Go For Gold catalogue packed with quality
This is the seventh year of the sale, with Rio Olympian Euro Prince among 70 horses showing off their abilities for three days from Monday at Barnadown in Co Wexford, followed by an auction on Wednesday evening at the nearby Amber Springs Hotel.
“I’d say it has been steadily growing in quality,” said Donohoe. “The horses seem to be getting better every year and that’s not just my opinion, the consensus from potential purchasers is that it is outstanding, featuring Olympic horses and two horses that represented Ireland at the World Breeding Championships. We also will be offering a top-class selection of three-year-olds.”
As usual, the horses have been selected by the trio of Sally Parkyn, Clare Ryan, and Chris Ryan. They have been joined this year by guest selectors, British four-star event rider Nicky Roncoroni and Bridget Speirs, mother of Irish Olympian Camilla.
The 2015 returns produced a best ever clearance rate of 85%, together with a top price of €85,000 for Gorsehill Pearl, who is now competed by Joseph Murphy. A further 42 lots realised in excess of €10,000, leading to an average price of €22,500, with an average of €18,700 for the three-year-olds.
It is expected that Euro Prince, a 13-year-old chestnut gelding, will secure the top price when offered for sale for first time. Ridden by Clare Abbott, he represented Ireland at the Rio Olympics, the 2014 World Equestrian Games, the 2013 European Championships, and he won the Ballindenisk CCI three-star class in 2014.
Donohoe says he would not seek a reserve price on the horse until “a couple of hours before auction, but I’d be sure he’d be well into the six figures”.
He felt the gelding’s age was not an issue. “He has been well looked after by the owners, who are also the breeders. There’s plenty of years left in that fella yet.”
Also generating interest are the Luidam-sired seven-year-old Loughnavatta Cedar and the Womanizer-sired six-year-old Cornascriebe Glenpatrick, both of which carried Irish colours at this year’s World Breeding Championships in Le Lion d’Angers. The latter is described as a “kind-natured and straightforward horse [that] is ideal for either a young rider or a professional”. He also gained top-10 finishes in his three international runs to date, at Tattersalls, Millstreet, and Camphire.
Other notable offerings are lot 40, a three-year-old by Gemini XX, one of only two cloned stallions of the legendary thoroughbred show jumper Gem Twist; and My Kilcannon Annie, winner of the Young Event Horse Championship at this year’s Dublin Horse Show.
Donohoe believes the Go For Gold auction is “very important for whole industry”.
“We are very selective and only present the best we can find and all are produced to a high standard.
“We have the work done for the customers, with every horse X-rayed and with vet certs. All customers have to do is turn up and put their hand up. There is no sifting through hundreds of horses and driving up by-roads.
“We have had strong enquiries from North America, mainland Europe, the UK, and Ireland, of course. As such, I feel the auction puts Irish eventing horses on a world stage.” Tuesday night also sees the Supreme Sale of Show Jumpers, which blew everyone away last year when Dougie Douglas was knocked down for €1.4m.
This year, the star is the Lux Z gelding Killossery Kaiden, the gold medal winner at this year’s World Breeding Championships in Lanaken, Belgium, where it produced the only double clear in the final for six-year-olds with Ger O’Neill.
“This is our third renewal of this sale and we are very excited about the stock, particularly the world six-year-old champion in Killossery Kaiden,” said Donohoe. “Also on sale is the nine-year-old Nickoletta E, campaigned up to five-star level by Cameron Hanley. There are no weak links in the catalogue. It features many prominent horses and grands prix winners and I’m not bandying words around when I say we have some exciting three-year-olds.”
Dougie Douglas was secured by American rider Katie Dinan last year and she said “he has been everything we hoped for and more”.
She also said this year’s sale was worth a visit. “I think the auction this year has a great range of both promising youngsters and already seasoned competitors. I would highly recommend the auction to those looking for a great new horse.”
“Dougie has put us on the map, really,” said Donohoe. “When we pitched this sale to vendors this year, it was easier to get them on side, having been fortunate to have sold Dougie.
“Dougie was a dream result for us, but he has been so successful for Katie. It’s great that it all worked out and the dream is continuing.”
Donohoe cannot see last year’s top figure being repeated this year, but said: “There are horses that will make anything up to €400,000 and maybe more.”
Go For Gold is open to the public for the three days, with the older horses undertaking their flat-work and show jumping on Monday at Barnadown, followed by cross-country on Tuesday. Three-year-olds will be shown in hand on Tuesday and on Wednesday and will be lunged or loose jumped.
Performance footage can be seen on the website: http://www.goresbridgegoforgold.com/
* A small number of tickets are still available for tomorrow night’s Irish Draught Horse Breeders national awards dinner at the Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery.
The dinner is being hosted by the Cork/Kerry Branch.
Six national awards and four branch awards will be presented on the night.
A special offer on accommodation, priced at €35 per person sharing, has been arranged with the hotel. For tickets ring: 086-1681675.
* Captain Geoff Curran and Vincent Byrne will be among 45 recipients at the inaugural Leinster Region Show Jumping Awards celebration next Friday.
The former ended the Premier Grand Prix Series as the leading Leinster rider, while the latter won his second National Grand Prix title in three seasons.
Ger O’Neill is another to be feted, following his gold medal win with Killossery Kaiden in the final for six-year-olds at the World Breeding Championship at Lanaken in Belgium.
Kildare 16-year-old Michael Pender will be a deserved award winner, having claimed silver and bronze medals in the final for five-year-olds at Lanaken.
Tickets for the awards night, sponsored by Equestrian World of Maynooth, are priced at €40 for adults and €20 for children. The event takes place at the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel, Newlands Cross, Dublin, and includes a disco and karaoke.
Enquiries: 086 2681215, 086 8654836, 087 9738936, or, 087 9615764.
In a statement yesterday, the FEI said Thornton had been “given the opportunity to provide a written reply to the allegations, including any documents, witness statements or other evidence that may be used in any legal proceedings”. Once a full case file has been compiled, the matter will be submitted to the FEI Tribunal.
Swiss-based Dundalk rider Thornton was at the centre of a social media storm last month that saw him accused of galloping Flogas Sunset Cruise to death at the French fixture.
He subsequently rejected accusations he had ridden the horse for three hours, claiming “there is no way I would whip a horse to death”. He explained that people at the show were confused by the fact he had three grey horses and had ridden Flogas for “between 15 and 20 minutes”. He has said that he “hit him once or twice to get him moving forward” when he acted up.
Thornton engaged German vet Dr Peter Cronau to act as a witness at an autopsy on the horse. Cronau said there were no signs of sweat on the horse and stated that the skin was undamaged. Thornton said that, based on these findings, statements accusing him of having worked the horse excessively could not be maintained.
