A son of Lope De Vega from Croom House Stud (Lot 562 - pictured) topped a vibrant Goffs Sportsman’s Sale yesterday when selling to Church Farm for €130,000 – the highest price at the Sportsman’s for ten years.
The second foal out of a winning Holy Roman Emperor mare, the colt’s half-sister Special Purpose is a dual winner at two and was placed in the Group 3 Dick Poole Fillies Stakes earlier this month.
Having been leading buyers overall at the Orby Sale this week, BBA Ireland also led the way at the Sportsman’s, acquiring a total of 21 yearlings. These were headed by a well-related Dream Ahead filly from Mount Eaton Stud (Lot 611) bought for €85,000, as well as an Australia half-sister to two Stakes winning fillies from Camas Park Stud (Lot 527) that sold for €62,000. The third highest price of the Sportsman’s was €75,000 paid by Equine Associates for Lumville Farm’s Pivotal filly (Lot 719), while another highlight was the sale of a colt from the first crop of Gregorian consigned by Egmont Stud (Lot 571) and bought by Bobby O’Ryan and Keith Dalgleish for €60,000.
Full results are available here.
At the conclusion of the Sportsman’s Sale, Goffs Chief Executive Henry Beeby commented:
“The Irish Donny” is how we have styled today’s sale in recent times as the Sportsman’s Sale encapsulates the ethos that evolved in Doncaster over so many years with a focus on the attractive, early type. Such a billing has been well backed up this year with a string of good two year old winners from last year’s sale resulting in a huge application for places despite the catalogue reverting to its most successful one day format.
It is always hard for the electric atmosphere in evidence throughout Orby to be replicated but we have enjoyed strong competition throughout today leading to another good clearance rate, advances in average and median and the highest price for 10 years at €130,000. When compared to the full sale last year we have made huge gains, with the average and median advancing by 26% and a whopping 45% respectively, but the progress versus the first day in 2016 is also noteworthy. As a result we will continue to work with breeders and consignors to develop Sportsman’s as the natural alternative to Orby for the strong commercial type especially given the strong international interest that has been so evident throughout the day with buyers from so many countries competing with a large number of UK trainers, several of whom came specifically for today.
As yesterday we are indebted to our vendors for their enthusiasm and support, and wish every purchaser the very best of luck on the racecourse next year and beyond".