This Year's Top 5 Lots from the Pointing Fields

The following five point-to-point horses were sold under the hammer at various sales this year and will be expected to be seen this season either over hurdles or in bumpers. Not having the inside line, this is basically a search engine research and plans for some of these horses will become clearer once Mark Howard's One Jump Ahead hits the shelves. Still, until that book arrives, this will have to do. This is not an endorsement nor am I suggesting these will all win multiple Grade Ones in the years to come. This is simply a breakdown of the five most expensive horses from the pointing fields during the spring. 

The format for each horse goes: 

Name, age, colour, sex, race record, trainer, the owner (if known) 

Price, sale, date, vendor, purchaser Sire (notable progeny), Damsire (notable broodmare progeny) 

Notable relatives on dam line (3/1 = 3rd dam is 1st dam of = grand-dam is a sibling of) 

Notes:

PAPA TANGO CHARLY 4chg (1 run 1 win) Jonjo O'Neill, Martin Tedham 

£440,000 Goffs UK Aintree HIT Sale 04/04/19 Milestone Stables, A Kennedy 

No Risk At All (Allaho, Gumball, Ajas) Mansonnien (Whisper, Terrefort, So French) 

3/1 Encore Un Peu (2nd Grand National, Aintree 1996) 3/0 Creme Caramel (1st Prix Finot 1983) Papa Tango Charly is the most expensive horse on this list after changing hands at the same Aintree sale which saw Don Poli knocked down for a hugely inflated £170,000. Incidentally, the sale record was previously held by Samcro who went for £335,000 in 2016. This chestnut ran out a four-length winner of a Liscarroll 4yo Maiden named for the pertinent sale in March for Colin Bowe (handler of last season's leading bumper horse Envoi Allen). Naturally, with races of this nature, the form is difficult to weigh up - particularly as no horse in the first three has previous or subsequent efforts to measure. Nevertheless, the winner was a comfortable one and the next two behind also commanded healthy figures at the same sale. Runner up Big Bresil has joined the Tom George yard and is set to run in the same Roger Brookhouse colours by the useful Cheltenian - a half-sister to the dam of Big Bresil - after selling for £170,000. A further five lengths back in third, £105,000 purchase Meyer Lansky is out of a half-sister to another Grand National runner up, Oscar Time, and will also join Jonjo O'Neill.

WIDE RECEIVER 4bg (1 run 1 win) Gordon Elliott 

£410,000 Tattersalls Ireland Cheltenham February Sale 21/02/19 Leamore Horses, Elliott/Malone

Sholokhov (Don Cossack, Kruzhlinin, Esmondo) Sagamix (The Saint James, Jean Luc) 2/1 Alarm Call (1st Prix des Drags, Auteuil 2010, 1st Grand Steeple-Chase D'Enghien, 2009 2010) 

Next on the list is a tall bay son of Sholokhov who won Tattersall's Cragmore 4yo Maiden in February. Ran over the shorter two and a half mile trip, Wide Receiver ran out an emphatic winner putting eight lengths between himself and Colin Bowe's better fancied Premiumaccess. The runner up has not been seen since while the other three competitors were each pulled up on their next outings.

MY WHIRLWIND 4bf (1 run 1 win) Nicky Henderson, J P McManus £400,000 Tattersalls Ireland Cheltenham Festival Sale14/03/19 Kingsfield Stud, Nicky Henderson 

Stowaway (Champagne Fever, Hidden Cyclone, Outlander) Presenting (Might Bite, Paisley Park)

2/1 Sizing Coal (3rd Irish Grand National) 3/1 Mister Morose (1st Aintree Hurdle) 3/2 Alberta's Run 

Costing just €7,000 as a foal, this Stowaway bay became the most expensive National Hunt mare in training ever sold at auction when fetching £400,000 at the Cheltenham Festival sale and it is hoped that she might return to that hallowed turf next March. Her purchase is a reflection of the burgeoning mares' programme, it was in a Ballycahane 4yo Mares Maiden where she made all to make a winning debut in torrential conditions. She had the race comfortably won when Another Judy unseated at the last who gave the form some credence (as much as Irish p2p form can have credence) when falling with every chance in her next start. The runner up, Madam Deluxe (a half-sister to Draco), fetched £90,000 at the same Cheltenham auction while third-placed Beth Horan is a Gigginstown half-sister to The Romford Pele. Stowaway x Presenting crosses have a 40% winners to runners rate with winners including Poormans Hill, Champagne Mist and Jack Slade.

LETS GO CHAMP 4bg (1 run 1 win) Tom George, Roger Brookhouse 

£375,000 Goffs UK Spring HIT Sale 23/05/19 Monbeg Stables, Roger Brookhouse Jeremy (Our Conor, Jerrysback, Reserve Tank) Bahri (Ramdam)

2/1 Our Conor (1st Triumph Hurdle Cheltenham 2014, 2nd Irish Champion Hurdle Leopardstown 2014) 

Jeremy never ran beyond a mile on the flat and would not have been an obvious candidate for a National Hunt stallion. Not cutting much ice at the Irish National Stud with flat horses, his fee plummeted to a quarter of his original asking price when transferred to Garryrichard Stud before Our Conor advertised Jeremy's credentials as a jumps sire. These credentials were further bolstered by the likes of Jerrysback, Unison and Reserve Tank. However, no sooner had he developed a reputation, Jeremy was put down after breaking bones in his carpal joint. This wonderfully named bay represents Jeremy's last crop and his winning debut came in a Bartlemy 4yo Maiden in May. His race was twelve seconds faster than the first division of this Goff's point, itself won by Mustang Alpha - a £135,000 Jamie Snowden purchase out of a half-sister to Noland. Sent off a favourite at Bartlemy, Lets Go Champ lost a bit of his fluency towards the end of the race but always had more than enough in the engine to fend off the challenge of Colin Bowe's Full Back with the pair ten lengths clear of the remainder. Handled by Donnchadh Doyle, the Jeremy gelding will seek to emulate fellow Monbeg graduates in Holywell, The Last Samurai, and Monbeg Dude.

BRAVEMANSGAME 4bg (1 run 1 win) Paul Nicholls, John Dance and Bryan Drew

£370,000 Tattersalls Ireland Cheltenham Festival Sale 14/03/19 Monbeg Stables, Nicholls/Malone 

Brave Mansonnien (Riquet Enfin, Weapons Out) Nickname (Rikoboy, own includes Frodon/Cyrname) 

2/1 Gray Steel (3rd Prix La Barka 2007) 2/2 Raffles Sun (3rd Prix Renaud du Vivier 2018)

Another graduate of the Monbeg operation, this bay four-year-old was introduced in a Lingstown 4yo Maiden (HEADPHONE USERS BEWARE)! Despite greenness and a bad mistake at the seventh, he was able to compose himself enough to run out an eight-length winner from Colin Bowe's For Talks Sake. The form of the race is not standing up well although that generally isn't a major concern in this field and Paul Nicholls spoke well of him in a recent stable tour.

The following are the next ten most expensive (the funny prices are direct euro to pound conversions using the rate on the day).

Name	Price	Sire	Trainer	Relative
The Big Breakaway	£306,354	Getaway	C Tizzard	2/2 Rathvinden
Femy Hollow	£300,000	Westerner	W P Mullins	3/1 Morley Street
Adrimel	£280,000	Tirwanako	T Lacey	3/1 Halcon Genelardais
Farouk d'Alene	£260,000	Racinger	G Elliott	3/2 Triolo d'Alene
Hold That Taught	£220,000	Kayf Tara	V Williams	.5 Banjaxed Girl
Ramillies	£215,000	Shantou	W P Mullins	2/2 Minella Foru
Deploy The Getaway	£200,000	Getaway	W P Mullins	3/3 Special Tara
Fado Des Brosses	£200,000	Balko	E Williams	4/2 Cabernet
Grandads Cottage	£200,000	Shantou	O Murphy	1/1 Super Day

Noreen Bawn

£187.217

Jeremy

A Fleming

3/1 Dashing

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