Promising pointers and bumper horses among Cheltenham Festival sale entries

An initial intake of 15 lots who will go under the hammer at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale next Thursday has been unveiled by the company.

The auction of promising point-to-point and bumper performers held on the eve of the Gold Cup often produces fireworks – not least last year when two horses made the highest price of £330,000, one of them, Andy Dufresne, completing a monumental pinhook for Gordon Elliott's travelling head girl Camilla Sharples.

Andy Dufresne has since won a Down Royal bumper by ten lengths for Elliott and new owner JP McManus.

Other notable graduates of the Cheltenham Festival Sale include Minella Rocco, who topped the inaugural edition in 2014 at £260,000 and later won the National Hunt Chase and took second in the Gold Cup, and Santini, a £150,000 purchase who landed the Sefton Novices' Hurdle last year and is a leading contender for the RSA Novices' Chase next week.

This year's lots include Eclair Surf (by Califet), Giants Table (Great Pretender), Minella Trump (Shantou), My Whirlwind (Stowaway), Ramillies (Shantou) and Sporting John (Getaway), all of whom scored between the flags at the weekend.

The Cormac Doyle-trained Eclair Surf managed to win by a distance, no less, in testing conditions at Bandon.

Enjoy D'Allen (Network), Linelee King (Martaline), Power Of Pause (Doyen), Telmesomethinggirl (Stowaway) and Young Buck (Yeats) are all point-to-point winners within the last month.

Meanwhile another sale entrant, Crypto (Gold Well), won a Newcastle bumper by 16 lengths for Micky Hammond on Tuesday.

View the catalogue here

More horses will be added to the sale after this weekend's racing.

Lots will be available to view at Cheltenham from 10.30am to 6.30pm next Wednesday and from 8.30am to 4pm on Thursday.

They will be stabled at the RDA Stables situated south of the North Gate entrance at Cheltenham, adjacent to the crossover to the internal exercise track.

Courtesy transport will be available to the RDA Stables, with the collection point found between the North Gate entrance and the Tattersalls owners and trainers pavilion.

The lots will be available to view in the pre-parade ring at 5.50pm on Thursday, with the sale getting underway in the winner's enclosure at 6.15pm.

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