“TODAY has been a day of highs and lows. The highs have been some excellent results for a number of two-year-olds, headed by a number of six-figure lots topped by a brace of Kodiac colts at £170,000. However, it would be churlish of us not to recognise that trade has been mixed in parts and really quite challenging in the lower echelons of this specialist market, which has been quite graphically reflected in the sale statistics.”

This candid end of sale statement by Henry Beeby reflected the reality of the 2016 Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale staged on Wednesday. Last year’s sale produced receipts of just over £5 million but this fell back by nearly 30% this year, fuelled by the significant drop in the clearance rate from 90% last year to just 72% this time and from a slightly reduced number of entries. Six horses made £100,000 or more compared to nine 12 months earlier.

Four of the top 10 prices this year were achieved by offspring of Kodiac and were headed by a pair of colts that realised £170,000 each. First to that mark was Bansha House Stables’ colt out of a winning half-sister to Resplendent Glory and he was a yearling purchase in the same ring last August for £40,000. Peter Swann of the Cool Silk Partnership, advised by bloodstock agent Matt Coleman, secured him with a single bid and the colt will be trained by Robert Cowell.

Tally-Ho Stud had the largest consignment and sold 14 lots for £619,500. More than a quarter of this total was accounted for by their Kodiac colt out of Good Clodora and this first foal of his dam is from the immediate family of the speedsters Maarek and Anita’s Prince. Homebred by the O’Callaghans, he cost Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock £170,000 and will go into training with John Gosden.

Eddie O’Leary’s Lynn Lodge Stud consigned a popular American-bred son of Mizzen Mast that had cost $50,000 last September in Keeneland. A half-brother to the Lancashire Oaks winner and Group 1 placed Pomology, his value this time was set at £155,000 and he sold to agent Stephen Hillen for the owners of the Group 1 wining juvenile Astaire.

His sale came just after that of another American-bred yearling for £150,000. Offered from Justin Rea’s Fairgreen Stables she sold to David O’Meara who will train this daughter of the Santa Anita Derby winner Sidney’s Candy. A half-sister to three winners, including a stakes winner, the filly was unsold last September in Keeneland but purchased privately afterwards.

Mocklershill sold six lots and the best of these was a son of Showcasing for £140,000 – more than half the value of the entire consignment. The colt was purchased as a foal for 90,000gns and retained as a yearling. From the family of Green Dancer, he is a February-foaled half-brother to a pair of juvenile winners. Alex Elliott bought him and the colt will be trained by Lady Cecil’s former assistant George Scott.

A daughter of Kodiac was among the six-figure lots and Stephen Hill prevailed for this Grove Stud offering at £120,000. She is out of a winning half-sister to Rosdhu Queen, the Group 1 winning daughter of Invincible Spirit who was also sold from Grove Stud as a breezer. The filly will be trained by Kevin Ryan. Earlier Amanda Skiffington paid £80,000 for Hillwood Stud’s Kodiac colt out of the group-placed sprinter Cool Cousin.

David Redvers was on the buyer’s sheet when he gave £88,000 for a Bushranger half-sister to the stakes-placed Snap Shots from Tally-Ho Stud. The filly’s dam is a half-sister to the Sun Chariot Stakes winner Independence and she in turn is the dam of the successful young stallion Mount Nelson. He also paid £75,000 for an Arcano half-sister to five winners from C.A.J. Stables.

Towards the end of the day Tom Malone spent £80,000 on a Dutch Art colt from Norman Williamson’s Oak Tree Farm. The first foal of his winning dam Tahlia Ree, a daughter of Acclamation, he comes from the family of the Group 1 winning two-year-old Primo Valentino.

Following the sale Henry Beeby said that the company would review the outcome when all the sales had been held. He said: “The Doncaster Breeze-Up has been a trailblazer for many years and our successes have forced others to play catch up, but it will be important that we review the sale in the context of the complete market in a month or so, taking into account the feedback from every quarter as there are always things we can do better. What we are sure of is that today’s sale will generate another huge number of winners at a high level, so repaying the faith of those who bought into the concept.”