Sir Alex Ferguson SMASHES record for most expensive jumps horse ever as he spends £633,000 on Caldwell Potter

10 months ago 89

SIR ALEX FERGUSON will be the proud owner of the most expensive jumps horse ever sold at public auction.

Grade 1-winning novice hurdler Caldwell Potter fetched an eye-watering £633,000 and will head to trainer Paul Nicholls’ yard in Ditcheat.

Man Utd legend SIr Alex will have the horse in training with 14-time champion trainer Nicholls[/caption]

He was knocked down to leading bloodstock agent Anthony Bromley and he will run in a partnership including Fergie, Ged Mason, John Hales and Peter Done.

Clearly, after winning a whopping £500,000 in Bahrain with his home-bred horse Spirit Dancer, the legendary footy boss had a few quid to play with.

The previous record fee paid for a National Hunt horse in a sales ring was £620,000 when Interconnected was bought by Darren Yates, the punter who made millions betting on Frankie Dettori, in 2019.

Six-year-old grey Caldwell Potter was being sold at Tattersalls in Ireland as part of the dispersal of owners Andy and Gemma Brown, who’s horses ran under the banner of Caldwell Construction.

The British-based owners announced last month they were walking away from the sport after losing some of their star horses, including Mighty Potter and DB Cooper.

They said in a statement: “Further to the sad loss of one of our young horses D B Cooper again as a family we are absolutely heartbroken.

“Also we lost Smooth Player only just two weeks ago.

“Having a young family it’s hard to cope with such losses and therefore we feel it is time for a break from the sport.”

It meant 29 horses, including some with top-class form and loads of potential, were up for sale.

The star name among them was Caldwell Potter, who bagged the Grade 1 Future Champions Novice Hurdle in December for trainer Gordon Elliott.

Grand National winner Elliott was desperate to bring him back home to his yard at Cullentra and was gutted after ending up as the underbidder.

The horse will head across the Irish Sea to the 14-time British champion trainer, for whom he will run in either the Supreme or Baring Bingham at the Cheltenham Festival.

It will be a welcome piece of good news for both Nicholls and Fergie.

The yard was left devastated by the tragic loss of stable lad Keegan Kirkby, who was heartbreakingly killed in a freak fall at the Charing point-to-point meeting in Kent on Sunday.

And on Saturday at Sandown, they suffered the sad loss of star novice chaser Hermes Allen, who was one of Fergie’s best horses, in a fall in the Scilly Isles Chase.