Crystal Ocean gelding shines as the curtain comes down on the Goffs Arkle Sale

If Part 1 of the Goffs Arkle Sale is high octane Monaco Formula One glamour, Part 2 is usually more of a sedate Sunday drive in a family saloon. However this year around, the saloon was a rather more racier version.

There were plenty of moments of turbo charged acceleration when the action roared into life on a listless June day in Kildare, not least right at the end when Gerry Hogan completed the day’s most expensive transaction, going to €70,000 for a Crystal Ocean gelding with an excellent pedigree.

Hogan was acting on behalf of trainer Paul Nolan, and was accompanied by Nolan’s brother James.

“He's a lovely horse, a very good, smooth mover and by a stallion on the up, so we were anxious to get him,” Hogan explained.

“We have bought him for an existing client of Paul’s to go racing. He's a young horse, foaled at the end of May, and the lads say they’ll take their time with him and bring him along nice and quietly. But he looks a runner.”

Bred by Kieran Cotter, breeder of this year’s Grand National hero Nick Rockett and offered by his Woodhouse Stud, the bay is the third foal out of Truly Amazing who is a Presenting full-sister to the Grade 3 handicap hurdle winner Cup Final.

Cotter bought Truly Amazing from Swanbridge Bloodstock for €40,000 in November 2019.

She is out of the quadruple Grade 1 winner Asian Maze whose top-level victories were all against geldings including twice at Aintree with the highlight of her career a 17-length thrashing of Champion Hurdle hero Hardy Eustace in the Aintree Hurdle.

By Anshan, Asian Maze is an Anshan full-sister to Quantitativeeasing, a Cheltenham Festival winner, and further back the family includes the multiple Grade 1-winning chaser Outlander by Stowaway.

A strong start

In a sign of things to come, things got off to a strong start when Tessa Greatrex went to €46,000 for a Harzand gelding within the first hour of the sale.

A couple of English trainers had their eye on the bay who boasts a deep pedigree but Warren Greatrex who is the lucky recipient of the half-brother to three winners.

Greatrex’s wife was effusive in her praise.

“He’s a gorgeous horse, I saw him this morning and absolutely loved him. I didn’t want to leave him behind. He’ll be going to England and we’ll work out which trainer gets him [later it was revealed to be her husband].

“It's a lovely page and I've tried to buy a few Harzand pointers this year but haven't been able to,” she added.

He missed his intended sales date as a foal and the Grove Lodge team will be relieved that retaining him all the way through until now has paid off.

Tessa Greatrex: 'He’s a gorgeous horse, I saw him this morning and absolutely loved him'Credit: Orla Donworth

Greatrex said: “The market has been super strong. All the way down there were plenty of people to buy in the 50-80 bracket. I managed to get some bought, but it’s been hard.”

After a strong edition of Part 1, Thursday’s Part 2 session benefitted from the demand in the middle-sector of the market during the preceding sessions.

On this day last year only nine horses sold for €30,000 or higher but that figure more than trebled on Thursday when 29 achieved that mark.

The growth was even more noticeable at the higher end with 11 horses making more at least €40,000 – in 2023 that figure was just three.

No horse managed to breach the €50,000 mark 12 months’ ago but this time around there were two sales greater than that amount.

The sale bounced back from last year’s slippages in spectacular style but fell just short of matching the heights set by the 2023 renewal.

Williams goes the distance

Evan Williams picked out his star of the sale on Tuesday morning and then endured a nervy 48-hour wait to see if he had enough cash in the bank to land the Tunis gelding from Niall Bleahen’s Liss House.

Bourbon Floridhe was the only representative of Haras de Cercy’s Tunis in the catalogue, the Polish-bred sire who is emerging as a stallion of some talent at Haras de Cercy with a Grade 3 winner and three Listed victors already on the board.

Not that the identity of a target’s sire is ever of that much consequence to the Welsh trainer.

“I never get fixated on a stallion. I’m nearly always buying on a budget so I nearly always have to forgive lots of things, I just worry about the individual and to me he was just a fine individual,” he said.

“We have been very lucky with horses off the boys [Bleahen brothers]. I saw him on Tuesday and I have been waiting and waiting and waiting to have a crack at him,” he stated.

The grey is a three-parts brother to Demoiselle Bourbon, a winner over fences in France, and comes from the family of Angel’s Breath, a Grade 2 winner over hurdles and fences for Nicky Henderson.

Also on the page is Pique Sous, third in the Grade 1 Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival and a Grade 2 winner over hurdles for Willie Mullins.

“He’s not a big horse by any stretch of the imagination but he is so active he is all about movement so I am chuffed with him.”

Not least because the insatiable demand for horses this week has meant operating on a budget is more constricted than usual.

“It has been tough to buy on a budget this week because there are so many nice horses here and it is very competitive. Sometimes you have to wait to get what you want and luckily I got him."

Mulryan returns to the well

Hugh Mulryan’s day job is with trainer Adrian Keatley who has successfully transitioned from the Curragh to Malton but Mulryan’s sideline is a successful trade in bloodstock both on the Flat and over jumps with breezers and point-to-pointers the focus of his ventures.

He explained that he and trainer Terence O’Brien are so taken with Poppies in July, the Poet’s Word filly they bought at last year’s sale, that he couldn’t resist returning to the well.

"Myself and Terence bought a Poet’s Word filly here last year and she was third first time out at Monksgrange. We think an awful lot of her, and we're going to run her back in the autumn," Mulryan said.

"We would've been sick if we hadn’t bought anything this summer and she came out and won her point-to-point and we got paid for her.”

The filly with the name inspired by Sylvia Plath cost €26,000 last year but he went higher – to €43,000 - for Kilbeg Stud’s Tirwanako gelding.

"This is a lovely horse by a good stallion, that's all you really need to know really. He'll go point-to-pointing with Terence too," he said.

"We usually try to buy one or two each year but I think we’ve done our budget with this one."

Poet's the word

Exam and store sale season coincide in Ireland and students who brushed up on Eavan Boland’s canon would have left their English exam feeling as relieved as a pinhooker whose big-money gamble paid off at Goffs Arkle Sale.

William and John Flood’s own studies led them to Poet’s Word and the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner has passed his first major exams this year with honours. His debut crop conceived at Boardsmill Stud have lived up to expectations with four Irish maiden point-to-point winners and six-figure sums in the sales ring including the £305,000 Largy Go and Poetisa, the most expensive daughter to sell by the sire at £300,000.

During Part 1 of the Arkle Sale a total of 21 members of his second crop were sold for an average price of €52,881 which is a figure bettered only by three other Irish-based sires during the first session of the sale.

He was also ahead of the posse during Thursday’s Part 2 where his average price significantly outstripped that of all the sale itself and all other stallions.

Leading the way was Boardsmill homebred gelding who made €55,000 to Lynne Maclennan.

“We bought the mare in foal to Poet’s Word,” said John Flood. “We wanted some of his first crop at Shadwell so we bought three mares in foal to him. We got her relatively cheaply but unfortunately she lost the foal she was carrying.”

The Poet's Word gelding takes his turn around the ring at GoffsCredit: Sophie Webber Photography

Muzhil, who is a Manduro half-sister to multiple Group winner and Group 1 British Champions Filly and Mares Stakes third Beautiful Romance, was snapped up for 6,500gns so the return on the initial investment has been substantial.

The page also features last year’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint victor Starlust, who shoots for more elite-glory in the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot on Tuesday.

“We always liked this horse and held him back for Part 2 because we’ve done very well with horses in this section, we’ve topped it twice before so we knew he would stand-out.

“We had another Poet’s Word for Part 1 [Lot 103 who made €58,000] so we wanted to spread them out but I was always hopeful that he would stand out here.”

Poet’s Word was strongly represented in the two-year-old section that provided the crescendo to Part 1 of the sale with Dan Skelton going to €80,000 for Evergreen Stud’s half-brother to Listed bumper winner Sober Glory. That was the third best price achieved in the session and another result that pleased Flood.

He said: “It was a good result for Michael Conaghan who pinhooked him. He’s gone to Dan Skelton who has some Poet’s Words already and is really sweet on him so that’s very encouraging.”

The Floods’ homebred wasn’t the only popular member of the stallion’s second crop. With 50 per cent of the lots to make €40,000 or more on Thursday and the first horse to exceed €50,000 during the session, Poet’s Word was extremely popular with trainers and point-to-point handlers.

“We’re very happy with how Poet’s Word has done this week, they have sold very consistently and left everyone – breeders and pinhookers – lots of profit. We couldn’t be happier,” said Flood.

“The performance of his four-year-olds has set him up well for this, they have performed nicely and his second crop are strong as well so there were plenty of horses here for people. The start he got was ideal.”

Poet's Word: proved popular at the Goffs Arkle SaleCredit: Boardsmill Stud

Matty Flynn O’Connor did not get on the Poet’s Word train last year but having watched his contemporaries enjoy success with the stallion’s progeny in four-year-old maidens this spring, he is now a fully paid-up member of the sire’s fan club.

Signing under the Ballycrystal Stables banner, he went to €42,000 for Sladoo Farm’s bay gelding out of Rose Forrit, an unraced Kalanisi half-sister to Listed-winning hurdlers Lie Forrit and Oscar Rose.

“We are after buying two in a row - we bought the Ivanhowe [€30,000 from Brown Island stables] before that,” said Flynn O’Connor.

“The stallion [Poet's Word] is doing everything you'd like him to be doing. They all look like real good athletes - there is nothing to fault about them and this my first one.”

It was a tidy pinhooking profit as the gelding, who is the second foal of his dam, was picked up for just €7,500 as a foal at Tattersalls Ireland by Castle Gates from Ravenswood Stud.

“It's remarkable and I certainly wouldn't have expected it,” Flynn O’Connor said. ”I think that the strength of the buyers this week was just incredible. I don't know anyone that was expecting it. The depth of buyers from the UK this week was mesmerising, and it has made it incredibly difficult to buy the horses that you want.

“We must have followed in 20 horses in Part 1 that we couldn't buy, and we were following in with reasonable expectations. There are some very nice horses in this sale today.”

Quite a lot of those were by Poet’s Word and Rob James was another point-to-point handler hoping to produce a four-year-old maiden winner with one next spring.

Offered by Peter Nolan Bloodstock on behalf of Jamestown House Stud, the gelding is the third foal of Folly Dat a winning hurdler by Generous.

James had to go to €41,000 to secure the late May foal but he had plenty of reason to do so. The dark bay is a three-parts brother to Recite A Poem, who won a four-year-old mares’ maiden at Bartlemy in May and was subsequently sold for €85,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland May Point-to-Point Sale.

The buyer commented: “He is a lovely individual and from a happening pedigree. He is a very good walker and is a nice type so hopefully he will work out. The sire has made a good start and people like him. This is a good model and there is plenty of competition for the nice horses so I’m delighted to get him.”

Robert Tyner has a different target in mind for the Poet’s Word gelding who cost him €40,000 on Thursday morning.

The Kinsale trainer sent out back-to-back winners of the Defender Bumper in Coeur De Lion and Vision Des Flos, and won this year’s Tattersalls Ireland Sales Bumper with I’m Slippy, and when asked what the secret to his success was, he offered a smile and “You pays your money, you takes your chances.”

Robert Tyner in action at Part 2 of the Goffs Arkle SaleCredit: Sophie Webber Photography

Tyner voiced his approval for the stallion.

“A nice, quality horse with a good bit of class to him. I have a few by the sire that I like. He's started off well; I like him. This fellow is a classy horse and might go for the bumper.

“I think he was a bit of value and could well have been in the sale on the first two days.”

Consigned by Barnaculla Farm, he is a half-brother to hurdles winner Broomfields Cave and to Five Bar Gate, successful in a four-year-old point-to-point last year.