Dan Skelton Spends €500,000 On Isaac Of York And £360,000 Kaiser Ball
dan skelton has moved hard at the sales, buying €500,000 Isaac Of York and £360,000 Kaiser Ball while he pursues Martin Pipe’s single-season winners record. The purchases sit inside a wider recruitment drive that has already taken his total buying to £470,000 across 20 lots in Doncaster.
Isaac Of York and Kaiser Ball
Isaac Of York was taken at Arqana’s Grand Steeple auction last Saturday, then Kaiser Ball joined the yard for £360,000 at the Goffs UK Spring Horses in Training and Point-to-Point Sale on Wednesday. Kaiser Ball went through agent Tom Malone, and Dan Skelton said the horse is for a syndicate of four existing owners who are taking a leg each.
He called Kaiser Ball “a lovely horse” and said he is “basically got Graded form from his maiden.” Skelton also described him as a stayer who fits “the category for staying novice hurdles,” which gives the horse a defined route rather than just another expensive addition to the string.
Doncaster Spending Spree
Wednesday and Thursday in Doncaster brought the bulk of the business. Skelton and bloodstock agent Ryan Mahon signed for 20 lots for £470,000, a haul that put them a furlong clear on the buyers’ table by volume of purchases. The £130,000 Risky Obsession headed that batch.
That horse has already shown some ability. Risky Obsession won a Warwick bumper on New Year’s Eve, and Skelton said, “He’ll go novice hurdling next year.” Harry Skelton, after riding him at Warwick, said, “This is a really good horse.”
Pipe’s 243-Winner Mark
The spending is tied to a clear target. Skelton said the recruitment drive is aimed at rewriting the history books for the number of winners in a single season, with Martin Pipe’s 243 from the 1999-00 campaign standing as the benchmark.
He said the purchases include horses for the summer and early autumn as well as winter horses, and added: “It’s more important to be quality driven in the summer because, without being disrespectful, the races are less competitive.” He also said, “We’ve upped the budget this week to try to buy some of those nicer summer horses,” and, “If you can get one horse that wins three, that’s better than having three that win one.”
Skelton and Mahon had already secured four lots for £148,000 during Monday’s Spring Store Sale, and Skelton said, “We feel very humbled to have the support we’ve got and it does feel like the crest of a wave at the moment. Hopefully the wave doesn’t break!” For now, the scale of the buying says as much as the quotes: Skelton is building depth fast, and he is doing it with the record target plainly in view.
