Donnchadh Doyle-trained The Big Breakaway tops Punchestown sale

There were records all round at the ninth renewal of the Goffs Punchestown Sale which took place after racing on Thursday evening, with a new top price for the sale of €360,000 and increases in turnover, average and median. 

Topping the vibrant trade was Monbeg Stables’ four-year-old Getaway gelding The Big Breakaway (Lot 12). The winner of a Quakerstown maiden on Easter Sunday which has a particularly impressive roll of honour in recent years that features the likes of Champagne Fever, Bacardys, Next Destination and Brewin’upastorm, and the Getaway gelding, that had been bought for €55,000 11 months earlier, produced a hefty profit for his connections when he was knocked down to Ross Doyle on behalf of Colin Tizzard.

Brian Jordan’s Noreen Bawn (Lot 6), a four-year-old daughter of Jeremy who had crossed the line in front on her debut at Dromahane five days earlier only to be demoted to second following a steward’s enquiry, was the next highest priced lot at Punchestown when selling for €220,000 to Gerry Hogan.

He also secured Lot 9, the four-year-old Shirocco gelding Unbreakable Bond from Monbeg Stables for €210,000. That €65,000 Land Rover sale graduate having finished second to Grangeclare Native at Curraghmore on Easter Sunday and the pair will both go in training with Alan Fleming for new owner Barry Connell.

Expensive store purchases proved to be all the rage on the night, as Richard Black was handsomely rewarded for the €60,000 that he had forked out to buy Barbados Buck (Lot 11) as a three-year-old 11 months earlier. Second to Skatman at Dromahane, the Getaway gelding, a close relation of Stayer’s Hurdle champion Big Buck’s, will now go into training with Big Buck’s’ former trainer Paul Nicholls who signed for Black’s charge alongside Tom Malone for a price of €210,000. He will now reportedly sport the Big Buck's colours of the Steward family.
 
Bernie Murphy’s Gabbys Cross became the most expensive horse to emerge from the four-year-old auction maiden’s, a series of races confined to horses that were sold for €25,000 or less, when he was bought by Roger Brookhouse for €170,000.

There were further six-figure prices for mares when Southern Girl, another daughter of Getaway, was sold for €155,000 to Peter Molony of Rathmore Stud, the purchaser of Grade 1 winner Honeysuckle at the 2018 Punchestown sale. She had won her Quakerstown maiden by 12 lengths over Easter. 

Ireland’s only boutique National Hunt Sale saw a 15% rise in average price to €144,385, while median rose 5% to €115,000 and turnover increased by 7% on last year.

Following the sale, Goffs Chief Executive Henry Beeby commented:

“We were confident that this was an exceptional catalogue and there was huge interest throughout the afternoon at the stables.  That translated into a vibrant trade for some very attractive young propositions.

In the nine years we have held this sale it has proven to be a huge success both for the vendors selling but also, as importantly, for the buyers who have enjoyed enormous success on the racetrack”.

Comparative figures:

Offered: 17
Sold: 13 (76%)
Aggregate: €1,877,000 7%
Average: €144,385 ( 15%)
Median: €115,000 ( 5%)