GOFFS chief executive Henry Beeby is “delighted” with the record results from this week’s Orby Sale but says Goffs will continue to fight to secure a bigger share of Ireland’s elite yearlings which are offered for sale.

This week’s Orby Book 1 returned a median price of €98,000, up from €80,000 a year ago. The clearance rate of 89% was also up on the 86% figure from 2024.

However, just 10 horses made €500,000 or more, compared with 15 last year, suggesting that Irish vendors and breeders continue to be tempted to sell instead in Newmarket over the next two weeks.

Beeby said: “We’re delighted with the Orby results. We’ve seen other sales in Ireland and Britain go on a bit of a rollercoaster ride in the last few years, with some big highs but also some disappointments.

“The Orby has remained consistent and we’re very pleased with the gains made this week because is means we can continue to build on a very solid base.”

Asked if Goffs is competing strongly enough at the very top of the market, Beeby said: “Yes, but we can always do better. We would like more top horses and we know we will see plenty of them selling in England next week. That’s our challenge. We are number two in Europe and we will continue to strive to get better.

“But we’re getting huge support and I am especially gratified to see breeders such as Airlie Stud and Johnny Connaughton get well paid after decades of supporting Goffs.”

The Goffs Two Million Series has proved successful, Beeby believes, but the company is open to considering tweaking it in order to attract more elite yearlings.

“Over the next couple of months we will start to plan for the 2026 sale, listen to feedback, and ask how can we improve the series.

“It really came of age this year. People targeted the bonuses. We’ve no doubt that it boosted trade this week and we’ve no doubt that more people are engaging with it.”

Monday start

A change introduced this year was starting the sale on Monday. Asked if this would be repeated Beeby said: “It’s even money. We’ll review it. It wasn’t universally accepted. One or two people said they would prefer if we went back to where we were. But more people told me they liked it.

“We’re hemmed in at both ends. There’s a very good weekend of racing at Newmarket the Saturday before, and then there’s another Group 1 day at Newmarket afterwards, followed by the Arc meeting and the Newmarket sales.

“We felt people stayed for more of the sale this year, so we think it worked, but we’ve got to think about it before giving a measured response.”

Both Books 1 and 2 were reduced by about 10% this year. “It certainly worked,” Beeby said.

“It improved the quality but we need to build the catalogue with more quality. We decided this year to pick the horses we saw in front of us and not focus on numbers, and whatever number we ended up at, that was it.

“We’ll do the same again next year, and I would hope, given the results of this week’s sale, that we will be offered more of the best yearlings in Ireland.”

There were plenty of high-profile spenders at Goffs this week, including John Stewart and Kia Joorabchian, both of whom invested significantly. But it was noticeable that Godolphin only bought one horse publicly for €180,000, having spent €5 million last year.

Beeby said: “We targeted Kia and John. They came and they made a major impact.

“Obviously, last year’s major buyer didn’t buy as many this year as last year, but that’s absolutely everyone’s prerogative. It will be interesting to see what they do in the next couple of weeks.”

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