Gavin Cromwell has described the demand for National Hunt stock to be “stronger than ever” after the multiple Cheltenham Festival-winning handler rounded off a busy few weeks at the sales by spending €230,000 on classy juvenile hurdle prospect Le Citadin (City Light) at the Arqana Summer Sale. Dual winner Le Citadin was one of the most expensive horses sold at the Summer Sale, which mirrored the red-hot trade at the premier store sales in Ireland over the past few weeks. One of the busiest buyers on that beat, Cromwell explained how a feeling of taking his finger off the pulse on the exact same sales circuit 12 months previously provided him with the ambition to remain strong from the beginning of the Goffs Arkle Sale, on to the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale and right through to the action at Arqana this week. Speaking shortly after securing Le Citadin on behalf of the Furze Bush Syndicate, who have enjoyed huge success with the likes of Stumptown and Will The Wise within his County Meath-based yard, Cromwell said, “Trade was very strong and there were a lot of nice horses at Arqana. I bought a breezer who could develop into a nice dual-purpose horse, and I also bought a store and a nice horse by City Light [Le Citadin] to go juvenile hurdling. He looks a fine model and has already been schooled over hurdles. The lads who own Stumptown and Will The Wise have bought him.”He may be best known for winning the Champion Hurdle with Espoir D'Allen and the Gold Cup with Inothewayurthinkin, but Cromwell has proved himself equally as talented on the level and enjoyed Royal Ascot success with Quick Suzy and Snellen. Therefore, Cromwell is uniquely placed to comment on appetite within the ownership ranks across both spheres, and he admits to being bowled over by the demand for top-notch jumps prospects at present.He explained, “I think it's easier to sell the better jumps horse. Definitely, the appetite has been there for the top end of it, and they are very hard to buy. I can't remember it being this strong. Just from my own experience, it has become so hard to buy the nicer point-to-pointers, unless you have a big budget, say 400 grand or more, so then the end user seems to be shopping more at the store sales with a view towards buying a horse that could turn out to be nice. That's part of what's driving the store market but, of course, the point-to-point lads have had a great year so they are strong as well. It's a combination of everything. A few new owners have come to me in recent weeks asking me to buy them a horse at the store sales, which has been great. Generally, the Flat owners in my yard are purchasing yearlings with a view towards trading while the National Hunt owner seems to be looking for the nice horse – more end users. They are a very different type of owner over the two codes.”Cromwell concluded, “I'm very happy with the business we did here in France and over the past few weeks at the store sales. We have been very busy and I was conscious that we needed to restock. If I am being completely honest, I feel like I took my finger off the pulse a bit this time last year and didn't hit the sales hard enough. By the time the jumps season rolled around, I knew my fate because we had a lot of badly-handicapped horses and didn't have enough young horses coming through. I felt like we were very light in the bumper and maiden hurdle department last season and I didn't want to let that happen again. To be fair to Gordon [Elliott], he has always been the one who has been really strong at the sales. As he always says, if you can win at the sales, you'll win at the races. He's one hundred per cent right with that. So hopefully we've unearthed a few nice horses to go to war with next season. I think we have.”Fellow Irish-based trainer Willie Mullins, the dominant force over jumps, splashed out €250,000 on Noble Sea. That winning son of Irish Derby winner Latrobe was purchased alongside agents Pierre Boulard and Harold Kirk. Meanwhile, Erwan de Chambord went to €340,000 to secure Miss Wood (Choeur Du Nord) on behalf of Edward James, the owner of the leading hurdler-turned stallion, Nietzsche Has. And while that top lot was secured by the home team, it would appear that the plan for the sister to Henry de Bromhead's Ryanair Chase hero Heart Wood is to continue her career in Britain. De Chambord explained, “She was purchased on behalf of Edward James, who owned Nietzsche Has, now a stallion at my family's stud Haras de Montaigu. She was bought by Edward and the plan is to race her, probably in England, although that is not 100 per cent. Then, hopefully she will become a very nice broodmare. She has good prospects for that – she is by Choeur Du Nord, who is flying, and she has some very good performances in France. She is also a full-sister to a very good horse in Heart Wood. This is what Edward wants to do – buy the best mare that he can and then cover by his own stallion.”He added, “This sale was very strong and, overall, the National Hunt market is very good. To find good horses, it has been very tough. When you see the results at the store sale on Tuesday, it was also very strong, but it is very good for the National Hunt sector. We breed many National Hunt horses here in France. That market was quite difficult in the past few years but now it is starting to get better so that is very good.”The Arqana Summer Sale concluded with an aggregate of €10,909,000 [-13%] and a clearance rate of 77% [-4]. That is despite the fact there were 44 less horses offered compared to 12 months ago. The average rose by 3% to €41,479 while the median was up from €22,000 to €26,000.The post Cromwell Vows Not To ‘Take Finger Off Pulse’ Again After €230,000 Purchase At Arqana appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.