IT was only five lots into the Goffs Yorton Sale on Thursday when the fireworks happened. Coincidentally, it was also the fifth staging of this sale at the Futter family-run Yorton Farm in Wales.

The two-year-old No Risk At All gelding Brisky Dancer set a new high when he sold for a sale record price of £165,000 to Ian Ferguson and Dai Walters. A half-brother to the Grade 3 winners Al Dancer and Tzar’s Dancer, the gelding was the subject of a prolonged bidding dual between Ben Pauling and Ian Ferguson, with the latter emerging the victor. The price beat the previous record of £105,000, also set by a No Risk At All two-year-old bought by Walters, at the inaugural sale in 2019.

Walters was not present at the sale, though he is recovering well after a long recuperation from injuries sustained in a helicopter crash late last year, and he was giving instructions to Ferguson on the telephone throughout the bidding duel with Pauling.

The sire was also responsible for the second-highest price on the day, and this time it was a filly. The two-year-old half-sister to a listed winner last year on the flat, and to the smart but ill-fated juvenile hurdler Night Edition, fell to Jimmy and Susie Wenman at £58,000. The filly’s dam, a stakes winner in Germany, is a half-sister to the leading hurdler and chaser Melon, and also to the dams of three Group 1 winners.

Though the new owners have horses in training in Britain with Nigel Twiston-Davies, Jimmy Weston revealed that his new purchase would be sent to race next year in France. He also hopes to breed from her in due course,

BLM Bloodstock spent £55,000 to secure a Born To Sea two-year-old half-brother to four winners, the first four runners of the eight-time winning Valanour mare Koonora. He had cost just €22,000 at Arqana last November. Bertrand Le Metayer joined forces with Lorna and Harry Fowler to make this purchase.

Rathmore Stud’s Peter Molony made a splash and secured a pair of top lots, both of which already have next year’s Goffs Arkle Sale in their sights. He paid £45,000 for Lasko Des Obeaux, a two-year-old Bathyrhon half-brother to a pair of blacktype winners, out of a winning daughter of Califet. Shortly afterwards he spent £44,000 on a two-year-old daughter of Lord Of England, and she is the first foal of an unraced half-sister to Lord Of England’s Group 1 German Derby winner Isfahan.

Fillies figured prominently in the sale and Richard Frisby’s bid of £43,000 was enough to take home a two-year-old Blue Bresil full-sister to a point-to-point winner whose Presenting dam is a half-sister to the Grade 2 winning chaser Sir Rembrandt, runner-up in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The Kilkenny-based Glenwood Stud owner said that his new purchase will be resold in due course.

Making exactly the same price was another Blue Bresil two-year-old filly, purchased by Ballyknockan Bloodstock’s Jim Ryan, and she is out of a half-sister to the French Grade 2 winning chaser Dream Wish. Ryan had been the underbidder on the top filly in the sale. Ryan had to see off the challenge of two fine judges, Peter Molony and Paul Cashman.

Mickley Stud’s Finbar Kent signed for a yearling by Kapgarde at £42,000. The gelding is a grandson of the Cyborg mare Quatre Bleue, winner three times over jumps in France and placed in a listed hurdle race.

At the sale’s conclusion the turnover of £1.13 million finished within 1% of last year’s record figure, as did the average of £31,556, while the median was back 7% to £28,000. With 36 of the 45 lots offered selling, the clearance rate was also down, but connections were nonetheless pleased with the outcome. This year Inthepocket became the sale’s first Grade 1 winning graduate at the Aintree Grand National Festival.

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Yorton’s David Futter said: “This year marks the fifth year of this sale and it’s great to see so many returning clients, along with a number of new faces. We take great pleasure in hosting this sale and we can’t do it without the support of those who have attended and taken part in the auction – so to them we say a sincere thank you.

“We would also like to thank the Goffs team who have partnered with us since the launch of this sale in 2019. We now look forward to the coming season where our headline sale graduate Inthepocket returns to the track in search of further Grade 1 success.”

Goffs UK’s managing director Tim Kent added: “We are delighted to break another record here at Yorton Farm and we are very proud to partner with David Futter and his team for this wonderfully unique event, where there were some lovely horses on offer today. We look forward to seeing them appear on the racecourse or in the sales ring for new connections and we hope to see another Grade 1 winner from this sale in the coming season.”