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IT took a few hours for the market to explode into life on the first day of the Goffs November Mare Sale, but when it did the better mares came thick and fast.
However, as excitement mounted in the ring with the appearance of the dam of Goliath, Henry Beeby dropped the gavel at €5 million, only to reveal that the reserve hadn’t been met.
The audible gasp in the ring, followed by nervous laughter, only confirmed that everyone was convinced that a sale was imminent. The vendor valuation obviously exceeded the market’s view.
As this report was being readied to send, news came through that a new top lot has emerged, thanks to a private transaction. Unsold in the ring for €850,000, Her Honour from Springfort Park Stud still made huge appeal, being the dam of the smart sprinter Vadream, winner of the Group 3 Palace House Stakes, and two other stakes horses. Most enticing is that she is in foal to Night Of Thunder.
From a deep Aga Khan family, that of Harzand and more recently Emily Upjohn, she was signed for in the name of Alex Elliott, the agreed price being €725,000.
“She wasn’t sold for €850,000 obviously, but we honoured our last bid in the ring,” said Elliott. “What a producer. She’s a Shamardal mare from a huge family with Harzand and Emily Upjohn on the page. She’s bred stakes horses by what are inferior stallions really. It’s time to upgrade her and Peter and Hugh McCutcheon reluctantly agreed to sell her. They didn’t really want to let her go but she’ll be bred to some big stallions now. I’d imagine we’ll breed her to Frankel or Wootton Bassett. She’s been bought for an English breeder and she’s going to reside at Baroda Stud with David Cox.
“She’s in foal to Night Of Thunder too, who’s going to stand for €150,000 next year. She’s a mare with a bit of age but she’s proven.”
Oaks winner sold
Classic winners coming under the hammer are rare, and leading the Godolphin consignment was the Group 1 Oaks winner Qualify. Successful at Epsom in 2015, she is the dam of the Group 3 Jebel Ali Mile winner Swing Vote, and carrying to the 2024 champion sire elect Dark Angel. She sold to Ballylinch for €650,000, John O’Connor signing the docket.
“She’s an Oaks winner and obviously those kinds of mares are scarce,” O’Connor said afterwards. With a smile he added: “She’s already bred a good horse [the 107-rated Swing Vote] to Shamardal, and we’ve a horse from that sire line that might well suit her! Her two-year-old [Cualificar] looks promising and is with the right man in André Fabre to progress.
“At the moment, she’s most likely to go to Lope De Vega, and she will have future dalliances with the same sire line.
“We buy and sell a few every year. We’ll always be selling some and buying some and carrying some fillies in training as well.
“We try to keep the quality up and keep the numbers under control. That would be a part of our thinking.”
Godolphin’s Marie Sullivan reflected on the sale of Qualify and the strong Godolphin draft. “We were very pleased, as ever, with how it’s worked out at Goffs. It was another group of mares all based on our farms in Ireland and staffed by our Irish teams.
“On the back of Ambivalent last year [sold for €925,000 and dam of the top-priced foal this week] it was nice for another Group 1 winner to sell well this year. It’s a great sale to work, we’re very pleased.”
Godolphin again
Another from the Godolphin draft to make an impact was the Invincible Spirit mare Firebird Song, a listed winner in Germany, dam of a winner with her first foal, and with a Blue Point covering she is carrying a full-sibling to that winner.
Goffs man Tom Taaffe was bidding, taking instructions on the telephone, and it was a transatlantic call. Before he spoke, he had to sign the purchaser’s sheet at €230,000.
“She is bought by Jacob West for Mike Repole, who has been a great supporter here for a number of years. Gave him a list this morning at 10 to 10 and Jacob texted with an addition to the list. It was very early in the morning there. She goes to America, Mike wants to buy into bloodlines here, cover across and generate new bloodlines.”
The sale concludes on Saturday.
BIG Mojo has flown the flag for RP Racing this year, winning the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes, finishing second in the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes, and then running fourth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. He is fully expected to graduate to Group 1-winning level next year, and Conor Quirke outbid Alex Elliott and Amo Racing to secure the colt’s dam Jm Jackson, a daughter of No Nay Never. The price was a juicy €480,000.
Quirke was positioned on the balcony, opposite the auctioneer, and he spent a minute gesturing to Bernard Condren to drop the hammer. He was relieved when he was finally named as the winning bidder. He said: “It’s for RP Racing. The likelihood is she will go to Big Evs, and there’s an outside chance she could go to Blue Point.
“The sentimentality is there, as a physical she matches both those stallions, and I am delighted for Ringfort [the vendor, Derek Veitch]. Obviously, they are passing the baton at the minute.
“She is a young mare, has bred a very good horse, and I hope Paddy Power are not watching because I hope to get a good price about the Commonwealth Cup next year. That’s the kind of faith we have in him. That’s just the second mare for RP Racing. We pursued her privately and she made more than we planned. We were full stretch at about €400,000.”
Sheila Grassick’s Newtown Stud offered M’Lady Nicole, an unraced daughter of Sea The Stars in foal to Night Of Thunder, and Alex Elliott outbid the ring to acquire her for €320,000. A full-sister to a Group 2 winner, and from an outstanding female line, her sale made sense to Elliott.
“She has been bought for an English partnership and she’ll be boarded at Baroda with David Cox who has done a great job for us in the past. She was a lovely mare, and her Lope De Vega first foal is going into training with William Haggas. The second foal is the Night Of Thunder colt who sold this week here for €340,000 to Sumbe.
“So, she’s carrying a full-sibling and at €320,000 I thought that was kind of spot on in the range in which we had her. Very pleased. It’s been very hard to buy Night Of Thunder foals, Night Of Thunder yearlings, so now we have to go one step back and buy mares in foal to him. He’s a stallion that’s on the rise, and next year he stands for €150,000, so she’s carrying €150,000! It’s a great Neil Jones family that has done a lot of people well, and hopefully it will do the same for us.
Ambiguous
A little earlier Elliott was on the mark for Ambiguous, a 12-year-old mare from Lackagh Springs Stud. She cost €230,000. Elliott said: “Bought for Amo Racing. She will probably be one for Bucanero Fuerte next year. She is a proven mare, in foal to a phenomenal stallion, Mehmas.
“She’s a sister to two Group 1 winners, and she’s bred a stakes winner. There wasn’t a lot not to like. Kheleyf’s a great broodmare sire.”
The first two winners for Ambiguous include the Harry Angel filly Marine Wave, a listed winner and placed numerous times at that level. The Group 1 winners referred to are Tangerine Trees and Alpha Delphini.
The former won the Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp, while Alpha Delphini landed the Nunthorpe Stakes. There is a third stakes-winning sibling, again a smart sprinter, and that is Kurious.
settles disputed lot with private bids
GOFFS director and auctioneer Nick Nugent stepped in to resolve a dispute over the ownership of one of the prize lots on Friday.
A Ma Chere, the best of the mares for sale from Moyglare Stud, appeared to have been sold to bloodstock agent Alex Elliott for €180,000, but when the spotter at the ringside brought the docket to be signed, he did so to the man whom he understood to be the purchaser, not Elliott.
Once the issue became known, Nugent appeared and took both parties to a private room. Minutes later, the sale was published at an increased €210,000, the name of the purchaser being Millennium Stud – later the consignors of Goliath’s dam.
Bidding, in private and per the conditions of sale, was restricted to the two parties, and the Millennium Stud representative bid €190,000, Elliott countered with €200,000, but the next bid sealed the deal.
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