With 25 foals from incredible bloodlines and one embryo by Chacco Blue at this year’s Bolesworth Elite Foal Auction, we caught up with Garry Merton to talk about the selection process and what buyers can expect from this year’s auction.
“This year’s collection is incredibly strong,” said Garry. “I’d say it’s our strongest yet. We spend a lot of time selecting the best of the best for the Elite auction and go from inviting people to submit foals for consideration to whittling the list down, to 26 and an embryo on this occasion. We have a robust selection process and have very high standards.”
Initially the Elite Auction team go out to trusted breeders and ask them to submit foals for consideration. From here, a long list is created after the foal’s pedigree is scrutinised to ensure it meets Bolesworth’s Elite Auction criteria. Next, the team visit the foals in contention to check them in person to ensure each is a good, clean limbed, straight moving, athletic foal. At this point, the shortlist is picked and then the foals checked again when the team re-visit to shoot the videos for the auction website.
“Reducing the list isn’t easy as there are some incredible young horses out there with international pedigrees, but we’re very clear on what we want here,” said Garry. “In addition to the sire, we look at the mare’s performance in detail. To be in contention for selection, the mare needs to have jumped at least 1.40m herself, bred horses competing at 1.40m or over, and/or have an exceptional damline.”
This year’s collection sees a huge range of horses from a range of stallions and mares:
Lot 1- Embryo by Chacco Blue out of 1.60m mare Funky Music
Lot 2- Cornet’s Pearl- grey filly by Cornet Obolensky out of Con Perla
Lot 3- Cava Star HF – bay filly by Big Star out of GP mare Remi Cavalleri
Lot 4- Aurelius HD – bay colt by Aganix Du Seigneur out of Concordia (sister of Casall Ask)
Lot 5 – SP Chacoon Boy- bay colt by Chacoon Blue out of 1.50m GP mare Abigail
Lot 6 – Miss Comil Faut JH- chestnut filly by Comme Il Faut out of 1.60m GP mare Macushla R
Lot 7- Rougento – dark bay filly by Argento out of GP winning mare Ruby VIII
Lot 8 – Con- Frichta EB- chestnut filly by Conthargos out of 1.60m mare Franka Trichta
Lot 9- Ashdale de la Faut – bay colt by Comme Il Faut out of Kadisha Of Picobelle Z
Lot 10- Tarla SFS Z – chestnut filly by Tobago Z out of SFS Arla (full sister to Aristio)
Lot 11- Bespelled JH – grey filly by Balou Du Reventon out of Vitesse (who has already produced a top 1.60m horse)
Lot 12- Forever March- chestnut colt by For Pleasure out of Quarmen De Toscane (Olympic damline)
Lot 13- CU Indebus JH – bay colt by Chacco Blue out of Ikea Van ‘T Roosakker
Lot 14- Uptons Funky Echo WY – chestnut colt by Echo Van T Spieveld out of 1.60m mare Funky Music
Lot 15- Millfield Cascento- bay colt by Casall out of 1.60m mare Centolove
Lot 16- Easy Way JH Z- bay filly by Emerald out of Silvia 111 (proven producer of 1.60m horses)
Lot 17- Wild West HF- grey colt by Cornet Obolensky out of Nations Cup mare Wild Rose
Lot 18- Call Me Darco WS Z- chestnut colt by Comilfo Plus Z out of Havana De Laubry (sister of RMF Echo)
Lot 19- Withdrawn
Lot 20- Wizard JH- bay colt by Chacco Blue out of GP mare Imogen De Regor
Lot 21- Titan HD- chestnut colt by Taloubet Z out of Soklahoma W
Lot 22- Hercules JTH- chestnut colt by Faltic HB out of Impossible II Z
Lot 23- Contiki WY- bay colt by Comme Il Faut out of Geena
Loy 24- PK Corera- bay filly by Cornet Obolensky out of Arera C
Lot 25- Aredis Tangent- chestnut colt by Tangelo Van De Zuuthoeve out of Nations Cup mare Wild Rose
Lot 26- King Albert- bay colt by Diamant De Semilly out of GP winning mare Ruby VIII
Lot 27- Quick Step HF – bay colt by Conthargos out of 1.45m mare Tilla Flamenco
“As you can see from the catalogue, there really is something for everyone,” said Garry. “We have a real range of top class sires and dams with a range of incredible pedigrees. We have a great mix of fillies and colts too, so we have good future breeding options for people buying with that in mind.”
When the foals arrive, they’re all vetted on site and have a certificate. In addition, all foals are available to view in the barn from 10am each day, allowing interested parties to see the foals up close.
“We’re very open here,” said Garry. “We want to give interested parties every chance to see the foals. We do have a lot of people buy online too, and that’s why we create videos and put a lot of time into their online information. We’re really proud to be able to offer the opportunity for people to buy great foals in the UK from the best British and European breeding lines.”
As for which foals Garry has his eye on, it’s a tough one. “They’re all exceptional. Lot 10 is interesting as she’s a very charismatic filly and is lovely to do in the stable. Her dam is deceased so she’s with a recipient, so she has an interesting story too. For the boys, I think Lot 4 by Aganix, a sire I’ve heard a lot of times over the tannoy at Bolesworth, as he’s a very popular stallion at the moment. That said, they are all superb. When I look up the barn it’s exciting to think of the future these young horses will have. We definitely have some young horse contenders with potential to be GB team horses.”
The foal preview takes place tonight in the International Arena at 8pm on Thursday night. The auction will be held on Friday 12th August at 8.45pm.
To see more about all the foals, visit https://www.boleswortheliteauctions.com/