‘Everything’s on the table’ - Coolmore add well-bred Walk In The Park to the portfolio at €100,000

Coolmore continued to harvest the cream of Walk In The Park’s foal crop when paying €100,000 for a well-bred son of the champion jumps sire during the opening stanza of the Goffs December National Hunt Sale on Monday morning.

The six-figure youngster is the third foal out of Annie G, a daughter of Getaway who won two races over timber for Henry de Bromhead. Her finest hour came when landing a Listed contest at Galway, while she also ran fourth in the Grade 3 Joe Mac Novice Hurdle.

She is a half-sister to Westerner Point, whose 12 victories include two renewals of the Tim Duggan Memorial Handicap Chase. The Walk In The Park colt was bred by the Gallagher family and sold through Ballincurrig House Stud.

“He’s a very, very smart horse out of a good racemare,” said Coolmore’s Gerry Aherne. “I didn’t think I would have to pay that much for him, but when these types of foals come on the market you have to stretch for them. I’m happy to have him and genuinely have no plans. We’ll get him home and see how we go.”

The operation’s desire to produce a sire son of Walk In The Park has been well publicised. However, Aherne stressed that not all of the team’s recruits would head out on that programme.

“Not every horse suits that job,” he said. “We’ll see how they develop. We won’t have the sire for ever; we’re going to treat the stock with kid gloves and do the best by them. If they can be early then well and good, and if they need time we will give them time.

“We’re in December now, so at the end of next summer we’ll see how they’ve developed, what has changed and what’s happening in the pedigree. There are so many things to take into account.

“Today, we just try to buy them, take them home and look after them. At the end of next summer, the team will sit down and we go through them all. Some of them will be brought back for sale, some will race in Ireland and England, and some will go to France. Everything’s on the table.”

Gerry Aherne: "When these types of foals come on the market you have to stretch for them"Credit: Sophie Webber Photography

Aherne added another son of Walk In The Park to the haul late in the piece when bidding €80,000 for the colt out of Glasgow Allen from The Beeches Stud. The dam is a sibling to four winners, including the brilliant Envoi Allen, who had notched a remarkable tenth Grade 1 success in the BetVictor Champion Chase at Down Royal since the catalogue was released.

And that was not the only important update in the pedigree. Glasgow Allen’s first foal, Highland Crystal, was catalogued as unraced but is now unbeaten in two starts for Robcour and Gordon Elliott. The three-year-old daughter of Crystal Ocean won a Punchestown fillies academy hurdle on debut before claiming a Listed contest at Newbury on her most recent outing.

There was lively trade throughout the session, as reflected by a clearance rate of 78 per cent. That was achieved after 260 lots were offered and 202 found a buyer.

In turn, turnover was up 49 per cent year-on-year to €3,263,750, helped in part by an increased catalogue. The average was up by three per cent to €16,160, although the median dipped by eight points to €11,000.

Futter sees the Doctor

There was a distinctly French flavour to the head of the market, with sons of Doctor Dino, Goliath Du Berlais and Nirvana Du Berlais all bringing chunky prices.

The team from David Futter’s Yorton Farm was responsible for the €90,000 play that secured the Doctor Dino colt out of the winning and Grade 3-placed Daring Rose from Nigel and Sarah Faulks’ Yeo Barton Bloodstock draft.

The youngster is a sibling to two winners, namely Goffs Defender Bumper scorer Wonderful Everyday and the winning hurdler Just A Rose, a £175,000 recruit by Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls.

“We’ll take him home and make a plan,” said Futter. “We could go straight into training with him or he could always end up in our sale. He’s an exceptional foal who’s come from a good breeder. We know Doctor Dino well, he speaks for himself, and the mare’s two from two as well. It’s great to get him and it’s lovely to be back here. There’s a great selection of foals so we’re enjoying ourselves.”

David Futter with the ticket for the €90,000 Doctor Dino coltCredit: Sophie Webber Photography

Futter added: “The team put a price on him and we had a figure in our head, but we’re fortunate that we don’t have to resell him, we can put him into training, so that makes things easier. We think we got value though and he’s a nice foal, so time will tell. That’s the fourth we’ve bought today and we’re staying for the next couple of days, but we’ll probably have run out of money by tomorrow afternoon!”

Daring Rose is a sibling to four black type performers, including the Grade 1-winning AQPS talent Guerrier Rose. Sarah Faulks said: “I’m delighted. This is the second time we’ve done well at this sale, as four years ago we sold a Saint Des Saints colt for the same sum. He’s going to Yorton, which I’m glad about, as they’ll give him a good home.

“I bought the mare out of the Munir and Souede dispersal at Arqana seven years ago [for €85,000]. She was in foal to Saint Des Saints, which turned out to be Just A Rose, and then we bred an Authorized filly from her.

“Her next foal was Wonderful Everyday, who will get her black type, even if she did get seasick on the Irish Sea because she was travelling at such a bad time last time she ran. This colt was the mare’s fourth foal and he’s a beautiful specimen.”

Dwyer lands Goliath bid

Newmarket House Stud’s Goliath Du Berlais colt went the way of Mark Dwyer’s Oaks Farm Stables at €85,000. The youngster is the first foal out of Dorans Weir, a daughter of Fame And Glory who won a Listed mares’ bumper at Fairyhouse during her time in training with Michael Hourigan.

“We thought he was as good a foal as was here today,” said Dwyer. “We’ve been following the sire as we have one or two by him at home. He’s progressive, and hopefully he’ll stay that way.”

Goliath Du Berlais is by Saint Des Saints and won the Grade 1 Prix Ferdinand Dufaure. He stands at Haras de la Tuilerie, where his fee has been increased to €20,000 for the upcoming breeding season. His oldest crop are just four, and include the Grade 2-winning Altura and the dual Grade 3 scorer Sobriquette.

Nirvana Du Berlais hot spell continues

Nirvana Du Berlais hit the headlines over the weekend as the sire of easy Grade 1 Henry VIII Novices' Chase winner Lulamba, and he was also represented by a €75,000 foal on Monday.

The colt out of Belle Camille was sold by Tom Coughlan and bought by Kevin Ross Bloodstock on behalf of Chris Jones’s Killeen Glebe outfit.

There could be more Grade 1 updates forthcoming, not least as the dam is a sibling to the dam of Jango Baie. He began his season with an impressive strike in the Grade 2 Ladbrokes 1965 Chase at Ascot and is second favourite for the King George VI Chase at Kempton over the festive period.

Anna Ross said of the colt: “He’s by a very good sire who’s progressing all the time. He looks like the next big thing and he had a great winner on Saturday in Lulamba.

“This is a lovely horse with a lot of quality and good size. There’s not going to be a lot by the sire coming back to the sales, hopefully. The family is happening, there’s a recent point-to-point winner [Boultydoolin] who’s a full-brother to Cantico and he looks like a promising horse, while Jango Baie obviously speaks for himself. Hopefully there’s more to come further down the page too.

“He’s been bought for Chris Jones for resale. You have to pay for the nice ones, and this one had a bit of rarity value being by Nirvana Du Berlais. You have to stick out and go the extra mile sometimes.”

Tom Coughlan's Nirvana Du Berlais colt out of Belle Camille makes €75,000 to Kevin Ross Bloodstock and Killeen GlebeCredit: Sophie Webber Photography

Reacting to the transaction, Coughlan said: “We’re absolutely delighted. We bought the dam in foal to Bathyrhon in France last year and we also have the dam’s full-sister All You Need. She was a very good racemare for Barry Connell and bred Cantico, a good bumper horse for Willie Mullins. We love mares by Crillon as he’s a very good damsire. I think he was a very underrated sire himself, too.”

On the trajectory of Nirvana Du Berlais, Coughlan added: “I think he’s going to be a top, top stallion, a serious sire. We have two mares in foal to him again this year. I just liked his profile, as he was a very good racehorse by Martaline out of a Mansonnien mare. He’s commercial and massive value at his current fee.”

Despite coming up with Lulamba and fellow Grade 1 hero Leader Sport, who struck in the Prix Maurice Gillois at Auteuil, Haras de la Hetraie have taken a restrained approach with Nirvana Du Berlais’s covering fee.

He spent his sixth consecutive season at €6,500 in 2025, and has been pitched at just €7,500 for next year.

Doctor Doctor

Two of the day’s top ten lots were by Doctor Dino, with Peter Molony of Rathmore Stud securing the other at €72,000. Beechlane Stables’ colt is the second foal out of Another Walk, a Walk In The Park half-sister to three black-type runners, most notably the dual Grade 1 winner Joncol.

Molony is already invested in this family having paid €80,000 for the youngster’s year-older sibling 12 months ago.

“I bought his half-brother last year, he’s by No Risk At All,” said the purchaser. “He’s at home and I absolutely love him. I love this horse as well. This horse might be a scopier type, but they’re both wonderful movers. He’s the first Doctor Dino I’ve had and I’ve wanted one for a long time. He’ll be back here at the Arkle Sale in a few years’ time hopefully.”

The Goffs December National Hunt Sale continues on Tuesday at 10am.