Son of Definite Article tops "tricky" sale

The DBS NH Store Sale concluded on Thursday with generally subdued trade that picked up on the second day of the sale.

The sale aggregate of £2,469,000 was down 34% from last year and the average of £14,438 saw a 20% decline. The median was £10,000, down from £14,000, and the clearance rate was 69%.

The sale topper was offered from Goldford Stud and realised £90,000 when selling to Mags O'Toole. The three year old son of DEFINITE ARTICLE is a half brother to the Grade Two winning DIAMOND SAL and RING THE BOSS, who was bought at DBS by Aiden Murphy before winning a Listed Hurdle contest and it was Murphy who tried again for the gelding before the hammer came down in favour of O'Toole.

Colin Tizzard has done well with his purchases at this sale and his spending was topped by a son of the Grade One Breeders Cup winner TIKKANEN. The four year old was consigned by Kennycourt Stud and is out of the multiple Listed winning GOLDEN FLOWER, whose first foal was the Grade Two winning BOYCHUCK. He was another to attract plenty of interest from around the ring and it was Anthony Bromley who made the biggest play for the gelding before the hammer came down in favour of Tizzard, who was bidding for a telephone client.

Oaks Farm Stables consigned the top Lot on the first day of the Sale when a son of DALIAPOUR sold to Doneany Bloodstock for £50,000. The three year old French bred gelding, named LORD'AMORE, is out of a half sister to the Listed winning DIAMONA and was always thought to be popular but it was Aiden Murphy who was the eventual underbidder before the ticket was signed in the name of Doneany Bloodstock.

Mill House Stud are always one of the leading vendors at this sale and there consignment was topped by a son of TURGEON who was bought by Paul Nicholls for £48,000. The three year old, named PUQUE EUROS is out of the Listed placed A WOMANS HEART and is a half brother to three winners including the stakes placed ASTARICAINE. The same draft was also responsible for a three year old MARTALINE gelding who was bought for £48,00 by David Minton from Highflyer Bloodstock and a KAPGARDE half brother to TAMARINBLEU, winner of the Grade One Victor Chandler Chase at Ascot. He was bought by David Pipe for £42,000 and the three year old, named Takamaru, will now join the same stable as his illustrious half brother.

Jamie Snowdon has been training for just one season and was active at the sale when buying a three year old KAYF TARA half brother to the Group One winning SERGEANT CECIL. The three year old is also a full brother to the impressive bumper winner JAU and will run in the colours of Martin Broughton.

Two year olds have been a recent addition to this sale and the small draft was topped by a son of LAVERON who was consigned by Trickledown Stud. The easy moving gelding attracted bids from David Redvers, Rose Dobbin and Richard Aston but they were no match for Aiden Murphy, who bought him for £46,000.

The international appeal of this sale was heightened by Haras De Faydeau who had a worthwhile trip from France when selling all of their five horses for a total of over £98,000 at an average of over £19,500. Although they understood the selectivity of the Store Market in Great Britain at present, George and Helen Vergette understood the attraction of the French bred horses and hope to be a regular feature among the vendors at this sale.

DBS Managing Director Henry Beeby said after the sale:

'What did we expect? In the current economic climate and given the long term nature of the business of buying a National Hunt store this was always going to be one of the trickier categories of bloodstock to sell this year.

Following last weeks buoyant Horses In Training trade these two days have been altogether more selective although it is fair to say that the better lots have been hard enough to buy with plenty of competition. However we expected the inevitable contraction of the market and I think this will be reflected at similar sales next month.

That said we have sold a good proportion of the horses offered and the market is certainly in a better place than last autumn as vendors are taking a pragmatic approach when setting their targets.

The figures may be down but we remain supremely confident that we will see plenty of these DBS Stores winning at the highest level in the coming seasons and would thank our loyal band of vendors for their tremendous support whilst wishing every buyer the very best of luck.'