Walk In The Park

Capital Stud boss Ger O'Neill has revealed that Authorized (Ire) will stand for a similar fee to dominant National Hunt stallion Walk In The Park (Ire) and outlined his hopes that the new recruit to the County Kilkenny operation will help raise the relatively new outfit's profile amongst Irish breeders.  O'Neill's perseverance paid off in securing the 20-year-old Derby winner and sire of Tiger Roll (Ire), one of the most famous jumps horses of the modern era, from the Jockey Club of Turkey for what he described as "a frightening"...

The Goffs December National Hunt sale saw a leading €110,000 price for the top lot (157A, a wildcard entry) as the highest for a NH foal anywhere in 2023. The session-topping lot by Walk In The Park (Ire) is a half-brother to multiple Grade I-scorer Stage Star (Ire) (Fame And Glory {GB}). Out of the graded-stakes winning jump mare Sparky May (GB) (Midnight Legend {GB}), the foal went to Richard Frisby, who also struck earlier for lot 101, a Blue Bresil colt, secured for €45,000. David Cox of Baroda Stud,...

Day two of the Tattersalls Ireland November National Hunt Sale followed a familiar theme with the progeny of Blue Bresil (Fr) and Walk In The Park (Ire) dominating proceedings once again. The sire of the reigning Champion Hurdler Constitution Hill, Blue Bresil was responsible for four of the top eight foals through the ring on Monday, including a €97,000 colt that was sold by Ballykineally Stables to Coolmara Stables. Mossy Barry of Ballykineally Stables commented, "He is out of the mare Beautiful War-we bought her and she was well-named as...

Baroda Stud were responsible for two of the three six-figure lots on day one of the Goffs February Sale, including the €115,000 top lot, a colt by Sottsass (Ire), who was purchased by Tally-Ho Stud. Of the 2017 lots offered, 128 were sold, which represented a clearance rate of 59% and an aggregate spend of €2,056,250. The average for day one of first sale for 2023 at Goffs was €16,064 with Cox explaining that the nice horses had no trouble in finding new homes. He said, "A few people said...

   Peter Molony is best known for being the man who bought the reigning Champion Hurdler Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}) on behalf of his client Kenny Alexander. He also works for Sheikh Fahad's Qatar Racing operation, is an agent for Goffs and has had a multitude of top horses through his hands at Rathmore Stud. That may be why the Limerick native signs off on his Twitter bio with the word 'busy'!    Son of the legendary Martin Molony, widely regarded as the best dual-purpose jockey of all time, Peter...

Tattersalls Ireland's two-day Derby Sale drew to a close on Thursday with records achieved for the average and median price at the sale. An average of €54,018 and a median of €48,000 were achieved at the sale which returned a clearance rate of 86% for 299 lots sold. Twenty-four lots sold for six figures. Sons of Walk In The Park (Ire) filled the top two spots, with the sale-topping lot 389 picked up by Eddie O'Leary for Bective Stud for €280,000. He is the most expensive National Hunt store horse...

The delayed Goffs February Sale concluded on Thursday with Part 2, a session of 84 short yearlings. The difficulties presented by offering young stock in an online format were highlighted by a large number of withdrawals from the original catalogue of 228, and a clearance rate of 42%. The 35 horses to have found a buyer returned an average price of €10,311 and median of €8,000, and they added €360,900 to the overall tally for the sale which had to undergo both date and format changes. "Selling weanlings in March...

It wasn't too hard to predict that Gigginstown House Stud's 11-time Grade 1 winner Apple's Jade (Fr) (Saddler Maker {Ire}) would be the star of the Goffs December National Hunt Sale and, entering the ring just a handful of lots before the end of the two-day auction, the 8-year-old mare (lot 515) duly commanded the top price of the sale, eventually bringing the hammer down at €530,000. Along with her own illustrious race record, an extra selling point was provided by the fact that Apple's Jade was offered carrying her...

The Goffs December National Hunt Sale started its two-day run on Wednesday with the first session of foals led by a colt by Walk In The Park (Ire) at €82,000. Consigned by Yellowford Farm, the youngster (lot 70) is out of a dual-winning half-sister to the prolific Champion Hurdler Hurricane Fly (Ire), who is himself by Walk In The Park's sire Montjeu (Ire). His dam Blixt (Ire) is a dual winner by Yeats (Ire), meaning the colt is inbred 3x3 to Sadler's Wells. He was one of two colts by...