50th Derby Sale Delivers Year's Highest Price with €350,000 Top Lot

A full house welcomed the good-looking half-brother to the Grade 1 winners Mighty Potter, Caldwell Potter and Brighterdaysahead to the Fairyhouse sales ring, and the three-year-old by Doctor Dino (Lot 283), widely anticipated to be the top lot at this year's 50th Derby Sale, lived up to his star billing selling for €350,000 to Gordon Elliott Racing.

Appropriately, in such a momentous year for the Derby Sale, the gelding is the highest-priced Store horse sold in 2024 and the joint-second highest-priced Store horse ever sold at public auction.

Offered by Walter Connors’ Sluggara Farm, bidding kicked off at €100,000, raced through to €270,000 with trainer Emmet Mullins on the telephone, Eddie O'Leary joining in the action at €275,000. The two traded blows, Mullins being the one to round up to €300,000, but it was the quick-bidding O'Leary, standing on the balcony and by the bid board with trainer Gordon Elliott and agent Mouse O'Ryan, who claimed the final honours at the year's best Store horse price.

Elliott has had great success with the gelding's half-siblings as trainer of the Grade 1 Future Champions Novice Hurdle winner Caldwell Potter, who was sold at February’s Tattersalls Ireland Andy & Gemma Brown Dispersal Sale for a top price of €740,000, the multiple Grade 1 hurdle and chase winner Mighty Potter, and the five-year-old mare Brighterdaysahead, winner of April’s Grade 1 Mersey Novices’ Hurdle.

All five runners to date for the 17-year-old mare Matnie (Laveron) are Grade 1 or Grade 2 winners.

"We have had most of the family and we have been very lucky with it, and we are looking forward to him," said Elliott. "He is a very athletic horse; he is not unlike Mighty Potter and is for an existing client. We will be hoping we could bring him back for the Tattersalls Ireland George Mernagh Memorial Sales Bumper, that is the first plan."

Connors said: "I am obviously delighted, he was always a star horse in our mind and we were not going to come if he did not match his pedigree as we point-to-point our own horses anyway. I am delighted and thrilled that Gordon is training him as he has done so well with the family, and Eddie has been very good to us over the years – he bought Don Cossack and Quito De La Roque."

He added: "It has been a great family occasion, and Shane and Rachel, who work in the yard for us, have done a great job with him and they have managed to treat him just the same as any other horse.”

Today’s second-best priced horse, Lot 282 by Harzand, was bought for €185,000 by Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls.

Sold by Oaks Farm Stables, the three-year-old gelding is a half-brother to Arizona Cardinal (Kayf Tara), winner of this year’s Topham Chase (G3), and out of Mathine, a half-sister to the Gold Cup (G1) and two-time King George VI winner Long Run.

It was a highly successful pinhook result – the gelding was bought last year in France as a two-year-old by Church Farm for €80,000.

Malone said: "He is a beautiful horse, and his half-brother was the Grade 3 winner at Aintree this spring, it is just a happening pedigree."

Of Harzand, he said: "I like the stallion and I am going to support him."

The happy half-hour was initiated by the Kilminfoyle House Stud-consigned, March-born gelding Goliath Du Berlais gelding bought by Grande Ville Racing for €160,000 (Lot 279).

He is out of the Grade 3 winner and multiple graded-placed mare Martalette (Martaline), and was pinhooked as a foal at the Tattersalls Ireland November NH Sale in 2021 for €68,000 by JC Bloodstock.

Ger Morrin, who was taking instructions on the telephone ringside, outbid Gerry Hogan standing on the balcony in company with trainer Paul Nolan.

Morrin said: "We planned to come up and buy a nice horse – we loved this lad and he has a lovely pedigree. He won't take too long and should be a bumper and hurdling sort, and then can go on to jump a fence, too. The sire is very good and well-regarded.”

Over the two-day sale 25 lots sold for €100,000 or more, with the sale producing a turnover of €13,969,500, an average price of €47,841, a median of €38,000 and horses sold at a clearance rate of 79 per cent.

Tattersalls Ireland CEO Simon Kerins commented:

“Once again, the Derby Sale has proven why it is held in the highest regard by National Hunt vendors and purchasers. The previous 49 editions have produced an illustrious roll of honour, and I have no doubt that our class of 2024 will produce horses competing on the biggest stage. The Derby Sale has yet again produced the highest-priced Store sold anywhere in Ireland and the UK, a milestone particularly celebrated in its 50th year. This year’s sale also saw 25 lots surpassing €100,000, more than any other Store sale.

"While achieving a €350,000 top price is a notable success, it's crucial to note that the market remains selective.  With a clearance rate of 79% and average and median prices of €47,841 and €38,000, respectively, we observe a market that, while solid, reflects cautious buyer sentiment compared to previous years.

“Our consignors showed trust in providing us with the best Stores that Ireland and the UK had to offer. We ensured our vendors received the interest that the exceptional quality of their stock deserved, and it was reassuring to see so many Irish and UK buyers in attendance. We had the biggest names in National Hunt racing looking to add to their strings this week, and that exemplifies the regard in which the Derby Sale is held.

“The Derby Sale's success is a testament to the trust our vendors place in Tattersalls Ireland. Our thanks go to all the team at Irish Thoroughbred Marketing who complement our work in promoting our sales and ensuring the results align with the quality on offer.

“Our focus now turns to the July Store Sale, the final sale of its type this year, for which the catalogue is available online."