FOR those outside the bubble of horse racing, Doncaster may not have a glowing reputation, but for those in the horse game, it’s known as the source of fast horses.

The Goffs UK Breeze Up Sale begins at Doncaster Racecourse from 8.30am on Wednesday, April 23rd, with horses going under the hammer from 10am the following day.

Goffs’ British base has sold the likes of Harry Angel, Limato, Sole Power and Supremacy as yearlings, while its breeze-up sale has produced nine Royal Ascot winners in the last 10 years.

It’s the only breeze-up sale that can lay claim to such a record. Leovanni was the sale’s flagbearer at last year’s Royal meeting, while previous victors include A’Ali, Perfect Power and Bradsell. The 2024 renewal experienced record-breaking trade, and buyers were rewarded with five group-winning juveniles last term.

The breeze-up sales constantly disprove their own stereotype of fast horses that peak as two-year-olds and two Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sales graduates hammered that message home last year. Bradsell was a two-year-old Royal Ascot winner, but trained on to win three Group 1 sprints before retiring to stud as a five-year-old.

Further afield, the six-year-old Light Infantry Man has progressed down under, winning Group 1s over nine and 10 furlongs for Ciaron Maher.

The son of Fast Company was previously trained by David Simcock, for whom he won a Group 3 at the backend of his two-year-old campaign, and went on to finish second in the Prix Jean Prat and Prix Jacques le Marois.

Market leaders

He is one of many star graduates of the sale that was bought by Blandford Bloodstock, whose name also appeared beside the likes of Beautiful Diamond, Bradsell, Leovanni and Perfect Power.

They bought Light Infantry Man from Willie Browne’s Mocklershill, and the same buyer, consignor and sale were responsible for Flying Childers winner Aesterius (£380,000) and Qaseem (£60,000), who won two local Grade 2s in Bahrain in February.

After withdrawals, Mocklershill is set to offer seven lots next week, including two by Mehmas, the sire of Aesterius. The bay was the second highest-priced horse of the sale, and one of three by the Tally-Ho Stud sire to sell for over £350,000. From 13 lots offered, Mehmas’ stock sold for an average of £150,500.

After a year in which he beat Kodiac’s record-breaking tally of two-year-old winners, Mehmas accounts for 22 of the 206 lots catalogued next week. They include siblings of 1000 Guineas heroine Cachet (Lot 158) and Norfolk Stakes victor The Lir Jet (Lot 150).

No Nay Never’s catalogued quartet include a colt out of Group 3 winner and Group 1 performer Spectre (Lot 192), as well as a filly out of a half-sister to dual Group 1 winner Lillie Langtry, herself the dam of three Group 1 winners (Lot 91).

Other leading sires represented include Acclamation (11), Ardad (12), Havana Grey (14), Invincible Spirit (4), Kodiac (6), Showcasing (3), Sioux Nation (11) and Wootton Bassett (2).

Numbers game

The breeze-up sales offer an early insight into the potential of first season sires, a number of which have progeny catalogued this week. A’Ali is a dual graduate of Goffs UK; selling for £35,000 as a yearling and £135,000 at the breeze-up sale.

He has eight lots catalogued this week, as does Space Blues, while Starman has seven, Ubettabelievit has six, Nando Parrado has five, Supremacy has five, Lucky Vega has two, Palace Pier has two, Lope Y Fernandez has one and Victor Ludorum has one.

The number of lots catalogued represents a 10% reduction on last year, when 28 sold for six-figure sums and trade returned an average price of £62,499. Blandford Bloodstock topped the buyers’ table with a spend of £2,370,000 for 10 lots, followed by Stroud Coleman, who spent £820,000 on just three horses.

Tally-Ho Stud’s bumper draft of 14 realised a total of £1,431,000, while Con Marnane’s Bansha House Stables finished second with a turnover of £801,000. Katie McGivern consigned the top lot, a Havana Grey filly knocked down to Stroud Coleman for £420,000. Danny Donovan had a particularly good sale, with his two lots averaging £290,000.