THE very last lot in the catalogue for the Goffs February Sale Part 1 was worth a two-day wait, and the sale of Rubira for €100,000 left her with the honour of being crowned the top lot of the week.

Over the two sessions, 117 of the 191 horses offered were sold for an average price of €13,553. Part 2 of the sale, featuring yearlings, is due to staged on-site at Goffs on Wednesday, March 11th.

It was probably just as well that this week’s sale was held online, as the Lope De Vega mare who topped the trade was covered on March 6th last year and her first foal was therefore imminent.

Her offspring will be by New Bay, the Ballylinch Stud sire whose first crop includes the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes winner New Mandate and the unbeaten Group 3 winner Saffron Beach.

Alex Elliott was the successful bidder for Rubira, a listed winner in New Zealand, and she sold for A$100,000 in Australia before being sent to Ireland to be covered. She was one of a number of high-profile lots consigned by David Cox’s Baroda Stud.

At the first session of the sale Baroda was agent for the sale of the supplementary entry Drish Venture, the top price on the day. The three-year-old son of Mehmas was bred at Albany Stud in Tipperary and was unsold at €1,000 when offered as a foal. Owned and trained by Donal Commins, brother of the breeder Mark, Drish Venture improved as 2020 went on, winning over six furlongs at Dundalk at the end of the year.

Drish Venture started 2021 well when he went back to Dundalk and won again, this time over five furlongs. He was a first online buy for Bert Kerr and the gelding will now head to Eastern Europe where Kerr’s famous bloodstock agency has enjoyed much success with its purchases.

Scholarly

When the Robert Eddery-trained Belardo three-year-old Classy Dame won at Lingfield last weekend, she provided a very timely update to the pedigree of Scholarly, consigned from Baroda at this week’s sale. Classy Dame is the second foal, and now second winner, for the Authorized mare Scholarly, and she sold to Michael O’Callaghan for €46,000.

In foal to Derrinstown Stud’s Awtaad, Scholarly is a half-sister to the dam of last year’s French 2000 Guineas winner Victor Ludorum, and comes from the family of Street Cry and Shamardal. The mare’s two-year-old son of Aclaim sold for 42,000gns last year and is in training with Andrew Balding.

Castlebridge quartet head to Australia, Cork and Westmeath

A BAKER’S dozen lots made €30,000 or more over the two days, and Bill Dwan’s The Castlebridge Consignment supplied four of this group. Heading this quartet was the Fastnet Rock filly Rocket Science at €84,000.

The four-year-old was trained by Jessica Harrington for Ann Marshall of Hamwood Stud, and Rocket Science showed a preference for racing in the west of Ireland, winning at both Galway and Roscommon last year. She narrowly missed out on some blacktype when she was fourth to Champers Elysees in the Group 3 Fairy Bridge Stakes.

Rocket Science is the first winner for Hairy Rocket, a daughter of Pivotal who won twice at two and was third in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot. This year Hairy Rocket will have a two-year-old son of Churchill to race for her, having sold for €140,000 as a foal. Hubie de Burgh was the successful online purchaser of Rocket Science who will now head to Australia.

With a page full of blacktype, the five-year-old Australia mare Gracefully Done, in foal for the first time to Ten Sovereigns, was always going to be popular. She is a half-sister to the stakes winner Only A Pleasure and out of the Grade 1 Matron Stakes winner Sense Of Style. That daughter of Thunder Gulch is a half-sister to the French 1000 Guineas winner Valentine Waltz.

Brian Mehigan from Hawthorn Villa Stud had the final say for Gracefully Done at €76,000, and she becomes the first flat mare to join the broodmare band at the Co Cork stud farm since Mehigan purchased it. Previously it was a well-known nursery in the ownership of Sean Twomey.

The Castlebridge Consignment was again acting for Ann Marshall in the sale of Shringara to Tony O’Callaghan of Tally-Ho Stud. The daughter of Dansili, a winner when trained by John Oxx, realised €52,000, and she is one of three winners from the Group 3 winner Shreyas, who also landed a pair of listed stakes too.

Shreyas has a pair of Group 1 winning siblings, dual Group 1 winner and Arc runner-up three times, Youmzain, and the Lockinge Stakes winner and dual classic runner-up, Creachadoir. They were all bred at Hamwood Stud, and come from a famous family associated with the next door Ballymacoll Stud.

Trained by Clive Cox to bookend her racing career with a debut success at Goodwood and a closing victory at Wolverhampton, the Free Eagle filly Sovereign Beauty sold last October for 22,000gns. One of eight winners from nine foals for her dam, she is a half-sister to Group 3 winner Maid In India, and the listed winner and group-placed Love Spirit.

Their dam Indian Maiden won 15 races, headed by the Group 3 Prix de Meautry in France. She also won seven listed races, and comes from the family of the champion filly Winning Colors who won the 1988 Kentucky Derby. This time Sovereign Beauty cost Tony O’Callaghan €35,000 from The Castlebridge Consignment.

New Bay covering again proves a winner

CAROL Henley was unable to reveal the name of her Irish client who will now take over ownership of Soft Lips, a winner and winner-producing daughter of Rahy.

It took some dealing to secure this private sale at €66,000 for Soft Lips who was sold in foal to New Bay. From the family of French 2000 Guineas winner Falco, Soft Lips was a winner at two in France. Her first four foals have produced three winners. The trio of winners include two stakes performers.

Soft Lips’ first foal, Argentic, won four times and was runner-up in a listed race, while last year Unveil, a daughter of Showcasing, won in France and was placed in the Group 3 Prix Francois Boutin. Soft Lips was sold by Emir Alakas through Llama O’Mahony’s Whitethorn Stud.

Following her purchase for €52,000, the Poet’s Voice five-year-old New York Balletwill be one of the mares visiting first-season sire Without Parole at Newsells Park Stud. She was bought by Tanya Gunther’s Eurowest Bloodstock from Lady O’Reilly’s Hollyhill Stud.

The €40,000 yearling purchase New York Ballet is a half-sister to a pair of stakes-placed winners, their dam being the Group 3 winner English Ballet. She was placed in the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile with her half-sister Star Of Seville winning the French Oaks. Another sibling, King Of Comedy, was runner-up in the St James’s Palace Stakes to Circus Maximus.

Mark Player’s International Thoroughbred Solutions bought the best of the Aga Khan Studs’ draft for €50,000. This was the Dark Angel four-year-old Azila, and her Sea The Stars dam is a half-sister to the champion Azamour. Azila was beaten just a head at Naas in November.

On Wednesday Chris Timmons paid €32,000 for the Zoffany three-year-old gelding Razdan. Runner-up on his debut at two, he was later gelded and on his only outing this year was beaten a head over a mile at Dundalk. Razdan now moves from Dermot Weld to Matthew Smith and will be a runner for Timmons’ Royal Racing Club.

Mercifilly

A winner and a winner-producer with her first foal, the sale of Mercifilly for €45,000 would look to be a wise buy on the part of Saubouas Bloodstock. She is in foal to Mehmas, whose 2020 fee of €7,500 has now been hiked up to €25,000 following his phenomenal first season. A daughter of Whipper, Mercifully won at three and her two-year-old last year, Forbearing, won in France. Mercifilly was consigned though Robert and Amber Byrne’s Platinum Bloodstock.

What is certain to be the last mare sold at public auction in foal to Zoffany, Moyglare Stud Farm parted with Pivotal’s winning daughter Topaz Clear, a half-sister to Group 2 winner and Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup-placed Forgotten Rules, to Garry Duffy of Irish Emerald Stud for €36,000. She will be one of the first mares to visit Duffy’s Royal Lytham.