THE November Sale in Goffs is, by some considerable margin, the biggest logistical test of the year at Goffs.

Seven consecutive days of selling at all levels of the market see a huge number of people and horses passing through the complex which test operations to the extreme.

From the night crews who muck out and tidy the yards through the night, the sales office staff who ensure that all paper work for well over 1500 horses is in order, to the caterers, car park staff, cleaners and account team, it is a team effort that does not happen by accident and most of the clients are familiar faces and old friends.

A general briefing document is always circulated to all staff before every sale and for this marathon Henry Beeby adds a note that basically instructs “the customer is always right”.

I do wonder therefore if I am faced with some customer telling me that Henry is a ghastly fellow, am I to say - “You are quite right”?

There was some terrible weather at the beginning of the week and I was once again amazed just how many actual or aspiring players are totally unprepared for the rain.

Given that most of them work on farms either full or part-time it is extraordinary to see them shuffling through the inevitable sludge in Dubarry deck shoes and coats that are as water resistant as a sponge.

Another peculiar thing is the amount of people who do not go through the pedigree updates in advance of the sale.

One vendor, who offered a half-brother to a live contender for next year’s Derby remarked on how many high end buyers were totally unaware of the two-year-old’s eye-catching maiden win.

This was the first sale that I have needed to take my spectacles onto the rostrum and I did notice a few buyers of similar age holding their catalogues at arm’s length.

Of course resisting spectacles is ultimately pointless, rather like needing the bathroom in the middle of the night and trying to lie at a different angle to make the problem go away.

Despite being able to read my catalogue more clearly we have had the odd hiccough - at the time of writing the worst is having two acknowledgment dockets being signed for the same horse, which presented a dilemma like that which faced Solomon with two mothers claiming the same baby. Regrettably this was one situation where not everybody could be right.