THERE are encouraging signs for vendors ahead of this evening’s Goffs Classic Breeze Up Sale.

Now in its second year, the sale will see approximately 65 two-year-olds offered for sale at Goffs after racing at the Curragh.

The horses breezed at Naas Racecourse on Monday and reportedly there were plenty of potential buyers viewing.

Last year’s sale saw 39 of the 46 horses offered sold at a median price of €45,000.

Con Marnane of Bansha House Stables has three lots in today’s catalogue. He said: “We were very happy with the turnout at Naas. There looked to be a few more buyers than expected there.

“There’s definitely a space for this sale because a lot of horses are just not mature enough for the early sales. Last year I thought Goffs would have been better off selling horses off the screen at the Curragh rather than getting people to leave the track, after maybe a few drinks, and go to Goffs. But it worked very well and everybody was very happy with the sale.”

Referring to his own draft, Marnane said: “I have a Mehmas filly there who got a cut at Doncaster. She was stitched up and after five minutes you wouldn’t even know where the cut was. She’s going down well, and I have a nice Starman colt there as well. It’s just great to have an opportunity to move on these horses.”

It’s been an up-and-down year for the breeze-up market. “We were unlucky earlier in the year. The war in the Middle East affected us. A lot of buyers from that part of the world didn’t play at all.

“But Fairyhouse was fantastic. Irish Thoroughbred Marketing did a fantastic job bringing in buyers from Europe, Malaysia and America. They are very well looked after when they come over.”

Marnane also suggested that consignors probably paid too much for yearlings last year but he is optimistic that his breeze-up colleagues will weather this storm.

“We survived foot-and-mooth, the ash cloud, Covid and a couple of recessions in the middle of that, and we’re still banging away!”