The Monbeg team maintained their position as the leading buyers in the Fairyhouse sales ring as sat at the top of the buyers list following the conclusion of the opening day’s trade at the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale.
Having already parted with over €900,000 to acquire 22 horses at Part 1 of the Land Rover Sale, the Doyle brothers and their associates dug even deeper on Tuesday as they spent over €1 million on a total of 20 horses.
With an average of just over €52,000 for their 22 purchases, 12 of these cost more than €50,000 with their most expensive acquisition being a Westerner gelding (lot 63) that was consigned by Mount Eaton Stud.
Out of an Anshan mare, that brown gelding is a half-brother to Minella Times, a son of Oscar that looked booked for a debut success in a four-year-old maiden at Belclare in 2017, when coming down at the final fence whilst two lengths clear at the time.
The Monbeg team went over the €70,000 mark for a further four horses, including the French-bred Gredin, for whom they gave Peter Nolan Bloodstock €72,000.
This bay gelding is from the family of a number of well-known performers, including Quel Esprit and Aux Ptits Soins.
They also gave €70,000 for lot 101 a Shantou gelding from Maurice Sheehy. He is the fourth produce out of the winning hurdler All The Best Mate, who as her name suggests, is from the family of Gold Cup hero Best Mate.
Shantou proved to be their most popular stallion, with this one of three offspring from the Burgage Stud resident.
Another relative of a Cheltenham Festival star could be bound for the point-to-point fields in 2020, with a full-brother of Douvan going to the Ellmarie Holden yard, as the connections of the sport continued to spend big.
Champion Handler Colin Bowe’s Milestone Stables added another ten recruits to their team for the new season, the most expensive of which proving to be the French-bred Cru Bourgeois.
Bowe was forced to a final bid of €82,000 to secure the son of Al Namix from Sluggara Farm that boasts a page full of black type winners, including Grade 1 victor Yanworth.
Five of Alan Harte’s last 11 winners between the flags have come from French breds, and it was no surprise to see the London-based Harte invest in further youngsters with a similar profile, including lot 71 Gentleman De Mai.
The son of Saddler Maker came with a price tag of €110,000 being closely related to Bristol De Mai, the winner of the last two renewals of the Grade 1 Betfair Chase, with whom he shares the same sire.
Leading rider Rob James has enjoyed notable success with his purchases in recent seasons, including Telmesomethinggirl, who won the first four-year-old maiden of the year at Ballinaboola in February. The Wexford rider went to €75,000 for lot 151 a Westerner gelding from Glenwood Stud.
That was the same sum that Matthew Flynn O’Connor paid for another son of Westerner, with lot 125 who is from the family of well-known names such as Monalee, Be My Belle, Empire Of Dirt and Hold The Pin, heading to his Ballycrystal Stables.
James also added to his day’s spending when getting Grandero Bello, a son of Great Pretender for €65,000, with another French-bred Marourou joining Joey Logan and Denis Murphy for that same price.
Elsewhere John Nallen, Jonathan Fogarty, Jim O’Neill, Pat Doyle, Cormac Farrell, James Doyle, Harley Dunne, Terence O’Brien, Paul Pierce and JJ Bowe were just some well-known point-to-point figures that featured on the buyers list with horses costing upwards of €30,000.
Day one of the Derby Sale is off to a flying start and there is lots to look forward to on day two. @thom_malone catches up with Tattersalls Ireland CEO Matt Mitchell ahead of more action tomorrow and to recap on today's action. pic.twitter.com/LHXfj9x2xz
— Tattersalls Ireland (@tatts_ireland) June 26, 2019
