GODOLPHIN was responsible for just over 10% of the turnover in Book 1 of this year’s Goffs Orby Sale.

Sheikh Mohammed’s racing operation spent €5,270,000 on seven lots this week, including the top three of the week, which was its most significant involvement in many years. Indeed, at five of the past 10 editions of the Orby Sale, Godolphin made no purchase at all.

This week Godolphon bought two lots each from Denis Brosnan’s Croom House Stud and Kirsten Rausing’s Staffordstown, and one each from Norelands, Deerpark Stud, and Oghill House Stud. Both seven-figures lots this week fell to Godolphin, with M.V. Magnier underbidder each time.

Three of the six lots sold by Frankel were among the top five of the week, and the leading two were the highest-priced colt and filly at the sale.

Reward for Brosnan

Croom House Stud’s sale headliner is the first foal of the French stakes winner and Irish Group 3-placed Invincible Spirit mare Loch Lein.

A homebred, she raced in the colours of Joan Brosnan, and the decision to send her to Frankel provided a sensational result in the sale ring. Anthony Stroud ended Coolmore’s M.V. Magnier’s attempt to buy, when the agent offered €2 million.

Stroud said: “He’s a lovely horse, by Frankel, he moved extremely well, and we all liked him. We had to stretch a long way to get him, but very pleased to purchase him. If we see a nice horse its always going to be tough to buy, and that’s the way it should be. He will go to Charlie Appleby, and we hope he will be a stallion in the future.”

Later in the day Stroud was not to be denied in his pursuit of Croom House Stud’s Wootton Bassett colt out of the Holy Roman Emperor mare Pussycat Lips. He cost €600,000, by some way the best sale result for a produce of the mare.

The agent purchased Wootton Bassett’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup winner Audarya as a yearling for €125,000. “Wootton Bassett has had a very good year, he’s a very good stallion, and this one looks an earlier sort. He is a very nice horse, a good mover, and has a good pedigree. He was one we felt we really needed to have a go on, and are happy to have him.

“People are here to buy the right horses, the top horses, and all things considered it’s going very well. In a rather volatile economic world, I think it’s doing well. I think the weak euro has encouraged people too.”

KIRSTEN Rausing is one of the most successful breeders in the business, and two years ago she enjoyed the greatest triumph of her racing and breeding career when Alpinista, a daughter of Frankel, won the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

On Wednesday, she sold a daughter of the sire, a half-sister to another mare whom she bred and raced, Sandrine, for €1 million.

Winner of three Group 2 races and the Group 3 Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot at two, Sandrine was placed in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes and Falmouth Stakes. Godolphin will be hoping some of the magic rubs off on their new acquisition.

“This lot is a delightful filly, Kirsten Rausing does such a brilliant job, breeds so many good horses, and this will be a lovely filly when she finishes racing to go to the paddocks,” Anthony Stroud said, adding “I believe we have bought some lovely horses, and it remains to be seen in the next few years how they work out. We also bought a Zarak colt from Staffordstown yesterday.”

Deerpark Stud

Another significant filly purchase by Godolphin was Deerpark Stud daughter of Lope De Vega and Bletchley for €550,000.

Bred and raced by Qatar Racing, the Makfi dam won three times, was beaten a short-head by Brave Anna in the Group 3 Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot at two, beaten half a length in the Grade 2 Nassau Stakes at Woodbine, and chased home multiple Group 1 winner One Master in the Listed October Stakes at Ascot.

It was clear that her first foal was going to figure among the best of the opening day. The filly’s sire was to the fore of Anthony Stroud’s thinking after Godolphin landed the Group 1 Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes on Saturday with the stallion’s son Shadow Of Light, a homebred. Their new purchase is from a female line that has been associated for many generations with Jim Bolger.

“He’s a very good stallion, comes from a good hotel, is a nice filly, and moved very well,” said Stroud, adding “We all liked her and we are delighted to be able to buy her. The Fagan family has been selling good horses for a very long time.”

American agent Jacob West won the battle for a Wootton Bassett half-sister to Group 3 winner and Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas runner-up Cairo, signing for Glenvale Stud’s impeccably-related daughter of blacktype winner Cuff at €675,000. Cuff is a Galileo half-sister to Group 1 winner Nayarra, and a full-sister to four other stakes winners, notably Gustav Klimt. The agent did not reveal plans for the purchase.

FOR a short period, the sixth lot in the ring on day two held the sale lead. It was a case of racing’s great powerhouses, Coolmore and Godolphin, facing off with each other, both wishing to own the Sea The Stars colt consigned by Harry McCalmont’s Norelands. There was little hesitancy from either camp until M.V. Magnier failed to respond to Anthony Stroud’s winning bid of €900,000.

Bred by the Tsui family’s Sunderland Holding, the colt is the second produce of the unraced Holy Roman Emperor mare Holy Amaretta, a daughter of the Group 1 German Oaks winner Amarette. That daughter of Monsun is establishing her own prolific dynasty, some of her descendants including the Group 1 French juvenile winner Alson, Group 2 German 2000 Guineas hero Ancient Spirit, and this year’s juvenile Rashabar, a son of Holy Roman Emperor who won the Group 2 Coventry Stakes and was runner-up in the Group 1 Prix Morny.

“Sea The Stars speaks for himself. He’s a wonderful stallion,” said Stroud after signing the purchase slip. “This horse is very athletic, Norelands is extremely good at producing horses, and this is an extremely nice horse. It’s complimentary when the people who recognise that, good judges all, are on him.”

From the same breeders, and consigned by Norelands, a Sea The Stars daughter of the Dawn Approach mare Miss Aiglonne sold for €460,000 to Cary Bloodstock for Wells Watson. Her sale value was buoyed by the update that the filly’s three-year-old full-brother Kildare Legend (Sea The Stars) became the second winner for their dam.

Gilltown Stud’s super-sire has clicked well with this family, as Miss Aiglonne is a half-sister to the stallion’s son Mekhtaal, winner of the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan.

Wells Watson, an attorney based in Louisiana, had every incentive to purchase, as he explained. “Last year was our first ever visit to Goffs, and we enjoyed it thoroughly. We bought three horses and are very proud of them. One of them, Celtic Motif, ran third in the Goffs Million on Saturday. I think she might have won if she’d gotten a better trip, but she ran really well and we were delighted. So, we came back this year and this Sea The Stars filly was the one we really wanted. She’ll go to Joseph O’Brien, who has Celtic Motif.”

AGROLEXICA International Trading BV appeared on the buying scene in late 2023, spending large amounts at Goffs, Tattersalls and Arqana for foals, yearlings and mares.

In France, its most expensive purchase was Gouache for €200,000, and this year her son Goliath established himself as one of the best in Europe, running out a facile winner of the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes at Ascot. Gouache will be one of the stars at this year’s Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale, in foal to Baaeed.

Agrolexica International, represented by the French-based Ananias Antoniades, took its spending to a new level on the first day of the sale when a bid of €850,000 secured a daughter of Darley’s Blue Point with one of the best updates in the catalogue. From Tom Whelan’s Church View Stables, she was sold on behalf of longstanding breeder Johnny Connaughton from Mullingar.

The filly is out of Bloomfield, a stakes winner and group-placed mare named after Connaughton’s hotel in Co Westmeath. Bloomfield’s two-year-old son New Bay son Bay City Roller won three times since the catalogue was printed, notably the Group 2 Champagne Stakes.

Antoniades said he was impressed by everything about the filly, and revealed that she would go into training with Joseph O’Brien. Later, the trainer said: “We loved Bay City Roller last year, and this is a lovely filly as well.”

Peter Harris

Bred by Summerseat Stables and sold as a foal to Ronan Griffin Bloodstock for €75,000, Lot 166 from The Castlebridge Consignment reaped the benefit of her full-sister Raknah winning the Listed Corrib Stakes at Galway recently. This daughter of Blue Point is out of a Sea The Stars full-sister to Group 3 winner and Group 1 Irish Derby third Stellar Mass, and delivered a pinhooking success when Peter Harris fought off M.V. Magnier, winning out at €580,000.

Anthony Stroud signed for the filly in his agency’s name, but deferred all comments to Harris, who said: “I bred all her family much earlier on, so it was really why I wanted her. She is a nice filly, well-related, and she is a long-term investment. She will go to Adam Kirby to be broken, and then to Jane Chapple-Hyam. It was more than I expected to pay, but not dramatically so.”

Group 1-winning sprinter

The popularity of daughters of four-time Group 1-winning sprinter Blue Point continued on Wednesday, and Ross Doyle was not to be denied when he spent €420,000 on a full-sister to Naepoint, twice a winner this year.

The agent said: “She’s by a very good sire in Blue Point and out of a Galileo mare, and she comes from a wonderful home in Mountarmstrong Stud. Every time we went to see her, she stretched out, was very relaxed, and just seemed like a very classy filly. She’ll be going to Richard Hannon. Magne and Bente Jordanger have been wonderful clients for many years. They had a great pinhook result with the Sea The Stars colt bought here last November.”

The pinhooking success referred to concerned a colt foal by Sea The Stars from Carrick Hill Stud, whose sale to Peter and Ross Doyle at last year’s Goffs November Foal Sale was only bettered by that of Ghaiyyath’s full-brother. A half-brother to Maritime Wings, trained by Joseph O’Brien to win at two and run second to Point Lonsdale in the Group 2 Futurity Stakes, the colt cost €310,000.

O’Brien won the bidding duel for him when he was reoffered in the same ring, this time at €500,000. Dermot Dwan’s Kellsgrange Stud consigned. “He’s a magnificent colt,” was the succinct comment of the colt’s new handler. O’Brien added: “He is for different connections, but an existing owner in the yard, and we are excited about his future.”

THE sale was less than half an hour under way when the first fireworks were ignited. Blue Diamond Stud’s sole offering on the first day was a son of Frankel, and Nick Nugent’s gavel fell in favour of Oliver St Lawrence at €780,000.

The dam, Tisa River, has a perfect record at stud, her first two progeny being the listed-placed, three-time winner Bolt Action, and the Blue Point filly Enchanting. The latter races for Blue Diamond Stud’s owner Imad Alsagar, and took her tally of wins to three at Goodwood in August.

This is a stallion pedigree, Tisa River being a half-sister to three outstanding runners. Two won at the Breeders’ Cup, Order Of Australia and Iridessa, while Santa Barbara was also a star stateside, winning two Grade 1 races.

Oliver St Lawrence said: “A lovely big, strong horse who you can’t help but like, and we hope he can go on and do well. He will go back to England; he’s for a client that I don’t often buy for, so not my usual team. I wouldn’t have bid too much more than that – it was about what he was worth.”

The following day, bloodstock agent Hugo Merry spent a bid short of a million euro for a colt and filly, both destined for Blue Diamond Stud. He was delighted with his principal’s presence.

The more expensive of the pair was a daughter of Night Of Thunder, a half-sister to the US Grade 2-winning juvenile California Angel.

It was a great result for the Irish National Stud, as they did not sell the dam, Sea Mona, at €300,000 when she was carrying this yearling, who realised €640,000. Merry said: “Imad’s a great enthusiast and he wants to keep restocking as well as selling. He’s bought a beautiful place in America, Stonereath Farm, and he’s stocking that now.

“Hopefully she will be a stakes winner on the track. She could go to Imad’s farm in America one day, or stay here. When he’s here in person he enjoys the bidding process and calls the shots!”

This purchase came after Blue Diamond spent €450,000 on Ballylinch Stud’s New Bay half-brother to Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes winner Lumiere and Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes heroine Sheikha Reika. Merry commented: “He’s been bought to bolster Imad’s racing stable. He’s a lovely colt; strong, a good shape and the mare’s still young enough to produce a good one. Imad’s a very brave man and I just hope he’s bought two graded stakes winners.”

DUAL Group 1 winner Saffron Beach sold for 3,600,000gns, and last year her full-sister was the second-best yearling at the Orby Sale when selling to Amanda Skiffington for €1,650,000.

This year, breeders Ballylinch Stud sold a Lope De Vega half-brother for €750,000, and he will race in the Juddmonte colours. Simon Mockridge explained the colt’s appeal. “He certainly is a bit of a gem. He is a half-brother to a very good mare, and Lope De Vega has had a tremendous season.

“We need colts and he was an obvious one for us. You have to pay for a nice horse, and he was probably where we thought he should be. Our success is all down to Barry [Mahon]. Obviously Chaldean [a sale purchase] did very well for us. What is important is that you look for a horse with a stallion’s pedigree, which he has got.

“Lope De Vega has had two new classic winners this year. As we saw with the Middle Park winner on the weekend, they are precocious as well, and this horse looks like he will fit into the programme very well. You already have a Group 1 winner on that cross, Rouhiya.”

Minutes later Juddmonte fought a cat and mouse battle with Joseph O’Brien for Glenvale Stud’s Kingman colt, the second foal of an unraced Galileo full-sister to three Group 1 winners, Hydrangea, Hermosa and The United States. The gavel fell at €580,000. Mockridge smiled when approached, saying: “All the same comments apply. I would just add that the grandam is a blue hen mare, and Kingman is having an outstanding season.”

RYANAIR’S Michael O’Leary bred the Night Of Thunder daughter of Model Guest, and used brother Eddie’s Lynn Lodge Stud to sell her for €600,000 to Yulong.

Vin Cox, general manager of Yulong, said: “When you pay that sort of money, they should be nice! She’s a very racy filly by an outstanding stallion. We are here trying to buy racehorses, and she fitted that criterion well and truly. She is the best of the week so far for us. It’s been a good week, we have bid on a lot of horses, stopped on a few, and bought a few, and we have sold a few.”

There was plenty of emotion on display in the aftermath of Andrew Nolan’s gavel falling at €500,000 for a Night Of Thunder first foal out of the Group 3 runner-up American Apples. Trainer George Scott was as happy with the new buy as Forenaghts Stud’s manager Caoimhe Doherty was with the sale. Forenaghts is owned by Tony Smurfit, who purchased the dam with a single bid in Arqana for €130,000.

Explaining her joy, Doherty said: “We work so hard, and there’s so much pressure. You come with a really nice horse and hope you get paid. We are a small team; we have 15 mares and 10 yearlings. It’s the highest-priced horse I have ever sold. Tony Smurfit gave me a massive job, I don’t know why he gave it to me, and it’s an amazing result.

“Tony loved him and I loved him from day one. We are massively invested in Night Of Thunder. I am so happy that he is going to a good home. He was going down well, and I thought he was going to make two to three [hundred thousand], and maybe a little bit over three if we were lucky. Massive thanks to the buyers, and I am so happy for Tony. He puts so much work into the farm, and money into the industry, and I am just glad he got well paid.”

The colt will race for Shaikh Nasser’s Victorious Racing, and Scott was thrilled with his new purchase. He enthused: “We had a lot of luck at the sale last year. Subsequently, Shaikh Nasser bought Bay City Roller, and we were keen to come back and find a standout horse. We’ve had nine stakes winners for Shaikh Nasser this year, and it has been an exciting year. He was really the only horse that we were concentrating on today, and it doesn’t often work that you manage to get him. It was a relief, and we were stretched at that point.”

GOFFS chief executive Henry Beeby expressed his gratitude to breeders Denis Brosnan and Kirsten Rausing for consigning this week’s two seven-figure yearlings to the Orby Sale, as well as acknowledging Godolphin’s massive investment at the sale.

“Top prices of €2 million and €1 million are, of course, true highlights and we are indebted to Denis Brosnan and Kirsten Rausing for entrusting such spectacular yearlings to us - and the Godolphin team for the confidence they have shown with their winning bids, not forgetting the ever important underbidders,” Beeby said.

“The top lots were not one-offs though. We have been delighted to see double the number making €750,000 and over, the same for €500,000 plus, and more for €250,000 or above compared to last year. Those numbers have driven an average price that has grown by 5% to build on the huge gains we have recorded in recent years.” Beeby believes the Goffs Two Million Series has caught the imagination of buyers, “particularly as it continues to evolve with another €500,000 of UK bonuses next year to go with the €500,000 on offer in Ireland”.

He also noted the increasing number of British vendors sending yearlings to the Orby Sale.

Beeby concluded: “While we reflect on a what one industry leader told me he viewed as a “very solid sale” there is no escaping the tightening of trade at a level, and it was very evident that the market is unforgiving of yearlings that do not have it all.

“A 85% clearance rate down by three points and a drop in the median equivalent to one bid at the level is a clear indicator of the reality of 2024 which has been the case at each sale thus far this year and we all have work to do to minimise the impact of whatever slow down is here so that we navigate our way through as best we can. Whatever happens, Goffs will continue to work with and for every client, however big or small, with enthusiasm, passion and drive; that’s all we know.”