SPECTACULAR pinhooking successes, a sparkling trade and sale records were the order of the day when the final hammer fell at the 2017 Goffs UK Breeze Up Sale in Doncaster on Wednesday.

The decision taken by Roger and Tony O’Callaghan to hold on to the Kodiac colt out of Sodashy when bidding reached €58,000 at last year’s Orby Sale was justified in no small measure when the breezer sold for a whopping £360,000 – a new sale record price – to bloodstock agent Dick O’Gorman. The Newmarket man was acting for John Ferguson. The colt will now sport the colours of Godolphin.

The O’Callaghan’s bought the half-brother to dual winner Ponty Royale as a foal from Jockey Hall Stud for €68,000.

Last year two sons of Kodiac, who commands a fee of €50,000 at Tally Ho this year, topped the sale when they sold for £170,000 each and both went on to win at Royal Ascot. They were Prince Of Lir, successful in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes and now at Ballyhane Stud, and the Windsor Castle Stakes winner Ardad.

The previous record was set five years ago when Fire Eyes, a son of Exceed And Excel, was sold from Tally Ho Stud to David Redvers for £300,000.

He went on to be a stakes-placed winner. A dozen lots sold for £100,000 or more and another of these was from the Tally Ho consignment. A home-bred son of Zebedee from the family of Canadian champion Peaks And Valleys, he was bought by Stephen Hillen and Kevin Ryan for £100,000.

SIX FIGURES

Two more breezers by Kodiac traded at £100,000 each. First to reach a six-figure sum on the day was the Kodiac son of Florida City, already dam of three winners and from the family of Bushranger.

He was one of four lots purchased by Mark Richards for the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Rebecca Curtis Racing sold him and the price was double what he made in the same ring last August.

Meadowview Stables consigned a daughter of Kodiac from the Ballymacoll female family of Islington and Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente. She was bought for £100,000 by Stroud Coleman and this was a substantial increase in value from the €21,000 she cost at the Tattersalls Ireland September Sale last year.

The second best price at the sale was paid by Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock for a colt from the final crop of Lonhro. A son of a winning half-sister to Ascot Gold Cup and St Leger winner Leading Light, he was acquired by Justin Rea for a mere $17,000 last September at Keeneland and this time sold from Rea’s Fairgreen Stables for £210,000.

If that American yearling buy was a bargain, so too was the More Than Ready colt from Gaybrook Lodge Stud, owned by 12-year-old Anna and 10-year-old Philip McCartan. He was snapped up for just $5,000 at the same Keeneland sale and Kerri Radcliffe was forced to £200,000 to secure him this time.

BEST FILLY

The best price for a filly was £190,000 and this was paid by David Redvers for a daughter of Showcasing and the stakes-winning Lucky Story mare Primo Lady.

The dam is the sole blacktype performer in four generations of the family and her daughter was profitable for Tom Whitehead’s Powerstown Stud as she cost 37,000gns at Newmarket last October. Whitehead sold Showcasing’s Group 1 winner Quiet Reflection at this sale a couple of years ago.

Two other fillies were among the leading dozen lots and Blandford Bloodstock’s Richard Brown paid £140,000 for one of them, a daughter of Tamayuz. She was bred by Shadwell and sold at the Goffs Open Sale last November for €12,000 to Michael Byrne who consigned her from his Knockgraffon Stables. She will be trained by John Gosden.

Completing the line-up of six-figure fillies was Grove Stud’s daughter of Acclamation and the two-year-old winner Sister Red. Dick O’Gorman paid £100,000 for her, more than double her €46,000 yearling purchase price at Fairyhouse.

David Redvers knows all about Havana Gold and his bid of £135,000 for The Bloodstock Connection’s half-brother to Grendisar secured the March-born colt, a 22,000gns yearling purchase in October by Jeremy Brummitt.

Another high-priced son of Havana Gold was Lynn Lodge Stud’s colt out of a half-sister to Belmez. This half-brother to four winners was retained last year at 50,000gns, having cost connections €80,000 as a foal.

Lope De Vega’s son of the winning Oasis Dream mare Wadjeka, whose third dam was the brilliant Miesque, cost Con Marnane £42,000 last August in this ring and on his reappearance his value soared to £115,000, being purchased by Sheikh Abdullah Al-Malek.

COMMENT

The sale saw purchasers from 12 countries signing the buyer’s dockets. Goffs UK managing director Tony Williams commented: “Today has been an amazing experience for the entire team at Goffs UK and indeed our consignors who supported us.

The sale had its best ever year on the track in 2016, with the highlight being the Royal Ascot meeting, and this year’s sale has undoubtedly been the best Breeze Up Sale conducted here at Goffs.

“Our team have travelled extensively to promote this event and Goffs UK and our vendors have been rewarded accordingly, with 12 countries being represented on the buying list and faces not seen at Doncaster before, in addition to our local buyers who have again supported us well. I thank everybody on our team, our vendors, buyers and participants for their support and wish all them all the very best.”