'He’s a horse to have a bit of fun with' - Bumpy Evans sells for £60,000 at the Summer Sale

Tim Vaughan’s Bumpy Evans has been in rude form of late, winning his last four starts in increasingly decisive fashion. That run culminated with a 28-length romp at Cartmel on Saturday, an effort that prompted Richard Lee to part with £60,000 when the son of Ocovango was presented midway through the Doncaster Summer Sale on Monday.

That proved to be the top price during a session when trade proved solid enough for the standard of stock on offer. All key market indices showed sizeable year-on-year downturns, but this is largely on account of last year’s sale hosting the Chris Giles dispersal, which produced a particularly buoyant set of figures, not least a £660,000 top lot.

Turnover on Monday was down 81 per cent at £701,400, while the average price dipped by 64 per cent to £9,610. The median was £5,000, 44 per cent back on last year’s figure of £9,000. The clearance rate was 61 per cent as 73 lots sold from 120 offered.

In his end of sale statement, Goffs UK managing director Tim Kent said: “As we’ve seen in other sales across the sector, trade was strong for those who supplied what the market wanted, and as we saw at May’s Spring Horses-in-Training and Point-to-Point Sale, trade for the horses-in-training was strong, as evidenced by prices of £60,000 for the promising chaser Bumpy Evans, £55,000 for Bleu D’Enfer and £41,000 for Irish pointer Pigeon Forge. The Niall Farrell Dispersal also offered some quality horses, with young stock by the likes of Nathaniel and Golden Horn selling up to £48,000.

“The store section of the sale was unfortunately much tougher and certainly reflected the challenges this sector of the market has been facing over the last 18-months. Last year this sale produced record figures courtesy of the Chris Giles Dispersal which sold horses to a world record price of £660,000, so that was always going to be a tough act to follow, but these sales exist to offer an outlet and some years you get something special to offer, like Regent’s Stroll last year. Overall, we are happy with the results achieved and we now turn our attention to the Premier Yearling Sale, which will be held here at Doncaster on Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 August from 10am.”

Bumpy Evans’ four victories under National Hunt rules were preceded by wins in point-to-points at Godstone and Cherrybrook, before he rattled off scores at Leicester, Ffos Las, Bangor-on-Dee and Cartmel. His winning spree began off an official rating of 73, while his latest success came off 93. His Cartmel victory was given a Racing Post Rating (RPR) of 118.

“I saw him win on Saturday at Cartmel and was very impressed with him,” said Lee, whose daughter Kerry will take charge of Bumpy Evans. “He’s a horse to have a bit of fun with and he’s been bought for an existing owner in the yard. I thought he was reasonable money, but time will tell. I’ve paid a lot more than that for untried horses and they’ve turned out to be totally useless! He’ll be out again in the next few weeks.”

Bumpy Evans has now been to the sales on three occasions and has seen his value appreciate each time. He was picked up for just €4,000 by Hillhead Stables when he appeared at the Tattersalls Ireland November National Hunt Foal Sale in 2018, before making €30,000 to Tom Malone at the Derby Sale three years later.

Fine form continues for Fyffe

Owner Jimmy Fyffe consigned Anthony Bromley and trainer Dan Horsford to the role of frustrated underbidders when securing two-time winner Bleu D'Enfer at £55,000. Trainer Donald McCain was in the Doncaster ring and had been bidding on Fyffe’s behalf before the owner took up the running himself with the decisive online raise of £1,000.

“I had Jimmy on the phone and we’d said no more, but he must’ve thought he’d just have another one online,” said McCain. “He’s the standout horse here today, he’s a proper winter horse.”

Bleu D’Enfer was trained for owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede by Stuart Crawford. The seven-year-old son of Turgeon opened his account with a win in an Ayr maiden hurdle in 2024, and he doubled his career tally when scoring over fences at Carlisle last time out. That effort saw him hit a peak RPR of 129.

Bleu d'Enfer was purchased by Jimmy Fyffe for £55,000Credit: Goffs

“We’ve watched him all year, I think we’ve actually beaten him a couple of times at Carlisle this winter, but we’ve always liked him,” McCain added. “I came to see him at the Spring Sale but he didn’t turn up for reasons they’ve stated subsequently.

"Jimmy is a huge supporter of the north of England now and we think this horse might have a nice prize in him. I wasn’t sure what would happen here so there’s no targets yet, but he’s a nice horse to get for a good owner.”

Bleu D'Enfer was making his third appearance on the public market, having previously fetched €15,000 from Forge Stables as a yearling before Bromley went to €30,000 at the Derby Sale in 2021.

Securing a new recruit was not Fyffe’s only cause for celebration on Monday, as he also saw the Adrian Keatley-trained Rochfortbridge make a winning debut in his silks at Ayr at odds of 28-1.

Astbury bags well-related Golden Horn juvenile

Mill House Stud conducted a dispersal of stock that belonged to the late owner-breeder Niall Farrell, with a consignment consisting of broodmares, three-year-old stores, a pair of two-year-olds and two yearlings.

The headline member of the draft was the two-year-old Golden Horn half-brother to Classical Creek, with auctioneer Henry Beeby introducing the youngster as “Surely the pick of the catalogue.” Agents Dan Astbury and Ed Bailey were in agreement, and it was the former who won out at £48,000.

“I’ve bought him for Joey Logan,” Astbury said after signing the docket. “I’m not sure what the plan is yet but he looks like a very nice horse. Obviously he’s got a massive pedigree, and the half-brother looks like he could be very good. This could be a horse to go down the bumper route, or he could even be the type to send to France. All options are open. He’s a lovely horse and I didn’t think he was bad value at that price.”

Dan Astbury and Joe Logan spent £48,000 on a Golden Horn colt out of American CreekCredit: Goffs

The Gordon Elliott-trained Classical Creek won a Tattersalls Farm four-year-old maiden before following up in a Down Royal bumper. The Gigginstown House Stud colour-bearer was last seen finishing third in a Listed bumper at Navan, just a neck behind runner-up Heads Up, who subsequently finished second to Bambino Fever in the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival.

Eight lots consigned by Mill House Stud sold for receipts totalling £125,000, making the Shropshire outfit the highest grossing vendor on the day.

Malone makes his mark

A quickfire round of bidding saw Tom Malone secure wide-margin point-to-point winner Pigeon Forge at £41,000. The four-year-old filly debuted with a promising third at Tullaherin before scoring by ten lengths at Necarne for Colin Bowe and Barry O’Neill back in May.

Malone said the form of Pigeon Forge’s debut effort was just as appealing as her victory, as he explained he had previously tried to buy the winner of the race, Peter Nolan and Noel Meade’s €140,000 purchase Cheers To You.

“The form of her first run was very, very good,” said Malone. “The filly that won the race, I underbid her at €140,000 at the Punchestown Sale, then I bought the horse that was second [Ellie Marie] for €100,000 at Fairyhouse.

“This filly was up the ass of the two of them and came out and won by ten lengths next time, so she’d look nice value to me at that price, especially once we get later into the season. She gave herself a little overreach after she won so she just needed a bit of time to get over that, but Colin Bowe stood over her so that’s good enough for me.”

Malone added: “There was probably only going to be two or three people on her, and given what I know about her first run and how that’s going to stand up a very good race, I thought around 40 grand was about right. She’s going to come home with me now and then we’ll get her sold.”

Asked if he had a client in mind, the agent cracked a wry smile and said: “Plenty!”

Pigeon Forge is by Well Chosen and out of a Beneficial half-sister to Ferny Hollow, meaning Champion Hurdle-winning siblings Morley Street and Granville Again are back in the pedigree. She was making her second appearance at the sales, having cost Bowe’s Milestone Bloodstock €26,000 at last year’s Derby Sale.

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