New Record Price of €370,000 and Highest-Ever Average at the Derby Sale

A new record price was set at the Derby Sale when the No Risk At All half-brother (Lot 117) to the talented Grade 1 winners Brighterdaysahead, Mighty Potter and Caldwell Potter sold for €370,000 to Peter and Ross Doyle and Joe Tizzard.

The exceptional price headlined the strong trade seen throughout the day, which produced a Derby Sale single session record average of €61,592, and a turnover of €9,731,500, figures up by 30 per cent and 36 per cent on 2025’s opening day.

The median of €48,000 was an increase of 14 per cent on last year and the clearance rate also showed an improved return of 86 per cent. Four lots sold for €200,000 or more, while 23 lots sold for €100,000 or more.

The ring started to fill with anticipation two lots ahead of Lot 117’s entrance and with good cause – with the bidding opening at €200,000, the gelding, already named Recognition, bred by Walter Connors and sold by his Sluggara Farm, was always going to live up to his billing and name.

That strong opening salvo came from Ross Doyle and the agent was in command throughout the three-year-old’s sale. Joey Logan, who was standing with Gordon Elliott and who knows the family well, gave the strongest challenge but Doyle, alongside trainer Joe Tizzard and his father Colin, stood firm and the trio emerged as the successful purchasers.

“It is a great family, he is a beautiful physical, and we fell in love with him when we saw him,” reported Joe Tizzard. “He is from a good family and is by a proper sire, and he made his money. We are coming off the back of a good season, had a few people interested and we did not want to let him go. He is for a group of existing owners.”

He added: “It is the most we have spent in the ring on a store horse; it is exciting. Dad is here with me, and he has not been to the Derby Sale for five or six years. He fell in love with the horse, too.”

Consignor Walter Connors bred the gelding out of the Laveron mare Matnie. She is the dam of five black-type winners, headed up by the five-time Grade 1 winner Brighterdaysahead, who was bought at the Derby Sale in 2022 for €310,000 by Gordon Elliott Racing.

Connors said: “It is bitter-sweet as he is the last foal out of the mare, and that is the end of a chapter — she kind of walked in the door at home a bit of a Cinderella. There is a certain validation when people want to buy your horse, and I just hope that he can give the new owners a lot of fun. It is great to see Joe Tizzard buying him.”

When asked if he felt any stress as the bidding process rolled through, he laughed: “I don’t think I did — my Garmin watch did not tell me I was under stress; maybe my Garmin is not very good?”

The Walk In The Park (Lot 176) second foal out of the multiple Listed winner Posh Trish (Stowaway) was bought by Gordon Elliott for €250,000. It is the second successful sale for the young mare – her first foal and a full-sibling topped last year’s Derby Sale when fetching €285,000.

This year’s gelding was sold by Peter Nolan Bloodstock, and the consignor said: “He is a fine horse and as good a one as we have had. It is a great return for Charles Shanahan and Gerry Aherne, who pinhooked him here at the November National Hunt Sale as a foal for €100,000.

“He was always out of his box and had around 140 shows, every time you went down, he wasn’t in his box!”

Successful purchaser Elliott said: “He looks a lovely horse; we have waited for him all day. Trade looks good, there are a lot of nice horses, and we gave it a good go on the top lot.”

It was a day of days for Connors’ Sluggara Farm, who also sold the session’s third-best priced lot, a Doctor Dino gelding named Hermes Du Luy (Lot 181). A half-brother to two French black-type winners, he was bought by Harold Kirk for €225,000.

“He is by one of my favourite sires in Doctor Dino,” said Kirk. “I think I have bought eight or nine Grade 1 winners by the sire, and this horse comes from a top-class vendor from whom I have bought several Grade 1 winners.

“He is a most gorgeous, big, strong Doctor Dino — State Man was a big strong horse by the sire, and this is a powerful horse and very typical. I just hope he is another Grade 1 winner by Doctor Dino!”

Joey Logan, buying with Megan and Paul Nicholls, spent €210,000 on Balthazart (Lot 80), a gelding by the popular sire Goliath Du Berlais, from the family of the Listed winner and Grade 2-placed Terre Du Vent.

Megan Nicholls said of the Moanmore Stables-consigned three-year-old: “We thought we’d have to be strong, but we loved him. This horse goes to Dad and has not got an owner right now. He is a lovely horse, really athletic, and I’d say he will be pretty forward-going, which is a key thing. We have been trying to find Dad some sharper horses, and he fits the bill.”

She continued: “Joey has been great, helping and teaching me over the last couple of seasons, and I think with Caldwell Potter [€740,000, Tattersalls Ireland, A&G Brown Dispersal] ending up at Dad’s, it was a good connection. It is a nice association to have, and hopefully we can keep building.”

Of Golaith Du Berlais she added: “He looks a pretty fabulous sire already in what has been a fairly short career as a stallion so far, and this will be the first by the sire at Dad’s yard.”

The concluding two-year-old session was topped by the Crystal Ocean gelding out of the Curtain Time mare Curtain Belle (Lot 208). He was sold by The Paddocks to Ed Bailey for €100,000.

Ballyreddin sold two geldings by the champion sire Walk In The Park – Lot 211 out of En Vedette (Astarabad) for €98,000 to Hamish Macauley, and the second foal out of the multiple graded race winner and Grade 1-placed Flemensfirth mare Minella Melody (Lot 197). He was also purchased by Ed Bailey and cost €90,000.

The second day of the Derby Sale, in partnership with MSL Mercedes-Benz begins at 10:00am tomorrow.