The first sale of point-to-pointers for the new season produced a record set of results for the Tattersalls Cheltenham November Sale, with Dawn Of Light topping the evening’s trade.
The well-bred daughter of Mahler, a half-sister to Bravemansgame was bought by Mags O’Toole for £370,000.
That following her wide-margin victory in a four-year-old mares’ maiden at Quakerstown, a first success for her handler Richard Busher, who also owned and bred the bay, and sold her Grade 1-winning half-brother.
“That is a great price, she is a good mare,” said Busher. “I was going to keep her and breed from her, but she is too good for me! She has always gone well in her work at home.”
Purchaser Mags O’Toole said: “She is a gorgeous mare. She won very well, she’s got a great pedigree, and I hope that she is lucky. She’s going back to Ireland, but I don’t know who’s going to train her yet.”
Soul Asylum is also returning back across the Irish Sea after the Dromahane runner-up was bought by Gordon Elliott for £280,000.
Colin Bowe’s Walk In The Park gelding was making good ground from well off the pace on his debut when hampered at the final fence, but was still only denied by a narrow margin.
"He is a lovely. horse, was very unlucky in his race, he is by a great sire and we have been very lucky buying off Colin [Bowe],"said Gordon Elliott. "He looked like a stand out here and very happy."
The horse that hampered Soul Asylum was Stick To The Board, and that son of Crystal Ocean, also realised a notable six-figure price.
Having fallen at the final fence whilst holding every chance at the time, the Sean Doyle-trained bay, a horse owned by the handler’s younger brother Gearoid, will join Paul Nicholls after being bought for £215,000.
"We liked this horse, he was unlucky not to win, we have bought him on spec, though I do have a few people in mind, but he is a horse we wanted in the yard,” Nicholls said.
"He is a real athletic individual and he is for sale, I was taken by the way he travelled in the race. I have a couple of three-year-olds by the sire and they go well."
Point-to-Point mares sold well on the evening, with two mares among the top four lots, and that included Eskylady.
The daughter of Maxios was bought by agent Dan Asbury, owner Martin Gowin and trainer Mickey Bowen for £260,000 after she made a winning debut at Loughanmore for Denis Murphy.
Astbury said: "She was seriously impressive, won in an unbelievable time, and she is off to Mickey Bowen's and is for Martin Gowing. We were looking to add a filly to his string, we came for the two fillies. She looks very exciting, has plenty of gears."
Jardin Du Tunis, a four-year-old by Tunis and from the Matthew Flynn O'Conor's Ballycrystal Stables, was bought by trainer Lucinda Russell.
The four-year-old won on his second start at last weekend's Knockmullen House point-to-point. He cost his new connections £220,000.
Russell's racing and bloodstock advisor Paul McIvor said: "He was one of picks of the sale, we thought we'd have to stretch to get him. He is a lovely horse, a beautiful mover, he won his point-to-point in a good time, the fastest of the day.
"We like the sire, we have seen a few by him, two-year-olds in France, and his best crops are coming through."
In all, a total of six Irish Pointers sold for a fee in excess of £200,000, that cohort completed by Jonathan Fogarty’s Loughanmore winner Golden Heart, with a further four selling for a six-figure fee beneath that.
The record-breaking evening sale saw seven horses sell for £200,000 and above, a median price of £80,000 and a turnover of £4,627,000 – all new records for the November Sale, with the turnover the second-best ever achieved by a Tattersalls Cheltenham sale.
The average price of £98,447 is an increase of five per cent on 2024, while the clearance rate was an exemplary 96 per cent.
Tattersalls Cheltenham Sales Manager Shirley Anderson-Jolag commented: “It has been great to be back at Cheltenham selling top-class point-to-pointers and form horses today, and seeing vendors so well rewarded in the ring.
“It was amazing to see Richard Busher with his lovely four-year-old mare Dawn Of Light and John Nallen of Minella Racing with the three-year-old Minella Yoga, a debut winner of one of the new academy races in Ireland, achieve such great prices.
“I must give a massive thank you to the Tattersalls Cheltenham team, the Cheltenham staff as well as those with the horses today who had to work through such difficult weather conditions.
“Our next sale is the Tattersalls Cheltenham December Sale on 12th December, entries are being taken now.”
