A collection of entries by some of the world’s best sires underpin an expanded catalogue for this year’s Goffs November Foal Sale on Monday - Thursday November 15-18.
The sale is a necessary stop on the winter auction circuit, regardless of whether participants are pinhookers, end-users or breeders. In its position as Europe’s first foal auction on the calendar, it offers a valuable window into the stock of first-crop sires, an aspect to the sales season that is always keenly discussed, while providing an early gauge into the health of the foal market.
A robust yearling sales season was on the whole kind to pinhookers this year, some of whom enjoyed exceptional returns.
Several of the scores in question were achieved with foals sourced out of last year’s sale. Particularly notable was the Footstepsinthesand half-brother to G1-winning 2yo Lucky Vega, himself a 2-time Goffs graduate. Purchased for a bold €300,000 as a foal by Filip Zwicky, his connections went on to more than double their profit when reselling him at the Orby Sale out of the Coulonces Sales consignment for €630,000 to Michael Donohoe of the BBA Ireland, acting on behalf of Yulong Investments.
A No Nay Never sister to Coventry Stakes winner Arizona purchased by Philipp Stauffenberg at last year’s sale for €260,000 also turned a mighty profit when reselling earlier this month to Cheveley Park Stud for 825,000gns.
Such pinhook triumphs complement a list that also includes a €70,000 foal who blossomed into a €270,000 yearling, a €30,000 foal who rose in value to €150,000 and a €75,000 foal who grew to €225,000.
Not only is this a sale faring well from a commercial perspective.
Fresh from celebrating the success of its leading graduate, Ghaiyyath, the €1.1 million sale-topper of 2015 who swept the G1 Coronation Cup, Juddmonte International and Eclipse Stakes in 2020, the sale tasted further G1 success this season as the source of Sussex Stakes heroine Alcohol Free, sold by Churchtown House Stud for €40,000 to Littleton Stud in 2018. Blowout, the recent G1 First Lady Stakes winner who was sold by The Castlebridge Consignment for €450,000 to Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm in 2016, and top sprinter Romantic Proposal, a €25,000 purchase by Amy Lynam at the same sale, are other current G1 graduates.
So what can we expect out of this year’s sale?
The resurgence of the yearling market from last year’s Covid-ravaged season - the Goffs Orby Sale rebounded to its 2019 levels while record figures were set at several sales in Newmarket - is very likely to trickle down to the foal sector.
In return, there is no shortage of lots for buyers to feast upon.
At 1,015 lots, the catalogue is 33.3 percent larger than the 2020 renewal (when Covid forced its delay to December 18-20 ). As such, the sale has been extended to cover four days. Foals are catalogued alphabetically by dam each day, with Wednesday’s session traditionally attracting the most black-type pedigrees.
Rare Galileo foals
It is during that session that a trio of foals from the penultimate crop of Galileo will be offered.
The presence of a single Galileo foal at public auction, let alone three, is a rare sight in today’s market, and crucially two of them are fillies.
Catalogued as lot 624 from Baroda Stud is a filly out of top American 2-year-old Nickname. A daughter of the much-missed Coolmore stallion Scat Daddy, Nickname captured the 2015 G1 Frizette Stakes for the Roth family’s LNJ Foxwoods and was subsequently sold for $3 million at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton November Sale to Kerri Radcliffe on behalf of Phoenix Thoroughbreds.
The March-born filly is the second foal out of Nickname; her first, another Galileo filly, topped the Goffs Orby Sale when sold to MV Magnier for €1.5 million.
The other Galileo filly on offer (665) is the first foal out of the fast Signora Cabello, who carried Phoenix Thoroughbreds’ colours to victory in the 2018 G2 Queen Mary Stakes and G2 Prix Robert Papin. She will be sold by The Castlebridge Consignment as will the Galileo colt (689), who is the second foal out of the G3-placed Scat Daddy mare Take Me With You.
As for Galileo’s high-flying son, champion sire-elect Frankel, his trio of entries include a half-sister to German champion Sea The Moon (652), himself now a successful young sire.
Kingman’s entry, a colt from Moyglare Stud Farm (598), is similarly well-connected as a half-brother to dual G3 winner Carla Bianca and listed scorer Joailliere, herself dam of this season’s listed scorer Reve De Vol.
Moyglare’s draft also included an Invincible Spirit colt who is the first out of the listed-placed Hazel Bay (558), a half-sister to top older horses Youmzain and Creachadoir.
There is also another chance to purchase a sibling to the aforementioned Lucky Vega in Lot 642, a filly from Baroda Stud. She is one of a sizeable group catalogued from the first crop of Irish 2000 Guineas hero Phoenix Of Spain, and is therefore bred along similar Lope De Vega lines as her celebrated sibling.
Phoenix Of Spain is one of a number of first-crop sires with foals on show. Others include Blue Point, Calyx, Magna Grecia, Masar, Study Of Man, Too Darn Hot, and Waldgeist.
The half-siblings to G1 performers such as Wizz Kid (filly by Dark Angel; lot 587), Terrebellum (filly by Sea The Stars; lot 604), Speak Of The Devil (colt by Best Solution; lot 613), Blond Me (colt by Sea The Stars; lot 562), Helene Paragon (filly by Kodiac; lot 559), Champers Elysees (colt by Cotai Glory; lot 579) and Oscula (colt by Prince Of Lir; lot 732) add further depth to the catalogue, as does a Belardo half-brother to this season’s G2 Queen Mary Stakes heroine Quick Suzy (670) and a Churchill filly out of top 2yo Miss Beatrix (609).
Adding further spice is a collection of foals belonging to Shadwell Estates. The operation is reorganising following the death of its principal, Sheikh Hamdan, in March and is represented as a vendor at the bulk of the upcoming winter breeding stock sales. On this occasion, its presence is highlighted by lot 719, a Ribchester filly out of a sister to the brilliant, unbeaten miler Baaeed.
Stand-outs at Breeding Stock Sale
The November Foal Sale will be followed on Friday and Saturday November 19-20 by the Breeding Stock Sale, the source in recent years of Maria Lee (dam of Poetic Flare) and Falling Petals (dam of Saffron Beach).
It was announced earlier this month that Plying, the dam of Alcohol Free, had been entered as Lot 1185 by Jossetown Farm in foal to Lope De Vega. The daughter of Hard Spun leads a packed 2-day catalogue that offers a blend of proven producers alongside talented racemares, some of them in foal to the likes of Kingman, Sea The Stars, Wootton Bassett, Dark Angel, Kodiac, Mehmas and Pinatubo.
As ever, the catalogue includes sizeable drafts from various leading operations, among them Derrinstown Stud (42), Godolphin (62) and the Aga Khan Studs (26).
Godolphin’s clutch includes proven producer Samdaniya (1072; in foal to Blue Point), dam of the G3 Fred Darling Stakes winner and G1-placed Dabyah, as well as the older G1 Falmouth Stakes winner Nahoodh (1066; in foal to Earthlight).
The Derrinstown Stud draft, meanwhile, is opened by Aaraas (1077), dam of the Derby runner-up Madhmoon, and also includes Sheikh Hamdan’s 2010 Irish 1000 Guineas heroine Bethrah (1083), Garmoosha (1085), the dam of this season’s G2 Prix de Pomone winner Raabihah, G2 Queen Mary Stakes heroine Maqaasid (1142; in foal to Blue Point) and champion 2yo Shimah (1241; in foal to Blue Point).
Multiple stakes producer Eytarna (1159; in foal to Teofilo), Sally Is The Boss (1194; in foal to Ghaiyyath), dam of high-class sprinter Suesa, G2 winner Creggs Pipes (1167; in foal to Mehmas), last year’s G3 Princess Margaret Stakes heroine Santosha (1184) and First Flower (1193; in foal to Wootton Bassett), a sister to G1 winners Hydrangea and Hermosa, also stand out in a catalogue that comprises 525 lots overall.