Bleahen brothers' French imports dominate at Arkle Sale led by Mullins-bound €210,000 'stunner with huge pedigree'

Part One of the Goffs Arkle Sale was dominated by the drafts of Galway brothers Niall, John and Hugh Bleahen, with the results of their regular summer buying trips to France in search of foals yielding a bountiful harvest at Kildare Paddocks over the two days of selling.

The trio consign under their individual concerns of Liss House, Lakefield Farm and Clifton Farm, but the enterprise is very much an entire family operation and one that they are all involved in, including the next generation of the family.

Their 2021 buying mission to France unearthed quite a few gems, and none sparkled brighter than Leader Des Bordes, the half-brother to Grade 1 Prix Maurice Gillois Chase winner Utopie Des Bordes, Grade 2 Prix Jean Stern Chase winner Victoire Des Bordes and the Listed winners Belle Du Berry and Quenta Des Bordes. 

This particular gelding is by Tunis, a sire whose origins are a little more obscure than most stallions who produce six-figure stores, however the Grade 2 Prix Amadou Hurdle winner and multiple Grade 1-placed grey is not unknown to Harold Kirk, who was determined to secure lot 317 for Willie Mullins and duly landed him at €210,000.

Kirk said: “I always knew he was going to be very popular, as he’s a stunning horse with a huge pedigree. He’s for an existing owner in the yard.

“His half-brother [Kopek Des Bordes] won the Tattersalls Ireland George Mernagh Memorial Bumper last season and we’ll be hoping this one can win the Goffs Defender Bumper next year. That’ll be the first plan anyway."

The exploits of Kopek Des Bordes certainly placed a premium on his year-younger half-brother as  the son of No Risk At All had cost Kirk and Mullins €130,000 as a store last June.

Kirk added: "The whole page is very good. The mare is an excellent producer, and we like Tunis."

John Bleahen and Harold Kirk after the latter purchased Bleahen's Tunis gelding for €210,000 at the Goffs Arkle SaleCredit: SARAH FARNSWORTH

That is a little of an understatement as Kirk and Mullins have hoovered up the best of the Tunis offspring that have come on to the market in recent times, including the €280,000 Kiss Will last September from Francois Nicolle, for whom he was second on his debut in an AQPS race at Fontainebleau.

Kiss Will is from the first crop of Tunis, who stands at Haras de Cercy and was bred in Poland, before finding his way to France and the yard of Guillaume Macaire as a three-year-old. 

Tunis won four black-type contests and was second to Master Dino in three Grade 1 races and, despite his little known origins, found a home at stud in France because of his race record.

His sire Estejo was an Italian Group 1 winner and is a son of Johann Cruyff, who won the Group 2 Gallinule Stakes for Aidan O'Brien.

Kirk's regular forays to Auteuil and around France have provided him with an insight into the French mindset when it comes to stallion selection.

"Tunis was a very good hurdler and is still a young sire, but they like him a lot in France," he said. "A lot of French National Hunt sires ran over hurdles themselves, and so have proven they can jump. 

"In France they nearly prefer that to a horse who’s won a big race at Royal Ascot. It’s a different system, but it works."

Brothers in arms

For Niall Bleahen, it was a case of having the right horse for the buyers.

"We had our moments and when the horse came into the ring, the right people showed up," he said.

The Tunis half-brother to Utopie Des Bordes who sold for €210,000 at the Goffs Arkle SaleCredit: SARAH FARNSWORTH

His brother John's Lakefield Farm offered a filly by Kopek Des Bordes' sire and the daughter of the high-class Flat performer Pearl Sky was knocked down to the father-and-son team of Aiden and Olly Murphy for €125,000.

Aiden Murphy is quite taken with the progeny of Haras de Montaigu's No Risk At All, who is the sire of five individual Grade 1 winners including Nicky Henderson and JP McManus's Champion Hurdle heroine Epatante.

"She’s a lovely filly with a very good pedigree," remarked the successful agent. 

"The dam was very good and won four on the Flat. I wouldn’t mind having a van full of No Risk At All horses, and being out of a Kahyasi mare wouldn’t do her any harm; he’s a good broodmare sire. Time will tell. She is from a good farm; the Bleahen family are unbelievable. She is for an existing owner."

Those four wins on the Flat included the Group 3 Prix Exbury and the Listed Prix Petite Etoile and Pearl Sky was twice second at Group 2 level. At stud she has produced the Listed-placed jumper Kazarov, by Kendargent, and is the granddam of Purple Light, another Listed-placed hurdler by the Haras de Colleville stalwart.

Lakefield Farm's No Risk At All filly sold for €125,000 at the Goffs Arkle Sale to Aiden and Olly MurphyCredit: SARAH FARNSWORTH

While Niall's Liss House was the source of two of the three most expensive horses during Part One of this year's Arkle Sale, John's Lakefield Farm consigned the sale's highest-priced filly and the Bleahen brothers cumulatively sold €1,819,000 of store horses during two days of trade. They consigned 30 horses between them, which included three of the 16 six-figure lots of the day.

Liss House finished Part One as the second leading consignor on average, with the eight horses sold by Niall Bleahen and his team returning an average of €86,785, while John's Lakefield recorded an average of €59,909 for 11 sold. Clifton Farm, Hugh's concern, traded 11 stores at an average price of €42,273.

Maclennan has hit upon the winning formula

Tom Malone was one of the busiest agents over the two days of trading, buying €638,000 worth of stores in tandem with Paul Nicholls but he was also in the thick of the action on behalf of emerging ownership force Lynne Maclennan and it was for her that he, and Aidan Fitzgerald of Cobajay Stables, bought Killeen Glebe's half-sister to Ballyburn, victorious in three Grade 1 novice hurdles last season for Mullins, Ronnie Bartlett and David Manasseh.

At €92,000 she is the most expensive filly from the first crop of Coolmore Stud's Prince of Wales's Stakes winner Crystal Ocean, by Sea The Stars. It was a healthy pinhooking result for Chris Jones' operation as she cost €25,000 when bought by Kevin Ross from Robert McCarthy of The Beeches Stud, where her sire stands, at the 2021 Goffs December National Hunt Sale.

In addition to her brilliant half-brother, the late May foal is a half-sister to the Grade 2 handicap chase winner Noble Endeavor and to the Listed Silver Cup Handicap Chase second Minella Daddy, so, with that lineage, Malone anticipated having to spend quite a lot to secure her on behalf of Maclennan.

“That was about the right price," said Malone. "She had a pedigree to die for, and we decided that she has enough residual value without black type, but if we can nick a bit, there’s a big play for her."

A half-sister to six winners out of the unraced Old Vic mare Old Moon, her family traces back to the illustrious Parkhill pedigree of Mole Board and Deep Dawn. Malone believed it was her lack of height that prevented the filly from making a blockbuster price.

The Goliath Du Berlais gelding from Liss House gleams in the sun at GoffsCredit: SARAH FARNSWORTH

“If she was just two inches bigger she’d have cost 300 grand, that’s the likelihood," he said. "A filly called Brighterdaysahead [Grade 1 Mersey Novices' Hurdle winner] did that at the store sales a few years ago [€310,000 in 2022]: she also had the page and the physique but was also a bit bigger. 

“This one is all quality, she just lacked that bit of size. But that won’t stop her from being a racehorse. It just gave us a chance to buy her."

Despite the lack of size and giving her plenty of opportunities to find ways of disappointing him, Malone could not find any reason to not have a go at the filly for Maclennan.

“I went back out into the back ring to look at her again, and man alive her attitude to work is amazing," he exclaimed. "She just puts her head down, marches and swings. I love a filly who gets on with her job. Too often I can lose interest in a filly as she starts doing things she shouldn’t, like acting mareish, but this filly is honesty personified.”

The agent was accompanied by his client and Maclennan was as effusive in her enthusiasm for her latest purchase as Malone had been when speaking previously.

“She looks a scrapper," remarked Maclennan, whose orange and black silks are becoming an increasingly familiar sight at racecourses around Britain. 

In partnership with her husband Angus, she is trying to increase the quality of the horses in her string and that has seen them raise the budget at the sales as they look to add horses capable of bringing them to the big festivals to their string.

Olly (left) and Aiden Murphy, who bought the No Risk At All filly from Lakefield Farm for €125,000 at GoffsCredit: SARAH FARNSWORTH

“We just want to improve," she said. "We’ve been in it for roughly eight or nine years, and we seem to be hitting the bar more times than not now because we keep improving. 

“We’ve always had a passion for it but when you start doing silly things like paying €92,000 for a store you wonder if it’s tipped over into madness. But no, this is how we love to do it: buy them young and see them come through. There’s so much more satisfaction in doing it like that.

“The last few years we’ve been really lucky. I have to say that, because it doesn’t matter what you spend, you need luck in this game. You can only hope that you’re buying the best. This is always the best day because your dream is alive. A year from now we could be in tears, but we still love it.”

The system of increased spending on store horses, and sending them to Aidan Fitzgerald to be broken and assessed as to whether they go pointing first or go to the track, has already produced a potential star.

At the 2022 Goffs Arkle (or Land Rover as it was then) Sale, Malone and Fitzgerald alighted on Kilbarry Lodge's homebred daughter of Diamond Boy out of a half-sister to Thyestes Chase winner Longhouse Poet. Securing her for €50,000, she was selected as an ideal point-to-point candidate and Fitzgerald prepared her to be second in a four-year-old maiden at Tattersalls last October.

Named Diva Luna, she then transferred to Ben Pauling's yard and ended the season with victory in the Grade 2 Goffs-sponsored bumper at the Aintree Grand National meeting. 

Maclennan had an update on the exciting five-year-old and said: “She’s out on her holidays with Luca Morgan, and will be coming back to Ben’s after the summer. 

"The sky’s the limit with her. I don’t think even Diva knows how good she is yet; she’s not had to work terribly hard to be where she is. It’s equally scary and delightful at the same time. I don’t know where we might be with her.

“There are no specific targets with her, but the dream is on.”

Aidan Fitzgerald and Lyne Maclennan in high spirits after purchasing the Crystal Ocean half-sister to BallyburnCredit: SARAH FARNSWORTH

Round-up of figures

Wednesday's second session returned just three horses who sold for a six-figure price, compared with 13 who hit that mark on the opening day of the sale. Trade was a little more subdued relative to a more robust first session, with Wednesday's headline figures flatter.

The clearance rate, which had hit 81 per cent on the opening day, was just 78 per cent on Wednesday, with 161 of the 206 horses listed as sold. Turnover was €7,383,500 on Wednesday, compared with €9,073,000 on the opening day, while both the median and average lagged markedly behind those achieved at the first session.

Wednesday's average was €45,861 compared with €51,260, while the median at €40,000 was €5,000 less than during the first session,

Overall, 340 horses from the 424 offered at Part One were sold, which gave a two-day clearance rate of 80 per cent. They generated a total of €16,529,000 for an average price of €48,615, with the median coming in at €42,000.

End-of-sale statement

In his end of sale statement, Henry Beeby, group chief executive of Goffs, remarked on what he believed was the buoyancy and resilience of trade at the upper levels, while remaining conscious of the changed economic conditions.

"It is no secret that there was a feeling of trepidation as the sale approached as it has been a tough year in several ways, not least with the weather that played such havoc with the point-to-point season, but the overriding vibe from the two days was a sale of vibrancy and strength with the familiar refrain that it is 'hard to buy the good ones' regularly heard," he said.

"While the statistics are behind last year, they have been bettered only by the last two amazing renewals of the sale and we must put the trade into the context of the world today, which is a much different place to 12 months ago, so therefore derive a level of satisfaction from the results. That said, we recognise that the market has contracted to an extent and a reduced clearance rate is always a cause for concern as it means less success for our loyal vendors."

Beeby also mentioned the improvement works which have taken place at the sales complex in recent months.

"On the latter point I want to pay special tribute to Ger Hennessy and his facilities team, as he has overseen the replacement of 600 stable doors and some major work to each yard’s showing surface in a relatively short space of time," he said. "The result is that the best sales complex is now even better for horses and people alike."

Part Two of the Goffs Arkle Sale takes place on Thursday, with the action commencing at 10am.

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