Search for another Monkfish begins again at Tattersalls in May

Thursday’s Tattersalls Cheltenham May Sale was the setting for Cormac Doyle’s most successful Irish point-to-point graduate to go through the ring so far and the Wexford-based consignor returns with another promising recruit on his hands.

Back in 2018 the buying partnership of Harold Kirk and Willie Mullins went to £235,000 to secure Doyle’s Stowlin winner Monkfish, who now boasts back-to-back Grade 1 titles at Cheltenham.

It was a price eclipsed only by the new sale record of £280,000 paid by the same team for Robert Tyner’s El Barra, who has been slower to come to hand but concluded a useful novice hurdling campaign with a win at Punchestown.

Doyle brings two prospects to this year’s venue of Park Paddocks in Newmarket. While Malinas gelding Doctor Foley showed recent ability in finishing third in a Punchestown maiden, his chief hope for a decent result appears to be the impressive Necarne winner Call Her Now.

The four-year-old is very closely related to National Hunt talisman and Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Denman, being by the same sire in Presenting and out of his half-sister Denwoman. The mare has already produced Tactical Move, who landed a Clonmel bumper for Mullins.

"She’s got a lovely pedigree, I bought her privately off Kieran Cotter," Doyle explained. "I always loved her, she was a lovely mare from day one, she was the best mare I had in training all year."

Doyle and his brothers Sean and Donnchadh regularly appear among the top bracket of vendors at these events. Cormac has reached the leaderboard at the March and April gatherings with the £130,000 Pay The Pilot and £175,000 Cool Survivor, the latter being behind only Donnchadh’s American Mike last month.

"We’ve had a good year this year," he said. "Last year was very tricky with Covid, we didn’t have the chance to run many but when the point-to-points got back in March that was a great help. [Call Her Now] was a later one. We had her ready for a while, gave her a little break, got her back going and then we were going to throw her out in a field but the rain came, it got a bit soft and we said we’d take our chance."

All the big names in Irish pointing have been catching up for lost time with Milestone Stables’ Colin Bowe responsible for some 14 of the 58 catalogued lots, including Pimlico Point, who scored on his debut at Ballindenisk and is by Flemensfirth out of Nickname mare Royale Flag, who landed the Grade 1 Prix Maurice Gillois at Auteuil.

The other Doyle brothers are both represented by recent winners, Donnchadh with Falco gelding Tahmuras and Sean by Iceburgh Bay, while another leading practitioner, Denis Murphy, has a trio of unknown quantities to offer.

Several more mares stand out, with Harley Dunne’s Emma Blue going into many notebooks at Ballingarry and Barry Hamilton's See A Stride beating geldings at Broughshane.

It is encouraging to see a handful of British-trained pointers among the entries too, and the Jason Rees-owned Best Pal, who also has Denman in his pedigree, looked a four-year-old of substance when coming clear in a bumper at Larkhill in April.

The sale begins at 1pm on Thursday and the catalogue can be viewed here.

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