Fayre Oaks Sale 2003Sale of Welsh Mountain Ponies, Welsh Ponies (Section B) and Welsh Part-Bred Ponies, held at the Royal Welsh Showground Held on 26-27 September 2003 Brightwells Auctioneers celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Fayre Oaks Sale on the Friday evening with a special Gala Auction of 28 ponies from invited vendors who had supported the Sale over most of its fifty years, and special presentations to twelve of the Sale personalities and Brightwells staff. The inclusion of the special lots boosted the Sale total from last year's £160,728 to £334,615, with the average increasing from £542 (£375 in 1998) to £862. The previous record figure of £4,500 for Section A was shattered when the 12-year-old stallion Synod The Colonel, from Cerdin and Doreen Jones's Synod Stud in Talgarreg, fetched £7,000 to David Prater of Tring, who has recently bought a farm in Llanybyther. Synod The Colonel was the male champion at the 1997 Royal Welsh Show. The Section B record of £4,000 was likewise broken when Heather Vaughan of Camrose, Haverfordwest, sold her five-year-old gelding Orielton Beamish to Peter Barr of Hazelwood, Derbyshire, for £10,500. Orielton Beamish had qualified for the Horse of the Year Show in working hunter pony competitions and had won at the Welsh Championships, Swansea, Aberystwyth, Chard and Cheshire County. The top price received for a Section A mare was £4,200, which Clive Johnston of Co Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, paid for Friars Stud's seven-year-old Friars Welsh Doll. Mr Johnston had won the senior stallion class at this year's Royal Welsh Show with his Friars Super Ted of similar bloodlines. Friars Stud from Gaerwen, Anglesey, also received £6,000 for their five-year-old stallion Friars Superman, which sold to J.M. Hazeleger of Barneveld, Holland. Close on the heels of Welsh Doll at £4,000 was the five-year-old mare Flydon Eos, third prize winner at this year's Royal Welsh Show, and she was bought by Kathie and Martin Hall of the Penstrumbly Stud, Goodwick, Pembrokeshire, a stud noted for producing performance horses. Top Section A filly at £3,400 was the three-year-old Yaverland Cherry Ripe, from the Yaverland Stud of the Hon Mrs Monck on the Isle of Wight and sired by Yaverland Nero, who is now in Denmark. Cherry Ripe was bought by Newmarket racehorse owner Mr Gredley. There was also a brisk trade for Section A filly foals. David Prater also paid £4,300 for Synod Stud's cream Synod Sugar Candy, and Erica Summerfield of Abergavenny, who recently sold her flock of pedigree sheep and is now restocking with Welsh ponies, outbid a Canadian on the telephone to secure Menai Stud's grey Menai Seren Wen for £4,200. She also bought Alan and Jan Pearce's cream Glyncoch Kelly from St Clears, Carmarthenshire, for £3,700. Top colt foal at £2,700 was Fron-bach Destination, also from Anglesey, and he was bought by Len Weaver of Pontsticill, Merthyr Tydfil.
Top of the Section A geldings was the three-year-old Wernderris Rodney, consigned by Ann Prosser of the Sluice Farm, Peterstone Wentloog, Cardiff, who bought several colt foals at Hay-on-Wye for £20 to £40 when their dairy herd was slaughtered as a result of FMD. Rodney sold for £3,000 to Mr Alford of Stapleyne Mill, Taunton. The next highest Section B prices to Orielton Beamish were £3,400 paid for the four-year-old stallion Barkway Artiste from Mr and Mrs Greenleaf's Brookhall Stud, Colchester, Essex, and he returned to Colchester being bought by Mr R.M. Rodd of the Marons Stud; and £3,000 was paid by Mr P. Booth of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, for the 11-year-old mare Rhoson Tlws from the Boncath, Pemrokeshire, stud of John and Glenys Davies. The top Part-Breds were the 12-year-old mare Stanley Grange Mirage, for which Mr Moore of Ipswich paid £2,500, and the yearling colt Small-Land Movie Maker from Mrs Rosemary Rees's Small-Land Stud in Meidrim, Carmarthen, which went to the USA for £2,300. Stanley Grange Mirage had won championships in hand and also been placed at the Horse of the Year Show when ridden. A total of 38 were sold for export, France leading with ten, followed by eight each to the USA and Holland, seven to Denmark, three to Sweden and two to Canada.
Dr Wynne Davies |
