THE Goffs February Sale is always something of a mixed bag and the first two days of trading saw weanlings that either fulfilled buyer’s requirements or emphatically did not. With an additional number being reoffered after failing to find a buyer in November there was always going to be some disappointments but those animals with any commercial appeal sold well.

Indeed there was a marginal increase in the price of the top weanling, as well as the number making €40,000 or more, while exactly the same numbers as 12 months ago made €30,000 or more. Although this makes life difficult for some breeders, I was unmoved by one vendor bemoaning the state of the market despite being associated with a weanling that made more than four times its price in England just 75 days previously.

The top price in this sector went to Collegelands Stud, for a colt by Dandy Man – a great success for his breeder Austin Lyons and his partner Ciara Eglington. Ciara has been presenting foals for many years at Goffs, often getting great prices for extended family members, friends and neighbours from the area around Summerhill in Co Meath so it was a well-deserved triumph for them.

Airlie Stud was another familiar name on the leaderboard with two of the top four weanlings but the leading consignor in this division was newcomer Cashel Bloodstock. This proved to be none other than the ubiquitous and loquacious Mick O’Dwyer, normally at the helm of the Baroda and Colbinstown draft.When I used to auction in Deauville, he was also a key member of Lady O’Reilly’s team at Haras de la Louviere, where his instructions to his French colleagues could be best described as linguistically unique.

Things did not actually get off to a great start for Cashel Bloodstock on the day before the sale - a foal got loose and jumped a post and rail fence out of the complex followed by a 12 foot deep drain. Pursued by Mick and a small posse the colt duly set off at speed across two large fields whereupon he met a cattle drinking place at the Goffs land boundary towards Straffan. The fact that it was faced with a stone wall would also prove no barrier and up and across he went.

Eventually the animal was tracked into a neighbouring farm, far enough away to require a horsebox journey back to Goffs. The story had a happy ending with the foal selling well and, if future success on the racecourse proves elusive, a second career in either show jumping or the hunting field could be among alternative plans. History does not relate if Mick was quite as chatty as usual in the immediate aftermath of his unexpected cross-country run.

competition

Thursday’s sale saw strong competition for the breeding stock. It looked for most of the day that the top lot at €200,000 would be Ballymacoll Stud’s Edith Wharton, a daughter of Dubawi and the great racemare Islington. She was bought by Andy Smith on behalf of Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm who was such a major investor in the autumn for the Wildenstein stock. With Paul Makin among the underbidders you could not ask for two more eminent buyers to be involved.

That price was however eclipsed close to the end by the €210,000 given by MAB for Military Angel, a high-class daughter of Big Brown. MAB is the business name used by Chantilly based Marc-Antoine Berghgracht, a regular buyer at Goffs.

What is perhaps less known is that he is not French but Belgian and was actually once a spotter in Goffs enroute to his career as a leading European bloodstock agent. It was a good note to finish the sale on and the Goffs team will now be fully occupied with inspections for the Land Rover Sale, for which applications have pretty much closed.