World class pedigrees were the order of the day at Goffs on Wednesday when the only foal catalogued by the mighty Dubawi was the headline act, selling to Chinese owner Zhang Yuesheng for €700,000.

Despite the clearance rate holding up at 85% there was a sizeable drop in other figures compared to the same day last year with the aggregate dropping 19% to €12,360,500. The average dipped the same amount to €71,864 while the median shrunk 10% to €52,000. Perhaps a more telling tale was the number of lots that made €200,000 or more fell from 19 in 2022 to eight this year.

Eight years after his full-brother Ghaiyyath sold in this ring for €1.1m the Dubawi colt out of Irish 1000 Guineas winner Nightime expectedly stole the show when knocked down to the on-line bid from Zhang Yuesheng’s ‘Lucky Vega’ for €700,000.

Offered by his breeder Dermot Weld’s Springbank Way Stud as Lot 767, the colt is also a half-brother to Grade 1 Man O’War Stakes winner Zhukova while Weld trains the mare’s smart three-year-old colt Knight To King for Maurice Regan’s Newtown Anner Stud.

“He is a smashing foal from a wonderful family and I’m delighted he sold so well,” Weld said. “I’m also delighted for everyone on the farm who have put a lot of work into getting him here and I wanted to thank in particular my son Mark along with Mark Murphy who have prepped him so well for today.

"It’s a pedigree that has been very good to my family and Nightime is in foal to Wootton Bassett so hopefully we have plenty to look forward to. We even have the grand dam Caumshinaun still on the farm and its great to see foals and yearlings by Ghaiyyath selling so well also. I have a few youngsters by him that I am looking forward to training,” Weld added.

Godolphin purchase

While they may have been expected to go home with the top lot Godolphin made their first purchase of the sale so far when Anthony Stroud bid €250,000 for a Ringfort Stud consigned son of Blue Point.

Lot 726 is out of La Rosetta, a New Approach mare who was bought from the Godolphin draft for 40,000gns in 2021 by Ted Durcan for Frances and the late Pat Smulllen’s Brickfield Stud.

Earlier the sale of Lot 655 drew a big crowd to the auditorium and after a long battle Ross Doyle came out on top for the son of Sea The Stars when the gavel fell at €310,000.

Offered by Carrick Hill Stud out of Celeste De La Mer, the mare has produced two stakes performers so far and the foal is also closely related to Epsom Derby runner up Mojo Star, also a son of Sea The Stars. “He is an outstanding foal by one of the best stallions around,” Ross Doyle said. “The mare has done nothing wrong producing two good tough horses and I also like that he is related to Mojo Star who we bought as a yearling.

"He is just a unique physical with great presence and each time I went to see him he showed really well. He has a wonderful temperament as well. I’ve bought him for a long established client and we’ll keep our options open with regard to racing or offering him for re-sale,” Doyle added.

The foal was bred by Aaron Langan and Jer Hickey who were thrilled with the result and said: “He's got that great temperament off Sea The Stars and he’s just been a lovely foal all along. We bought the mare here in 2017 for €19,000 and she’s been very good to us since. She is back in foal to Blue Point.”

Lope De Vega in demand

A son of Lope De Vega got the session off to a flying start when selling to Tim Hyde for €260,000. Lot 539 was bred and offered by Stanley Lodge Stud and is a full-brother to the triple Group 3 winner Max Vega from the family of Blackbeard.

Ballylinch Stud’s Lope De Vega was the sire of another high end foal when Lot 593 sold on-line to Dan Hayden for the same price of €260,000.

Consigned by John Fielding’s Donnellys Well the filly out of Sommorell is a half-sister to Inverleigh who was a classy operator for Ger Lyons, and Dan Hayden also bought the filly’s year older sister by Shaman in the Orby Sale for €85,000 on behalf of Blue Devil Racing.

The demand for Lope De Vega foals continued when Lot 563 was knocked down to the Aughamore Stud team of Laurence and Michael Gleeson for €200,000.

Offered by Alice Kavanagh’s AK Thoroughbreds the filly is the first produce out of French stakes winner Quiet Times and will no doubt be offered for resale as a yearling.

"One of the best I've seen"

Another bought for re-sale was lot 574, a Night Of Thunder colt from the Irish National Stud. Hanshen Tham, signing as Pattern Bloodstock, signalled the winning bid at €210,000 for the son of Sagrada Familia and said, “I think this is one of the best colts I’ve seen in the sale. He is imposing, looks classy and will hopefully develop into a proper Book 1 type horse next year. Night Of Thunder is a top sire and we’ve had a bit of luck with him already, this colt will go to Baroda Stud.”

Peter Kelly has enjoyed racing his homebred Caught U Looking this year in partnership with Tony O’Callaghan and her exploits on the track, highlighted by her win in the Group 3 Park Stakes, have made Kelly’s mare Wild Mix a valuable commodity.

Kelly offered a Supremacy colt out of the mare through the Castlebridge Consignment as Lot 620 and was rewarded with a €180,000 sale to Yeomanstown Stud. “He is a smashing colt and its nice when good judges like Yeomanstown think the same,” a delighted Kelly said afterwards.

Wild Mix is currently in foal to Cotai Glory and Kelly is hopeful of further pedigree updates from Caught U Looking next year. “Noel [Meade] is confident she can progress more next year. We think she was over the top at Newmarket in the Fillies' Mile and she wasn’t beaten far. She is entered in the Irish Guineas and I will leave it to Noel to decide a plan. He’s been training for 50 years so there’s no point me telling him what to do!” he added.

The final day of the foal sale starts at 10am on Thursday.