Gaynestown Goes to €55,000 for Top Lot by Order Of St George

A busy day for the first session of the Tattersalls Ireland July Store Sale saw 259 lots offered, 155 horses sold and a turnover of €1,381,950, results on a par with the sale’s opening session in 2024.

Eight horses sold for €30,000 and above with the top price of €55,000 given for a gelding by the day’s leading sire Order Of St George, the three-year-old sold by Niall Bleahen’s Liss House and offered as wildcard entry Lot 32.

The three-year-old is the second foal out of the Shantou mare Aunty Liz, and a grandson of the Listed-placed hurdler Penny Fiction, dam of four winners, including Carriganog, a four-time winner and third in the Grade 2 Monksfield Novice Hurdle.

The May-born gelding was purchased by Gaynestown, and trainer Jonathan Fogarty said: “He will go back to be broken and will go point-to-pointing in the spring. He is a quality horse, a lovely mover, and out of a Shantou mare – everything I like. He is the first Order Of St George I have had. I’m looking forward to getting him home.”

The three-year-old by the popular young National Hunt sire Harzand and out of two-time winner Aiguille Rouge, a Falco half-sister to the Grade 1 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner Labaik, was the session’s first wildcard into the ring (Lot 4), and he created some early activity on the buying bench when selling for €52,000.

“He will go for a point-to-point and then will be for resale, hopefully we will get to Tattersalls Cheltenham in the spring,” said purchaser Brian Lawless of The Glebe Farm-offered gelding. “He is a good model and a fine specimen of a horse and he moved well. We are happy to get him, and there will be a few of us involved. He is the first by Harzand for us.”

“Feel Like Dancing has had an Aintree Festival winner, has a few good ones on the ground, and I bought a nice one myself in the spring,” said agent Tom Malone after spending €35,000 on this gelding by the Whytemount Stud-based stallion and offered by Shanaville Stables (Lot 140), adding: “This chap is for Will Biddick, who has some owners for him. Hopefully, the horse will go on and do the job, and will be point-to-pointing in the spring.”

Malone, who bought two lots through the first session, continued: “This is a horse who was entered in the Derby Sale and did not get there, and he is a fine sort.”

An eight-time British champion point-to-point jockey Biddick, who rode 21 pointing winners through the recent season and finished fourth in the men’s riders championship, and also pre-trains young horses, trains and produces point-to-pointers for resale, added: “He is a big, loose horse with a relaxed walk and looks an athletic individual. We will get him cantering away and get him back to a sale in the spring.”

The March-born gelding is out of Devils Pride, the dam of Lyle View, a winner of over hurdles in February, and she is a half-sister to the seven-time winner Rigour Back Bob, ten-time winner Devils Bride, and three-time winner The Boat People, and all three were graded race winners.

All horses catalogued and offered at the July Store Sale are eligible for the €100,000 Tattersalls Ireland MSL Mercedes-Benz Sales Bumper, which will be run at Leopardstown on the 28th December 2026.

The second day of the July Store Sale begins at 10:00am tomorrow.