A VASTLY improved clearance rate which was underpinned by a very significant input from overseas purchasers was the main point to emerge from this week’s Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale.
Twelve months ago this sale played host to two days of decidedly sobering trade that produced a clearance rate of 60%, but that figure rose to 74% this week. A smaller catalogue for this year’s sale surely played its part in condensing demand, while, as mentioned above, the input of various international buyers played a major role in the upswing in the clearance rate.
Over 100 fewer horses came under the hammer at this year’s sale but the turnover was still able to increase by 3% to just under €1.7 million. The average of €5,874 improved by 8% on last year, while the median of €4,000 progressed by a third.
Admittedly, the majority of those that came under the hammer struggled to recoup their production costs and trade was of a generally low key variety but the final results for this year’s sale did make for appreciably better reading than was the case in 2018.
Once again the results illustrated the benefit of a condensed catalogue while this sale demonstrated beyond any doubt just how important the international market is for this sector of the market.
“The durability of the yearling market was never more graphically illustrated than over the last two days. With the world in a state of some flux with Brexit, economic uncertainty and so many other factors that would at least suggest some contraction, it was extremely heartening to witness a trade of vibrancy and energy from start to finish,” said Henry Beeby on Tuesday evening.
“For that we must especially thank our overseas buyers who flocked to Goffs following the concerted efforts of our team working in tandem with Irish Thoroughbred Marketing. Goffs is fortunate to be assisted by a superb network of international agents and this week several of them have been to the fore as Angela Robiati, Filip Zwicky, Matthias Seeber and Kishore Mirpuri have delivered a truly eclectic group of buyers from Italy, Scandinavia, Germany and Eastern Europe.
“In particular, the last mentioned has played an absolute blinder with a group of 43 that required a bigger than ordered bus to ferry them from airport to Goffs to hotel and in between! Their enthusiastic bidding allowed our yearling trade to make significant advances from a smaller catalogue, the most noteworthy being a very respectable clearance rate.
“No one is suggesting that this is the most glamorous sale of the year and everything is relative but we cannot let the moment pass without mentioning the pinhook success of the year, if not the decade, with Clonmult Farm’s spectacular €78,000 sale-topper who was picked up here for a mere €1,000 last November, so providing yet another example of the potential of the Goffs November Foal Sale. We are so pleased for James Sheehan and Vicki Hancock whose delight was infectious as their sale unfolded,” concluded Beeby.
EASILY the standout offering this week and the highest priced yearling to come under the hammer at this auction for four years was a €78,000 filly from the first crop of The Last Lion.
The price alone makes her a very notable offering in the context of this sale but even more significant was that she represented the sort of result that sustains the entire pinhooking fraternity.
At Part 2 of last year’s November Foal Sale this filly was picked up for a mere €1,000, but in the interim her three-year-old half-brother Top Rank has won all three of his starts and is rated 91.
That update coupled with a most attractive pedigree – her dam is a half-sister to an Irish 2000 Guineas winner – meant that a huge windfall was in store for James Sheehan’s Clonmult Farm.
Ross Doyle and Joe Foley both made a play for this filly but they have to give best Jimmy Hyland who bought the filly on behalf of Rabbah Bloodstock.
Alternative route
The second highest price was achieved by a €36,000 son of Champs Elysees for whom Norman William outlasted Michael Donohoe.
In recent years Williamson has sold two winners of the Goffs Land Rover Bumper and this colt could bid to follow suit with the noted consignor reporting that his purchase would be reoffered as a three-year-old store. The colt comes from the family of the County Hurdle winner Desert Quest.
THE second day of the auction was headed by a pair of fillies and the first of these to come under the hammer was a €35,000 daughter of Starspangledbanner. The Rathasker Stud offering is bound for next year’s breeze-up sales after she was knocked down to Johnny Collins who was acting for his colleague Tom Whitehead. This filly is out of a placed daughter of the Group 3-winning Nick’s Nikita.
The next lot into the ring was the only No Nay Never yearling on offer this week and she cost the BBA Ireland’s Richard Fitzsimons €34,000. This Rockton Stud-consigned filly is out of a half-sister to the Group 1-placed miler Zara Sidi Anna.
Foreign investment
The two days were underpinned by a very active cross section of international buyers and these included the Italian outfit Razza Latina whose Cristina Brivio signed for a couple of popular fillies. These included a €21,000 filly from the first crop of the Dewhurst Stakes second Kodi Bear and Lumville Farm’s €20,000 daughter of Iffraaj. The Iffraaj is from the family of the 1000 Guineas winner Shadayid whose varied three-year-old career also yielded placings in the Oaks at Epsom and Sprint Cup at Haydock.
O’Ryan spending
In what most surely be something of a record, Bobby O’Ryan signed for 56 lots over the two days and the vast majority of these were for Eastern European clients. He was also acting for interests closer to home and the agent forked out €22,000 for a son of Hot Streak who will go into training with Ben Haslam.
This price was closely matched by Katie Walsh’s Greenhills Farm for a €20,000 Power colt and also coming in at €20,000 was a son of Rock Of Gibraltar who was snapped up by Pat McCarthy.