BOTH days of this week’s Goffs Orby Book 1 Sale were headlined by yearling fillies, one each purchased by Coolmore and Godolphin.

M.V. Magnier was the biggest spender over the two days, while Godolphin’s representative Anthony Stroud kept his considerable powder dry until the second session.

To an extent, both purchases were predictable. Minnie Hauk has been a wonderful racemare from Ballydoyle, and she could have her swansong this weekend in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Even if she runs again after that, Magnier said that she will be covered in the spring, and suggested that the partners in the triple Group 1 Oaks winner (Irish, English and Yorkshire) would like her first covering to be by Justify.

That Ashford Stud resident sired Minnie Hauk’s half-sister, who sold on Monday for €1.4 million from the Camas Park draft.

Bred by Ben and Lucy Sangster, the filly did achieve something her sibling did, and that was to top the Orby Sale. Minnie Hauk brought €1.85 million at the sale in 2023. This year’s offering has an outstanding pedigree, also being half-sister to another Group 1 performer, the Prix d’Ispahan second Tilsit who won the Group 2 Summer Mile. The filly’s grandam was classic winner Zenda, and she in turn left us with an exceptional son in Kingman.

”Great supporters”

Magnier said: “In fairness to Ben and Lucy, they have been great supporters of ours for God knows how long, and Ollie is doing great as a trainer. It’s a great result for them. Justify is having a very good year again. Haffner [won the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes] looks like he could be a very good horse next year. If [this filly] is anywhere near as good as her sister, I think we will be doing alright.”

Ben Sangster added: “Delighted, delighted. She is going to the right hotel, Ballydoyle, which is a key factor for the family, and I’m delighted with the price. Couldn’t be happier. It’s a long day isn’t it, but it was worth the wait. Multilingual is in foal to Frankel, and we have no foal. She is due in February, touch wood. I was reasonably relaxed because I knew that she was a collector’s item, and now she has gone to the best place possible.”

Modern Games

Magnier made a strong play for the best lot on Tuesday, but failed to advance after Anthony Stroud’s bid of €1,300,000 for a first-crop daughter of Modern Games. The filly had one of the best updates in the sale after her half-sister won the Group 1 Prix Morny. She was sold by Tom Gaffney’s Churchtown House Stud and bred by him with his brother Michael’s Hawes Stud. Michael wrapped Stroud in a bear hug after the sale.

This was one of two purchases by Stroud for Godolphin, both by Modern Games, and their presence was a welcome relief for the sale. “Senorita Bonita is very good, as she showed when she won the Morny,” Stroud said. “There was a genuine excuse for her run the other day. She’s undoubtedly talented and there’ll be other good days for her. She’s a top, top two-year-old.

“The Gaffney family are fantastic breeders; they do a great job. We’re delighted to have a half-sister to a very good horse. It’s great to see M.V. bidding so strongly on a Modern Games.” Stroud smiled at the suggestion Magnier did not bid again to ensure he bought the sale’s top lot. “Quite right too!” he quipped, adding “they’re a huge supporter of the sale and great people.”

An ecstatic Michael Gaffney could have talked for hours. “I have to thank my family, my brother Tom, it’s brilliant. I also have to thank Mr Stroud, David Loder and all at Darley for their faith in our family. That’s every breeder’s dream. It’s nerve-wracking, and it’s brilliant, and it’s the most fantastic feeling of all time. This is what dreams are made of, and this is the pavilion for dreams.

Failure to success

“It’s unbelievable what a horse can do. In 12 months, I’ve gone from trying to sell her sister at the yearling sales, and failing, to this; it’s unreal. I’m so thankful to everybody involved, my wife and my kids and everybody at home, and the lads here with me, Carol and Rachel. They’ve done a super job.

“If you sell something and it can win a listed race, you’ve done an amazing job. To say we’ve gone from a maiden to second at Royal Ascot, winning a Group 2, winning a Group 1 and now this. I’ve sky rocketed! I have a Sioux Nation filly foal and the dam’s in foal to Camille Pissaro. If you have a good family, you try and work with it and build it, and that’s what we’ve always done. You try to tell the lads, have faith, hold the line and it does come right. It’s taken me 40 years, but hold the line!”

DAVID and Tamso Cox’s Baroda Stud sold €6.3 million worth of yearlings in Book 1, and the 28 that traded averaged €225,143. They ranged from €50,000 upwards, with something for every pocket.

At the upper echelons they sold four of the top 10 lots in Book 1, all of which made €520,000 or more. The least expensive of the quartet was one of the first highlights of the week, a Wootton Bassett own-brother to the stakes-placed Archers Bay. His dam Foxtrot Liv placed in the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas. U.S. bloodstock agent Mike Akers secured him.

The Baroda highlight on day one was a Blue Point full-brother to Folsom Blues, and that colt recently ran away with the Group 1 Goffs-sponsored National Stakes, having earlier placed second in the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes. He was signed for by Joseph O’Brien, who has a long association with the family and trains Folsom Blues for the breeders, Al Shira’aa Bloodstock. The colt realised €750,000.

“His pedigree made him an obvious colt for us, and his full-brother has done very well for the stable,” O’Brien said. “We’ve had a bunch of those siblings and there’s a lot of similarities between them; they’re all useful little horses. I’m delighted to have him.” The identity of the buyer was not revealed.

If Monday was a good day for Baroda, then Tuesday was even better. In the space of 30 minutes, they sold colts by Sea The Stars and Modern Games for €800,000 and €750,000 respectively. Abdullah Ali Althani bought the former, while Anthony Stroud was making the first purchase for Godolphin at the sale with the Modern Games.

The impeccably-bred Sea The Stars is a full-brother to Group 1 Prix Vermeille winner Teona, and out of another top-level winner in Ambivalent. That daughter of Authorized won the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes, and is also dam of Al Hilalee, successful in the Group 2 Prix Hocquart. Baroda was acting for Ace Stud in the sale.

”Need luck”

Althani commented: “He is very well bred, but he has to perform now. Not every horse with a good pedigree runs well, and not every horse with a bad pedigree will run badly; you need luck as well. We’ll wait and see if this is a good one, and with his pedigree we might have to wait a few years. He is bred to win the Derby. Isn’t that everyone’s ambition? He is going to William Haggas.” Stephen Collins’ determined play for the colt came up short, while Kia Joorabchian was an interested party.

David Cox added: “He’s a gorgeous horse. We had him on the farm before, he went back to Ace Stud, and came back in the summer. He was in great shape when he arrived, and then Brian and Max and the lads did a fabulous job. He’s the same as his brother that we had before here, that Godolphin bought [€1 million as a foal in 2024].”

It wasn’t long before Cox was back in the limelight thanks to the Modern Games first foal out of an unraced half-sister to a pair of stakes winners. There is speed in the family, with Group 1 Prix de la Foret winner Toylsome and Group 1 Flying Five Stakes winner Romantic Proposal featuring, as does the Ascot Gold Cup and St Leger winner Leading Light.

Excellent foal

Stroud spoke about his €750,000 signing, who was purchased at Goffs last year for €225,000. Baroda Stud consigned him for Longview Stud’s Eugene Daly. “He is a very good mover. He really was an excellent foal. He’s by Modern Games and this is his first crop. He raced for Charlie Appleby and Godolphin and won the French 2000 Guineas, at the Breeders’ Cup [twice] and more. He was a resolute horse and Dubawi is becoming a sire of sires.

“He looks like all our foals and yearlings at home by him. He has all of the credentials to be a very good stallion. It was a strong price, but that is what the good ones cost. Longview are very good at what they do. Importantly, they produce good horses who do it on the racetrack.”

Cox spoke: “He was an expensive foal, but a gorgeous foal. A few people who underbid him [last year] came up to view him, to see what he turned out like, and you could see their faces drop as soon as they saw him. They knew they’d missed out by not going that extra bid. He has a lot of strength and is a really good mover. Bombproof is the word I’d use for him.”

BROTHERS Eddie and Michael O’Leary both cashed in on the strong trade. The Lynn Lodge owner received €600,000 from Ace Stud for a Night Of Thunder colt, while Gigginstown’s Michael sold a Wootton Bassett colt for €500,000.

Ace Stud’s bidder was online and always had the upper hand on M.V. Magnier. The prize was a colt out of Zahratty, a daughter of Muhaarar, who is broodmare sire of this year’s dual Group 1 winner Almarqam. The colt is a grandson of the late Lady O’Reilly’s Beach Bunny, who was runner-up in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes. She bred Dubai Mile, winner of the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud.

Ace Stud’s Paul Curran said: “We’re going back to the well with Night Of Thunder. He’s not done us too badly before. We liked him on first inspection and saw him four times; he kept getting nicer every time. He’s heading to be pre-trained by George Peckham and then goes to Andrew Balding.” Ace Stud had Group 1 winner Gewan, by Night Of Thunder, with Balding.

“It’s a huge result, for the team at home and at the sales,” said Megan O’Leary. “It’s great to get a price like that for a homebred. The last Night Of Thunder we sold to Ace Stud was Evolutionist; we hope this one is just as good.” Evolutionist, now a three-year-old, also sold for €600,000. She won the Group 3 Prix de la Grotte this year and was runner-up in the Group 1 1000 Guineas. Eddie O’Leary added: “Fair dues to Goffs. The clearance rate has been very good and the figures look good.”

Gigginstown House Stud

A day earlier, Lynn Lodge consigned the Gigginstown House-bred Wootton Bassett colt out of No Kay Never. After sending out the winner and runner-up in the Goffs Million, Paddy Twomey combined with Charlie Bond and Jason Kelly for this colt.

“He was Paddy’s pick of the sale,” said Charlie Bond, “so it made sense to buy him. He is a strong type by Wootton Bassett, who’s flying.” Bond raced one of the sire’s best, Maranoa Charlie, who covered more than 230 mares in his first season at Tally-Ho. Bond added: “The horses we buy are the trainers’ picks, so they fall on their own swords. This is the first year we’ve really got AI involved after the trainers have chosen the horses for us, so it’ll be interesting to see how they turn out.

“The trainers come with a shortlist and we compare it with the one we put together with AI. Then our own vets will look them over and cut down the list again if need be. We’ve got AI within the tyre business, so it made sense to apply it to the horses too. We’re checking all the pedigrees and then the horse’s looks as well. Hopefully, by doing that, we can take the racing operation up a notch.”

IN a week when doubling-up was the fashion, Bill Dwan’s The Castlebridge Consignment was another to have two lots among the Orby Book 1 top 10.

One of four colts in the sale by Frankel, the one that was most anticipated was the son of six-time Group 1 winner Laurens. Billy Jackson Stops (JS Bloodstock), standing with trainer George Scott, had the €575,000 winning bid. Laurens’ first foal is a winner, and her third is Endrita (Dubawi), an unraced two-year-old filly. Having done the bidding, Jackson Stops left the talking to Scott.

“I just thought the horse improved all week,” he said. “As the week went on, he grew in confidence. We had him valued a little bit lower to begin, but when he came up to the ring he just grew another leg. The pedigree speaks for itself. He is almost a collector’s item. Juddmonte was underbidder as far as I could see. It’s a sale that we have been very lucky at in the past.

“He is for Victorious Forever; Shaikh Nasser was on the phone, and when he is, he is always a little bit stronger. We’ve got lots of nice horses, but are looking to make it sustainable. While nothing is guaranteed, at least if you end up with a very good horse, then you’ve got a pedigree behind you. It made sense for the operation to take a chance on a horse like that. The operation is moving in a direction where they want to be standing stallions.”

Wells Watson bought this year’s Group 1 Irish Oaks winner Johanna Walsh, who was on the front of the catalogue, at this sale two years ago from Sunderland Holding for €460,000, with Andrew Cary. The pair showed patience on day one, and bought the last lot sold in that session. This was a filly by Night Of Thunder for €550,000. Her dam is the Group 3 winner and Group 1 French 1000 Guineas runner-up, and was another bred by the Tsui family. She will, like Johanna Walsh, join Joseph O’Brien.

Watson hopes his new purchase is a Guineas filly. He said: “I’ve always wanted a Night Of Thunder filly.

“I have a beautiful Night Of Thunder colt, and she looks just like him. I am so excited.”

IT seemed likely that Goffs this week faced an uphill battle to match last year’s phenomenal, record-breaking outcome to Book 1 of the Goffs Orby Sale. The company’s group chief executive Henry Beeby admitted in pre-sale interviews that a good result would be to get close to the 2025 outcome, though he believed vendors had sent the best selection of yearlings for many a year.

Small wonder then that he was positively beaming at the end of two days’ selling on Tuesday night when that quality catalogue in fact delivered yet another set of records, for turnover, average and median, and it was the €100,000 median mark that was especially notable, the first time that figure was reached.

All sales companies produce press statements at the conclusion of trade, almost always written to a certain formula which is distinctive to the different firms. The ones from Goffs are no different, though Beeby does try to vary his somewhat. That said, he uses familiar terms, among them “It’s all about the horses”. He started this year’s statement with those very words, thanked vendors, buyers, Irish Thoroughbred Marketing and his own team, all worthy of mention.

He continued: “Every year we implore Irish breeders to send us a share of their best and we felt they had listened to our entreaties like never before in 2026,” going on to say that this led to “two days of truly vibrant trade for an Orby Book 1 that has set new benchmarks for every metric. Twelve months ago, we celebrated a record-breaking sale and a trade that has consistently climbed since the pandemic, in contrast to market trends.

“Every time a record is set, the challenge is to match, or even better it, and that becomes a greater achievement each time. So, to return a record average, record median, a clearance rate of 88% and a sale headed by two seven-figure lots is very gratifying, and testament to the yearlings presented.”

Wrapping up, he added: “We know there are alternatives, but the Irish National Yearling Sale exists to serve Irish breeders, with Orby Book 1 at the top of the market. The huge numbers from home and abroad that have descended on Kildare Paddocks demonstrate the ongoing appeal of Orby yearlings, the USP of the Goffs Two Million Series, and the uniquely special welcome and customer care provided by the passionate Goffs team and our friends at Irish Thoroughbred Marketing.

“The record-breaking statistics have flowed from 48 hours of depth and consistency, with a remarkable increase in the number of yearlings surpassing €750,000 and €200,000 (15 more), while there were 197 who realised €100,000 or more. One thing is certain - we’ll cheer every one of them home.”