'You couldn't help but be happy with him' - Meade and Nolan count on Coulsty once again at Goffs

Noel Meade and Peter Nolan returned to the scene of one of their great triumphs with the €60,000 purchase of a Coulsty colt during Tuesday's session of the Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale.

Three years ago the acclaimed dual-purpose trainer and his sales associate stumped up €27,000 for a Harzand filly who turned out to be Caught U Looking, the Group 3 Weld Park Stakes winner who finished fifth in the Oaks on both sides of the Irish Sea. After rounding off her career with another Listed victory at the end of 2024, she was sold for an astonishing 1,800,000gns into the Yulong operation at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale.

This Rathasker Stud-bred and consigned colt is out of Ho Ho Bird, a Dark Angel granddaughter of Sir Edmund Loder's great Marwell. Although Coulsty has had a quietish year in terms of results, his Rathasker-bred half-sister to leading Derby candidate and recent Group 1 winner Pierre Bonnard made €200,000 to Amo Racing at the Goffs Orby Sale.

Nolan had another piece of the puzzle which interested the combination. "We've been very lucky at this sale with Caught U Looking and we've also had another Coulsty two-year-old this season, Madbadanddangerous [€11,000, Goffs Orby Book 2], who won at Naas and was then third in the €120,000 Auction Series Final. We're hoping he can be a Group horse next year," he said.

"This horse was just lovely, big and strong. He was one of the picks of the sale for us and the one we were very keen to try to buy, so we're delighted."

Rathasker Stud's Coulsty colt out of Ho Ho Bird was bought by Peter Nolan and Noel Meade for €60,000Credit: Goffs

Meade added: "We agreed on him, we put him to a client and he was happy enough to go with the judgement. 

"He's an exceptionally good-looking horse, he looks like a horse that'll run as a two-year-old and is from good breeders, he's reared in the right place. You couldn't help but be happy with him."

Interest in the first crop of Tally-Ho Stud resident Persian Force was maintained in Kildare Paddocks as a well-bred colt proved a major attraction.

Agent Barry Lynch combined with Bill Durkan to snap up a €45,000 half-brother to Extortionist, the very smart sprinter who won the Windsor Castle Stakes as a juvenile and ended up claiming a Group 3 at Sandown. He also finished third in the Nunthorpe Stakes as a three-year-old.

Louise Lyons has bred a number of other winners out of the dam, the winning Oasis Dream mare Dream Date, and this April-born colt was offered by Camas Park Stud after being picked up for €30,000 from Summerhill Stables as a foal.

Having conceived his debut batch of yearlings at a €10,000 fee, the multiple Group 1-placed and high-class juvenile's average in European yearling auctions in 2025 has been tracking at a similar figure to the one received for this latest example. Persian Force has been supported by his owner, Amo Racing, in the ring and one of his fillies made 200,000gns to Jason Kelly Bloodstock at Tattersalls last month.

Seasonal colour - and weather - greeted those on inspection duty at Goffs on TuesdayCredit: Goffs

Many of those going through the ring are likely to return for auction in next year's breeze-ups. This could include Danny O'Donovan's Donovan Bloodstock, purchaser of a Churchill filly for €44,000. Mountarmstrong Stud's representative has the likes of Powerful Breeze and Flora Of Bermuda on her page.

Bobby O'Ryan, acting on behalf of Scorpios SP, went to €36,000 for Derrinstown Stud's Palace Pier filly out of an unraced sister to Taghrooda, the brilliant Oaks and King George winner. That same fee was achieved by Mathuna Stud's Calyx filly, whose Saxon Warrior half-sister Universal Girl was a recent winner in South Africa. She was knocked down to Jessica Harrington, who also bought a Starman filly from the family of Prix de l'Abbaye winner The Platinum Queen for €38,000.

The sale's final session begins at 10am on Wednesday.

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