Sir Alex Ferguson smashes auction record for most expensive jumps horse ever… as his consortium splashes £634,000 on Grade One winner Caldwell Potter

• Caldwell Potter’s price beats previous record of £620,000 for Interconnected
• The grey gelding will now go into training with Paul Nicholls in Somerset 
• Gordon Elliott was desperate to keep classy novice hurdler in his yard in Ireland

Sir Alex Ferguson has helped make history after Caldwell Potter became the most expensive National Hunt horse to be sold at a public auction.

Caldwell Potter, a classy novice hurdler who was being prepared for the Cheltenham Festival by former trainer Gordon Elliott, cost Ferguson and his associates Ged Mason, Peter Done and John Hales £634,000 when the final bid was made at Tattersalls Ireland on their behalf by bloodstock agent Antony Bromley.

The grey gelding will now go into training with Paul Nicholls in Ditcheat, Somerset and the addition of Caldwell Potter — a brilliant winner of a Grade One at Leopardstown over Christmas — to his stable gives British racing a welcome boost; high class horses are needed on these shores.

This is an almighty blow for Elliott, who was desperate to keep Caldwell Potter in his yard in Ireland.

Elliott had trained the six-year-old for former owners Andy and Gemma Brown but received the shock news last month that they were dispersing their string. 

Caldwell Potter’s sale price beats the previous record of £620,000 for Interconnected in 2019. 

Ferguson experienced the sting of National Hunt racing on Saturday when Hermes Allen, a novice chaser with huge potential that he co-owned, suffered a fatal fall during a race at Sandown.