Tattersalls Ireland brought the curtain down on the European sales year with its final boutique Cheltenham sale of 2019 after racing at Prestbury Park on Friday.
As always, timing is everything with such a sale, and the victory of Gallyhill (Ire) (Getaway {Ger}) on his debut at Kirkistown point-to-point on Nov. 23 was sufficient to entice Best Mate's former trainer Henrietta Knight to bid £450,000 for the 4-year-old. Offered as lot 33, Gallyhill already has at least one footnote in history as the first runner for Jamie Sloan, who has taken over the training duties at Loughanmore Farm in Northern Ireland from Ian Ferguson. The gelding is a half-brother to the eight-time winner Nortonthorpelegend (Ire) (Midnight Legend {GB}) and hails from a classy middle-distance Flat family, his third dam being the G2 Ribblesdale S. winner Gull Nook (GB) (Mill Reef), who is also the dam of Pentire (GB) (Be My Guest).
Twenty-four hours after Gallyhill got off to a successful start between the flags, Sir Gerhard (Ire) (Jeremy) was another to make a favourable impression when winning his maiden point-to-point at Boulta by 12 lengths under crack amateur Derek O'Connor. The 4-year-old will now be leaving Ellmarie Holden's stable to join Gordon Elliott, who went to £400,000 to secure lot 22. Out of the winning hurdler Faanan Aldaar (Ire) (Authorized {Ire}), herself a daughter of the G3 Prix du Calvados winner Ya Hajar (GB) (Lycius) and from the family of champion miler Zafeen (Fr), Sir Gerhard was bought as a foal for €17,000 by Peter Molony and was sold on as a 3-year-old through his Rathmore Stud for €72,000.
One of a handful of French entries in the sale was 3-year-old Kalkas (Fr) (Kapgarde {Fr}), bred by Neustrian Associates, who has had just one run in France, finishing a close-up third over hurdles at Fontainebleau last week. The Francois Nicolle-trained gelding (lot 38) proved the star of his age group when sold for £210,000 to Bertrand Le Metayer. He is the first foal of his dam Fortunateencounter (Fr) (Muhtathir {GB}), a classy jumper in her own right with listed form over hurdles and six wins to her credit.
A catalogue of 62—down from 75 for last year's event—was reduced to 54 horses passing through the ring, and 38 of those found a new owner at an increased average price of £90,237 (+8%). Turnover for the sale was £3,429,000.
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