Gold Cup-winning team combine at £360,000 for Cheltenham top lot Mahon's Way

The Tattersalls Cheltenham pavilion was so packed for the November Sale on Friday evening that at one stage organisers were literally turning onlookers away, with access restricted to those intending to bid. And there was no shortage of prospective purchasers either as a crammed bidding area precipitated sauna-like conditions for those in attendance as well as a hot market.

There was plenty of chat about the prospects of Denis Hogan’s Mahon's Way before selling got under way and the strapping son of Walk In The Park lived up to the hype when he drew a final bid of £360,000 from Alex Elliott, who was standing at the back of the heaving crowd by the entrance to the ring.

The buyer explained that the four-year-old, who advertised his talents with an easy success at Lisronagh just six days before the sale, had been bought on behalf of the same connections for whom he sourced the Cheltenham Gold Cup hero A Plus Tard.

“He’s been bought for Cheveley Park Stud to go to Henry de Bromhead,” said Elliott. “They very kindly gave us an order earlier this year after A Plus Tard won the Gold Cup and when I came down here it looked like a great catalogue so I thought there’d be some options.

“His physical and his pedigree and his performance at the weekend all added up. They can be very impressive but sometimes the physicals don’t add up with the race performance, but if they do they’re generally good horses.

"I actually spoke to Norman Williamson, who pinhooked him as a foal, and he said he couldn’t speak highly enough of him. It’s a great result for Denis and it’s great to have Cheveley Park back in action in the ring.”

Mahon's Way was making his third appearance at public auction having previously fetched €26,000 as a foal when Williamson’s Oak Tree Farm signed the ticket, before Hogan went to €80,000, a bid he revealed was well over budget, to secure the promising youngster at last year’s Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale.

“From day one we’ve loved him,” said a shell-shocked Hogan. “I wouldn’t have bought him without one of my friends, Tadhg O'Shea, obviously he’s based out in Dubai but he was with me at the sale. We failed on another horse from Norman Williamson as well, but he told us he had another horse to have a look at.

“He’s a great salesman and he’s a great judge of a horse, Norman, because if he hadn’t told me about him I wouldn’t have bought the horse. We went really over budget on the day but thank God we did because he’s paid us back. I’m delighted he’s gone to a good home in Henry de Bromhead and Cheveley Park, and Alex Elliott too, they’re top connections.”

The delighted vendor continued: “I hope he goes on to win a Gold Cup for them because he’s definitely got the makings of a Grade 1 horse. He was good at the weekend but that’s only a fraction of what he can do, I think there’s a load more to come.

"I’ve got to thank my team back in the yard because I could not do this without them, they’re top class and they make my job very easy.”

Henry de Bromhead can look forward to training Mahon's WayCredit: Debbie Burt

Mahon's Way is the fourth foal that John Cahill has bred from Allys Bubble, a daughter of Luso who the breeder also trained. She failed to get her head in front from 16 starts under rules, although showed her share of ability when runner-up in handicap hurdles at Clonmel and Downpatrick.

In truth, her pedigree makes up for any gaps in her own race record as she is a half-sister to three black-type jumpers, none more eye-catching than Champagne Fever, whose ten victories included four Grade 1 successes, most notably the 2012 Champion Bumper and the following year’s Supreme Novices' Hurdle.

Gordon Elliott gets to work

Another lot who brought a big reputation to the Cheltenham ring was Denis Murphy’s Working Away, a daughter of Workforce who won by a widening margin when making a successful debut in a Tattersalls mares’ maiden late last month. Gordon Elliott, standing with his chief talent spotter Aidan ‘Mouse’ O’Ryan, denied Tom Malone with a bid of £330,000.

“For me she was the standout of the sale,” said Elliott. “I was at the point-to-point the day she won and she looked very good so hopefully she’s lucky now. We’re not sure who’ll own her yet but we’ll get her home and get her sold. We’ll probably go for a bumper with her. There’s such a great programme for mares nowadays.”

Gordon Elliott, pictured with Aidan O'Ryan (right), said of Working Away: “For me she was the standout of the sale'Credit: Debbie Burt

Working Away entered into Murphy’s Ballyboy Stables programme having been knocked down to Joey Logan for €34,000 at last year’s Goffs Land Rover Sale. She hails from the first Irish-bred crop of Derby and Arc hero Workforce, who relocated from the Shadai Stallion Station in Japan to Sean Kinsella’s Knockhouse Stud in County Kilkenny in 2017.

“She’s a nice filly, she always was right from when myself and Joey bought her out of the Land Rover,” said Murphy. “I hope she’s very lucky for Gordon and they get lots of fun out of her. Her walk is massive, she covers so much ground, she just finds everything simple.”

On the punchy pinhooking profit, Murphy added: “It’s a big buzz. When you buy a lot of young horses and spend a lot of money, when you get one or two like that it eases the pressure. It’s hard to get the good ones.”

The filly was bred by Brian Kiely and is out of Grangeclare Flight, dam of four winners and an Old Vic sister to three-time Grade 3 scorer Grangeclare Lark, while the dam’s other siblings include the Grade 2 Tipperary Hurdle victor Scarthy Lad and the dam of the high-class performer Real Steel.

Kirk and Mullins return to a source of success

The second lot to break the £200,000 barrier was Colin McKeever’s Tullyhill, who caught the attention of Willie Mullins and Harold Kirk and their rivals Elliott and O’Ryan. When Kirk signalled a bid of £220,000, Elliott and O’Ryan turned and exited the scene and the gavel fell in favour of team Mullins.

The four-year-old son of Martaline made a winning start between the flags at Moira, and although he scored by just a neck the margin of victory underplayed his superiority after a final-fence blunder cost him at last a handful of lengths.

“He’s from a proven source that we buy a lot of horses off,” said Kirk from his position at the back of the bidders' area. “Martaline is a top-class sire, Wilson Dennison’s is a very good academy and the horse came highly recommended by Colin McKeever.

“Hopefully this horse can improve a lot. He’s a strong sort of Martaline and he moves well. We’ve been lucky buying off this team before with horses like Yorkhill, Bellshill, Shaneshill, there’s a load of them, we’ve bought a lot of good horses. He was bought for an existing owner of Willie’s.”

Harris makes her mark

While the likes of Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins are regular players at the top of the National Hunt market, dual-purpose practitioner Grace Harris is a less familiar name on the buying sheets at these boutique point-to-point events. However, the Monmouthshire-based handler made her presence felt in no uncertain terms on Friday evening as she signed for a brace of six-figure lots among a four-strong haul that totalled £338,000.

The priciest of those was the £170,000 Sheeka Supreme, who made it third time lucky with victory at Toomebridge for the Colin Bowe team. The four-year-old daughter of Flemensfirth, whose dam is a sibling to the black-type performers Whoshotthesheriff and Gunnery Sergeant, was offered at last year’s Derby Sale but was retained by her vendor at €55,000. Harris signed the ticket alongside the name Foxhills Racing.

Sheeka Supreme: went the way of Grace Harris and Foxhills Racing for £170,000Credit: Debbie Burt

Earlier in the session she went to £105,000 for The Big Reveal, a four-year-old son of Soldier Of Fortune who made a winning debut at Kinsale for Sean Doyle of Monbeg Stables. The youngster, whose dam is a half-sister to the high-class chaser Time For Rupert, was a €22,000 purchase by Rathmore Stud as a foal but then went unsold at the Goffs UK Spring Store Sale at just £14,000.

Reflecting on her productive evening Harris, daughter of Flat trainer Ron Harris, said: “We went to Tattersalls’ May National Hunt Sale in Newmarket but were out of luck, and now tonight we’ve bought four. I liked everything about Sheeka Supreme – her walk and trot were very good and she’s a lovely prospect. The Big Reveal is a nice, staying type of chaser who looks as though he will go through the mud and he has a decent page.

“I look like a jump trainer, but in fact I’m 50-50 and still enjoy training Flat horses. My yard is at Shirenewton, about three miles from my dad’s stable.”

Murphy’s belated birthday present

Although there were much bigger prices than the £60,000 Hashtag Boum brought when knocked down to Bobby O’Ryan, acting on behalf of Ruth Jefferson, there were few more delighted vendors than James Murphy.

The 23-year-old son of the trainer Daniel Murphy gave just £6,500 for the daughter of Al Namix as an unraced five-year-old at this year’s Goffs UK Spring Point-to-Point and Horses-in-Training Sale, where she was offered by no less an operation than Paul Nicholls’ Manor Farm Stables.

But Murphy proved his eye for future talent was spot on when Hashtag Boum rallied well to land a Tattersalls Farm mares' maiden by a widening two lengths on her debut between the flags.

Explaining how he came to purchase the Nicholls cast-off, Murphy said: “I was there trying to buy an older gelding to go back for a maiden point-to-point but couldn’t really afford one as I was outbid on a few. This one came along and they’d told me she wasn’t too bad so I said I’d take a chance on her.

“They told me the owner wanted to make a bit of room for a few three-year-olds, and she’s not over big so was probably looking handy enough at Paul Nicholls yard alongside the big horses. We trained her at home ourselves and we thought she wouldn’t be too far away the first day but she won well.”

He added that the tidy bit of profit provided a belated gift, as he said: “I turned 23 yesterday so this was a great birthday present! I’ll probably buy a few more horses now but I’ll try not to blow it all.

"Walshtown Stables is in County Cork, we’ve 14 or 15 point-to-pointers at the moment but our main business is selling three-year-olds and foals.

“I didn’t know what to expect [watching her sell] as I thought I was going well yesterday but then ten or 15 minutes before she went in I thought I’d lost a few [bidders], so I didn’t know what would happen. It all worked out in the end anyway.”

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