Walk In The Park Dominates Day 2 At Goffs

Walk In The Park’s foals proved all the rage on the second day of the Goffs December NH Sale, where the Grange Stud sire accounted for the top three lots on the day.

Ballincurrig House Stud offered the highest-priced foal on behalf of Cathal Ennis, who bred the June-born bay out of his homebred black-type mare Appy Days. Gerry Aherne and Charles Shanahan stretched to €90,000 for the prized colt, offering some compensation for their underbidder status on the previous day’s top lot, also by Walk In The Park.

On their purchase, Aherne said, “He’s a very good colt and all options are open to him. Tom Wachman really liked him and he was actually his pick of the sale, so we’re delighted to get him. The sire speaks for himself.”

A delighted Cathal Ennis later said, “He is a quality foal and has a smashing temperament. I was a bit worried that he was a June foal and that it might be a bit much for him, but he never turned a hair and I’m delighted he is going to a good home in Coolmore.”

Just two lots later, Castlefarm Stud’s Walk In The Park colt brought €80,000 from Kevin Ross and Chris Jones’ Killeen Glebe. Anna Ross later told the press, “He’s a lovely, quality foal by Walk In The Park and has loads of scope. He comes from a nice family and the sire is obviously going well on the track, so he made a lot of sense.”

On future plans, the agent added, “He’s been bought as a pinhooking project for Chris Jones, so he will go back to Killeen Glebe now and hopefully make his way back here as a three-year-old. He’s one to look forward to.”

Thistletown Stud enjoyed a terrific result earlier in the session when selling their Walk In The Park colt to Peter Molony’s Rathmore Stud for €70,000. The June-born colt provided his young dam Valijan with her best sales result to date, which bodes well for his two-year-old full-sister and yearling full-brother.

Thistletown’s Jimmy Furlong was delighted with the price, saying, “We thought he was a cracker and oozes quality, but we weren’t expecting him to sell that well. We thought he would make around €50,000, as there was plenty of interest in him, but we didn’t think he would make as much as he did.”

Eileen Furlong went on to reveal that Valijan is back in foal to Walk In The Park, adding, “He has been lucky for us so we weren’t going to go anywhere else with her.”