There was another high for British point-to-pointing in the sales ring when at Doncaster yesterday the Jack Teal-trained Low Kick was sold for £170,000.
Offered on the opening day of Goffs UK’s Spring Sale of pointers and horses-in-training, the four-year-old was knocked down to Irish bloodstock agent Mags O’Toole who headed interest from fellow agents Tom Malone and Aiden Murphy. The price was the highest during the session for a point-to-pointer despite competition from horses trained across the Irish Sea, and it was the highest for a gelding from the British sport to be sold at Doncaster. Just one horse, Toby Bulgin’s Cheltenham bumper winner Poetisa, made more on the day when she changed hands for £300,000 to a bid from Willie Mullins.
Low Kick (pictured above), a son of leading French sire Montmartre, proved that a young horse does not have to win a race to prove popular at auction, for in two races this season he had finished third twice, initially in a maiden point-to-point at Garthorpe and then in Aintree’s point-to-point flat race held last week.
Teal, who trained the horse for owner Roger Marley, also rode him in his two races and blamed himself for each defeat, saying: “We ran him first time out at Garthorpe in Leicestershire, which is a tricky track because it’s so undulating. We planned to run him a week later at a more suitable track, but had another horse we wanted to run, and as this lad was more forward he went to Garthorpe.
“The track didn’t suit him, so then we ran him at Aintree in the bumper, and I probably left it too late and he did well to finish as close as he did. It was trainer error the first time out, and jockey error the second, but it’s so good to see him make that kind of money.”
Rebel Tribesman, winner of Aintree's point-to-point flat race, was sold by Eamonn O'Donovan and Tommie O'Brien (Ce)
Rebel Tribesman, who won the Aintree flat race, also went through the ring where he generated a profit for his vendors, trainer Eamonn O’Donovan and amateur rider Tommie O’Brien. They bought the son of Crystal Ocean for €9,000 at Tattersalls Ireland’s July Sale of stores and were rewarded when he sold yesterday for £55,000 to Tom Malone and trainer Jamie Snowden.
Bradley Gibbs and partner Claire Sherriff gained a good result when their Eyton-on-Severn maiden winner Jetaway Holiday sold for £65,000 to Jerry McGrath and Nicky Henderson. Gibbs said: “I’m very happy with that and pleased that he’s going to Nicky Henderson. Fingers crossed he will show them what he’s shown me at home. I bought him privately out of a field in Ireland as a three-year-old.”
During a prolonged period of dry weather it has been a difficult time for trainers in their quest to run and advertise young horses, and Gibbs said: “Ideally we would have liked to run this one earlier in the season, but some of mine were a bit sick in the middle part of the season and so we had to wait for him to come right. There are a few that we’ve turned out and hope to run them in the autumn.”
Jetaway Holiday, who realised £65,000 for vendors Bradley Gibbs and Claire Sherriff (Ce)