ENGLISH VERSION and a lot going for him.“ It’ s never easy to find a horse that ticks all the boxes, but we thought it was worth it. There have been some very talented horses that have come out of the Breeze Ups, and that’ s why we have come here, with a horse capable of running in the Derby, probably the hardest race to win in Hong Kong. He really has the right profile for it.”
AKTEM GRAND STEEPLECHASE SELECTED SALE – 15 MAY Fledgling auction house AKTEM enjoyed a successful first physical sale, the inaugural AKTEM Grand Steeple Selection Sale. A daughter of Nirvana du Berlais, Mahadevi, topped the sale at 510,000 euros. Sold to Hamish Macauely and Coolmara Stud, the three-yearold filly boasted a strong National Hunt pedigree as a half-sister to two Grade 1 winners. Kieren Mariga from Coolmara Stables, said:“ She is a very beautiful filly, we like her. We had set ourselves a budget of € 450,000, but she has an exceptional pedigree. She will stay in France and join the yard of Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm.” Although Mahadevi was the highest-priced lot available, it was a two-year-old filly by Great Pretender who caught plenty of attention, as a full-sister to Champion Hurdle( Gr. 1) heroine Lossiemouth. Bought by Mags O’ Toole, the filly will return to Ireland:“ I bought two exceptional 2-year-olds with very strong pedigrees.
I hope the filly will always retain her value thanks to her outstanding page, and we will take our time with her. They will go to Ireland for now and we will decide later what plans to make for them.”
ARQANA GRAND STEEPLE SALE – 16 MAY The Arqana Grand Steeple Sale returned in a physical form at Auteuil during the Grand Steeplechase de Paris fixture, having spent years as an online only sale. It provided another opportunity for British trainers to purchase the best young National Hunt horses out of France, with the trio of Ryan Mahon, Dan Skelton and Manresa Agency signing the docket for the top lot of 500,000 euros. Runner-up in the Prix Amadou( Gr. 2), Isaac Of York is related to Group winner Tryphaena and had shown promise for former trainer Mathieu Pitart.“ He’ s obviously a very good horse,” said Dan Skelton.“ He has a very nice profile for the big races. For any owner he is the ideal horse. We really like buying French horses, and when they’ ve already run at a good level, it’ s a good indicator. For now he’ ll come back and have a break at home, and then we’ ll find some nice races for him in the autumn.” Second-highest Lot, Nils Holgerson sold to Nathaniel Barnett for British purposes. A debut winner, the threeyear-old hails from the same family as familiar Britishtrained chaser Azertyioup. He said:“ He’ s a horse that I’ ve really liked the look of for a while now. I was particularly impressed with his debut and I think he has a lot of potential. He’ ll will go to England to be trained by Olly Murphy.”
GOFFS UK SPRING HIT / PTP SALE – 20 / 21 MAY The Goffs UK Spring HIT / PTP Sale reached scaled new heights with a record-breaking turnover of £ 11,004,400, a 24 % increase from the 2025 sale. As such, the average rose by 13 % and the median increased by 5 %. Minella Premier achieved the second-highest price in the sale, selling for £ 300,000 to O’ Neill Racing and Stroud Coleman Bloodstock. A three-time winner of a point-to-point and two bumpers, the six-year-old was expected to be popular in the sales ring and the notion proved correct. AJ O’ Neill said:“ Minella Premier is a lovely horse, we actually underbid him here as a pointer. We were very keen to get him that day, and we ' re delighted to finally introduce him to Jackdaws Castle now.“ There ' s no owner for him yet. Would anyone like a share in a racehorse?! Look, we had a fantastic spring and we want to continue in that vein, and you need the right horses to do so.” I think we ' ve bought some lovely horses this week to help us achieve that. I’ m delighted to get him, these are very exciting times.”
TATTERSALLS IRELAND BREEZE UP SALE – 22 MAY The Tattersalls Ireland Breeze Up Sale achieved
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