El Cairos Headlines the David Maxwell Dispersal

EL CAIROS (Lot 10) was sold for a top price of £410,000 at the David Maxwell Dispersal, bought by Mouse O’Ryan on behalf of David Rabson of KTDA Racing.

The 17 lots sold produced a turnover of £2,257,000, an average price of £132,765 and a median of £90,000.

A five-year-old gelding by NO RISK AT ALL, EL CAIROS, who won a NH Flat race at Newbury last October and finished second in a Punchestown bumper in May, has already run at the Cheltenham Festival when a fine fifth in last season’s Weatherbys Grade 1 Champion Bumper, and the horse’s new connections are planning a return trip to The Festival next spring.

“He is the standout of the place today,” said O’Ryan, who was alongside trainer Gordon Elliott through the bidding. “We are delighted to get him, he is for David Rabson of KTDA, and goes to Gordon’s. We will get him home and make a plan, but he looks a racy sort of horse – he should be a two miler and we need a couple of those.

“Hopefully, he will be one to come back here next spring, but we will have some good days in Ireland, too. We have been chatting about this for a couple of weeks.”

JUST ENNEMI (Lot 2), a five-year-old by KAMSIN and a two-time winner in France but who has yet to run in Britain, has been in training with Harry Derham for the past year and is going back to Derham’s Berkshire yard, bought by the trainer for £320,000.

“I am relieved!” said Derham, adding: “Horses of his potential and talent are not commonplace in a young trainer’s yard or, in fact, in many yards. We did not run him last season and have been waiting for this season for him.

“It has been a bit of stressful old time to get him today, but I am delighted he is coming back. He is for some existing owners, a group I have put together for him and I am very grateful to them. It is a lot of money, but his French form is pretty strong, and he is good-looking horse.”

Of plans he said: “He has been at Noel Fehily’s for the last three weeks, and they have done a fantastic job – the horses looked amazing.

“We will get him back to mine now, I can’t wait to run him in a novice chase in six weeks’ time, but I am not going to rush him. The physical development this horse he has gone through in the last year is massive, so I hope his new owners will reap the benefit of David’s patience.”

OFF THE JURY (Lot 8), runner-up in the Grade 3 EBF Final at Sandown last time out, was successfully bought by bloodstock agent Dan Astbury at £250,000.

“He is going into training with Mickey Bowen,” reported Astbury after signing the docket for the six-year-old son of JUKEBOX JURY on behalf of himself, owner Martin Gowing and Bowen. “Hopefully, this horse will take them on some big days. He can go for a maiden hurdle and then go straight for a graded novice. Obviously being a maiden over hurdles he is battle hardened and has got some big days ahead we can look forward to – I love his profile.

“It is the type of horse you can’t normally buy, horses with such a high level of form and who could give owners big days out so quickly, don’t normally come about.”

After the last of the 17-strong draft went through the ring, Maxwell, who rode 75 winners and was champion amateur twice but who has had to retire from race riding on medical advice, said of his emotions: “I did my grieving for the riding six or eight weeks ago when I had to make the decision to stop. I wrestled with the decision all summer, but, right on cue, the tingling in my left arm from the spinal injury started again this evening!”

He added: “What I really felt for today was the lads and the lasses who look after these horses; if you could ask the horses who owns them, it is not the lunatic in red and brown who rides them a few times, but the person who feeds them every day, so I am really happy to see, for instance, Just Ennemi go back to Harry Derham.

“This has never been about the money and never in my entire time of looking through the ears of a horse has this been about the money. I genuinely believe it is about the horses and the sport.”

He concluded: “I am off to have my cold turkey now and I fly to Kenya on Sunday; I am going to do something different for a bit.

“Tattersalls has done a magnificent job, it is all part of the theatre of this sport, I am really pleased with this evening.”

Tattersalls Cheltenham Sales Manager Shirley Anderson-Jolag commented: “It has been such a pleasure to host this dispersal for David, and we are delighted that the draft, which includes so many promising and progressive types, has been so well received by buyers; and it is fitting that the hugely talented El Cairos was the sale top lot.

“We’d like to thank David so much for entrusting us with his dispersal and we are very much looking forward to watching the continued progress of all the horses.

“It has been a wonderful evening and our thanks go to the Cheltenham Racecourse team for working with us to stage this unique sale.

“We wish David well for his “cold turkey” away from racing now his riding career has concluded, and we hope we can welcome to the ownership ranks in future.

“As always it has been a pleasure to be back at Cheltenham racecourse and in the Tattersalls Cheltenham sale ring.

“This evening has been a fine prelude to our point-to-point sales, the first of which kicks off on November 14, the Friday of the November meeting, and we are taking entries now.”