Dan Skelton swoops for €500,000 sale-topper in Auteuil who 'is ready-made to go straight into the big races'

Click here to add us to your Google preferred sources or find out more here

Dan Skelton and his key buying ally Ryan Mahon lit up Saturday's Arqana Grand Steeple Sale after racing at Auteuil with a €500,000 winning bid for top four-year-old hurdler Isaac Of York. 

The sale returned in physical form for the first time in a number of years and, with a clearance rate of just 25 per cent, it cannot be declared an unqualified success. The aggregate finished at €1,165,000, while the average stood at €291,250 and the median came in at €295,000. 

Isaac Of York already has the fifth-highest Racing Post Rating of any progeny by Haras de Cercy stallion Ivanhowe, and is out of the Alexandros mare Taziana, herself a daughter of Prix de Diane-placed Tryphosa.

After speaking to the gelding’s new owner, Skelton said: “His form is very good and he’s ready-made to go straight into the big races. So for any owner he’s the perfect buy. 

“The price is the price, we don’t set the market. But it’s very competitive, and we enjoy buying French horses, so hopefully he’s lucky.”

Trainer Mathieu Pitart has already got some major performances out of Isaac Of York, who was runner-up to Delmegan in a Grade 2 at Auteuil last month, a step forward from his fourth-placed effort at Grade 3 level behind the same rival in March.

“Normally when we’re buying horses they have one, maybe two starts and we don’t know the worth of the form,” said Skelton. “But when you have some collateral form and a number of races together, it gives you some confidence.

“I think his rating from France to home equates to 145 or 150, so in Britain you can go straight into the graded races, so it works very well. 

“He has the opportunity to go steeplechasing, which is what he’s built for. 

“He’s not here but I saw him earlier today and he’s a big horse, who hopefully has a big future.”

Ivanhowe’s best progeny over jumps to date is Quai De Bourbon, but Skelton will not pull the trigger on a chasing career straight away. 

“He’s for an existing client and hopefully he’s a very exciting horse,” said the newly minted champion trainer.

“He’s only four so I think we’ll stay over hurdles. For the UK model, from four into five, by the time you get to the graded races at Christmas and beyond over fences, you don’t have the opportunity with the weight allowance.

“I think the best thing is to stay over hurdles, make him into a graded hurdler next spring, and then go chasing from five into six.” 

Jerry McGrath struck a winning bid of €260,000 for Darby O’GillCredit: ZUZANNA LUPA

In a session when vendors were not in a hurry to let their stock go at any price - only four of the 14 lots offered found a new buyer immediately - Nat Barnett and Olly Murphy struck a notable blow, with the trainer set to take delivery of Nils Holgerson, another son of Ivanhowe. The gelding came under the hammer having won his sole start in a three-year-old hurdle at Sable-sur-Sarthe last month for Hugo Merienne. 

From the wider family of Champion Chaser Azertyuiop, the three-year-old is out of the AQPS mare Goosebump, whose first progeny is already a winner. 

After beating out the Mahon/Skelton tandem at €340,000, a thrilled Barnett said: “I’m so thrilled because I’ve been following this horse for a long time. He worked well with a horse of Hugos who belongs to a client of mine. 

“He did something quite special in winning his race last month and he’ll go to Britain.”

Darby O’Gill has proved to be one of the slower maturing Walk In The Park entries sent by Coolmore to Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm but showed a decent level of form in three starts at the age of four this spring, and ran fourth in the Prix Ex Voto earlier in the afternoon. 

The colt is the first progeny out of the Cheltenham Festival-winning chaser Shattered Love, and was purchased by Gerry Aherne for €155,000 as a foal at Goffs in 2022. 

Jerry McGrath struck the winning bid at €260,000, securing Darby O’Gill for an existing client, with the choice of trainers in Britain or Ireland yet to be made. 

Read more:

‘I think we touched the sky’ - Lossiemouth’s sister heading to Ireland after €440,000 strike at inaugural Aktem sale 

Relation to Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris contender tops Aktem sale at €510,000 

1,000 Guineas winner Cachet dies in Japan 

'She's just astonishing' - patience paying off for rapidly progressive Royal Velvet