'I never believed he'd make that much' - £90,000 son of Blue Bresil sets British National Hunt foal record in Doncaster

Pinhookers were out in force for the inaugural edition of the British National Hunt Breeders Showcase in Doncaster on Friday, where an afternoon of lively trade was capped with a record-setting top lot. 

Turnover hit £1,277,500, with an average price of £19,655 and a median of £15,000. The clearance rate was 78 per cent as 65 foals sold from 83 offered.

The vast majority of the day’s headline offerings were sourced with resale in mind, and that is precisely the plan for the son of Blue Bresil who set a British National Hunt foal record when knocked down to Dick Frisby at £90,000. Peter Molony and Ben Case were left filling the role of frustrated underbidders.  

Bred and offered by Mill House Stud, the colt possesses a pedigree packed with National Hunt talent. He is out of Scorpio Queen, the winner of a Southwell bumper during her time in training and a sibling to four black type performers. They include Master Of The Hall, who claimed the Grade 2 Reynoldstown Novices' Chase, and Leinster National scorer Pairofbrowneyes. The mare is also a half-sister to Dun Dun, dam of the top-class Samcro. 

“I think he’s gorgeous, a lovely horse with a lovely pedigree,” said Frisby. “He’ll be resold as a store. Blue Bresil is a very good sire; we’ve got a lot of his youngstock at the moment. There’s some very good foals here. We come here [to the January Sale] every year and I think this new sale has worked well. It’s very competitive in the ring.” 

Juliet Minton is congratulated by Tim Kent after her Blue Bresil colt's £90,000 sale to Dick FrisbyCredit: Goffs

A delighted Juliet Minton of Mill House Stud took up the story of how she came to own Scorpio Queen, saying: “The mare was in training with Nicky [Henderson] but was injured in a race when she struck into herself very badly. Her owner, Bunny Roberts, said if you want to pay the vet bills and take a chance that she will survive you can have her.

“She was six at the time. We sold [first foal] Speculatrix at the Land Rover Sale for €115,000 and she’s now trained by Gordon Elliott for Gigginstown, we sold her Blue Bresil filly as a yearling [for £38,000] and we’ve kept the Harzand two-year-old filly. 

“We have to sell some of them though and because he was so nice we didn’t have to wait. The dam is in foal to Golden Horn and all being well she will go back to him. It’s nice having stallions of that quality in this country.”

On the record-breaking price, Minton added: “I never believed he’d make that much. He had a £40,000 reserve on him and I thought he might make £60,000, but I didn’t think he’d make £90,000. He’d be right up there with the best ones we’ve ever consigned. He was a lovely foal the day he was born and he’s just continued on that way. He had the most amazing temperament and has been easy all the way through.” 

Frisby also secured a £23,000 son of Jack Hobbs offered by Outhill Farm. 

Coolmara keep it in the family

The second-top lot was also sourced with resale in mind, with Kieran Mariga from Coolmara Stables bidding £65,000 for the Saint Des Saints colt out of Only For Love from Yeo Barton Bloodstock. 

Mariga knows plenty about the family as he bought the colt’s No Risk At All half-sister for £56,000 at last year’s January Sale. She is due to head into training with Henry de Bromhead and connections will be hoping she can provide her sibling with an eye-catching pedigree update before he next comes under the hammer. 

“We bought the No Risk At All half-sister a couple of years ago and she’ll go racing as she’s being broken in at the moment,” said Mariga. “They’re very alike. The filly has turned into a mighty fine animal and this is a beautiful colt with good size and good breeding. We’ll probably bring him back as a three-year-old, that’s the plan at the moment anyway.” 

The breeder and pinhooker also gave his assessment of the new event, saying: “It’s a very good foal sale and there’s some great pedigrees here.” 

Yeo Barton Bloodstock's Saint Des Saints colt realises £65,000 to Coolmara Stables at DoncasterCredit: Goffs

Mariga tasted Cheltenham Festival success when Maskada landed this year’s Grand Annual Handicap Chase, and the owner provided an update on his most famous colour bearer. “Henry is anxious to go to the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham to take on Jonbon, which we might do,” he said. “She’s in great form.” 

Sarah Faulks from Yeo Barton Bloodstock was not only delighted with the colt’s price, but the identity of the buyer too. She said: “It’s wonderful and this doesn’t happen without lots of hard work from the team at home. He’s gone to a super new home as Coolmara is a really good place. They bought the No Risk At All half-sister so it's jolly nice they’ve bought him too.” 

Faulks also explained the thinking behind breeding to Saint Des Saints, who stands at the jumps arm of Haras d'Etreham at a fee of €15,000, saying: “Our little USP is offering a little bit of France and I’m a big fan of French stallions. A Saint Des Saints foal is a bit of a limited edition; the sire is 25 rising 26 so there aren’t going to be too many more of them about. We have six mares at home and three in France.” 

Coolmara took home a second foal when the family run operation went to £44,000 for Goldford Stud’s Nathaniel filly out of Urticaire. The priciest daughter of Nathaniel sold on the day fetched £50,000 from BLF Farm, with Peel Bloodstock offering the filly out of Shanning, a black type-placed half-sister to Allaho.

Tally-Ho take aim at Golden colt 

The O’Callaghan family of Tally-Ho Stud got among the action when they secured a son of Golden Horn bred by Willie Jenks and consigned by Outhill Farm at £60,000. There is plenty of black type throughout the pedigree, not least because the dam is a sibling to high-class talents such as Akilak and Akadora. 

Outhill Farm's Golden Horn colt after his sale to Tally-Ho Stud for £60,000Credit: Goffs

“He’s a cracking foal and he’s the one we wanted,” said a spokesman for Tally-Ho, who wished to remain anonymous. “We like the sire and we’ve bought one by him already privately. We think he could work out so we’re happy to have them. He was very well prepared by the breeders so fair play to them.” 

Dwyer gets in early

Just the second lot into the ring brought one of the day’s more notable prices when Mark Dwyer of Oaks Farm Stables went to £47,000 for the Golden Horn colt from Molland Ridge Stud. 

The youngster, who was offered as part of the John Lightfoot dispersal, is the first foal out of Lilly Pedlar, a winning daughter of Yeats from the family of Long Run. The dam picked up black type of her own when she was third to Bourbon Beauty in a Grade 2 mares’ novice hurdle. 

“He was one of the main foals we fancied here today and obviously the sire is on an upward curve,” said Dwyer. “Hopefully he’ll come back to be resold as a three-year-old, although I haven’t decided where yet.”

He added: “There’s a good selection of foals here. I think they’ve done a good job getting 100 into the catalogue as it means there’s plenty to look at and plenty to go after if you fancy it. It’s a good initiative for buyers and it gives the British seller a platform without having to put their foals on a boat.” 

Ross enjoys his day in the sun

Stuart Ross’s Willow Wood Farm began the day by announcing that Irish Derby and St Leger hero Capri will stand at the Cheshire stud for 2024, and a productive day continued when the outfit sold a son of Crystal Ocean to Toby Bulgin for £46,000. 

“We were asked to consign him on behalf of a client and he’s been a real good goer, a great sort, from the first day we got him,” said Ross, for whom this was a personal-best result as a consignor. “To be honest, we always knew he was going to make a good price. We were confident because he stood out.” 

The vendor added with a smile: “I’m a big fan of Crystal Ocean after this sale but Capri beat him in the St Leger. I’ve been telling anyone who’ll listen to me all about the horse.”

He also reflected on the new sale format, saying: “It’s a fantastic, innovative idea and it’s been really well done. It’s nice to be selling the cream of the foal crop in nicer autumnal weather and not midwinter gloom, and as it’s the first National Hunt foal sale of the year it sets the tone for the other sales to come.”

At the close of trade, Goffs UK's managing director Tim Kent said: "Firstly, we would like to thank all of today’s vendors for supporting this new venture. We asked British National Hunt breeders to get behind this new initiative and we were overwhelmed by the response, but we still had to prove this concept would work, so to achieve these results and break a new record is an incredible result for Goffs and for British National Hunt breeders.

"Yesterday’s show and social evening provided the perfect platform to introduce the sale and celebrate the best of British and we would like to thank the judges while congratulating Jackie Chugg and Sally Aston on winning the Richard Aston Colts’ class and Robert Chugg Fillies’ class respectively. We have welcomed a huge number of people to Doncaster over the last two days, with many vendors commenting that no one is missing, and that has created a solid market which has produced some wonderful results, in particular Mill House Stud’s Blue Bresil colt which set a new British record for a National Hunt foal when selling to Richard Frisby for £90,000.

“New ventures always come with a degree of risk and, once again, we would like to extend a huge thanks to all our clients who made this such a success while we look forward to reviewing the sale before building again in 2024. Meanwhile, we will be back on the road to discuss our January Sale with vendors over the coming weeks while we look forward to seeing everyone at the Goffs December Sale on December 11-14."

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