SENSATIONAL.

That is the only description of the amazing trade this week headed by an especially vibrant day of sustained demand at the top of the market on Wednesday.

As ever we extend our sincere thanks to every vendor as we know we are nothing without their wonderful horses and we are so grateful for the huge support from so many vendors who choose the Irish National Foal Sale for their best foals.

That allows us to credibly promote the sale as featuring the cream of the Irish foal crop which drives every serious buyer of foals to Kildare Paddocks.

Indeed, we have welcomed a huge group of purchasers headed, of course, by the mighty Irish pinhookers who have been taken on by bidders from the UK and across Europe. They were joined by several significant end-users, not least from Japan, who bought to race all of which led to a trade of strength, depth and vibrancy from start to finish.

As was very clear at an excellent renewal of the Orby Sale, quality is what is selling best and that was illustrated by the strongest clearance rate of 85% coming on Wednesday and we look forward to offering many of those top foals at the Orby next year following so many great pinhooking successes here in September.

The unique Goffs Customer Loyalty Scheme makes that option especially appealing as does the depth and diversity of our international buying bench this year. In fact the only real complaint from several overseas buyers at Orby this year was that we ran out of top-tier yearlings so that is the target next year.