'The pressure was on because everyone was in love with him' - the team responsible for selling Jonbon hope to have struck gold again at Goffs

“The pressure is on now again!” exclaimed Ellmarie Holden when she was asked to compare a previous six-figure store sale purchase, who she and her father Paul turned into a record point-to-pointer seller, and the No Risk At All gelding they bought for €190,000 on the opening day of the Goffs Arkle Sale on Tuesday.

Six years ago they bought a Walk In The Park three-year-old full-brother to Douvan, who is now better known as Jonbon, for €140,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale. Less than 17 months later he sold at the Goffs UK point-to-point sale at Yorton Farm for a record-breaking £570,000, a price that was matched a month later by Classic Getaway, and has not been bettered since by a point-to-pointer.

Holden is acutely aware of the pitfalls such a price tag carries.

Holden said: “Jonbon worked out. He cost €140,000 and we were lucky he worked out. If this guy is anything like Jonbon it will be very straightforward. Jonbon was very easy to do anything with, he never had any issues."

If the No Risk At All gelding from Sluggara Farms turns out to be even a quarter of the horse that Jonbon is, then father and daughter will be sitting pretty once again.

Now a nine-year-old, the Nicky Henderson-trained and JP McManus-owned Jonbon has never finished out of the first two in 23 starts and his record is headed by 18 victories, including ten at the highest level.

Ellemarie Holden (left), with Derek O'Connor and her father Paul Holden after their key purchaseCredit: Sarah Farnsworth

Derek O’Connor was in the saddle when Jonbon made a winning debut at Dromahane and the legendary jockey will have a hand in the top seller’s career too.

Holden added: “Derek will probably break him and we will get him going around September and see how it goes.”

Foaled in March, the gelding is out of the Poliglote mare Garmerita and is a half-brother to Syrita, by Siyouni, who was a classy performer on the Flat for trainer Markus Nigge.

Syrita won the Listed Prix de la Calonne and was third in the Group 3 La Coupe. The pedigree contains a mix of Flat and National Hunt blacktype performers.

Their dam won on the Flat at four and is a full-sister to Listed winner and Group 3-placed Bonne Gargotte, while their half-sister, Tragi Comedie, is the dam of Travail De Belair and Klitchko De Belair who are black-type performers over jumps.

Holden and her father fell for the gelding during the inspection process.

She said: “The second we saw him, we were mad about him. The pressure was on there a bit because everyone was in love with him.

“Everything about him stood out – the way he walked, how he looked and he seems a chilled out and laid-back sort of a horse who will do the job. He has a lovely pedigree, he has everything. He’s a smasher.”

It is the second year in succession that Garmerita’s offspring have brought a six-figure sum at the Arkle Sale.

Last year Gordon Elliott went to €160,000 for her Doctor Dino gelding, also sold by Waterford vet Walter Connors’ Sluggara Farm.

Now named Reckless, he ran twice in bumpers last season for Elliott and Gigginstown House Stud with his best result coming when fourth on debut at Gowran.

Kirk and Mullins dig deep for Mistral Le Dun

Harold Kirk and reigning British and Irish champion jumps trainer Willie Mullins had to dig deeper than expected to land Mistral Le Dun, but fought off the competition to land the It’s Gino gelding for €175,000.

Offered by Roger Marley’s Church Farm Stables on behalf of a partnership, Kirk was complimentary about the gelding who is out of an unraced Martaline half-sister to Alabama Le Dun, winner of the Listed Prix Wild Monarch (for colt and geldings) and runner-up in the Grade 1 Prix Cambaceres Hurdle for three-year-olds.

Kirk said: “He was one of the standout horses in the sale, and by a very good sire in France. He is a beautiful individual, a very good mover, and he stood out for me. I knew he would make money, but I didn't think it would be that much. There is always somebody else interested."

Harold Kirk and Willie Mullins at the Goffs Arkle Sale on TuesdayCredit: Sarah Farnsworth

Asked if he was a bumper horse, Kirk responded: “I would say he could be any kind of horse - he is very athletic, strong and has a very good mind when he was walking around. He is a big horse, but looked like he wouldn't take a lot of time. I just loved him.”

Given Mullins’ extraordinary success has been achieved with a variety of horses, is there a particular type that appeals to Kirk or his patron?

“You cannot be one-dimensional when buying now,” the agent stated. “Racing is changing now, the ground is getting quicker and the fences are getting smaller. You need a horse now with a lot of speed.”

Skelton strikes for Allaho's three-parts brother

Dan Skelton got his name on the buyers sheet at the Goffs Arkle Sale on Tuesday when he teamed up with Ryan Mahon to purchase a three-quarters brother to dual Ryanair Chase winner Allaho for €165,000.

Consigned by Tom Whitehead’s Altenbach Bloodstock, the son of Haras de Montaigu’s leading sire No Risk At All is out of Clare Glens, a Limnos half-sister to Cheveley Park's multiple Grade 1 winner.

Skelton said: “Bidding sort of stalled around €140,000 but we loved him. He’s obviously a great sire but we’ve not had many horses by him in the yard so hopefully he’s a big name for us going forward.

“We just loved him. Everything checks out well; he’s got a big pedigree, he compares favourably with the other horses we have seen here and we had him right near the top of the list.”

Bought on behalf of Stephen Bough, whose pink and blue silks were carried to victory last season by five of Skelton’s younger horses including Fortune De Mer who won the Listed bumper at Cheltenham’s November meeting.

Skelton said: ‘Stephen has a good few with us – Fortune De Mer, and he owns Country Mile and Moneygarrow too. He had some really good results last year, won Listed races with some young horses and wants to really concentrate on youngstock. He’s a patient man, which is good, and a big supporter.”

Dan Skelton: buyer of the No Risk At All gelding out of a half-sister to Allaho Credit: Sarah Farnsworth

While Allaho is the standout of the family, Clare Glens is also a half-sister to the black-type performers Illaho and Shanning the family also includes Lord Du Mesnil, Ladies Choice and Happy Monarch who are all Graded winners in France.

“We do everything at home,” Skelton said. “We’ll have him up at the stud farm [Alne Park], break him in and get him going. We will probably do five or six weeks with him, get him going and then have him out in the field.

“He’ll come in with all the other three-year-olds at the end of September and we try to get two racecourse gallops into them; one around December and one in March. If they thrive off that much work we will run them and if they don’t we will leave them till the autumn.”

Skelton also expressed the hope that he would be speaking to the press pool later in the day or on Wednesday as, having captured one their main targets, he and his brother Harry along with bloodstock agent Ryan Mahon were eager to secure more of their shortlist.

The O'Neills snap up Labaik's half-brother

A dash of family notoriety did no harm to the Bleahen brothers’ Walk In The Park gelding who became the first horse to smash through the six-figure barrier on Tuesday.

Matt Coleman, who was bidding with the Jackdaws Castle team, fended off another father and son duo in the form of Aiden and Olly Murphy to secure the gelding, who is from the family of German champion three-year-old and former National Hunt stallion Arcadio, at €140,000.

The April-foaled bay is a three-parts brother to Labaik, whose achievements on the track were often overshadowed by both his antics at the start and his seizure by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).

Labaik won the 2017 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle ridden by Jack Kennedy for Gordon Elliott but made headlines for his refusal to start races and, two years after his surprise 25-1 victory at Cheltenham, he was the subject of an Irish High Court order to surrender him to CAB as the court ruled his part-owner John Boylan had purchased the Montmartre gelding with the proceeds of crime.

“He was our main target of the day,” Coleman said. “He’s by the sire who is carrying all before him – siring the Gold Cup and Grand National winners this year – and he’s a three-parts brother to Labaik, who was obviously infamous but very talented.”

The Walk In The Park half-brother to Labaik at the Goffs Arkle SaleCredit: Sarah Farnsworth

Coleman added: “I think it is fair to say that all of those Walk In The Parks have that Montjeu trait and that’s what makes them good, I think. Montjeu was the same on the Flat, they have that bit of spirit and many of them funnel that into being top-quality racehorses.

The gelding’s Order Of St George half-brother was third on debut in a four-year-old maiden for Ballycrystal Stables in late April and Coleman is confident this horse would also prove to be a forward-type too.

“He is a very athletic horse, loads of strength, loads of quality and he put in an impressive display in the parade ring. He looks like a horse that shouldn’t take too long and I think we can dream of winning the Defender Bumper.”

Sadly for Labaik he sustained a career-ending injury when fourth in the Grade 1 Champion Hurdle at Punchestown and died in 2020 from colic and associated complications.

The €140,000 was a healthy return on the €58,000 that Niall Bleahen paid for the gelding as a foal at the Goffs December National Hunt Sale in 2022, where he was sold by Ballyreddin Stud.

AJ O’Neill began a training partnership with his father Jonjo in May last year and in just 13 months the father and son team have established a successful dynamic.

“We are trying to secure as many quality horses as we can for a range of different people so hopefully we can continue the great season we had last season and continue to push it forward,” AJ O'Neill said.

AJ O'Neill in good spirits after the purchase of Liss House's Walk In The Park gelding at the Goffs Arkle Sale

AJ O'Neill was in good spirits after the purchase of Liss House's Walk In The Park gelding at the Goffs Arkle SaleCredit: Sarah Farnsworth

Buying the gelding was the first main point ticked off their to-do list for the Arkle Sale but despite questions as to whether he would carry the green and gold silks of JP McManus, their most famous owner, O'Neill was keeping his cards close to his chest.

“He is for sale at the moment,” he said.

“We are delighted to get him, he’s a really lovely horse and the standout horse for today. He has the breeding on both sides; Walk In The Park is a very talented stallion and the mother can produce a good one so we are really looking forward to getting home and going from there.

“He seems racy and has a good stride, walks with purpose, so hopefully he’ll come the right way.”

Later in the afternoon, the training partnership bought DAR Bloodstock’s Masked Marvel gelding, the first foal of winning Le Havre mare Gold Summer for €135,000. Set to join McManus' powerful string, the owner's racing manager Frank Berry said: "He’s a lovely horse and hopefully he’ll be lucky."

Derham and Bailey snare another by Crystal Ocean

Crystal Ocean’s first crop have sparkled on the point-to-point scene with seven four-year-old maiden winners emerging this spring leading to sales-topping returns for handlers at the season’s boutique point-to-point sale.

In the Cheltenham winners’ enclosure on the third day of the Festival, Colin Bowe’s Lisronagh debut winner Cristal D’Estruval provided the Wexford handler with an outstanding return on his €67,000 investment at last year’s Goffs Arkle Sale when selling for £400,000 to agent Ed Bailey on behalf of trainer Harry Derham.

The pair must be very taken with Cristal D’Estruval as they saw off the determined challenge of Ger Morrin to secure Ballyreddin and Busherstown’s well-bred gelding from the stallion’s second crop at €165,000 at Goffs on Tuesday.

Bailey said of the gelding: “He is a lovely horse, a standout for us in the sale, a lovely walker and well balanced. We saw him about six times, and every single time he showed immaculately.

“He comes from a great vendor and is by a sire who looks at the minute that he could be really, really promising. It’s a deep family of top-level horses.”

Harry Derham and Ed Bailey bought a gelding by Crystal Ocean for €165,000Credit: Sarah Farnsworth

His dam, Hour Before Dawn, ran twice in point-to-points and is a Yeats half-sister to Crystal Glory who was second in the Grade 2 Prestige Novices’ Hurdle for Nicky Richards. She is also closely-related to King’s Crystal, the dam of Grade 3 handicap chase winner King Turgeon and the Listed-placed pair of High King and Queens Crystal.

“He is going to Harry Derham and for an existing owner,” Bailey confirmed. “The trade has been very strong for nice horses, and it has been hard work. We have followed a lot of horses in, and been very impressed with the quality of stock here. Goffs have done a great job to get them here.”

Derham will now train the two most expensive progeny of Crystal Ocean in their respective categories as his latest purchase achieved the highest price for a store by the Coolmore-based National Hunt sire.