TWO key weeks have come and gone in the Irish flat racing calendar, though not necessarily on the racecourse.

Flat trainers and owners up and down the country have reached for the cheque book to strengthen their teams for next season at the Tattersalls September Yearling Sale and Goffs Orby Yearling Sale. For those who have managed to recruit new additions, this is a time when dreams are very much alive.

With the majority of practitioners in Ireland faced with trying to take on some of the world’s equine superpowers on a daily basis, finding value at the sales is an essential component to thriving and surviving.

So much of the past few weeks has involved looking forward and anticipating what could be to come. However, it’s worth doffing the cap for a moment to those who have achieved in 2024 what many set out to do when heading to the sales in the first place - winning a two-year-old maiden in Ireland.

Since the beginning of the season at the Curragh in March to the end of September, there were 118 individual juvenile maiden winners on these shores. Almost a third of these winners were home-breds (29% of pool, 34 winners), effectively inaccessible to the buying market, and a further five (4%) changed hands privately.

Excluding those who went unsold, the average price of a two-year-old maiden winner in Ireland so far this season is €146,300, with the median working out at €69,510. These figures were calculated when factoring in their most recent public purchase price before winning a maiden, and any purchases in Sterling, Guineas and US Dollars were converted to Euros. The nine horses who were bought back by their vendors, therefore becoming eligible for auction races, were included in the sample.

When keeping in mind those highly competitive average prices for a winner, the 13 sets of connections who won maidens with horses who cost less than €15,000 at public auction so far this season deserve plenty of credit.

Lucrative season

To this point in the calendar, Jack Davison secured one of the least-expensive two-year-old maiden winners of the year. He was successful in a sprint maiden at Down Royal last month with Lightning Bear, before finishing third in the Goffs 500 at the Curragh last weekend with the Kuroshio gelding.

Speaking after his maiden victory, Davison said: “This horse is a homebred; I actually bought him directly from my father at Goffs Book 2 for €5,000, minimum bid, and here we are. He has won a €50,000 bonus and a bit of prize money.”

That prize money haul was added to by a further €50,000 when third at the Curragh on Saturday. Not a bad piece of business by any means for the Co Meath handler.

Monotone, a Cork winner in March for Jim Bolger, was bought back at €4,000 at the Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale, the same sale as Shimmy Jimmy (Navan winner for Donnacha O’Brien) and Gazelle d’Or (Bellewstown winner for Michael Grassick) both vendored for €5,000 apiece. They all earned that back and more in their maiden victories.

A real nod must go to the connections of Roscommon maiden winner Deo Vero, who opened her account in May for trainer David Geary. The Elzaam filly was signed for by Thomas Crown at €6,000 in Book 2 of the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale last year and surely sold for many multiples of that to Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gary Barber in the immediate aftermath of her breakthrough win. Quite the touch.

Kevin Prendergast’s Iowntheball was an interesting case to follow. A 15,000gns foal, the Advertise colt went unsold at €19,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale last year, and again unsold at €7,500 at the Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale last November.

Value buy

Prendergast picked him up for €10,000 at the Goffs February Sale this year, and went from finishing third in a Curragh maiden on debut to winning at Down Royal on his second and most recent start.

Andy Oliver is no stranger to unearthing value at the sales and won that aforementioned Curragh maiden with Orchidaceae, a €10,000 buy from Book 2 of the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale. The daughter of Churchill followed that smart maiden success up with a win over Deo Vero at Leopardstown in the colours of Team Valor.

J’adore Chris, who vendored at €10,000 in the same sale, turned two seconds into a win at the third attempt for Paddy Twomey in a Roscommon maiden, while Tony Mullins’ Runninsonofagun was bought back for the same amount in the Tattersalls Ireland Sapphire Sale 2023. He won an optional claiming maiden for his breeder, Olive Walsh, in late August.

Amy and Olivia Marnane had success with two particularly inexpensive buybacks in this €15,000 or less bracket. Navan sprint maiden winner Actin Like A Diva (trained by David Marnane) vendored at £10,000 in the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale and Cork debut scorer Rock N Roll Rocket (Jessica Harrington) was listed as being bought back for £11,000 at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale. The latter went through the ring for £125,000 in the Goffs London Sale this summer, with the son of Far Above since racing for the Maranes, Bronsan Racing and Syndicates.Racing.

Natalia Lupini picked up Down Royal winner Saint Brandon for just €12,000 in Book 2 of the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale last year, while connections of the Gavin Cromwell-trained An Chorr Dubh surely got a rich mark up on the €13,500 they paid for her at the Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale after her impressive debut win at Gowran. She’s since been sold to continue her career in America.

Source of winners

There is still time to go for different sales to have star representatives emerge this season - this analysis is purely assessing from the beginning of the season to the end of September. Plenty more names could have been mentioned here with slightly higher purchase prices to win maidens.

To this point, there have been nine Irish maiden winners, who were sold at the breeze-up sales this year. With some feeling there has been an improvement in quality in this sector in recent times, it will be intriguing to follow whether this figure rises in the next year or two. The cost of these breeze-up recruits were £220,000, 200,000gns, £100,000, €105,000, £88,000, €72,000, 30,000gns, €27,000 and £10,000 (vendor).

There were a host of yearlings this week to sell for €500,000 or more. In the sample period for 2024, only four Irish maiden winners threatened to broach this territory for 2024 and all were trained by Aidan O’Brien: KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes third Bernard Shaw ($1,800,000), dual Group 3 runner-up Camille Pissarro (1,250,000gns), Navan debut winner Celtic Chieftain (450,000gns) and recent Punchestown scorer Genealogy (400,000gns).

Across Europe and America, there are still several yearling sales to go between now and the end of the year. Plenty of opportunities for connections to find their future stars and - with a bit of luck - plenty of chances to unearth a little value.