WITH mixed fortunes for pinhookers at this year’s yearling sales, it is difficult to predict trade at the Goffs November Foal Sale, which takes place from Monday, November 18th to Thursday, November 21st.

Demand for the best specimens and pedigrees is always high, no matter the sale, and the crème de la crème of foals are often knocked down to end users.

That was the case for last year’s top lot, a full-brother to Ghaiyyath sold by the Weld family’s Springbank Way Stud for €700,000. Zhang Yuesheng was the buyer, his team signing as Lucky Vega, to promote his Group 1 winner’s first foals.

There was a notable drop down to the next highest price of the sale at €310,000, a brave pinhook by Peter and Ross Doyle, which was rewarded by a €500,000 sale at last month’s Orby Sale.

Two Lope De Vega foals shared the next spot at €260,000 - one resold for 325,000gns, while the other was not reoffered.

Godolphin’s sole buy of the week, a Blue Point colt for €250,000, was unsurprisingly absent from the 2024 yearling sales, his value presumably increasing when sibling Bold Style gained blacktype this season.

Hanshen Tham’s Pattern Bloodstock was the next buyer to feature in the list of top lots, and his Night Of Thunder colt increased his value from €210,000 to 500,000gns.

Repeat success

These results should encourage next week’s investors, particularly those interested in the catalogued siblings to the above success stories. Foals in the running to make headlines in the latest renewal, based on pedigree, include:

Lot 444: Blue Point half-brother to four blacktype horses, out of a half-sister to the brilliant, but ill-fated Sea Of Class

Lot 540: Kingman half-sister to Group 3 winner Basil Martini

Lot 553: Dark Angel colt out of a Group 3-placed half-sister to Japanese Group 1 winner Mad Cool (Dark Angel). The second dam is the multiple Group 1-placed Mad About You

Lot 566: Sea The Stars colt out of Group 1 heroine Ambivalent, making him a full-brother to Group 1 Prix Vermeille winner Teona. He is also a half-brother to Group 2 scorer Al Hilalee

Lot 574: Lope de Vega half-sister to Lowther Stakes winner Living In The Past and this season’s listed-winning juvenile Jungle Drums. Their dam is a half-sister to the dam of Chaldean

Lot 624: Kingman colt out of a twice group-placed Galileo mare. Offered by Moyglare Stud Farm, he hails from the family of Dress To Thrill, Free Eagle, Kyprios and Search For A Song

Lot 640: Mehmas full-brother to Quattroelle, twice a graded winner and Grade 1 placed

Lot 641: Own-brother to dual Group 1 winner Emily Upjohn. His dam is a blacktype full-sister to Hazarista, herself third in both the Irish and Yorkshire Oaks, while Big Rock, Harzand and Hurricane Lane also feature under the second dam

Lot 667: Mehmas half-sister to Group 3 winner Soprano, who has now placed at the highest level on three occasions, following her second in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes

Lot 677: Camelot half-brother to the top-class Mother Earth, dual group winner Ocean Jewel and Group 2 winner Night Colours

Lot 720: Wootton Bassett colt is the first foal out of a blacktype mare from the family of Blackbeard

Lot 726: Lope de Vega half-sister to Group 2 and Group 3 winner Real Appeal

Lot 755: Wootton Bassett colt out of a half-sister to Group 1 winner Broome, as well as multiple group winners Diego Velazquez and Point Lonsdale

The foals with the strongest pedigrees will be offered on Wednesday, the next best on Tuesday, while Monday and Thursday’s offerings are deemed relatively equal. A catalogue of 1,021 lots is a shade less than that 12 months ago, when 79% of those offered sold.

The clearance rate was two points lower than the previous year, while the average price fell by 9% to €36,346.

The median was positive, however, in that €24,000 matched the record set in 2022.