Pinhookers O'Toole and O'Leary hoping for more Classic joy with Pink Dogwood

Bloodstock agent Mags O'Toole was busy buying future talent at the Tattersalls Cheltenham May Sale on Thursday, securing the two most expensive lots at £170,000 and £165,000.

On Friday, however, she will be watching on with interest as Pink Dogwood, who she signed for as a foal back at the Tattersalls December Sale, bids to justify favouritism in the Investec Oaks at Epsom.

It has already been a memorable year for O'Toole, whose name appeared on the docket for dual Grand National hero Tiger Roll when the son of Authorized was offered shortly after his maiden victory in a Market Rasen juvenile hurdle.

If that piece of form gave no hint of the heights Tiger Roll would go on to scale, it still amounts to a great deal more than O'Toole had to go on when she and Lynn Lodge Stud's Eddie O'Leary first encountered a brown filly foal by Camelot on the Tattersalls sales ground in 2016.

The Aidan O'Brien-trained three-year-old is, of course, a sister to Irish Derby hero Latrobe, but that illustrious sibling was listed only as "a 2015 colt by Camelot" on Pink Dogwood's December Foal Sale catalogue page.

As luck would have it, O'Toole and O'Leary had also pinhooked Latrobe as a foal the previous year, and it was a high opinion of that colt that led to O'Toole signing for Pink Dogwood at 115,000gns when the filly came under the hammer.

Pink Dogwood lands the Listed Salsabil Stakes at NavanCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Taking up the story of how Pink Dogwood came to be pinhooked, O'Toole said: "When we first saw her she was only a little fluffy foal and Latrobe was still only a yearling, so she wasn't a relation to a Derby winner at that point in time.

"We put our faith in Camelot, but ultimately she was bought on the strength of Latrobe - Eddie always had a huge amount of faith in that horse."

While it is her name on the docket, O'Toole was keen to stress that it was O'Leary - whose keen eye for untapped potential has spied the likes of Donjuan Triumphant, Gronkowski and The Wow Signal as unbroken youngsters - who had the biggest bearing on the purchase of Pink Dogwood.

Eddie O'Leary: always had a lot of faith in LatrobeCredit: Laura Green

"Eddie is an unbelievable judge, whether it's point-to-pointers, store horses, foals, yearlings or breezers," she said. "It's just absolutely magnificent being involved with a horse like Pink Dogwood."

While Latrobe undoubtedly proved O'Leary right on the racecourse by winning the Irish Classic, he was not so successful in the ring, with the €88,000 foal going the way of Joseph O'Brien for 65,000gns 11 months later.

However, given the numerous similarities in their respective profiles, it could well be worth taking note of the fact that Pink Dogwood enjoyed a much more fruitful time of it when she reappeared as a yearling.

She was offered by Lynn Lodge Stud at the 2017 Goffs Orby Yearling Sale, where the Coolmore partners, Peter and Ross Doyle and the Mayfair Speculators struck a winning bid of €380,000.

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