James Thomas spotlights the excellent record of the Goffs November Sale and Tattersalls Ireland Sapphire Sale ahead of the 2022 editions later this month
Ireland: Irish breeders are revered the world over, so when they bring their product to market it is always worth paying attention. A vast cross-section of the country’s bloodstock community, from G1-winning global powerhouses right through to the hobbyists, will do just that later this month when the breeding stock sales season gets under way.
Some 1,636 lots have been catalogued across seven sessions of selling in Ireland, which begin on November 12 with the Tattersalls Ireland Sapphire Sale before the Goffs November Sale kicks off a six-day run on November 14, with four days of foals and two days of mares. With such a broad offering, it is no exaggeration to suggest there is something for everyone.
The lion’s share of those 1,636 entries can be found in the Goffs November Foal Sale catalogue, which runs from Lot 1 through to 1,034.
This sale has provided plenty of memorable moments over the years, including when Date With Destiny, the only foal sired by George Washington, topped the 2008 renewal at €280,000 to the bid of Gildawn Stud, while the Frankel colt out of Anglo-Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Finsceal Beo became the most expensive foal sold in Ireland when bought by Paul Makin for €1.8 million in 2014.
As well as flashy prices, some brilliant runners have been offered at the November Foal Sale – think recent G1 winners such as Alcohol Free, Ghaiyyath, Latrobe, Lucky Vega, Romantic Proposal and Thundering Nights, to name but a few. The pedigrees and sire profile contained within this year’s catalogue makes further G1-winning graduates look a distinct possibility.
‘The foals are outstanding’
“The foals are outstanding and I think that catalogue is as good as we’ve had,” says Goffs group chief executive Henry Beeby. “The four days offers the cream of the Irish foal crop and we’ve got some mouthwatering pedigrees this year.”
Trade looks set to reach fever pitch around the evening of day three when a host of blue-chip pedigrees will come under the hammer. None will command the rarity value of Lot 758 from The Castlebridge Consignment, as the filly is one of just 12 foals from the final crop of the late, great Galileo. The youngster is typically well-bred as a half-sister to the Listed-placed Gold Filigree.
Among three lots by Kingman is the half-brother to champion two-year-old filly Skitter Scatter (Lot 727); there is a Teofilo half-sister to Dawn Approach (768), while the 13 lots by Sea The Stars include full-brothers to Sea The Moon (628) and Sea Of Class (766).
There is also a Wootton Bassett half-brother to recent Criterium de Saint-Cloud runner-up Arrest (591), an Earthlight three-parts brother to brilliant sprinter Blue Point (629) and a Churchill half-brother to Irish St Leger hero Sonnyboyliston (577).
A host of promising first-crop sires are represented throughout the four sessions, including Arizona, Circus Maximus, Ghaiyyath, Kameko, Mohaather, Sands Of Mali, Shaman and Sottsass. Pinhookers have been well served by past editions of the November Foal Sale, including Pier House Stud, who just last year gave €130,000 for a Ten Sovereigns colt who was resold to Jacob West for €500,000 at the Orby Yearling Sale ten months later.
‘Cream of the Irish foal crop’
“This sale is the first choice for the cream of the Irish foal crop,” Beeby continues. “Somewhere between 70 and 80 per cent of the Irish foals brought to market each year are sold through the Goffs November Foal Sale. Whether it’s end-users or pinhookers, everyone, if they’re in any way interested in buying a classy foal, needs to attend this sale. That applies to all levels of the market and the days are graded, so it’s a four-day sale with a customer-friendly format in the easiest place to view the stock on offer.”
The Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale has a similarly storied past, not least because the 2013 renewal saw Irish Oaks heroine Chicquita set a new high mark for a filly or mare offered at public auction in Europe when she was knocked down to Peter and Ross Doyle, representing the Coolmore partners, at €6m. She remains the highest-priced thoroughbred sold at auction in Ireland.
The latest turf campaign has done plenty to advertise the appeal of the November Breeding Stock Sale, as the dams of recent G1 winners Alcohol Free, Blackbeard, Little Big Bear and Saffron Beach were sold at previous editions.
Poster girl
In many ways Alcohol Free rates the poster girl of the November Sale, as the four-time G1 winner was sourced on behalf of owner Jeff Smith at €40,000 in 2018, while her dam Plying was sold to Jossestown Farm for €21,000 in the year the No Nay Never filly was born. With Alcohol Free having won the Cheveley Park, Coronation and Sussex Stakes, Plying returned to the November Sale in 2021 and duly topped the market at €825,000.
Front and centre among the household names on offer this year is Ladies Church (1,222), the three-year-old daughter of Churchill who won the G2 Sapphire Stakes for Johnny Murtagh earlier this year. Other eyecatchers include Shadwell’s Fadhayyil (1,148), who is carrying a full-sibling to the G2-winning Turaath, the Niarchos family’s Kilboy Estates Stakes winner Bocca Baciata (1,183) carrying to Mehmas, and Aspiring, a Galileo half-sister to Danedream in foal to Wootton Bassett (1,188).
“The mare catalogue is a good, solid catalogue,” says Beeby. “There’s no Chicquita-level horses in there but there are some very attractive propositions, headed by Ladies Church. You’ve got breeders like the Aga Khan, Godolphin and the Niarchos family who sell with us every year and they sell quality, beautiful bloodlines.
“The November Sale is a very important sale both to Goffs and the Irish breeding industry because it gives an opportunity to showcase the best Irish bloodlines to a global audience. One of our marketing lines is that this sale is the gateway to the world for Irish breeders because it always has an international audience.”
The Saturday before Goffs sees the focus on Fairyhouse for the Tattersalls Ireland Sapphire Sale, which has previously been held under the banner of the November Flat Sale.
The new name reflects a fresh impetus, as Tattersalls Ireland’s chief executive Simon Kerins explains. “We want to get behind the sale and want it to have its own unique identity because it was a Flat event before but came at the end of the November National Hunt Sale,” he says.
“The team looked at a number of prestigious races in Ireland for inspiration, one of them being the Sapphire Stakes, and that aligned neatly with our branding.”
Punching above its weight
Although this sale caters for the more commercial end of the market, it has punched well above its weight with the calibre of horses it has produced. The headline graduate is undoubtedly G1 Matron Stakes scorer Champers Elysees, who was pinhooked by Aughamore Stud for just €12,500 at the 2017 renewal.
Other notable talents who began their trajectory to racing success at this event include the G2 San Clemente winner and G1-placed Bellabel, Molecomb Stakes scorer Steel Bull and Norfolk Stakes victor The Lir Jet. The sale has also been the source of some stunning pinhooking triumphs too, including the Cable Bay colt picked up for just €4,000 who was then resold by Culworth Grounds Farm to Shadwell for 160,000gns the following year.
Among the well-related foals on offer this year are the Kuroshio colt out of a half-sister to Tullius and the dam of Lady Bowthorpe (90), the Shaman filly out of a daughter of Favourable Terms (106) and the Belardo colt out of the Brazilian G2 winner Mandinga (155).
The sale also features 88 yearlings by proven sires such as Acclamation, Bated Breath, Dandy Man, Make Believe, Mehmas, Time Test and Zoffany. There is also a Coulsty sister to Princess Margaret Stakes winner Santosha (8) and a Calyx half-sister to the Listed-winning and G2-placed Easton Angel (20). The session concludes with a selection of mares that features Whitefall (200), dam of the Listed-placed Dark Jedi in foal to Belardo, and Fanditha (171) who has bred four winners and is carrying to Gregorian.
Kerins says if the inaugural Sapphire Sale goes as the company hopes, they would look to expand on the concept in the coming years. Given Irish breeders, both big and small, are virtually unrivalled in their success, he believes the sale presents buyers with an opportunity not to be missed.
“It’s a sale we want to give a push to and we hope that the new branding and individual promotion will help it to expand because it’s a good alternative,” says Kerins.
“We’re always considering other dates and potentially expanding the sale if vendors and purchasers alike felt we needed to do so. The level of horsemanship and the standard to which horses are produced is so high that you can get some real gems here.”
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