The second and final session of the Goffs February Sale resumed on Thursday and was headed by the supplementary entry Red Azalea who fetched €340,000 to an online bid from BBA Ireland.

Trade could be described as being quite selective and, at the close of business, a 64% clearance rate, while respectable, reflected that it wasn’t all plain sailing. The aggregate for the two days came in at €4,348,550 while the average and median were €15,929 and €9,000 respectively.

Similar to Wednesday's top lot, Thursday's session-topper Red Azalea - a winning daughter of Galileo - was sold by David Cox’s Baroda Stud. Trained by Donnacha O’Brien for the Coolmore partners, the four-year-old signed off her racing career when winning a maiden at Ballinrobe last summer, having run with credit previously behind the likes of Emily Dickinson and Above The Curve.

She is the first and only runner so far out of the teak-tough Music Box who put together a brilliant CV during a busy year in 2017 for Aidan O’Brien in which she ran 17 times, culminating with a Group 3 win at Doncaster on her final start.

Frankel filly

Baroda had earlier sold a nice daughter of Frankel named Nomadland for €110,000, again to BBA Ireland who were conducting their business out of sight and online.

The unraced three-year-old boasts a lovely page, being out of a full-sister to Japanese Group 1 winner Deep Brillante. “We sold her on behalf of an existing client,” Cox reported. “Being a Frankel out of a Deep Impact mare, she was bound to be popular, but she is also a lovely mare, a good size for breeding and she could also suit southern hemisphere breeders.”

Trade took a while to get going when attention turned to fillies and mares but it took a step forward when Romanosa took her turn in the ring.

A winner and stakes-placed in France and consigned by Baroda Stud, the five-year-old was the subject of plenty of interest and eventually was knocked down to agent Barry Lynch.

The daughter of Holy Roman Emperor hails from the family of Group 1 winners Power and Curvy. Revealing the plan for his purchase, Lynch said: “She has been bought for a group of investors to be mated to a high-profile stallion and then return to the sales ring. She is an attractive mare, had good form on the track and has a lovely back pedigree, so she has plenty going for her."

Bidding duel

Joe Rogers’ Ballintry Stud offered the Fascinating Rock mare Saccharo and, after a protracted bidding duel between Richard Fitzsimons of BBA Ireland and Tony O’Callaghan, it was the Tally-Ho team that came out on top when the hammer fell at €60,000.

Sold for 140,000gns as a yearling, the five-year-old retained significant residual value despite not troubling the judge in three starts on the track owing to being a sister to group winners Brown Sugar and Burnt Sugar from the fast family of Galeota and Justineo.

Yearlings

The first half of the session consisted of yearlings and action got off to a positive start when the fifth horse into the ring sold for €60,000 to Hamish Macauley.

The Boherguy Stud offered colt is by Darley stallion Blue Point who will have his first runners in the coming months and who is considered a potential leading first season sire.

This colt, from the high-class German family of Eagle Rise and Eye Of The Tiger, received a timely update when his three-year-old half-sister Ermesinde made a winning debut at Lingfield last week for trainer Kevin Philippart de Foy.

Clare Manning’s Boherguy Stud was back in action soon after with another sought-after yearling, this time a filly by Too Darn Hot who was knocked down to Jill Lamb for €52,000.

Out of the multiple stakes-placed mare Galician, the filly is a half-sister to the French stakes performer Battle of Toro from the family of Australian Group 1 winner Allow.

Lamb said: “I’ve bought her for Mike Watson of Trebles Holford Farm Thoroughbreds who are based in Somerset. She has a nice page, vetted well and a decision over whether to offer her for resale or to race her will be made later in the year.”

Dandy Man filly

The same buying team of Lamb and Watson struck again a while later when going to €56,000 for a Dandy Man filly offered by Tom Whelan’s Church View Stables.

The filly out of Maraaseem is a half-sister to juvenile winner Encosta from a pedigree that traces back to Group 1 winners Pearly Shells and Pearls Galore.

“She was bred by a close friend, Brian McDonald, and we are thrilled with that price,” Whelan said afterwards. "She just wasn’t quite ready for the foal sale here last November so we decided to wait for this and it has worked out well. She showed herself off very well since she got here and I’m delighted she has been bought by Mike Watson, who is a good friend of mine, and she will go to a good home in the West Country.”

The Aga Khan Studs draft is often a sought-after source and, of the trio offered by that consignor in the breeding stock section, it was Sidiriya, a four-year-old filly by Nathaniel, who proved the most popular when selling to Philip Rothwell for €42,000.

Sidiriya won a maiden in Galway last autumn for Dermot Weld and Rothwell obviously feels there is more to come on the track, no doubt with a hurdling career in mind for the future. “Yes, I bought her to go jumping,” confirmed the trainer, who is enjoying a good season with his horses. “She showed a decent level of ability on the flat and is one to look forward to for an existing owner in the yard.”

FINAL FIGURES

YEAR CAT OFF SOLD AGGREGATE AVERAGE MEDIAN

2023 510 424 273 €4,348,550 €15,929 €9,000

2022 608 490 352 €6,020,200 €17,103 €9,000