Walk In The Park Foals Light Up Tattersalls Ireland
A trio of Walk In The Park colt foals provided the Motherway family’s Yellowford Farm with a day to remember at Tattersalls Ireland, where they filled the three top spots on the second day of the November NH Sale.
Lot 476 was expected by many to hit high notes in the ring and the son of Walk In The Park did just that, reaching a crescendo at €100,000 from Mags O’Toole and Aiden Murphy. After signing the docket, O’Toole said, “He’s just a gorgeous foal from a really good jumping family, and the sire has already had a great season both on the track and in the point-to-point field.”
The colt’s unraced dam has made a bright start at stud, with her Flemensfirth four-year-old having fetched €150,000 and was beaten just a head on debut last month for Paul Nicholls and the McNeill family. The Crown Jewel is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Empire Of Dirt (Westerner), out of Grade 2 heroine Rose Of Inchiquin.
Not long beforehand, O’Toole and the absent Murphy paired up to secure Yellowford Farm’s Walk In The Park colt out of black-type hurdler Mardale (Lot 471) for €95,000.
Lot 440 also boasted a pedigree of great promise, being a three-parts brother to the ill-fated, but ultra-talented Sir Erec (Camelot), out of an own-sister to proven NH sire Mahler. Offered on behalf of GCE Farm, the handsome bay was knocked down to Ciaran Conroy’s Glenvale Stud for €100,000.
“He’s just a lovely foal from a great pedigree and we all saw what Sir Erec could do both on the Flat and over hurdles,” commented Conroy. “Hopefully he’s a horse to look forward to and we’ll just let the dust settle and decide in due course what route to take with him.”
Glenvale Stud secured another stand out specimen when going to €60,000 for Oliver Loughlin’s Walk In The Park colt out of Buttonboard (Lot 443). Within an hour, Oliver Loughlin sold another two Walk In The Park colts for €56,000 and €44,000.
Sunday’s terrific results follows a profitable few days for Yellowford Farm at Goffs, where their Walk In The Park colt out of Blixt was the highest-priced foal at €82,000.
Galbertstown Stables also benefitted from the tremendous demand for Walk In The Park when selling a colt on behalf of Paramount Farms for €80,000. Brendan Bashford Bloodstock signed for the May-born half-brother to dual Grade 1 winner Fayonagh. On his pricey purchase, Bashford said, “He’s just a very good-looking horse by a top-class stallion and the pedigree speaks for itself.”