THE Goffs Doncaster Premier Yearling Sale got off to a very solid start on Tuesday, returning a set of statistics only marginally down on the equivalent day from last year.
Tuesday's session saw a clearance rate of 81% and an aggregate which matched the opening day on 2026. The average price dipped 2% and the median by 4%.
As widely expected, the top of the market held strong. There were 15 six-figure transactions (same as last year) and the day's top price of £250,000 was well ahead of last year's top price on either day of £190,000.
Hugo Palmer's Manor House Stables (owned by Michael Owen) was the day's top purchaser, spending £654,000 on eight horses. Rabbah Bloodstock paid £540,000 on just four horses, including the two top lots.
Heading the day's transactions was a £250,000 Blue Point colt sold by the McMurray family through Chasemore Farm. The colt is out of Happy Romance, a Dandy Man filly the McMurrays bought for £25,000 at Doncaster as a yearling. Trained by Richard Hannon, she won four blacktype races and was Group 1-placed before being retired to the paddocks.
Still owned by the McMurrays this was her first foal - and part of Andrew Black's first draft of yearlings consigned under the Chasemore banner.
“Happy Romance was the first filly we bought and put in training, and she did really well for us,” said Oliver McMurray. “We didn’t pay a massive amount for her in the grand scheme of things, and she ended up winning £750,000 so we were well in the green with her and thought it was worth having a punt and giving breeding from her a crack.
“This is her first offspring, so it’s going pretty well so far! She’s our only broodmare to date but we’ve got another filly in training with Richard Hannon who’s rated around 85. We’d love to build up a small broodmare band over time.
“Happy Romance is based at Chasemore Farm, which is a brilliant operation. Jack [Conroy], Pat [Sells] and the whole team are great to deal with. We were looking for a stud to put her in and Lezoo (bred by Chasemore) had won the Cheveley Park Stakes that year so they cropped up on the radar and we gave them a ring, and this is where we are now.
“I did the mating myself, as I love my pedigrees. Blue Point had just had a cracking season, with Rosallion having just won the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, and I noticed that he’d worked well with Danehill-line mares before. Sending him Happy Romance, being so precocious and speedy, just looked like a good commercial mating.”
McMurray said the Blue Point’s price-tag exceeded expectations.
“Jack had an idea of what she would sell for, but you can never go in expecting a certain amount, as the market dictates the price. I suppose I was hoping for £100,000 to £150,000, so I’m over the moon with that result,” he said.
“I found that more nerve-wracking than racing, I felt sick before she went through the ring. Racing is easy compared to that.
“We’ve already put a fair amount of money into breeding, so this was about balancing the books. We’ll probably sell the colts and keep the fillies in future. She’s got a Camelot colt foal and is in foal to Oasis Dream. We’ve got our fingers crossed for a filly.”
Trainer Ismail Mohammed, who signed the docket for the colt, reported: “We need the quality for our stable, and when we saw this colt, by Blue Point and out of a blacktype mare, we said, ‘He’s the type we need to buy.’
“He’s a good-looking horse and when we inspected him everything looked positive. Being by that sire, with that quality, he could be a Royal Ascot type. We’re looking to support the sport here in Britain as well as in Dubai.”
Mohammed, on behalf of Rabbah Bloodstock again, was also the winning bidder at £180,000 on Camas Park Stud’s widely admired No Nay Never half-sister to Group 3 winner Leading Spirit and listed-placed Spirit Of Light.
Chasemore Farm really dazzled on its debut consigning yearlings to Doncaster as it also sold the Sioux Nation filly out of the winning Camacho mare Lumacho - the last lot in the ring on the day - to Peter and Richard Fahey for £160,000.
Clive Cox returns to source
Clive Cox has compiled an enviable record with his Doncaster yearling buys, with Golden Horde, Harry Angel, Jasour, Reckless Abandon, Song Of The Clyde, Supremacy, Tis Marvellous and Wings Of War among the stars he has bought here.
He returned to the source in today’s opening session and his most expensive purchase was a Lope De Vega colt out of the Listed-winning and Group 3-placed Dubawi mare Declaring Love consigned by Lynn Lodge Stud.
“It’s an amazing pedigree and I loved him as an individual,” said Cox. “I’m just thrilled to have secured him. He walked the walk so I’m really pleased to have him.
“I’ve not had many by the stallion before but he’s got some very enviable statistics, and the cross with Dubawi mares has worked particularly well. It was really as an individual that I adored him, though. I’m so pleased to be taking him home.”
Great touch
Barry Kennedy and Anna Murphy’s Rigsdale Stud landed a magnificent touch when selling a filly by Sioux Nation to JB Bloodstock for £150,000. She had been pinhooked for €70,000 at the Goffs February Sale earlier this year.
“I’m thrilled with that result,” said Kennedy. “We bought her in February so it was a quick turnaround but everything fell into place. We were lucky that Sun Goddess (also by Sioux Nation) came out of the sale and appeared on the front cover of the catalogue to remind everyone what Sioux Nation fillies can do.
“We were looking for a nice filly in November and didn’t quite get one, and we saw this girl in February and just loved her – she’s got a beautiful action. It’s the most we’ve ever paid for one so it’s nice to get a return.
“Two lads at Castlehyde Stud had a leg in her – Donagh Healy and Darragh Connell. They work with the stallions, including Sioux Nation, every day so it’s great for them too. It’s their first time getting involved – maybe they were my lucky charm.”
Saudi Derby winner
Weylands Stud’s Mehmas half-brother to Saudi Derby Cup winner Al Haram out of the Tagula mare Liberamente has a fine Doncaster heritage, as his granddam Come April was sourced here for little money and Liberamente’s brilliant full-brother Limato was bought as a yearling in the same ring for £41,000.
He wrote another chapter in that history today when selling to Peter Fahey and Al Haram’s owner Abdullah Al-Sabah for £150,000.
“We were expecting him to make a good price,” said Weylands Stud’s Seamus Phelan. “He’s a smasher. He gives you the impression he’s going to be a very fast, sharp two-year-old, and the pedigree made sense. Al Haram is an unbeaten Group 3 winner in Saudi Arabia and I gather his connections think he could be even better in time. I hope this horse is as good for the same connections.
“We’re just delighted. It’s a great result for the whole family as we’re only a small operation with three mares. The foals are born at home and we see them every day, we live and breathe it. We’re based in Straffan, about one mile from the K Club. It’s a famous piece of land that’s excellent for raising stock.
"I’ve been selling yearlings for 47 years now and of all those horses I’ve sold I have an 86% strike-rate of winners and 11 per cent strike-rate of blacktype.
"I bought [the granddam] Come April for £3,800 here in Doncaster many years ago. She had a series of foals including Limato, the champion sprinter, and Liberamente, a full-sister to Limato who I kept to breed from.
“Al Haram is Liberamente's first foal and she has a Dark Angel two-year-old colt called Clink who is entered for a Class 4 maiden next Thursday. This guy is the third foal and then we have a New Bay filly foal who looks exactly like him: an absolute beauty.”
Busy day
Ed Sackville of SackvilleDonald and Hugo Palmer’s Manor House Stables had a busy day, with their haul of purchases including three six-figure lots: a Tally-Ho Stud-consigned son of Mehmas and the Listed-winning Mastercraftsman mare Guilded at £150,000; the Grangemore Stud-offered Chaldean filly out of the Listed-placed Dark Angel mare Fauvette at £140,000; and Manister House Stud’s No Nay Never colt out of the well-bred Exceed And Excel mare Kerena at £130,000.
Sackville said of the Chaldean filly: “She’s been bought for Simon and Michelle Orange, the owners of Sale Shark who won the Roses Stakes at York last week. She’s by Chaldean, who’s obviously a son of Frankel, and Frankel has crossed very well with Dark Angel and also Dansili, so this filly made a lot of sense.”
Blackbeard colt
Conor and Kathryn Quirke struck the winning bid of £125,000 for Bearstone Stud's Blackbeard half-brother to talented sprinter Washington Heights.
"He’s another big black bull for RP Racing," reported Conor. "His immediate family is very fast for all that there is stamina further back. I don’t think Blackbeard has done much wrong yet and I’d say his stock will get up to seven furlongs, although this one looks like a sprinter.
"The sire-line is the main draw. No Nay Never gets you those lovely, big, black horses who sprint. I personally think the Scat Daddy sire-line is manna from heaven in that we were going down the route of small speed stallions covering small speed mares in Europe, and speed was becoming very small. It’s a vital sire-line as it imparts size, good looks and speed.
"We’ll bring him home, get him broken and you’d imagine that he’ll be looking to get going early next year."
The sale concludes on Wednesday.