‘It’s a dream!’ - superpower bidding battle sees Talk The Talk’s half-brother rewrite Derby Sale history at €400,000

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The Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale record was broken for the second time in 24 hours on Thursday when a half-brother to Talk The Talk fetched a gasp-inducing €400,000. 

Tom Malone was involved from early in the piece as Paul Holden provided the first bit of resistance. As things began to get serious, Frank Berry, standing beside JP McManus on the top tier of the auditorium, entered the fray. 

Malone looked in a determined mood, particularly when signalling a bid of €300,000. However, Malone and the McManus camp were ultimately relegated to the role of underbidders after Mags O’Toole and Rob Acheson, son of Robcour supremo Brian Acheson, made the unprecedented play of €400,000. 

“We looked at nearly every horse on the ground and Rob, who’s a very good judge, said from day one, ‘I don’t know what we’re buying here, but I know what we’re not going home without,’” said O’Toole. 

“I know it sounds an awful lot of money but four years ago Brighterdaysahead was €310,000 and others have made €350,000 and whatever, and that’s the market. Nothing ever goes down in price. We’re huge fans of Talk The Talk and this horse has everything; looks, movement, pedigree.” 

Also at the Derby Sale on Thursday:

'He was always going to make a lot of money' - Kirk and Malone go toe-to-toe over €250,000 relation to Allaho

Already named Walk The Talk, the youngster was bred by Lune Vergette of Haras de Faydeau. He is by rising star sire Karaktar and is the second foal out of Walk The Walk. The dam’s first offspring is Talk The Talk, winner of the Grade 1 Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle during the Dublin Racing Festival. There is depth to the pedigree too as the mare is also a Walk In The Park sibling to the dam of Elimay and Goshen.

Rob Acheson shakes hands with John Bleahen after securing the half-brother to Talk The TalkCredit: www.healyracing.ie

Acheson picked up the thread, saying: “We were both mad keen to get into the stallion again. We’ve been waiting for the progeny of his better mares to come through as we’ve had two so far [Kala Conti and Kamikaz Du Plessis] and they’ve both won multiple races. We’ve been playing the waiting game as it’s been three years since we bought one. 

“As Mags said, we saw pretty much everything here and he was just a standout. We’ve actually tried to get into the family before with horses under the second dam but it hasn’t come to fruition. When an opportunity comes along to get into a family you’ve been desperate to get into, you have to give it a go.” 

Acheson said training plans would be made in due course, saying: “He’s going to Paddy Kennedy to be broken and we’ll make a decision about a trainer after that. The half-brother ran in a Grade 1 at four and he seems like a forward horse, so we’ll get ready to kick on with him.” 

Asked if they had expected to be pushed into such uncharted waters in terms of price, O’Toole said: “Absolutely not! We got swept along, as did JP and Tom Malone. The standard of the horses here is just fabulous though and the market is hot, as it has been at all the sales this year. They’ve produced some beautiful horses.”

The record-breaking offering was sold by John Bleahen’s Lakefield Farm, the same vendor who topped the Derby Sale with Brighterdaysahead in 2022.

Walk The Talk brings a record-breaking €400,000 Credit: www.healyracing.ie

“It’s a dream,” said an emotional Bleahen. “I knew I had everybody in the place interested from the word go.” 

Explaining how he came to find the record-breaking youngster, Bleahen said: “He was a very lucky find. A lot of the credit goes to my brother Hugh, we owned him together. He spotted the horse first. 

“He was bred in France by Lune Vergette, who’s a great lady and a great breeder. Dancing City came from her farm too so it’s been very lucky for us. We looked at him together and bought him in ten seconds; it was an easy buy because you don’t come across horses like him often.”

Bleahen expanded on his perspective on the record-busting trade, saying: “When you’re buying these horses as foals, the dream is to get €80,000 or €100,000. That’s the dream. You can never value those horses after €100,000. It was massive to see JP appearing here himself, the whole racing industry owes him so much. Tom Malone is an absolute legend and so plucky, he kept coming back, and Mags O’Toole and Robcour, they’re fabulous people.” 

The Lakefield Farm team celebrate the record-breaking resultCredit: www.healyracing.ie

He also credited the work his team put in at the County Galway operation. 

“I have probably the best guy in the whole world working for me in Wesley Hayes,” he said. “He’s my eyes and ears and takes care of the whole thing. I don’t want to sound like Aidan O’Brien, but the team needs so much credit because they live and breathe these horses.” 

He added: “I didn’t have any stress. The only stress was that Luke and I forgot to set the reserve! He had a €50,000 reserve because they’re here to be sold. If he’s anything like the last one, Brighterdaysahead, it’d be great.”

The Derby Sale might boast a storied history, but never before has turnover surpassed the €20 million mark. 

However, after two days of energetic trade aggregate sales sat at a whopping €20,938,500. That figure represents a 19 per cent year-on-year increase and a 12 per cent gain on the previous benchmark, which was set in 2022. 

The average price was also a new sale-best at €63,880, a 20 per cent increase on last year, while the median was up 12 points to €48,000. The clearance rate closed at an impressive 89 per cent as 327 sold from 366 offered.

Goliath Du Berlais hands out huge pinhooking result

Sire of the moment Goliath Du Berlais supplied another monster result when Ian Ferguson went to €260,000 for one of his sons whose page includes the likes of The New Lion and the sire Diamond Boy. Ferguson indicated his purchase had been made on behalf of a Britain-based end-user. 

The three-year-old delivered a substantial pinhooking profit for Ger Hannon, having been picked up by the Ralahine Stud man for just €40,000 in 2023. 

Ian Ferguson: 'I bought him when Goliath Du Berlais hadn’t had a runner, and I probably gave a good price for him at the time'Credit: www.healyracing.ie

“I bought him when Goliath Du Berlais hadn’t had a runner, and I probably gave a good price for him at the time,” said Hannon, a member of the Tattersalls Ireland bloodstock team. “He was always a gorgeous model. I bought him from Cleaboy Stud, Sean Gorman, a great man to buy off. 

“Shortly after I bought him he started to look cheap as the sire took off. He’s a stunner and I’ve been looking forward to bringing him to the Derby Sale. My family has had great days here. My father is gone three and a half years, so it’s so special to have my mother, my wife and children here. It's also special to be part of the team here.” 

The youngster was the most expensive of Goliath Du Berlais’ seven sold lots at this year’s Derby Sale. The group generated receipts totalling €1,108,000 and an average price of €158,285. 

Skelton spends big for son of Protektorat’s sire

Willie Mullins wasn’t the only champion trainer shopping on Thursday. Dan Skelton, alongside sales ring ally Ryan Mahon, got in on the action when going to €230,000 for the Saint Des Saints half-brother to Mullins’ Grade 2 novice hurdle winner He’s On Fire. The youngster, already named Saint Fissaki, was offered by Altenbach Bloodstock. 

“Obviously he’s by Saint Des Saints, who’s Protektorat’s sire, so I’m happy about that,” said Skelton. “Kapgarde is a good broodmare sire too. He moves beautifully and has a good, relaxed attitude. 

“We’ve underbid quite a lot of big lots, and at some stage we had to try and stretch for one or two; otherwise you’ll only ever be the underbidder. I think there’s a massive desire for having these unbroken horses that no one knows what they can or can’t do.” 

Dan Skelton: 'He’s by Saint Des Saints, who’s Protektorat’s sire, so I’m happy about that'Credit: www.healyracing.ie

Altenbach Bloodstock’s Tom Whitehead said: “We were lucky that we got a couple of very good updates in the pedigree. He’s a lovely horse and Willie’s horse looks very good too. I bought him as a foal in France. Every year, we spend a week travelling around looking at foals.” 

Altenbach Bloodstock enjoyed another notable result later in the day when Joey Logan, bidding on behalf of the Crystal Point Partnership, went to €205,000 for Bernesq, a Doctor Dino half-brother to Camprond and Berjou. 

“He’s a cracker,” said Logan. “We were waiting for him all day. Brian and Ger [Lawless, Crystal Point Partnership] and Abbie [O'Connor] had a fantastic season point-to-pointing and he’ll be going down that route. It’s a tasty price for a point-to-pointer, but we’ve had great luck before and Brian, Ger and Abbie are such good people that we just had to go the extra bit. We loved the horse. He’s a beautiful model and he’s very racy.” 

Elliott moves for son of Moises Has

Creighmore Stables topped the recent Goffs Arkle Sale when selling a son of Goliath Du Berlais to Gordon Elliott for €275,000. The association between vendor and buyer was renewed when the trainer signed at €225,000 for Ni Trop Tard, a Moises Has half-brother to the Grade 2-placed Innatendue. 

Elliott had finished runner-up to Joe Tizzard for day one’s top lot, but this transaction saw those roles reversed. 

Gordon Elliott stretches to €275,000 for Ni Trop Tard, a son of Moises HasCredit: www.healyracing.ie

“He’s the one we picked out from today so we’re delighted to get him,” said Elliott. “The sire is going well and he’s a good athletic horse so we’re very happy to have him. I haven’t had one by the sire before, or that’s been any good anyway. Joe got the top one yesterday so we’ve got one for ourselves today.” 

Moises Has, a son of Martaline who stands at Haras du Hoguenet at a fee of €8,000, has already produced a Grade 1 performer from his first crop; Bourbon finished runner-up to Leopard Du Berlais in the Prix Cambaceres.

Opportunity knocks for Dwan and Bulgin

Crystal Ocean was by far the highest-grossing sire across the two days, with 30 lots sold for receipts totalling €2,485,000 and an average of €82,835. 

His leading offering changed hands early on Thursday when Ian Ferguson’s name appeared on the €185,000 ticket for a three-year-old from John Dwan’s Ballyreddin Stud. 

It was the second significant transaction in the family this year after the youngster’s four-year-old half-brother Chanson Du Jury was bought by Gordon Elliott for €200,000 at the Goffs Punchestown Sale after making a winning debut. 

“It’s a lovely price for a lovely horse,” said Dwan. “He’s been going down well all week so we were very hopeful he’d hit the mark, which he did. We’re over the moon.” 

Dwan explained this was not the first time he had offered the strapping gelding for sale. He had initially sold him to Toby Bulgin for £46,000 at the Goffs UK British National Hunt Breeders Showcase. 

“I actually bred the horse and sold him to Toby Bulgin as a foal,” he said. “When his four-year-old brother won for Johnny Fogarty at Dromahane a couple of months back, I rang Toby and said, ‘There’s an opportunity here. If the horse is as nice as he was as a foal, with the brother winning and Crystal Ocean going well, maybe it’s something you should consider.’ 

“He rang me back 20 minutes later and said, ‘Would you consign him?’ Of course, I said I’d be delighted to. That’s how it happened. I’ve had him for the last nine weeks and it’s ended up a nice little story.” 

A sales ring star for Santiago

It is almost six years to the day that Santiago landed his biggest racecourse victory in the Irish Derby. The Castlehyde Stud resident went on to enjoy the biggest result of his second career when Matt Coleman and O’Neill Racing went to €170,000 for a half-brother to Grade 2-winning hurdler Loughglynn. 

The three-year-old was sold through Jamie Codd’s Churchlands Stables having been pinhooked for just €22,000. 

“We thought he was a beautiful horse,” said Coleman. “This is actually the third Santiago I’ve bought; two have been for the O’Neills and one for Rebecca Menzies. They’ve really impressed me and this is a very athletic horse. There’s a lot of Authorized and Montjeu in him; he’s got that sleek, refined quality. The half-brother looks a smart horse and Saint Des Saints is debatably the best broodmare sire in National Hunt racing.” 

A gelding by Santiago sells to Stroud Coleman Bloodstock and O'Neill Racing for €170,000Credit: www.healyracing.ie

The cross-code agent added: “Trade has been very strong and the real stars of the show have been so difficult to buy. That’s what the bloodstock market is like. Whether it’s Flat or jumps, the ones we really identify as the best prospects seem to be very difficult to get your hands on.” 

Santiago had nine lots sell for a combined €585,000 at an average price of €65,000. His first three-year-old crop was bred at a fee of €4,500.

More Derby Sale stories: 

'He was always going to make a lot of money' - Kirk and Malone go toe-to-toe over €250,000 relation to Allaho 

‘At least we’re still talking!’ - Mullins and McManus trade blows at lively Derby Sale opener 

‘It’s a bad job if that doesn’t get you going a bit!’ - jumping heavyweights clash as sibling to Brighterdaysahead sets Derby Sale record at €370,000