THE final figures from the first store sale of the year, the Goffs UK Spring Store Sale, painted a mixed picture on Monday. Cutting the catalogue by 27% to 199 lots saw the average price increase by 3% to £26,346, the median hold steady at £20,000, but the number of six-figure lots dropped from five to just one.
Comparisons to 2023 fare worse, when 285 lots produced an average price of £29,327 and median £23,250, with five fetching between £100,000 and £210,000. From 2023 to 2024, the clearance rate dropped from 81% to 70%, and rose to 75% this week.
A notable difference at the top of the tables this week, which could be a contributing factor to the top of the market constricting, was the buyers. Last year, Ryan Mahon and Dan Skelton bought five lots totalling £377,000, while Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls spent £245,000 on just two lots.
Mahon, Malone and Skelton didn’t appear in the top 10 buyers this time round, though all were in attendance. Mahon and Skelton purchased one lot for £56,000, while Malone bought one for £50,000 and combined with Jamie Snowden for a £30,000 purchase. Nicholls, meanwhile, teamed up with his daughter Megan to buy a Nathaniel gelding for £75,000.
Monbeg Stables spent the largest amount in 2023, their 14 buys totalling £529,000. Last year’s six recruits came to £106,000 and it was a case of quality over quantity this week, with just two purchases costing £95,000.
The top buyer this time round was agent Jerry McGrath, who spent £240,000 on four lots, followed by Anthony Honeyball’s £198,000 outlay on four horses.
Another element which could be a clue or simply coincidence was that last year, the top 12 lot were either foaled in France, out of a French-bred mare, by a French sire, or ticked all three boxes. Fast forward to this week, and five of the 12 highest-priced lots filled the same criteria.
If it is more than just a coincidence, it remains unclear if the French fashion has lost some of its appeal, or if the trendier types weren’t on offer at Doncaster. Top lot honours did go to a French-bred daughter of Doctor Dino, who was knocked down to Olly and Aiden Murphy for £120,000.
Dream come true
John Bleahen’s Lakefield Farm offered the bay, named Guenamite, who is the second produce of a Martaline half-sister to Grade 1-winning chaser Le Patron.
“She’s gone to a fantastic trainer,” Bleahen later commented. “Olly’s had so many winners last season, he’s on his way up, and Aiden is a fantastic guy too. They’re a great team. I love them.
She had gone unsold as a foal when offered by the Channel Consignment at the Arqana Autumn Sale, and was later purchased privately by Bleahen. “She was an easy buy,” the consignor reflected on Monday. “The lady I bought her off is a tough customer and she cost quite a bit of money, but she was one you just had to have. She's from a beautiful line; she’s just a queen.
“I spend six weeks of the year in France, going out for a few days a month when we have the time. We’ve been lucky enough to have some great ones, but they’re just so hard to find. When you see them, you just have to buy them, because they don’t come around too often.
“Every field you go into, it’s a new dream. You see this beautiful thing down the end of the paddock, and usually when you get down there it’s got three legs. But every time you get out of the car, the dream is alive.”
Olly Murphy will also take charge of an Order Of St George gelding bought by Jerry McGrath from Hegarty Bloodstock for £80,000. Murphy is familiar with the pedigree, having trained the gelding’s half-brother Thunder Rock to win two listed chases and place at Grade 1 level.
“I loved the individual, I thought he was one of the most athletic horses in the sale,” McGrath commented. “Order Of St George has had another good year on the track and point-to-pointing. I thought this horse had a lot of depth and substance for one by the sire. He’s a very likeable horse.”
Batsford Stud stallion Passing Glance has lived through many a fad and fashion, but at the grand age of 26, he experienced his best results in the ring on Thursday. These three-year-olds – his largest crop numbering 69 - were bred off the back of their sire’s first Grade 1 success, courtesy of Dashel Drasher in the Ascot Chase, 12 months before Millers Bank landed the Manifesto Novices’ Chase.
Strong Leader’s top-flight success in last year’s Liverpool Hurdle and a second placing in last month’s renewal ensured he remained high in buyers’ minds. Anthony Honeyball has trained a Grade 3 winner by the sire and will be hoping to add to that with the two geldings he bought for £85,000 and £60,000 apiece, bettering Passing Glance’s previous high of €50,000.
“We’ve had a lot of winners by Passing Glance,” Honeyball explained after signing for the £85,000 gelding. “So, we're just happy to get another one by the sire, and this one had a really nice pedigree, with loads of black type in the family.
“I've got a new ownership group in mind for him. They've not quite finalised numbers or given themselves a name yet, but they do have a Whatsapp Group at least, so that’s something!”
Passing Glance’s most expensive offspring benefitted from the accomplishments of siblings Romeo Coolio and unbeaten listed winner Ascending Lark, increasing his value from €20,000 as a foal. On both occasions, he was sold by Peel Bloodstock, whose Will Kinsey joked: “I wish I hadn’t sold him as a foal now!
What goes around comes around
“No, the mare owed us nothing. We've sold everything out of her as foals and all of them have made good money. Matt Coleman had seen Ascending Lark at the Lalor’s and said how good she was, and he ended up buying this horse for a syndicate of lads.
“They've had a right good touch, and I'm delighted for them as it's win-win. There was profit in it for us when we sold him and we're always delighted for the next man, as hopefully they'll come back again and again. That’s what this business is about.”
On the three-year-old’s preparation, he said: “We had him for the last six weeks. I'd seen him over the winter, and when he came back to me I was pretty pleased with what I saw. The job's been easy to be honest, he's a lovely horse and has taken everything in his stride at the sales. I'm delighted he's going to the Honeyball’s, they're great people.
“We still have Romeo Coolio and Ascending Lark’s dam Miss Bailly. We didn’t cover her last year so we sent her to Ireland to be covered. If the mares have nothing at foot we tend to travel them, otherwise we keep them in Britain. She's been covered by Luxembourg.”
Anthony Honeyball’s £65,000 purchase was sold by Lulham Bloodstock and is a half-brother to two blacktype horses, out of a dual listed winner.
Willie and Mandy Bryan’s Worthen Hall Stables enjoyed a good day at the office, selling their two offerings for £85,000 and £75,000 apiece. The most expensive of the two, a Walk In The Park gelding out of a blacktype King’s Theatre mare, was sold on behalf of a syndicate, and was bought on behalf of another, according to Jerry McGrath
“He’s been bought for a syndicate to go point-to-pointing with the intention of being resold,” the session’s leading buyer explained. “A bunch of owners wanted to do something a bit different and have teamed up together, and I think he’ll go into training with Rob James.
“He’s a lovely, big, athletic type of horse. It’s a lot of money to give for him now but he’s by a good sire and I think he deserves that sort of price. They asked me to try to find a nice horse and this is what I came up with.”
Willie Bryan added: “He has a super page; there’s a lot going on in it. He’s by a cracking stallion too, so you can’t go too far wrong.”
Bryan was full of praise of Monbeg Stables’ purchase, a half-brother to a Grade 2 performer, by another Grange Stud sire in Getaway. “The Getaway was just a beautiful horse,” Bryan commented. “If he wins an Irish point the sky’s the limit with him really. He’s a very uncomplicated athletic individual. I couldn’t recommend him highly enough to people.”
Worthen Hall Stables earned third place in the consignors’ table topped by Lakefield Farm with a turnover of £283,000, while Peter Molony’s Rathmore Stud claimed runners-up honours for an aggregate of £186,500.