Order On Time proved to be the most sought-after point-to-pointer on offer at the Tattersalls Cheltenham December Sale.
Sean Doyle’s son of Order Of St George, a €36,000 Derby Sale purchase, had only found the Johnny Fogarty-trained Tendoo too strong when finishing second on his debut at Turtulla last month.
He is now set to join Paul Nicholls after being bought by Anthony Bromley of Highflyer Bloodstock, who saw off Pat Phelan at £200,000.
“He has been bought Paul Nicholls,” said Bromley. “I love the horse he is very athletic horse. He has some nice size and scope and was strongly recommended by Sean Doyle, and the race os worth watching because the two of them pull miles clear.
“And I know he was second, but the winner is already in Paul's yard and they like him already him a lot. He lost very little in defeat.
“We felt he looked around the nicest four-year-old pointers in the sale, and Paul is looking for an owner.”
Consignor Sean Doyle said: “We really think he is the best horse in the sales, and we believe he has a massive future, and is as good as any of the Grade 1 horses we have sold. He's really gone to a good home now.
“He is all Authorized [broodmare sire], and no one needs to say what fabulous sire Authorized is. And I've been very lucky regarding Order Of St. George, so I'm over the moon.
"He was a light frame store and he's still a light framed horse so we had to take our time with him.”
Thinkitdontjinxit had only made his debut five days in advance of the sale. Denis Murphy son of Vadamos having made the perfect start to his racing career by sprinting clear of his rivals to record an eight-length success at Ballycrystal.
That clearly caught the eye of Elliott, who saw off bidding opponent Lucinda Russell, securing the four-year-old for £185,000.
“He came recommended by Denis,” said Elliott. “He won well, we’ve been lucky with the sire Vadamos – King Of Kingsfield is also by him. This looks a nice individual, so hopefully he’ll be lucky.
“We saw the video, we’ve been lucky with horses from Ballycrystal and we’ve been lucky with Denis. We will get him home and then we will work things out.”
Wexford handlers consigned all five of the point-to-pointers who realised six-figures, as Quest For Answers, the Borris House debut-winning four-year-old, sold for £170,000.
He was sold by handler Michael Murphy's Redbridge Stables to Emeraldway Bloodstock and Mouse Morris.
"It is for a new partnership, and he is going to Mouse Morris," said Patrick O'Brien, the successful bidder.
"Mick [Murphy] has done a great job preparing this horse, he beat a good one in his point-to-point, are looking forward to him.
He added: "Mouse is a good friend of ours, he had this horse high on the shortlist so we wanted to make sure we got him."
Maxios Des Champs was the top-priced mare at the sale, with Eamonn Doyle’s Boulta scorer selling to Jerry McGrath and Nicky Henderson for £135,000, whilst James and Ellen Doyle’s Debrave Soldier, runner-up to John Murphy’s impressive Dromahane victor, The Old Head, was bought by Tom Malone for £115,000.
The sale saw 23 horses sold for a turnover of £1,936,000, an average price of £84,174 and a median price of £60,000. The clearance rate was 85 per cent.
Tattersalls Cheltenham Sales Manager Shirley Anderson-Jolag commented: “It is great to see such a variety of consignors enjoying success at this evening’s sale, and I am delighted that Colm Ryan got such a brilliant result with Charismatic Kid.
“Three groups of American owners purchased here tonight, and I’d like to thank the GBRI team for their work in bringing them over for racing, sales and to enjoy a “Christmas in the Cotswolds” weekend.
“We are now looking forward to 2026’s four spring sales, kicking off with the January Sale on 24th January on Cheltenham Festival Trials day, moving onto the February Sale on 20th February and then to our headline Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale on 12th March.
“We will also get to see the new generation of four-year-olds hitting the point-to-point courses in the New Year, it is always exciting when new equine talent starts to emerge.
“I’d like to thank everyone involved for their continued support throughout 2025 and wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. We are very much looking forward to enjoying some top class, and winning, racecourse action for our talented Tattersalls Cheltenham graduates over the busy Festive racing season.”
