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IAN Ferguson bought two of the top three lots at the Goffs Yorton Sale in Wales on Thursday.
Ferguson, whose clients include Ronnie Bartlett and Wilson Dennison, did not say on whose behalf he was acting when paying £80,000 and £62,000 for a pair of two-year-old stores at the boutique auction curated by Yorton Farm owner David Futter.
The sale saw 32 of the 36 horses offered sell for a total of £935,000, up 3% despite selling one horse less than a year ago. The average price of £29,219 was up 7% and the median was up 18%.
Two lots shared the day's top price of £80,000. The first was the only son of Choeur Du Nord in the catalogue. Out of a Kendargent mare and from the blacktype family of Baghadur and Bonaventura, he was purchased by French trainer Gabriel Leenders, who bought three lots for a total of £126,000.
Ferguson matched that price when giving £80,000 for a son of Bathyrhon who hails from an outstanding family, being out of a half-sister to Gold Dancer, Al Dancer and Tzar's Dancer.
The Northern Ireland agent spent £62,000 on a son of by Guiliani.
French agent Nicky Bertran de Balanda bought a son of Nathaniel out of the Grade 1 winning mare Stormy Ireland for £60,000, and the first lot in the ring, a Blue Bresil gelding out of the Grade 1 winning mare Utopie des Bordes, was bought by Dai Walters for £55,000.
Peter Molony's Rathmore Stud paid £40,000 for a gelding by Masterstroke.
Yorton Farm owner David Futter commented: “Today has been another successful chapter in the Goffs Yorton Sale, which celebrated its seventh running today. From its inception in 2019, this sale has come a long way, and we are hugely grateful to everyone who has supported us over the years – it’s that support that keeps this event going and allows us to do what we love. It’s always a pleasure to welcome everyone back to the stud and it was great to see so many make the trip today.
“We also wish to extend our sincere thanks to the Goffs team for all their help and support – they are a great team to work with and together we have grown this sale into the success it is today. On behalf of the whole team at Yorton, we wish everyone the very best with their purchases, we look forward to cheering them on in the seasons to come, and we now look to the eighth Yorton Sale next year.”
Goffs UK managing director Tim Kent added: “It’s always a pleasure to come back to Yorton and sell at this wonderful farm. It really is a unique event on the sale’s calendar and it’s great to see it well supported once again. A key measure of success is seeing those who have bought in the past return to buy more and we have seen a lot of that today, which comes as no surprise given the level of success this sale is enjoying on the track, headlined by over 80 winners and counting and an impressive 53% winners-to-runners ratio.
“Dave, Birte, Lester and Riley put so much into this event, they are a pleasure to work with, and it’s great to see the key metrics for the sale show positive growth. We wish to extend our sincere thanks for their partnership with Goffs and we look forward to seeing this year’s graduates continue the impressive strike rate of this high-achieving sale.”
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