The record price for a jumps horse sold at auction has been shattered, with Interconnected being knocked down for £620,000 at Goffs’ sale in Doncaster. Casual followers of the sport will be scratching their heads at the name, as the five-year-old has yet to win a race under rules and is all unexposed potential.
Interconnected was one of 28 horses sold to dissolve the Mike Grech and Stuart Parkin partnership, with the two owners having become frustrated by a lack of high-level success after a major investment over several years. They paid £220,000 for Interconnected a year ago after he won a point-to-point.
He has since finished second in a Newbury novice hurdle, an effort described as “a hugely encouraging start” by the Racing Post. That was evidently enough to convince Darren Yates, the owner who signed the record-setting cheque.
“It’s not really a record I enjoy holding,” Yates said, “but I’m very happy with the horse. For me, he’s got Gold Cup written all over him.”
Yates has been throwing money around all spring, having paid a reported £300,000 in a private sale for Blaklion in the hope of having a Grand National runner, then shelling out another £170,000 at auction for Don Poli after Blaklion missed the race with an injury.
All three of his purchases are now stabled with the previously low-profile trainer Philip Kirby, who said of Interconnected: “He’s a proper horse, the one we really wanted”. Kirby will shoulder some weight of expectation to get a return on such a mammoth investment when the main jumps season gets underway in the autumn.
“I was disappointed by some of the prices our horses have fetched, but I’m absolutely ecstatic about Interconnected,” said Grech. “I wish his new owner all the luck in the world.”
“I think River Wylde was great value at £58,000 and I know he’s gone to Ian Williams’s yard, so I hope he does well there. I’m surprised Mr Whipped has only gone for £26,000, though he’s carrying an injury just now.” The talented Kupatana is to move to Henry de Bromhead’s yard in Ireland after fetching £210,000.
The previous record for a jumps horse at auction was the £556,500 paid by JP McManus for Garde Champetre at the same sale in 2004. He went on to win six times around the cross-country course at Cheltenham, including twice at the Festival. McManus was said to be an underbidder on Interconnected.
Goodwood 1.50 Dream Shot 2.20 Wufud 2.55 Pennywhistle (nap) 3.30 Alfaatik 4.05 Areen Heart 4.40 Knight Crusader 5.10 Show Me The Bubbly
Bath 2.00 Delagate This Lord 2.30 Applecros 3.05 Catch The Cuban 3.40 Universal Order 4.15 Spot Lite 4.50 Bungee Jump 5.20 Junoesque
Haydock 2.10 Tomorrow’s Angel 2.45 Visible Charm 3.20 Look Out Louis 3.55 Sacred Dance 4.30 Nonchalance 5.00 Jaleel 5.35 Swansdown
Worcester 5.40 Sausalito Sunrise 6.10 Istimraar 6.40 Darcy Ward 7.10 Bold Record 7.40 Sunset Showdown 8.10 Cottonvale (nb) 8.40 Forget Me Knot
Pontefract 6.30 Straight Ash 7.00 Just Wait 7.30 Monoski 8.00 Musharrif 8.30 Never Be Enough 9.00 Qutob
Grech had earlier reflected on the decision that he and his friend and co-owner Parkin had taken to sell their string. “It’s going to be incredibly sad,” Grech said of the sale of 28 jumps horses, all offered without reserve at Doncaster.
When the news first broke that the pair were to sell up, the explanation was that Parkin’s interest had waned. But Grech conceded his own enthusiasm also faltered due to a lack of return on their investment.
“My point came a little bit later, probably at Cheltenham, when the weather went against us. There were horses needing good ground. Then I started to feel completely subdued. Last year, we expected to bag one or two decent prizes and it didn’t come about.
“I think we went too big, too quick. We started buying store horses and two-year-olds and three-year-olds, trying to remove ourselves from the point-to-point market. We should have gone a little bit quieter and kept it more realistic. When you have the amount of horses we have, it creates an awful lot of pressure.”
Grech is not stepping away from the horse racing world altogether – he will ride in a charity race at York next month, to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.