Record-Breaking Renewal of the Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale
After a fabulous Cheltenham Festival Day 3, which saw Tattersalls Cheltenham sale graduate ENVOI ALLEN storm up the hill to win the Grade 1 Ryanair Chase, the thrills continued apace into the Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival sale ring with a sale record top price of £420,000 achieved twice, a sale record turnover of £3,450,000 and a record average price of £172,500.
ROMEO COOLIO (Lot 6) was the first to take the Cheltenham Festival Sale bidding to a new dimension, the winning four-year-old son of Kayf Tara purchased for £420,000 by Aidan O'Ryan, acting on behalf of the Keep The Dream Alive (KTDA) syndicate.
By the retired stalwart stallion KAYF TARA, the four-year-old gelding won his maiden on his career debut at Belclare last weekend. It is a race steeped in racing history – previous winners include the three-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner BEST MATE and the Aintree Grand National winner MINELLA TIMES.
Bidding opened at £300,000 and swept upwards at speed until only agents Tom Malone and O'Ryan, standing next to trainer Gordon Elliott and with the KTDA team, were active.
After the sale was concluded in KTDA Syndicate’s favour, the team said of the Monbeg Stables-consigned gelding: "We like to win races here and there is just one exam question when we buy a horse – will it get to Cheltenham? We think this one will!
“We are really impressed with this horse, and we are massively invested in Gordon and the yard – they have looked after us for four years now and we trust the system. We got lucky very early with MOUNT IDA and we just want to keep moving forward – we were committed to this horse.”
O'Ryan added: "I was not there when he won his point-to-point, but in January we had seen him along with a lot of the four-year-olds in Ireland. Donnchadh [Doyle] has always been mad about him, he is a gorgeous horse, and a great example of one by KAYF TARA.”
Bred by Will Kinsey, the gelding was sold as a three-year-old by Valyrian Bloodstock Ltd. from Clononeen Stud at last year’s Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale for €92,000 when bought by Monbeg Stables.
Whatever his stablemate could do, the four-year-old gelding JALON D’OUDAIRIES (Lot 13) could match – and this son of the leading French jumps stallion NO RISK AT ALL, also sold by Monbeg Stables, was bought by Gordon Elliott for the same sale record price of £420,000.
JALON D’OUDAIRIES won last weekend’s four-year-old maiden at Lingstown, a race that has produced the two Cheltenham Festival Sale multiple Grade 1-winning graduates – GERRI COLOMBE, who also finished second in the Grade 1 Brown Advisory yesterday, and tomorrow’s Gold Cup runner BRAVEMANSGAME, winner of this winter’s Grade 1 King George VI Chase.
" JALON D’OUDAIRIES is a lovely horse, he came well recommended, and we saw him before he ran,” said Elliott. “These are the sort of horses we want; we thought ROMEO COOLIO and this horse were the best here. He does not have an owner yet, but we will have by the time the night is out!”
The McNeill family struck early and went to £320,000 for QUEBECOIS (Lot 3), another son of NO RISK AT ALL.
The four-year-old finished second on his sole start to date at Castlelands at the beginning of the month. He was trained and consigned by Sean Doyle’s of Monbeg having been purchased at the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale 2022 for €88,000 from Ballincurrig House Stud.
Matt Prior, Head of Sales for Tattersalls, said: “It was a thrilling day at the races today with ENVOI ALLEN flying the flag for the Tattersalls Cheltenham sales – and the racecourse action provided a fine prelude to an excellent evening’s auction of wonderful young NH prospects.
“Two new record prices given for horses bought with the hope of competing at future Festivals proves just what this race meeting means to NH owners and trainers alike.
“Once again, we would like to thank our partners at the Jockey Club for their assistance in hosting this evening’s sale”