Owner Darren Yates and trainer Phil Kirby made waves at the Goffs UK Spring Sale on Thursday with the record purchase of
Interconnected at Doncaster for £620,000.
The gelding, formerly trained by Nicky Henderson, was part of the dispersal sale of owners Mike Grech and Stuart Parkin and the price tag is an unprecedented one for a National Hunt horse in training.
A five-year-old who started his career in point to points with Sophie Lacey, Interconnected has run once under Rules, finishing a close second to the smart Emitom in a novice hurdle at Newbury in March.
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15:25 Newbury - Friday March 1
Watch how Interconnected ran on his debut under Rules at Newbury
That form was shown in a good light when Emitom went on to finish runner-up to Champ in a Grade One at Aintree.
Interviewed by Mike Cattermole for Goffs UK on its Twitter feed, Yates said: “It’s not really a record I enjoy holding! But I’m very happy with the horse, very happy.
“For me he’s got Gold Cup written all over him, that’s a long way off, but we’ll see. I think his run over hurdles was an amazing run, I think he’ll progress massively now.”
Yates' other recent big-money buys have been Blaklion and Don Poli.
Kirby added: “He’s a proper horse, he’s the one we really wanted. I didn’t expect him to make that, but we wanted the best we could buy and that’s what we thought he is. I want to train proper horses and that’s what we hope he is.”
North Yorkshire-based Kirby is viewed as a rising star of the training ranks, and has enjoyed plenty of success with the likes of star mare Lady Buttons, Grade Two-winning hurdler Nautical Nitwit and smart all-weather performer Stargazer.
His link with Yates has already seen the high-profile acquisitions of
Grand National candidates Blaklion and Don Poli.