Sir Alex Ferguson among consortium which beats record for most expensive jumps horse ever by spending £634,000 on Grade One winner Caldwell Potter

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

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

The gray gelding is now in training with Paul Nicholls at 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 coasts.

This is a huge blow to Elliott, who was desperate to keep Caldwell Potter in his garden in Ireland.

Elliott had trained the six-year-old for former owners Andy and Gemma Brown, but was given the shock news last month that they were spreading their rope. The sale price of Caldwell Potter surpasses the previous record of £620,000 for Interconnected in 2019.

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