A WEEK like no other on the National Hunt front for Goffs ended on a decidedly upbeat note as Thursday’s Part 2 of the Land Rover ended with a significantly improved set of final results after a day in which the point-to-point fraternity turned out in force to stockpile talent for next year.
After the heights of Tuesday and Wednesday there was a chance that such demand would carry through to the less exalted levels of the store market and that was borne out by the results over the course of the day.
Perhaps most impressive of all was the clearance rate for Part 2 which rose from 74% to 82% and represents a strong showing for a sale of this nature.
Over the course of the day the number of lots making at least €30,000 rose from 15 to 26 and such activity was reflected in the turnover which grew by 59% to just over €3.1 million. The average of €17,871 progressed by 8% while the median improved from €15,000 to €16,000.
In all this represented a fitting end to a superb three days in Goffs while a look at this segment of the store market would reveal that the two store auctions that cater for this level that have taken place in Ireland so far this year have both returned a pleasing level of trade and one which is almost totally dominated by the point-to-point fraternity.
Centre stage on Thursday went to a trio of €50,000 lots and the first of these was a son of Jet Away from Tullycanna Stables who was knocked down to Colin Bowe. The latter has already enjoyed some notable success with progeny of the sire having won a point with Brandy Love before her £200,000 sale to Willie Mullins.
The first crop of Irish four-year-olds sired by Workforce have made an impression in recent months and the Derby winner was represented by a half-sister to Watch House Cross who looks set to go point-to-pointing in England after she was bought by Charlie and Francesca Poste.
The other member of the leading triumvirate was a €50,000 Doyen filly who was knocked down to James and Ellen Doyle’s Baltimore Stables. This granddaughter of Sadler’s Wells is out of a Grade 3-placed mare and is closely related to the smart English hurdler Tommy’s Oscar.
Elsewhere Matthew Flynn O’Connor picked up a couple of popular fillies when going to €47,000 for a daughter of Milan and he also secured a €38,000 Malinas whose dam is out of the brilliant Asian Maze.
David Mullins secured one of the higher priced lots when giving €44,000 for a Walk In The Park gelding out of a half-sister to the Champion Chase third Petit Robin. Mullins indicated that his purchase was also likely to go down the point-to-point route.