Ready, willing and Abel as Handy hangs tough in Cornwallis

Earth-shattering prices may have been flying around at the yearling sales this season, but there was a stark reminder that serious equine talent can be discovered at the opposite end of the pricing spectrum at Newmarket on Friday.

Abel Handy, a two-year-old son of Arcano, changed hands on three occasions before finding his way into the stable of Declan Carroll, with each transaction realising a humble sum in the context of modern bloodstock prices.

But he belied his unassuming auction history when recording a third victory from just five outings when running out a game winner of the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes on the Rowley Mile on Friday.

He was first sold as a foal, when Oakshott Bloodstock pinhooked him for a mere €7,000. He was then reoffered at the Goffs UK Silver Sale, where breeze-up consignor Star Bloodstock parted with a similarly modest £9,000 to take the colt back to their Deauville base.

A return visit to Doncaster for the Goffs UK Breeze-Up came next for the son of Arcano, where plenty seemingly overlooked, or simply missed, his ability to gallop, as Carroll had to go to just £16,000 to take the colt home to his Sledmere Stables in East Yorkshire.

From the minute Abel Handy set foot on the racecourse, however, his innate talent has far exceeded his unspectacular sales history. He belied big odds when making a winning debut at Nottingham in June, and supplemented that success with an all-the-way win in a Thirsk novice stakes on his third start.

His steep upward curve continued at Newmarket on Friday as he backed up a fine second in a York Listed race with a gutsy win in the Group 3 event, in which he reversed the placings with his old adversary Sound And Silence and added his name to a roll of honour that includes Quiet Reflection, Hot Streak and Bungle Inthejungle.

Bred by Mr and Mrs G Middlebrook, Abel Handy is the first foal out of Belle Isle, a daughter of Pastoral Pursuits - for whom this was a first Group win as a broodmare sire - who is in turn out of a half-sister to King's Stand winner Dominica. Further back in the page are the likes of July Stakes winner Classic Blade and the hard-knocking sprinter Captain Dunne.

Friday's result also capped what has been a productive time of things for Arcano, who has spent the last two breeding season at Allevamento di Besnate in Italy. The son of Oasis Dream has supplied 11 juvenile winners during the current campaign, among them his Group 3-winning daughter Tajaanus.

With all the hysteria surrounding this year's yearling sales, a reminder that a big price is no guarantee of big ability, and, of course, vice versa, is a pointer well worth bearing in mind.