Late change at Doncaster as £90,000 Royal Creek trumps Gigginstown stars

There was a late twist at the Goffs UK September Horses in Training Sale in Doncaster on Wednesday as a session that had been dominated by Gigginstown House Stud-consigned lots witnessed the once-raced bumper winner Royal Creek bring £90,000 six from the end.

This wasn’t the first time that the daughter of Getaway, who was bred, sold and trained by Edmond Kent of Ballyhampshire Stud, had sprung a surprise as she made a winning debut in a Ballinrobe bumper at odds of 40-1, where she denied Willie Mullins’ odds-on shot Little Soiree.

The four-year-old was knocked down to Kevin Jardine and will now join the stable of Ann Duffield, whose assistant Pat Neville will eventually take charge of the filly once his training licence has been granted.

“We were advised to buy her by a friend that knows the filly very well,” said Jardine. “The Mullins horse who was in second is a good filly and we got feedback that Willie Mullins tried to buy Royal Creek privately a couple of days ago.

“She’s been bought for a new owner in the yard who’s only recently got involved but has really got the bug. She’s been bought for Red Armoury, Ann’s yard sponsor, and Alan Duffus. They wanted a nice filly and she ticked all the boxes. She’ll be aimed at a couple of those nice mares’ bumpers at places like Aintree.”

Royal Creek is the third foal out of Canto Creek, a Beat All sibling to Listed-winning chaser Crossbow Creek and the Grade 2 Kelso Novices’ Hurdle scorer Mwaleshi. Jardine was busy earlier in the session too having landed four-time winner Ganapathi from Mullins’ Closutton Stables draft at £38,000, while the dual scorer Faron was sourced from Joseph O’Brien’s Carriganog Racing at £27,000.

“We’ve got a nice group of horses to go to war with after getting Ganapathi and Faron earlier,” said Jardine, who tasted success as an owner with a previous Doncaster horses in training buy when N'golo landed the Grade 3 Swinton Handicap Hurdle.

“We had a bit of a success with N’golo, who we bought off Willie Mullins last year,” he said. “We got him from here for £15,000 and won the Swinton Hurdle with him a couple of months later. The plan with him is the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham in November.

“I did a wee bit of homework on Ganapathi and thought he was good value for the money. It’s not easy to repeat the success we had before but we’re always trying. He’s only six and his form stacks up well, especially over here. We’ll see what mark the handicapper gives him but he’s a Saturday horse and that’s what we want.”

Gigginstown stars light the way

The annual dispersal from Gigginstown House Stud provided the lion’s share of highlights from the session, including when the high-class performer Battleoverdoyen sold for £67,000.

Point-to-point handler James Owen tried hard to land the dual Grade 1 hero but had to give best to Aidan O’Ryan, standing with Battleoverdoyen’s trainer Gordon Elliott, when the price reached £67,000.

Eight-time winner Battleoverdoyen will return to Elliott’s Cullentra House Stables but will next be seen carrying new colours, as O’Ryan said: “He’ll be trained for a Grand National for Pioneer Racing, who are big supporters of the yard.

Aidan 'Mouse' O'Ryan and Gordon Elliott know Battleoverdoyen well alreadyCredit: Goffs UK

"They’ve come a long way in a couple of years and we’ve had a lot of winners for them and this is going to be their flagship horse.

“We know him well, Battle has been a star for us and a star for Gigginstown and the boys wanted an upgrade to bring them to the real big days and this horse fits that bill.”

The nine-year-old son of Doyen won the Grade 1 Slaney Novice Hurdle during the early stages of his career and added a second top-flight success to his record in the Fort Leney Novice Chase at Leopardstown.

His peak Racing Post Rating (RPR) of 163 was gained in the Grade 2 Skymas Chase at Down Royal when he beat Easy Game by six lengths, with Samcro back in third. He was last seen finishing runner-up to Politesse in the Eileen Kelly Memorial Chase at Galway.

O’Ryan added: “He wants nice ground so we’ll aim him at all the spring festivals and hopefully the Grand National. He ran a blinder in the Galway Plate on ground he probably wouldn’t like and ran well again on the Friday of Galway so there’s plenty of enthusiasm still there. Hopefully he can bring Pioneer Racing to the next level as it’s a really well run syndicate headed up by Myles Richardson and Chris Donnelly.”

Battleoverdoyen was making his second appearance at public auction having joined the Gigginstown squad at £235,000 at the Tattersalls Cheltenham April Sale in 2017 after winning a Loughanmore maiden for Jerry Cosgrave.

Pioneer Racing’s black silks with a pale purple stripe have been carried by a whole host of Elliott-trained runners, including the useful three-time winner Off Your Rocco, whose latest success came in Listed company at Limerick last year.

The Gigginstown draft was comfortably the biggest contributor to turnover as 16 lots brought an aggregate of £373,000 and an average of £23,312.

The short, sharp session of selling saw a clearance rate of 94 per cent as 106 lots sold from 113 offered. Despite 39 fewer lots coming under the hammer than at last year’s renewal, a 26 per cent decrease, turnover only dropped by 15 per cent to £1,294,200.

The average was up by three per cent at £12,209 while the median reached £8,500, a six per cent year-on-year gain.

Tout Est Permis set for change of scene

The third top lot also came from the Gigginstown House dispersal as Marcus Collie went to £48,000 for the Grade 2-winning Tout Est Permis. The nine-year-old son of Linda’s Lad has five victories on his record, including a win in the Kinloch Brae Chase in 2019, the season in which he also won the Troytown Handicap.

The French-bred grey is set to make the somewhat unconventional switch from Noel Meade to Archie Watson, whose wife, amateur jockey Brodie Hampson, will partner the gelding in hunter chases.

“We’ve been looking for a nice older horse for Brodie Hampson to ride in hunter chases for a while,” said Collie. “We’re delighted to have got him and he’ll be heading to Brodie’s husband, Archie Watson.

Classy grey Tout Est Permis joins Archie Watson's stable for £48,000Credit: Goffs UK

"He’s got a lot of class, he’s experienced and ran well in the banks race at Punchestown. He’s got some good form and is a high-quality horse. He’s got a lovely way of going so hopefully he’ll give Brodie some fun.”

Tout Est Permis has 42 starts to his name and has spent the majority of his career under Meade’s care. He was last seen running down the field in a Galway handicap hurdle, but Collie said there was a chance the change of yards could help Tout Est Permis refind at least some of the old form that helped him achieve a peak RPR of 159.

“He’s been in the same place for a while and sometimes a change of scenery helps,” he said. “Archie has a great strike rate with his jumps horses and seems to be able to train them at three miles and five furlongs equally well. Brodie’s up for ride of the month for her win on Percy Prosecco at Yarmouth so it would be good if she can win that.”

Morgan gets her claws into Tiger

Another Gigginstown lot set for a new chapter is Daly Tiger, who joined trainer Laura Morgan having fetched £40,000. The nine-year-old son of Tiger Groom won six races for Noel Meade and hit a peak RPR of 161 when landing the Dan and Joan Moore Memorial Handicap Chase at Fairyhouse.

“There’s no real plan but we wanted a Saturday runner and he’s got a proper profile for that,” said Morgan. “He’ll be a fun horse for a syndicate and we’ve got several owners who want to go in, although there’s room for others too.

"We’ll get him home, give him a full MOT and see where we are with him. He’s been in Noel Meade's for a long time and I just hope that he might suit a small outfit like ours.”

Daly Tiger was making his third appearance at the sales, having first brought €20,000 from Billy Murray as a store before Mags O’Toole went to £95,000 at the Aintree Sale after the horse’s debut in a Horse and Jockey maiden point for Michael Goff.

Notebook heading to Northern Ireland

Ian Ferguson landed the first eye-catching Gigginstown-consigned lot when he went to £37,000 for dual Grade 1 winner Notebook. The nine-year-old son of Samum won the Racing Post Novice Chase and the Arkle Novice Chase at Leopardstown during his time with Henry de Bromhead.

“He’s been bought for Philip McBurney who’s starting up a new training establishment in the north of Ireland,” said Ferguson. “I’ve been buying a few for him and he was looking for something to go open point-to-pointing and hopefully hunter chasing with, so that’s the plan with him. We’re going to bring him down a gear or two and maybe bring his confidence back.”

Daly Tiger is off to join Laura Morgan's growing operationCredit: Goffs UK

Expanding on McBurney’s Caherty Stables operation, which is based in County Antrim, Ferguson added: “Philip owns the establishment and they’re trained by Gerald Quinn. They’ve had a few winners already, including Cirque Royal who was third at Perth on Monday. They’re building up a team of horses and will have about 25 for this season.”

Notebook was another making his third appearance at the sales having first made €27,000 as a foal before O’Toole signed the £70,000 ticket after his debut between the flags.

Dan Skelton can also look forward to training one of the former Gigginstown colour-bearers after owner Craig Buckingham went to £32,000 for five-time winner Uhtred. Unlike many of the dispersal’s offerings, the seven-year-old’s biggest days may still be ahead as his two best efforts on RPRs came on his last two outings, with marks of 138 and 136 achieved with back-to-back successes at Downpatrick.

“I’ll leave plans to Dan Skelton but I think he looks progressive,” said Buckingham. “He’s obviously winning nice races in a competitive environment in Ireland and we think he’ll do well over here. He’ll go straight into training and we think he’s very nice.”

The Joseph O’Brien-trained Uhtred achieved his highest price at public auction in Doncaster, having previously brought €30,000 as a store and €10,000 as a foal.

At the close of trade, Goffs UK’s managing director Tim Kent said: “Recent sale results have demonstrated the demand for racehorses shows no signs of slowing and that was evident again today with our September Horses in Training Sale producing a superb clearance rate of 94 per cent.

“Our feature draft once again this year was the Gigginstown House dispersal, which has become an annual highlight on the Goffs UK sale calendar, and it lived up to the hype with all 16 lots finding new homes. We wish to extend Gigginstown a sincere thanks for their ongoing support of the September Sale, and we wish all our buyers the very best with their purchases."

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