Mick Goff’s French-bred Kanzler proved to be the most sought-after Irish point-to-pointer at the Tattersalls Cheltenham February Sale.
By the German sire Tai Chi, Goff’s son Harry had been aboard when he beat two rivals on debut at Kirkistown at the beginning of February, and he is now set to go into training with Willie Mullins, having been bought by Harold Kirk for £165,000 in a great return on the gelding’s yearling purchase of €4,000 when bought in France by JD Moore.
Kirk said: “He is a beautiful horse with loads of quality. When he won his point-to-point he showed he’s got loads of speed. I could see him dropping back and being a very good 2m hurdler.
“He jumped very well and he can definitely make a chaser long term as well. He’s got loads of quality and the sire’s a good sire in Germany. I know of him but this is the first I’ve bought. This horse is quality, has speed and looks to have a lot of class. He’s just the type of horse I like to buy.”
Two lots sold for £155,000 – Jerry McGrath and Ben Pauling Racing purchased the four-year-old Comea winner Taurus Bay from Denis Murphy’s Ballyboy Stables, the first point-to-point runner and winner for the young exciting sire Poet’s Word, while AJ O’Neill, signing as O’Neill Racing and Stroud Coleman Bloodstock, spent the same amount on February’s Bellharbour winner Vanderflier.
Pauling said: “Taurus Bay is a gorgeous individual, he has loads of size and scope. He is a shell of what he will be, next year you will see a big strong horse, but he has still taken his training this season well. It was a very good performance when he won, he looked green, but he picked up nicely. He has been bought for a client.”
Of the sire, he added: “Last year I bought two stores by Poet’s Word, and I like them.”
Of buying point-to-pointers and the success he has been enjoying with the graduates from the pointing ranks, headlined by his Grade 1-winning Tattersalls November Sale graduate Handstands, Pauling said: “We buy a lot of stores and a lot of form horses. We have had luck from the point-to-point ranks, but you still have to punch clever. We have got a good team buying and we are happy with how it is going.”
Vanderflier, a five-year-old by Milan and sold by Sam Curling’s Skehanagh Stables, was one of two purchases at the sale for O’Neill and he said: “He is a lovely big horse, and is a very free-moving type. I liked the way the penny seemed to drop as he was coming up the straight when he won and he really galloped on and jumped the last lovely, and won well. I am a fan of the horse, he seems to be learning the job nicely. He has been bought on spec.”
It was the five-year-old gelding’s third turn around a sale ring having been purchased at the 2023 Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale for €52,000 as a store horse by JJ Bowe and previously sold at the same company’s November NH Sale for €48,000 as a foal.
Tattersalls Cheltenham sales manager Shirley Anderson-Jolag said: “With the understandable cancellation of last weekend’s Irish point-to-points it meant that today sale was always going to have a reduced catalogue, but we are delighted that the sale has produced a new British record price for Edith Pelham, achieved a superb clearance rate of 86 per cent, and a record median of £80,000.
“The results have really set up for the industry-leading Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale on March 13 and we are taking entries now.
“However, our thoughts this week have very much been with Michael O’Sullivan’s family and friends, as well as with our marketing manager Richard Botterill, who is not in the best of health at present and was much missed by us all today.”
