hillman. "He was a smasher at the time and he’s done nothing wrong since then. Hopefully he’ll be lucky for his new owners."

He is the first Derby Sale top lot to be sold by Castledillon Stud, and the Hillmans' farm outside Straffan also topped the consignors' chart by aggregate, selling 15 horses for €1,014,000 over the two days.

Collins in profit

Pinhooking success for Johnny Collins comes on the Flat and over jumps, and the speed of his profit-making enterprise on the Doctor Dino gelding consigned by his Brown Island Stables was quicker than the usual turnaround time for a National Hunt store.

The Doctor Dino gelding who sold to Ian Ferguson for €240,000 with Sai VaroomCredit: www.healyracing.ie

The Cork consignor purchased the chestnut for £58,000 in January and sold him for €240,000 just five months later when Ian Ferguson got the better of a battle of the big-hitting bidders with Tom Malone and Bobby O'Ryan, among others.

A half-brother to Logan Rocks, successful in a maiden hurdle for Amy Murphy, he is out of Countess Comet, who won twice over hurdles and is a half-sister to the Group 2 Prix d'Harcourt and multiple Group 3 winner Air Pilot.

Collins modestly batted away any praise for this particular pinhooking profit, saying: "There was no imagination when I bought him, he was a lovely three-year-old and it was only a matter of keeping him for a few months. I bought him to come here.”

The demand for Doctor Dino's progeny, both in France and at Tattersalls Ireland, played a major role in Collins' purchase of the gelding, who was bred by Mill Farm Stud,

Brown Island Stables' Kisuton Enki takes his turn in the sales ringCredit: www.healyracing.ie

"He’s an incredible mover and by an amazing sire,” he said. “He’s the same as he was in January; he was well-prepped and came from a good farm. I was just in the right place at the right time. 

"I wanted a horse by Doctor Dino, I tried to buy one by him in France but couldn’t manage it.”

From the family of the Oaks runner-up Crown Of Light and Titi De Montmartre, a triple Grade 3 winner in France, he will carry the silks of Wilson Dennison, for whom Ferguson was acting.

"I loved him as an individual and he was one who went on the shortlist straight away,” said Ferguson.

“He’ll go home to be broken and then a decision will be made whether he goes pointing or is sent straight to a trainer. He’s a scopey type and by a leading sire.”

The sale capped a stunning couple of days for Haras du Mesnil resident Doctor Dino, also sire of the €170,000 gelding bought by Bryan Cooper on Thursday afternoon.

Over the course of the Derby Sale, nine stores by the sire of State Man and Docteur De Ballon came under the hammer and they returned an average of €137,778, two and a half times that of the sale average and included five of the ten horses who made €150,000 or more.

Ian Ferguson signs for the Doctor Dino gelding consigned by Johnny CollinsCredit: www.healyracing.ie

Collins also sold the day's most expensive filly, a Beaumec De Houelle half-sister who was the subject of an intense bidding war between Bobby O'Ryan and the Mariga family, who sold Tuesday's session-topping Doctor Dino half-brother to Douvan and Jonbon.

The running commentary provided by auctioneer Alastair Pim on O'Ryan's comings and goings on the balcony in front of his office provided some light entertainment for the crowd watching proceedings but, with the serious business of buying the well-bred filly at hand, O'Ryan pulled out all the stops to fend off the Mariga family and secure her for €160,000.

The client, on whose behalf he purchased the beautiful grey from the first crop of Martaline's Grade 1 Prix Cambaceres-winning son, will race the filly first before potentially breeding from her.

O'Ryan admitted to spending a little more than he had hoped on the filly, already named Kisuton Enki.

"I always want to find a bit of value so I was hoping to get her for a little bit less than that, but I really liked her when I saw her the other day," he said. "I mentioned her to my client and he was keen to get her. 

"I've had a lot of luck buying from Johnny in the past, including two Royal Ascot winners."

The filly was a lot longer in Collins' ownership than the Doctor Dino gelding he later sold for €240,000 as he purchased her in France when she was a foal.

Dynamic duo back in action

Malone and Paul Nicholls continued to restock the Ditcheat stables with some of the choicest lots on offer, and their most expensive buy will carry the colours of John Hales when he appears on a racecourse.

Consigned by Ballincurrig House Stud and from the final French-bred crop of Authorized, the handsome bay named Authorizedetou has a Gold Cup pedigree. He is the second foal out of Diteou, a winning Buck's Boum full-sister to Willie Mullins' dual Blue Riband hero Al Boum Photo.

The family also includes the Grade 1 winners and half-brothers Grands Crus and Le Richebourg.

Nicholls had returned home, leaving Malone to do the bidding and buying, but the agent and his team had done a thorough job of inspecting the lots on offer and the champion trainer was suitably impressed with this €165,000 signing..

Tom Malone in bidding mode at Tattersalls IrelandCredit: www.healyracing.ie

"Paul fell in love with him, he is just his type of a horse - a big, scopey chaser - and he was really sweet on him," Malone remarked.

"I showed him everything on the list when he was here and this was at the top of the shortlist. We haven't bought that many by Authorized before but his record speaks for itself. We've done all right with the family of Buck's Boum though. There's a lot to like about this horse and the page with a double Gold Cup winner up there."

Nicholls will train the Flemensfirth gelding consigned by Adrian Costello's Park Farm after Malone brought the hammer down at €140,000. 

Out of the Listed Prix Finot Hurdle winner En Vedette, he is a half-brother to four winners headed by the Grade 2-placed hurdler Sabrina, who was trained by Nicholls for the Owners' Group.

They were two of the six stores purchased by Malone and Nicholls over the two sessions for a total spend of €785,000.

Highflyer Bloodstock's Tessa Greatrex was also buying for Hales, and the Flemensfirth three-parts brother to O O Seven, consigned by Kilminfoyle House Stud out of Golden Songbird, will be trained by Dan Skelton for the owner of One Man, Azertyuiop and Neptune Collonges.

"He is a lovely sort," remarked Greatrex of the €120,000 purchase. "He is really light on his feet and you can't go wrong with Flemensfirth, the sire has worked with the family already."

Golden Songbird is an unraced Gold Well half-sister to O O Seven, who was second in the Grade 1 Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown and the Tolworth Hurdle for Nicky Henderson and the Guinness Handicap Chase at Punchestown. The family is also that of Grade 1 winner Cardinal Hill.

End of sale statistics

The top end of the market returned strongly positive results, with five horses selling for €200,000 or more and ten making at least €150,000 during the two days. A total of 33 lots sold for a six-figure sum across both sessions.

In total, the second session recorded turnover of €8,320,000, which was a year-on-year decline of 15 per cent on the 2022 figure with seven per cent fewer lots sold on Thursday. A clearance rate of 80 per cent was down from last year's extraordinary 94 per cent figure, while the average dipped by nine per cent to €55,467. The median of €45,000 represented a ten point decline from 2023.

Overall, the two days of trading grossed €16,075,000, which fell by by 14 points from last year's high of €18,587,000. The 2023 figures were generated from the sale of 300 horses, as opposed to 321 in 2022, and the clearance rate was 81 per cent. The average figure of €53,583 represented a year-on-year decline of seven per cent, while the median dropped by 14 per cent to €43,000.

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