THE very first lot into the ring at Monday’s Summer Sale at Goffs UK set the tone. Dontyawantme was bought back for £10,000, and by the close of trade, the clearance rate stood at 62.5%.

As Goffs UK managing director Tim Kent later said: “Trade was strong for those who supplied what the market wanted,” but horses outside that bracket struggled to sell.

Comparisons to previous renewals would be unfair, as last year’s sale featured the Chris Giles dispersal which produced £660,000 record-breaker Regent’s Stroll. These mixed sales can vary hugely year to year, depending on the entries received, and the pinnacle of this year’s offering was Tim Vaughan’s Bumpy Evans, knocked down to Richard Lee Racing for £60,000.

Twice successful in point-to-points, the now seven-year-old gelding was offered off the back of a four-timer over fences, his latest victory coming by all of 28 lengths in a Class 5 handicap chase at Carlisle. Monday’s price marked a profit on the €30,000 Tom Malone paid for him at the Derby Sale, where he rewarded his €4,000 foal price paid by Hillhead Stables.

Profit realised

Bleu d’Enfer was another to increase his value, as Highflyer Bloodstock’s €30,000 Derby Sale buy resold for £55,000, with two wins to his name. Jimmy Fyffe signed for the Stuart Crawford-trained grey, who previously carried the double green silks of Simon Munir and Isaac Souede.

Watch Hill carried Crawford’s own colours when runner-up in a Clonmel bumper last month and the promising five-year-old brought £31,000 from New Vision Bloodstock and Adam Pogson at Doncaster. Crawford had picked up the Workforce gelding for €13,500 two years prior.

The highest priced point-to-pointer of the sale was Colin Bowe’s four-year-old mare Pigeon Forge, who was knocked down to Tom Malone for £41,000. The daughter of Well Chosen was last seen in May when winning her second start by 10 lengths at Necarne.

Mill House Stud consigned a dispersal of breeding stock and young horses owned by the late Niall Farrell, the highlight of which was a two-year-old gelding by Golden Horn, which brought £48,000 from Dan Astbury and Joey Logan.

The bay is a half-brother to smart five-year-old Classical Creek, who won a point-to-point and bumper before finishing third in a listed bumper. Mill House Stud retained a three-year-old Nathaniel half-sister to the pair for £20,000 that same afternoon.

They were among 19 stores sold, from 48 offered (40%), for an average price of £8,395 and median of £4,500.

Happy overall

At the close of business, Goffs’ Tim Kent commented: “As we have seen in other sales across the sector, trade was strong for those who supplied what the market wanted, and as we saw at May’s Spring HIT/PTP Sale, trade for the horses-in-training was strong, as evidenced by prices of £60,000 for the promising chaser Bumpy Evans, £55,000 for Bleu d’Enfer and £41,000 for Irish pointer Pigeon Forge.

“The Niall Farrell Dispersal also offered some quality horses, with youngstock by the likes of Nathaniel and Golden Horn selling up to £48,000. The store section of the sale was unfortunately much tougher and certainly reflected the challenges this sector of the market has been facing over the last 18 months.

“Last year this sale produced record figures courtesy of the Chris Giles Dispersal which sold horses to a world record price of £660,000, so that was always going to be a tough act to follow, but these sales exist to offer an outlet and some years you get something special to offer, like Regent’s Stroll last year.

“Overall, we are happy with the results achieved and we now turn our attention to the Premier Yearling Sale which will be held here at Doncaster on Wednesday, August 27th and Thursday, August 28th.”