THERE was considerable excitement ahead of the 1994 Goffs November Sale where it was expected that the first crop of foals by Golden Fleece would be well received. So they were, with the top three prices being achieved by his progeny.

Two of his daughters shattered the previous European record price for a foal set by the Shergar colt a year before. Ray Bell paid 500,000gns for the filly out of Baccalaureate sold from Thomastown Castle Stud, while Barronstown Stud’s daughter of Spirit In The Sky was bought for 425,000gns by Robert Sangster.

The best price for a colt foal was 310,000gns and this was paid by Golden Fleece’s trainer Vincent O’Brien for the son of Santa Roseanna. The colt was sold by Barronstown and he followed his dam into the ring. She was covered again by Golden Fleece and Coolmore Stud paid 650,000gns to take ownership of her, carrying one of the last foals of the ill-fated 1982 Derby winner.

However, some of the gloss was taken off the coverage of Goffs by an extraordinary event. This was the failure of the Group 1 Goffs Irish 1000 Guineas and Group 2 Coronation Stakes winner Katies (Nonoalco) to sell. Owned by the flamboyant Terry Ramsden, the serious bidding for the filly appeared to end at about 1.6 million guineas.

The auctioneer then had to take the bidding up to just short of the huge reserve, and the filly left the ring, recorded as unsold at 2.9 million guineas. The previous European record for a horse in training had been 1,020,000gns.

Thankfully, Katies’ subsequent career was one of success. Ironically, she was sold twice at auction, fetching $1,000,000 in 1989 and $625,000 in 1998. Though based in the USA, her progeny, and their descendants, have enjoyed great success, mostly in Japan. Katies is the third dam of the unbeaten Efforia, successful in last weekend’s Group 1 Satsuki Sho-2000 Guineas.

Best of Katies

Katies herself had 12 winning progeny, five of them at stakes level. The best was three-time champion Hishi Amazon (Theatrical) and she won 10 races and was the best of her generation from two to four years of age. What Katy Did (Nureyev), a French stakes winner and a daughter of Katies, bred a champion in Japan, the best sprinter of 2008, Sleepless Night (Kurofune).

Now we come to Katies First (Kris), given an appropriate name by Sheikh Mohammed who owned the John Hammond-trained filly. She was a listed winner in France and England and, while she bred 10 winners, she failed to get a stakes winner. However, two of her daughters have gone on to breed Group 1 winners.

The unraced My Katies (Sunday Silence) is responsible for Admire Moon (End Sweep), while three-time winner Katies Heart (Heart’s Cry) got Efforia. Admire Moon was Japanese Horse of the Year in 2007, winning the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free, the Group 1 Takarazuka Kinen and the Group 1 Japan Cup. He has sired a couple of Group 1 winners.

Epiphaneia

Efforia is from the second crop of his sire Epiphaneia (Symboli Kris S). Winner of the Japan Cup in 2014, a year after he captured the St Leger there, Epiphaneia was runner-up in both the Derby and the 2000 Guineas. His first crop, now four-year-olds, contains just three stakes winners, one of which was Daring Tact, successful in the Japanese 1000 Guineas and Oaks and winner of the Triple Tiara.

Now his second crop includes another classic winner. As a result of his first crop performance the Shadai Stud stallion had his 2021 fee doubled to the equivalent of €75,000. A couple of more runners such as Daring Tact and Efforia will surely see the fee going in one direction only.

The best is yet to come

MALINAS transferred to Glenview Stud, the National Hunt wing of the Cashman’s Rathbarry Stud, a few years ago. The Group 1 German Derby runner-up’s first Irish crop of four-year-olds are ready to run. He has sired five Grade 2 winners over jumps in Ireland, England and France, another five at Grade 3 level, and a total of 17 blacktype winners.

A Group 2 winner over 11 furlongs, this son of Lomitas (Niniski) is out of the German Oaks winner and champion three-year-old Majoritat (Konigsstuhl). Malinas is from the immediate family of a couple of classic winners in Germany and Japan.

At the weekend Mighty Thunder, an eight-year-old son of Malinas, won his fourth chase, and eighth race in all, when he landed the Grade 3 Scottish Grand National. Bred by Charles Wilson, Mighty Thunder first saw a sale ring when he sold as a newly turned yearling at Doncaster in 2014 for £3,300 to Aim Price.

Lakefield winner

Two years later, under the banner of John Bleahen’s Lakefield Farm, he was sold in Part 2 of the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale to Tom Malone and trainer Lucinda Russell for €15,000. Now, £175,000 in prize money later, he can be called a bargain buy. In addition to last weekend’s ‘National’ win, he was previously runner-up in the Midlands Grand National. Surely Aintree beckons?

These are not the only National connection either. Mighty Thunder’s half-brother Isleofhopendreams (Flemensfirth) ran second in two versions of the BoyleSports Irish Grand National, to General Principle in 2018 and to Burrows Saint the following year. He also chased home Pairofbrowneyes in the Leinster National at Naas and Folsom Blue in the Grand National Trial at Punchestown.

Both geldings are out of Cool Island, an unraced daughter of Turtle Island (Fairy King). She sold for just £1,000 in 2015 to Thistletown Stud, in spite of being a half-sister to three winners, the best of which was the Grade 2 winner Stewarts House (Overbury). Indeed, every generation breeds blacktype winners.

It’s Himself

The unraced Coole Pilate (Celtic Cone) is the third dam of Mighty Thunder. She had five winners and two of them were noteworthy. It’s Himself (Rakaposhi King) progressed from being a hunter chaser to become a Grade 1 winner at the Punchestown Festival in 2002, capturing the David Austin Memorial Novice Chase. He was born a year before Lyreen Wonder (Derrylin), successful in the Grade 2 Leopardstown Chase and twice winner of the Grade 2 Troytown Chase.

Coole Pilate is a full-sister to the very smart hurdler Cruising Altitude (Celtic Cone). He numbered the Gerry Feilden Hurdle, the Bula Hurdle and the Rossington Main Novices’ Hurdle among his six victories and he placed in the Grade 1 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham. He had a Grade 3 winning half-brother, Bear Claw (Rymer).

*