New sale at Sandown provides great opportunity to showcase depth of Irish talent

I'm looking forward to action on and off the track at Sandown this weekend. The Tingle Creek fixture is one of the best in the jump racing calendar, coming at a point when the season has really taken off.

This year's meeting has a new and very welcome Irish connection, since Goffs UK has teamed up with Sandown to showcase a select catalogue of 17 horses to be offered for sale in the winner's enclosure after the last race on Saturday.

With the exception of a couple of British-trained horses who have recently been in action at Larkhill, and an Irish entrant who has run over hurdles, these horses are the products of our autumn campaign.

The group includes several I've mentioned favourably in the column recently, as well as three winners from Sunday's meeting at Lingstown, and two promising runners from Boulta on the same afternoon.

We've had some strong maidens lately, races with real depth and producing high-quality performances, marked by good jumping. I've seen a lot of horses who have matured well and are now set to take another step in their careers, ready to go straight into bumpers or novice races over jumps.

Everyone will have their own idea of the most interesting prospects in Saturday's catalogue. If I were a buyer, I'd find it hard to narrow down the list, but there are a few I particularly like, including one from first-hand experience.

I rode Annie K to win a five-year-old mares' maiden at Turtulla for Gearoid O'Loughlin. I was impressed by the daughter of Valirann, who was bred by Ronnie O'Neill out of a Stowaway mare. She's a lovely mare with a pedigree that features the name of the brilliant Annie Power.

There have been several smart four-year-old winners in recent weeks and Flash In The Park is one who could be special. He put up a quick time despite not being seriously tested in winning by 20 lengths under Brian Lawless at Knockmullen House.

He's a Monbeg Syndicate horse trained by Donnchadh Doyle. His pedigree got a nice boost recently when his dam's close relation Darrens Hope, herself a Ballynoe winner for Bob Murphy, beat the talented Minella Crooner in a Grade 2 novice chase at Punchestown.

Flash In The Park: the easy Knockmullen House winner 'could be special'

Donnchadh won the two heats of the four-year-old geldings' maiden at Lingstown. Brook Bay, first leg of a four-timer on the card for Rob James, is a great addition to the catalogue.

He put in a a slick round of jumping and quickened to win with plenty to spare from Chatshow TV, a Denis Murphy-trained horse with a good reputation.

Brook Bay has an interesting pedigree too. He's out of a winning daughter of the Champion Hurdle winner Alderbrook from the family of the great Desert Orchid, and is by the Sea The Stars horse Affinisea, who I think is going to be a big influence as time goes on.

He also sired the winner of the opening mares' maiden at Lingstown, Only By Night, one of four mares on offer at Saturday's sale.

Dream points return for Troytown winner

These days Irish point-to-points are mostly about the sort of potential you'll find at the Sandown auction.

At the same time, it's important we maintain a high standard in the open races. Realistically, there are not nearly enough of what you could call old-fashioned point-to-pointers – horses who spend the bulk of their career in points and hunter chases – to make things competitive.

For this, we're heavily reliant on horses coming from the track for the final chapter of their careers. Many who have made an impact in Graded races or in valuable handicaps inevitably lose an edge on the track at the age of ten or 11, but their ability can often be rekindled.

David Christie has specialised in this type of horse and this season Gordon Elliott has taken this route with high-quality horses Hardline, Samcro, and The Storyteller, three Grade 1 winners.

On Sunday, it was Henry de Bromhead's turn to add to an impressive list of recruits. He sent Chris's Dream for the Ladies' Open at Moig South, almost exactly three years after a memorable win in the Troytown at Navan.

Fittingly, he was ridden on Sunday by Maxine O'Sullivan. The Mahler gelding started off with her father Eugene and she had the mount for his debut in the Goffs Land Rover bumper at the 2016 Punchestown festival.

Also running in his first bumper that day was Hardline, who had already won a point-to-point. Hardline finished eighth, Chris's Dream was 12th. It's a good example of how we never know how things are going to work out with young horses.

While Hardline and Chris's Dream went on to make the grade on the track and are still going strong six years later, the winner of the big Goffs Land Rover pot, Coeur De Lion, never ran again.

Chris's Dream was put away for that summer by Eugene, who produced him in good shape to win a maiden at Boulta a couple of weeks before Christmas.

He won a maiden hurdle at Limerick the following season before joining the De Bromhead yard. Along with the Troytown, he won a Grade 2 novice chase at Navan and the Red Mills Chase at Gowran, and was beaten only a neck by The Storyteller in the Grade 1 Ladbrokes Chase at Down Royal two seasons ago.

On Sunday, Maxine sent him to the front three out and he stretched right away from Aloneamongmillions. I'm a big fan of the Sam Curling-trained runner-up, who gave me a Tetratema Cup win and also won the same big Gowran hunter chase for Pa King last season.

He's a good yardstick, has a habit of running well when fresh, and seemed to be well fancied for his first run since finishing second behind top hunter chaser Vaucelet in the Joseph O'Reilly at Fairyhouse at Easter.

That suggests Chris's Dream put up a smart performance. The open category is hotting up this season.