JOSEPH O’Brien carried on a family tradition of sorts at Goffs on Tuesday when he paid €750,000 for a half-sister to State Of Rest, the top price paid during the opening session of the Orby Sale Book 1.

State Of Rest famously won four Group/Grade 1 races for O’Brien across 2021 and 2022 before retiring to stand at Rathbarry Stud. The trainer also handled State Of Rest’s half-sister Tranquil Lady, winner of two Group 3 races in 2022.

Repose, the dam of those stars, was sold last year by Dermot and Meta Cantillon to Juddmonte but the Cantillons still had her Sea The Stars filly foal who today fetched €750,000.

“She will run for an existing client, an owner-breeder,” O’Brien reported. “She was a very obvious filly for us to be interested in. Both Tranquil Lady and State Of Rest were high-class performers on the track, so we’re very excited to have her on the team for next season.”

O’Brien hopes the filly will be forward enough to run in the second half of 2024 but, whatever she achieves on the track, her residual value is immense. “She’s a quality filly, medium-sized for a Sea The Stars. We think and hope she will get out in the second half of her two-year-old season.

“All the family so far have progressed with age and racing, and her pedigree speaks for itself. Her relations have gone to great breeders so those fillies will be producing stock by the best stallions in the world over the next few years.”

A delighted vendor Dermot Cantillon said: “I was hoping to get a figure like that. She’s an exceptional filly with a great pedigree. When you tick those boxes you expect to get paid.”

He continued: “The mare has been unbelievable for us. We bought the grandam [Monaassabaat] at Goffs in 2007 for €42,000.”

Tinnakill sold two yearling costs by Sea The Stars on Tuesday for €130,000 and €90,000. Cantillon said: “I would like to acknowledge the role played by the late John Clarke in organising the Sea The Stars foal share for us, and we are very grateful to Mrs Tsui for facilitating us to use the stallion.”

Sheikh Mohammed was not present at Goffs on Tuesday but he was well-represented by agent Anthony Stroud and trainer Charlie Appleby. Signing for Godolphin, Stroud paid €625,00 for a Frankel colt and €400,000 for a Dubawi colt.

The Frankel colt came from Yeomanstown Stud and is a full-brother to Group 2-placed Fivethousandtoone. The Dubawi colt was consigned by Ballylinch and is a half-brother to a Deauville two-year-old winner this year.

Of the Frankel, Stroud said: “He’s a very good-looking horse, very well balanced and easy-going, not overbig. He came from a farm with a huge reputation and the sire speaks for himself. Charlie Appleby, David Loder and I all saw the horse and liked him."

The Niarchos family’s Group 1 winner Albigna is due to be offered for sale at Goffs in November and her first foal, a colt by Wootton Bassett, was sold today for €460,000 to China Horse Club and David Redvers of Qatar Racing.

Timmy Hyde’s Camas Park Stud consigned the colt.

American purchasers often play a prominent part at the Orby Sale and did so again on Tuesday when agent Jacob West bought two Kingman colts for leading US owner Mike Repole. Both are likely to be trained by Todd Pletcher.

The most expensive of the Kingman pair was a €400,000 colt out of Bocca Baciata, making him a half-brother to Tuesday's Cork listed race winner Foniska.

Mark McStay’s Avenue Bloodstock also spent €400,000 on a No Nay Never filly from Ciaran Conroy’s Glenvale Stud. The filly is out of the listed-placed Mizzen Mast mare Ultrasonic, from the family of dual Arc heroine Enable.

“She’s been bought for an existing international client,” said McStay. “The sire is having a phenomenal year, it's a great pedigree and she’s a lovely filly, as nice as was on the ground this year - plus the price was about right, knowing you always have to stretch for a No Nay Never filly. So what’s not to like? The trainer is yet to be decided.

Acting for clients of Donnacha O’Brien, McStay also paid €200,000 for a filly by Fastnet Rock from Eddie Irwin’s Marlhill House Stud, and McStay was acting for trainer Kevin Philippart de Foy when spending €140,000 on the sole Galileo colt in the catalogue.

M.V. Magnier gave €375,000 for a Sea The Stars colt out of the stakes placed What A Home (by Lope De Vega) and €200,000 for a Siyouni colt from Camas Park Stud.

Al Shira’aa Farms were outbid on some top lots on Wednesday but on Tuesday the operation’s manager Kieran Lalor paid a total of €450,000 for two fillies. He gave €250,000 for an American Pharoah half-sister to Grand Prix de Paris hero Onesto consigned by Whitehall Stud, and €200,000 for a Wootton Bassett filly out of Saxon Warrior’s listed-placed full-sister Pavlenko, consigned by WH Bloodstock.

Lalor said: “We’re looking for top-class proven sires, deep pedigrees and good physicals. The first filly was an elegant, super-smooth walking daughter of American Pharoah, a stallion we love who works very well in Europe. The family traces back to Hasili, one of the best broodmares in the stud book. We were underbidder on the Gleneagles half-sister to Onesto last year so we’re delighted to get this one.

“The second filly is by Wootton Bassett, a stallion on the up and up, and I’m sure his career is going to skyrocket before long, especially with the support he’s getting from Coolmore. She’s out of a full-sister to Saxon Warrior, another very good stallion we use. She’s a little immature and will likely need plenty of time, but we can give that to her.”

Acting through Peter and Ross Doyle, Norwegian businessman Magne Jordanger spent €360,000 on a filly from the first crop of Ghaiyyath, consigned by Tally-Ho Stud, and €170,000 on a Showcasing colt from the family of Rip Van Winkle.

“The Ghaiyyath filly was just a lovely, lovely individual and a particularly good walker,” said Jordanger. “We had her down as our favourite in the whole sale and we were expecting her to make a lot of money, so we were very happy to get her. Her vet report was totally clean. I’ve never seen such a good report before. That was very important for us.

“The Showcasing colt is a nice, speedy horse, and like a photograph of his dad. He had a great scope and we’re pleased to get him.”

Jordanger reported that both lots will be trained by Richard Hannon.

At the end of day one, the clearance rate was running at just over 85%, compared with last year’s two-day clearance rate of 86%.Turnover on Tuesday reached over €24 million, which puts the sale on course to reach last year's two-day aggregate of €50 million, although admittedly there are 30 more lots in this year's catalogue.

Tuesday's average price was €112,000, only very slightly down on last year's figure of €115,000, which included a €2.6 million 'non-sale' top lot.