Top Lot at yesterday’s Goffs Autumn Horses In Training Sale went to the 2019 Listed Tetrarch Stakes winner Shelir (Lot 566 - pictured) from the ever popular Aga Khan Studs draft. A three year old son of Dark Angel, he was purchased by Jason Kelly Bloodstock for €70,000.
The Aga Khan Studs consignment also provided several of the session’s other highlights which included the Lope de Vega colt Shamiyan (Lot 557) who was placed last week at Gowran Park and was knocked down to Emerald Bloodstock for €58,000, as well as Hazran (Lot 561), a Lope de Vega colt out of a sister to Harzand, that sold to Millwood Bloodstock for €52,000.
A winner at the Curragh just over a week ago, Njord (Lot 518) from Sheila Lavery Racing was another standout when selling to BBA Ireland for €54,000, as was Finding Nero (Lot 573) from Johnny Muragh's Fox Covert Stables who will head to Qatar having been bought by Abdullah Aziz Al Boenain and Al Wakra for €50,000.
The day's trade began with the remaining Autumn Yearlings which, combined with the opening day, resulted in increases across the board for the yearling sale, in particular a rise in clearance rate to 74% from 60% last year and a 33% increase in median.
Reflecting on the Autumn Yearling and Horses In Training Sale trade, Goffs Group Chief Executive Henry Beeby said:
“The durability of the yearling market was never more graphically illustrated than over the last two days. With the world in a state of some flux with Brexit, economic uncertainty and so many other factors that would at least suggest some contraction, it was extremely heartening to witness a trade of vibrancy and energy from start to finish.
"For that we must especially thank our overseas buyers who flocked to Goffs following the concerted efforts of our team working in tandem with Irish Thoroughbred Marketing. Goffs is fortunate to be assisted by a superb network of international agents and this week several of them have been to the fore as Angela Robiati, Filip Zwicky, Matthias Seeber and Kishore Mirpuri have delivered a truly eclectic group of buyers from Italy, Scandinavia, Germany and Eastern Europe. In particular, the last mentioned has played an absolute blinder with a group of 43 that required a bigger than ordered bus to ferry them from airport to Goffs to hotel and in between! Their enthusiastic bidding allowed our yearling trade to make significant advances from a smaller catalogue, the most noteworthy being a very respectable clearance rate of 74% and a median that grew by a third.
"No one is suggesting that this is the most glamorous sale of the year and everything is relative but we cannot let the moment pass without mentioning the pinhook success of the year, if not the decade, with Clonmult Farm’s spectacular €78,000 sale topper who was picked up here for a mere €1,000 last November, so providing yet another example of the potential of the Goffs November Foal Sale. We are so pleased for James Sheehan and Vicki Hancock whose delight was infectious as their sale unfolded.
"Our Horses-In Training section is one we would dearly love to develop as every year we prove its worth with the small number we present. Trade was strong for the catalogue assembled and the figures simply reflect the vagaries of horses in training sales rather than any particular issues.
As ever we extend our thanks and appreciation to every vendor and purchaser on both days”.
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