MAJESTIC Queen was the appropriately named top lot at the Goffs eve-of-Royal Ascot sale held in Kensington Orangery, in the heart of London. When auctioneer Henry Beeby’s gavel fell the bidding had soared to £825,000 in favour of Darley’s John Ferguson.

The daughter of Kheleyf has been magnificently handled by Tracey Collins for owner Tommy Rogers to win at Group 3 level twice, in Ireland and England, and she missed her intended engagement at Royal Ascot following a post-sale conversation between Ferguson and Collins. A solid race record and a high-class pedigree page would surely point to a future breeding date with Dubawi.

While a bare look at the figures for the Goffs London Sale might at first suggest that the sales company may have been somewhat disappointed, Goffs chief executive Beeby was far from despondent. He pointed to the delight of the vendors of Majestic Queen with the price she obtained – much higher than expectations – and was quick to say that the sale would be staged again.

Last year’s sale had two seven-figure transactions when the highlights were the sales of Cappella Sansevero and the mare Crystal Gaze and her Frankel foal. This year’s catalogue may have lacked such rarities but there were a number of significant transactions, while some reserves seemed on occasion to be a little on the optimistic side. Buyers from around the world were certainly present and the sales company had left no stone unturned in their efforts to attract either entries or potential purchasers.

BROODMARE PLAN

The Jamie Osborne-trained Mirage was sold for £380,000 to Dr Jim Hay and she was due to run in Friday’s Albany Stakes for her new owner, who also sees a role for her among his broodmare band in due course. The two-year-old daughter of Oasis Dream is closely related to the ultra-smart Power, now at stud under the Coolmore banner.

Consecutive lots consigned by Middlelham Park Racing - Hail The Hero and Realtra - sold for £290,000 each. Bloodstock agent Tom Malone signed for the former, a three-year-old son of Galileo (originally trained by Aidan O’Brien but moved this year to David O’Meara) who won a maiden over seven furlongs at Doncaster back in March before running in midfield in the 2000 Guineas. He subsequently finished fourth in a listed race at Epsom and was unplaced in Thursday’s Britannia Handicap.

The top-class Japanese horse Spielberg ran at Royal Ascot on Wednesday in the colours of Hidetoshi Yamamoto. The owner had just arrived in England when his bid of £290,000 was enough to secure the three-year-old Dark Angel filly Realtra. Yamamoto was accompanied by trainer Roger Varian who will train the listed-placed filly who was handled until now by Richard Fahey. She finished down the field in the Sandringham Handicap.

Leading Qatari trainer Jassim Ghazali took ownership of Black Beach when he bid £220,000 for the juvenile son of Footstepsinthesand. This smart maiden was excellently handled by Johnny Levins and ran third in a listed race at the Curragh behind Round Two and Washington DC. Black Beach finished 10th in the following day’s Coventry Stakes.

MURTAGH COUP

In addition to the top lot with form, John Ferguson also bought a second Irish-trained winner when he gave £190,000 for Duca Valentinois from Johnny Murtagh’s yard. The dual Curragh handicap winner is by Holy Roman Emperor. The price paid was the same as that given earlier by owner Colin Bird for Critical Risk and this son of Pivotal will now join Luca Cumani after Charlie Gordon-Watson made the winning bid. Brian Meehan trained him to win at Sandown and Doncaster. He was balloted out of Thursday’s Britannia Handicap.

The opening breeze-up section saw the horses present at Kensington and there were some early fireworks when Lot 6 entered the ring.

The two-year-old son of Speightstown was offered by Willie Browne’s Mocklershill and David Redvers had the say at £200,000 for him. This equates to about $310,000 and left some profit after his purchase last year for $200,000.

This price was some way ahead of the next best breezer, a £90,000 Dark Angel colt out of a half-sister to Pivotal Point. Offered from Horse Park Stud, he was sold by John Cullinane to Pat Gallagher, an owner with Gary Moore and that partnership won recently with Freemason.

The top-priced breeze-up lot was immediately preceded into the ring by a son of Kodiac from Knockanglass Stables and this half-brother to three winners was knocked down to SackvilleDonald for £82,000. This was a bid more than the £80,000 given by Peter and Ross Doyle Bloodstock for a Lope De Vega filly from Jim McCartan’s Gaybrook Lodge Stud. She is out of a half-sister to the multiple Grade 2 winner Katdogawn.

The levels of success at this sale will always be dependent on the quality of the entries and this can vary from year to year.

The figures were always going to suffer by comparison with last year’s debut sale, but the concept and execution of the sale was top-class and it was a perfect aperitif before the racing world sat down to the enjoy the banquet that is racing at Royal Ascot.