Supreme Horse Racing Club offload talented Listen Dear for £38,000 at Goffs sale

Nine-year-old mare will stay in Willie Mullins' yard with Syndicates.Racing

Willie Mullins on the selling of Listen Dear: '“There's nothing different about Listen Dear than with any other owner [who sells horses]. We sold a couple of other horses at that sale. When owners ring me up to sell a horse I sell it.'

Listen Dear was sold by the Supreme Horse Racing Club for £38,000 at Goffs UK in Doncaster on ThursdayCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Supreme Horse Racing Club, the syndicate suspended from entering or declaring horses by HRI amid allegations of financial impropriety, was among the sellers at the Goffs UK Doncaster Autumn Horses in Training Sale on Thursday, with the under-scrutiny ownership group offloading the talented hurdler and chaser Listen Dear for £38,000.

The nine-year-old mare has won nine races for Willie Mullins while carrying the club's familiar blue and white silks, including the Listed Cailin Alainn Mares Hurdle on her most recent start.

She will now return to Mullins, albeit under new ownership, having been signed for by Jack Cantillon of Syndicates.Racing. The daughter of Robin Des Champs was consigned by Mullins' Closutton Stables and listed in the catalogue as the property of Supreme Horse Racing Club.

Cantillon said: "I'm delighted to have bought Listen Dear. She goes straight back to Willie Mullins for syndication with Syndicates.Racing. She’s got top class form, winning a Listed race last time, and she’ll give her future syndicate members a big thrill at all the big meetings. We felt she was a no-brainer."

Explaining the auction house's position on offering Listen Dear, Goffs group chief executive Henry Beeby said: "The horse was presented by Closutton Stables and we took our instructions from Willie Mullins. In light of what we heard [regarding Supreme Horse Racing Club] we double checked with Willie that his instructions remained the same.

"As the trainer of the horse, we take our instructions from him, which is what we did."

Beeby added that Goffs had not received any contact from any relevant party concerning Listen Dear's inclusion in the catalogue, nor were they privy to any suggestion syndicate members were unaware of the sale.

On October 7, the day before the Goffs UK Autumn Horses in Training Sale catalogue containing Listen Dear was released, Irish racing's governing body informed Supreme it would no longer be able to make withdrawals from its HRI owner account if management did not respond to requests for details relating to the membership of each horse registered in the company's name, including the size of all shareholdings.

A further warning that the account would be suspended if all the information was not provided by October 18 received no response, and on Monday the club's account was blocked, preventing entries or declarations from being made for any of the club's horses.