GORESBRIDGE SEPTEMBER SALE ROUND UP & GO FOR GOLD PREVIEW

Turning over just shy of €3,000,000, the flagship Goresbridge September sales was a lively affair which saw a total of 48 individuals realise five figure returns.
There were plenty of surprises as well, with an unexpectedly strong trade for three-year-olds outstripping the usually stout four-year-old market.
The sale drew numerous buyers from both the UK and mainland Europe, and while the figures slipped a little in some sectors they were compensated by others.
Reflecting on the sale as a whole Ed Donohoe was delighted with the outcome. “There is no doubt that UK buyers were holding back due to the fodder crisis.” He said. “Overall however we were very pleased with the clearances. We had worked hard in the run up to the sale to promote and market it as our international flagship edition and realistically where can you go to see around 1,300 horses in one yard.”

PONIES
The major returns came from all sectors, and kicked off on the opening Tuesday when Dennis Collins’ performance Connemara mare Farmhill Molly by Kingstown Archies Boy out of Castleside Erica (Castleside Carrig) achieved the best pony return of €16,000. Only a five-year-old, she topped a strong pony sector when snapped up by producer Carl Dore.

OLDER HORSES
Heading week one and indeed the entire sale at €21,000 was Catherine Jackson-Garrett’s mare by Glasgow Van’t Merelsnest out of the well related Kilcorrig Legacy by Sandro Boy. Typical of the type in demand, the homebred mare was beautifully produced by Tom Hearne and Ryan O’Neill, and was secured on the telephone by Darragh McMahon.

FOUR-YEAR-OLDS
The buoyancy of the seven days was let down by a quiet session of four-year-olds. As the prices reflected the quality on offer, the top return of €14,200 fell to Mary Kehoe’s Dromores Sun Shine, a traditionally bred gelding by WRS Sun Shine out of Dromore South Star (by Diamond Discovery) Bred by Maurice O’Connor in Co Cork and sourced through the same sale ring as a foal, he was secured by British buyer Nick Bray.

THREE-YEAR-OLDS
Finally, and pleasantly bucking the trends, the three-year-olds delivered a consistently strong trade. Delivering the best clearance for a decade, every day produced a raft of five figure prices, with the best at €16,000 falling to Eileen Furlong’s filly Thistletown Katie Taylor by Tyson (dam by Foxglen Cruise Control) and Frank Casey’s unnamed son of Mermus R (dam by Passion). Both will remain on home turf, with the former heading to show jumper Eddie Moloney’s Kilkenny yard, while the latter will travel to the Belfast base of showman Jamie Smyth.

GORESBRIDGE GO FOR GOLD

The countdown is on for the 2025 edition of the Goresbridge Go For Gold sale of event horses, which is due to be held at the Amber Springs Hotel and at Barnadown in Co Wexford on November 10-12th.
This year’s official launch will be held at Goresbridge during the afternoon of the Select Jumping Sale on October 6th, and promises to give an exciting preview of what’s to come.

In order to maintain the exclusivity of the sale and keep it truly elite, the entry of 90 lots (27 ridden horses) and 63 three-year-olds, remains the same as last year as will the format over the three days. Among the entries are RDS winners and young event horse champions, most notably the highly regarded Burghley young horse star Milchem Giovanni, and the three-year-old RDS potential event champion Livingston.
Staying with the winning formula, the selection panel of five-star event riders and professional producers will also remain unchanged. Nicky Roncoroni and Nick Gauntlett have enjoyed numerous five-star and nations cup appearances, while producers Sally Parkyn and Chris Ryan have bought and sold around thirty, five-star performers between them as well as two Olympic medallists.

The success of the Go For Gold graduates is unparalleled, with the world’s top riders regularly adding Go For Gold horses to their strings. As for the horses, Cooley Nutcracker flew the flag at the Paris Olympics while RCA Patron Saint filled the runner up spot at Badminton last year. Individual graduates have regularly been selected to represent their country at the senior European and young horse world event championships, while at Burghley recently, two (RCA Patron Saint and Ballyneety Rocketman) lined up for the main event and a further eight took part in the young horse finals.

Stateside, Cooley Nutcracker was the leading CCI4-L horse in 2024, the exciting Cooley Corraghy Diamond (CCI4) ridden by Kim Severson was the leading seven-year-old last year and Starburst was the leading six-year-old.

The list of show jumpers to emerge from the sale is also impressive. The Dutch ridden Shanroe Peeters (Kevin Jochems) recently won a 1.50m class at the CSIO5* show in Valkenswaard, and joins fellow top class jumpers Kilcannon Mischief (Tom McEwen), Pablo C (Charlotte Jacobs), BP Kojax (Ryan Page) Bennys Kelly etc.

The list is both extensive and impressive – so make a date in the diary and join the Go For Gold team in Ireland in November.