The two-day Goffs Doncaster Premier Yearling Sale concluded on Wednesday with an 85% clearance rate, only marginally behind last year's 87%, and the rest of the sale's key statistics were in a similar vein.
Although there were 23 more horses sold this year than last year, the total turnover was back 1%. The average price was down 7% and the median dipped by 14% to £30,000.
Top buyer over the two days was Manor House Stables (Michael Owen and Hugo Palmer), assisted by Ed Sackville of Sackville Donald. They bought 12 horses for a total spend of £844,000. Last year they spent £800,000 on 16 horses at this sale.
Having bought the two top-priced horses here on Tuesday, Rabbah Bloodstock ended the sale with eight purchases (£734,000), well over double what they spent at Doncaster 12 months ago.
Peter and Ross Doyle (nine horses), Clive Cox (seven), Sam Sangster (eight) and Richard Hughes/Ted Durcan (five) were also among the leading buyers.
Wednesday's trade was topped by a £210,000 Night Of Thunder colt from Eugene Daly's Longview Stud in Newmarket. It was bought by Charlie Bond and will be trained by Geoff Oldroyd, who provided Bond with a big York handicap winner last week.
The colt is out of the winning Kingman mare Snow Empress.
Bond, who was at the sales on Tuesday but was not there for this purchase, said: "I was in Doncaster myself yesterday and didn’t manage to get a bid in on one. The good horses are making really good money, the market for those seems quite strong.”
Breeze-up prospect
Goffs’ new US agent Louis Dubois struck the winning bid of £145,000 for Tweenhills’ Kingman colt out of the Group 3-winning Holy Roman Emperor mare Roman Mist.
“He’s a beautiful horse with a lot of substance and a good walk,” said Dubois. “He’s big for a Kingman, with a lovely page – the mare isn’t exposed at all. He stood out and obviously caught the eye of quite a few people.
“He’ll be going to Ireland and will be aimed at the breeze-ups. Rodgie Kavanagh’s Glending Stables will prep him. I’ll jump in and take a leg myself and we’ll see how we do. Rodgie is a good man and knows exactly what he’s doing – we’ll follow his lead.”
David Mullins
Grand National-winning jockey David Mullins’ Barrow Bloodstock had the final say when bidding £130,000 on Tally-Ho Stud’s colt by red-hot first-season sire Bayside Boy out of a daughter of top-class sprinters Twilight Son and Firenze.
“He looks racy, very much an athlete, and he’ll come back for resale,” said Mullins. “I’ll do him myself under the Barrow Bloodstock banner. I started last year and had a couple of touches, and hopefully he’ll be resold, whether that’s after breezing or racing.
“He’ll be kept between the family anyway. I was here with Emmet, who had to go home because he’s getting married on Friday, but hopefully he’ll take a leg in him too.
“It was a tough year to start out, but it’s a shorter turnaround than selling point-to-pointers. I do both and it’s good to have a finger in all pies. We’ll just try and find the horses and see if we can afford them.”
Pinhooker Paddy Vaughan paid £110,000 for the WH Bloodstock-consigned Havana Grey filly out of the listed-placed Rock Of Gibraltar mare Rock On Baileys.
“She’s for myself and Michael Fitzpatrick of JC Bloodstock,” said Vaughan. “We’ll offer her as a breezer next year. She looked a very strong filly with a good walk and a nice pedigree – and she’s by Havana Grey. It didn’t matter to us whether we bought a colt or filly as long as they looked fast, and she was the one.
“This one will be sold via [Fitzpatrick’s] Kilminfoyle House Stud, while a Chaldean filly we bought yesterday will come to my place.”
Three for Keatley
Bloodstock agent Dan Astbury and trainer Adrian Keatley teamed up to purchase three horses over the two days, including Tally-Ho Stud’s Kodiac filly out of Stunner, a Pivotal mare related to high-class sprinters Buratino and Danehill Dancer for £110,000.
“This was a filly we loved and Adrian has had a lot of luck buying off Tally-Ho Stud,” said Astbury. “The mare’s done well with Kodiac in the past and this was the one we wanted today.
“I bid strong early as she was always going to make that so there was no point holding back. It’s great to get her and Adrian is having another fantastic season so it’s good to get him this type of horse.
“This is the third year I’ve been buying for him – it started off with dual-purpose horses and that worked out with the first six or seven winning and it went from there. This year we’ve had a few nice two-year-olds and hopefully we can carry on.
“My background is in jumping, but I’m very lucky to be buying flat horses for people like Adrian and James Owen, two great trainers who send out a lot of winners.”
At the conclusion of the sale Goffs UK managing director Tim Kent commented: “Today wraps up another year for the Doncaster Premier Yearling Sale which has produced strong trade over the two days and it enjoyed a great advert leading into the sale with 2YO Sun Goddess showcasing the calibre of horse this sale repeatedly produces and what it stands for.
“With hotel space in Doncaster stretched to the limit, we have delivered another huge buying bench and the 85% clearance rate shows demand has been robust with buyers from around the world in attendance.
"Buyers have always shown a strong appetite for Donny yearlings and the sale’s identity is alive and well which is fantastic – but there has been a call for more higher end horses at this sale from buyers, and some vendors, over the last 12 months.
"Ultimately it is for the market to decide what it needs and wants Premier to be and our message to the market is this; we remain ambitious and hungry to grow this sale. We want to offer a higher quality catalogue to buyers who walk in our gates wanting and expecting to see real quality, and we want to continue to surpass the high expectations of vendors when we are given the opportunity to offer something special.
“We exist to offer vibrant competition to the market and with prices of up to £1,000,000 achieved in the Doncaster ring at our Breeze Up Sale, we have proven our venue can produce world-class results. And with another huge crowd of owners, trainers and agents on site this week, the ingredients are here, but we need the horses.
“All that said, we would like to thank our vendors who have brought some lovely types to Doncaster – headlined by 20 lots making six-figures. We have welcomed new vendors and welcomed back some who have returned to Premier which is wonderful to see. To our buyers, we wish you all the very best with your purchases and we look forward to awarding £250,000 in new bonuses next season.”