Leading jumps racing owner JP McManus has once again pulled out the big bucks to buy a potentially smart prospect in the making called Jonbon, who is in fact a full brother to the superstar Douvan.
The four year old was a 15-length winner of a 4yo geldings’ maiden point to point at Dromahane and on Thursday went up for sale at the Goffs UK auction and was bought by McManus for a record breaking £570,000.
For a jumps horse this is an extreme amount of money due to the horses not going off to stud at the end of their careers and the prize money on offer being lesser than that on the flat.
However, being a full brother to the superstar Douvan was always going to make him hot property and there is big speculation now as to what trainer he will end up with.
Willie Mullins was the trainer of Douvan, who has been a horse of a lifetime for the yard and owner Rich Ricci and although he has had his fair share of injury problems, has still gone on to win 14 of his 17 events for the partnership.
A dual Cheltenham festival winner, the French exploit between 2015 and 2017 lit up the jumps racing scene winning races like the Supreme Novices' Hurdle, Arkle Challenge Trophy, Champion Novice Hurdle and Ryanair Novice Chase.
Overall the horse has managed to land eight Grade Ones and a number of Grade Two events and his last win on the track came a year ago in the Clonmel Oil Chase.
His new owner will be hoping that Jonbon can have a similar career to his sibling with the jumps racing world set to keep a keen eye on the expensive purchase.