Caldwell Potter heading to Paul Nicholls after selling for €740,000

The couple, who run their horses under the Caldwell Construction banner, shocked the racing world late last month when announcing they were to sell their entire string.

Caldwell Potter was the star attraction among 29 lots to go under the hammer, having already shown top-level form over obstacles for Gordon Elliott to go with his excellent pedigree.

The six-year-old son of Martaline is not only a full-brother to Mighty Potter, who won four Grade Ones for Elliott and the Browns before suffering a fatal injury last year, but his dam Matnie has also produced three other high-class performers in French Dynamite, Indiana Jones and Brighterdaysahead.

Caldwell Potter has so far lived up to his breeding, winning three times from seven starts in all and two of his first three outings over hurdles, including a Grade One success on his most recent appearance in the Future Champions Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting.

Following a slow start, the bidding eventually got under way at €100,000 before ultimately ending up in a tense straight shootout between two parties.

The packed sales ring fell silent after the auctioneer confirmed a €700,000 bid, and while a counter offer of €720,000 was made, the hammer eventually went down at €740,000, with Highflyer bloodstock agent Anthony Bromley immediately announced as the successful bidder.

He was later reported to be heading to Paul Nicholls having been secured by a partnership of Sir Alex Ferguson, Ged Mason, John Hales and Peter Done.

Bittersweet moment for winning bidder

The agent said: "I don't feel great taking him out of Gordon Elliott's yard, he's done so well with this horse, but business is business and you have to do your best for your clients. When I saw the horse was coming up for sale there was only one phone call I made and that was to John Hales, who has been a client of mine for many, many years.

"I bought him for a little partnership they've put together the four guys and we've bought a lovely four-year-old this year with Paul Nicholls too called Kalif Du Berlais.

"I'm thrilled to get the horse but it is a little bittersweet as it doesn't always feel right. I can see how much Gordon was trying to get the horse back when he was bidding.

"He'll go to Paul's, he doesn't have to go and run at Cheltenham, it's not the be all and end all. It's only four weeks to get used to a new regime and it could be he needs that time to settle in and he could go to Aintree, but we bought him to be a steeplechaser.

"He has the pedigree to be a three-mile Gold Cup horse I think and at he moment he's only run at two miles. He's such an exciting horse for the longer term and realistically that's why we bought him, not for four weeks' time."

Caldwell Potter’s fee eclipses the previous record for a jumps horse sold at auction in Interconnected, who was bought by Darren Yates at Doncaster in 2019 for £620,000.

Fil D'Or and Piped Piper stay with Elliott

In total the 29 lots sold for a total of €5,290,000, with the Browns’ primary trainer Elliott managing to keep hold of the second, third and fourth highest lots.

Mags O’Toole brought the hammer down at €620,000 on behalf of Robcour for one-time Triumph Hurdle runner-up Fil Dor, while dual-purpose performer Pied Piper was snapped up for €570,000 by Windgates Stud.

The final horse to command over half a million euros was impressive Down Royal winner Staffordshire Knot who returns to Cullentra House after Eddie O’Leary went to €510,000 for the six-year-old.

Elliott said: “I was disappointed to loose the big horse, but that’s the way it is – hopefully he will be lucky for the new owners. Pied Piper is coming back and we have got all the ones we wanted apart from Caldwell Potter.

“Staffordshire Knot is an exciting six-year-old and we are delighted he is coming back to us. The horses all looked great – we only had a week’s notice for this sale and it is a credit to the staff. We can get back to concentrating on the day job now.”

It was a bittersweet day for the Browns’ racing manager Joey Logan, who played a key role in sourcing and purchasing many of the horses who went under the hammer.

He said: “It is fantastic, I want to thank Tattersalls for turning this around in such a short time and Andy and Gemma for letting me purchase the horses in the first place and being so trusting.

“I want to thank Gordon for doing such a good job, all the staff that helped here. I am stuck for words really. It is mixed emotions and I’m delighted that it went so well, and it is just fantastic.

“To see such a nice young bunch of horses, and a lot of work has gone into it, many of them bought as foals, two-year-olds and three-year-olds. I am very proud of these horses, hopefully they are very lucky for the new owners. They gave us some exciting times, there is some regret obviously that I won’t be involved, but I will be there to cheer them on.

“Hopefully, Andy and Gemma will be back in at some point, they are a young couple and I hope they had a good time.”

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