Mifa d’Airy Becomes the Highest-Priced Filly Ever Sold at Tattersalls Cheltenham

Last weekend’s impressive four-year-old debut winner MIFA D’AIRY became the highest-priced filly to ever change hands at a Tattersalls Cheltenham sale, and set a new Tattersalls Cheltenham April Sale record, when sold for £435,000.

Offered by Sean Doyle’s Monbeg Stables, the daughter of Masked Marvel (Lot 30), a 16-length winner at Dromahane last Sunday, was bought by the new British champion NH trainer Dan Skelton with agent Ryan Mahon. The pair were bidding on behalf of owner Rachel Wilson, who has several horses in training with Skelton and lives “at the bottom of the hill gallop”.

The bidding opened up at £50,000 and swept into the higher echelons at speed with Matt Coleman, Gordon Elliott, Mags O’Toole all involved. Harold Kirk, who was standing in the doorway and on the phone, was the eventual underbidder.

Wilson is putting together a partnership for the filly, and came to the sale specifically for her.

“She is gorgeous, and when I saw her I was smitten,” said Wilson.

“Dan phoned me after her win and he sent me her page and then her video, too. We thought she’d make that sort of money and we are very excited,” added Wilson, who rode on the Flat and also rode out for some years at Skelton’s Warwickshire yard.

She added: “This season has been so exciting and so deserved, the team at Dan’s are all grafters and really good people to be around.”

After purchasing MIFA D’AIRY, the smiling Skeleton said: “MIFA D’AIRY is beautiful, she looked supreme in her race, incredible, almost too good to be true, and her physical matches up, she is an absolute rocket. 

“Rachel is a phenomenal supporter; she was the backbone of this and is the owner at the moment, but we are putting an ownership team together.”

It was a fantastic result in a brilliant sales year for Sean Doyle of Monbeg Stables – last month, with his brother Cormac Doyle, he sold Monster Truck at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale for a Cheltenham sale record-price of £530,000.

Doyle purchased MIFA D’AIRY as a store at last year’s Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale from Fenloe House for €70,000 and he said: “We gave a good price for her then, but the first day we lunged her we knew she was cheap – her balance and lungs were unbelievable. It is great to get well rewarded, and she has gone to a great team.”

Reflecting on his season, Doyle added: “We have never had a team of horses like this – the individuals were great and they matched up with ability, it has been a wonderful year. It is a lot of work – we have a tremendous team at home, and they are headed up by my brother Gearoid.”

Skelton, busy restocking his team in an aim to retain his champion trainer’s crown, earlier purchased GLEBE HOUSE (Lot 2) for £180,000. The gelding, one of six horses bought by Skelton, is a four-year-old son of Poet’s Word and won on debut at Loughanmore for rider-trainer Rob James.

Skelton said: “GLEBE HOUSE is a beautiful horse by Poet’s Word and Rob recommended him to us. We love the sire, who doesn’t? His stock are very workable, very malleable, they are easy to work with, they ride well, they have good attitudes. Hopefully, this horse is lucky.”

James, who paid €41,000 for GLEBE HOUSE as a three-year-old store, said: “It is a lovely price, he is a lovely horse and I think he will improve a lot. In his race we didn’t get much luck in running, he missed the second last but picked up – perhaps he shouldn’t have won, but he still did.”

Dan Astbury and Adrian Keatley went to £160,000 for the six-year-old dual hurdle winner TIDDESLEY WOOD (Lot 49), a gelding by Sir Percy and sold by trainer Fergal O’Brien.

”He has been bought for Adrian and owner Garry Wilson,” said Astbury. “Garry has had a great start to ownership – he owns Diamant Dore, who was fifth in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper.”

Astbury enthused: “This horse has got a great profile, he put in a massive figure last time, winning in a quicker time than the 0-150 handicap. He looks a ready-made Saturday horse, and, hopefully, if he improves a bit for going over fences, he could be a graded novice chaser.

“He has the size to jump a fence, and he might respect fences more than he does his hurdles.”