The ongoing reduction in scale of the Shadwell Estate empire provided the Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale with a huge boost as the two-day action kicked off on Tuesday with a level of trade which was unprecedented for this sale and yielded four six-figure transactions headed by a €180,000 son of Dark Angel.

Over the course of the two days there are 29 Shadwell-owned yearlings on offer and the chance to pick up some especially well-bred sorts from families that the late Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum cultivated over the course of decades wasn’t lost on those in attendance as well as others looking on from further afield.

This in turn was reflected in the final figures for Tuesday’s session which yielded a turnover of just under €3.2 million, an average of €14,796 and a median of €8,000.

As expected these tallies all represented huge gains on the corresponding figures from previous years while it was also very notable that the clearance rate for the day came in a hugely impressive 91%.

Dark Angel colt

The Shadwell-owned yearlings, which were sold through Derrinstown Stud, yielded a quartet of six-figure transactions and the most expensive of these was the €180,000 son of Dark Angel who was bought online by Adam Driver.

This colt is out of a winning Dawn Approach mare whose dam is Kevin Prendergast’s Moyglare Stakes runner-up Shimah and they hail from a family that the veteran Curragh trainer has excelled with over the last 20 years.

Newmarket-based Driver was also to the fore earlier in the session when he forked out €155,000 for a Dark Angel filly out of the Queen Mary Stakes heroine Maqaasid who also formed part of the Shadwell draft.

“On pedigree they were two standout horses and I’ve been very kindly assisted by Tom Clover who sent me videos of both and they are two very good individuals to go with their pedigrees,” said Driver.

“Luckily I had a client who was keen to get a couple of more yearlings and it was fantastic to have this opportunity to buy two yearlings like this from Shadwell. They will go back to Jo Fenton to be broken in and then around December time we will decide on where they will go into training,” added the agent.

Shamardal filly

The tone for the day was set by a Derrinstown-consigned daughter of the much-missed Shamardal as the seven lot into the ring this morning fetched a bid of €170,000 from agent John Kilbride.

“She’s been bought for an existing client who is looking to build up a broodmare band,” reported Kilbride whose purchase is a half-sister to a pair of blacktype performers from the family of Nathaniel.

“We’re jumping up the ladder buying this filly but it’s a chance to get into a wonderful family and these are pedigrees that Sheikh Hamdan developed over many years so we are delighted to have gotten her. I would imagine that she will go into training in England and a decision on a trainer will be made in due course,” added the agent.

Bert Kerr also struck for a prized Shadwell offering when going to €140,000 for a colt by Teofilo. This half-brother to two winners is out of Rawaaq who won at Group 3 level for Dermot Weld and Sheikh Hamdan back in 2013.

Freyne purchase

The highest price achieved outside of the Shadwell draft was achieved by a daughter of Profitable from Abbeville Stud who cost owner Garrett Freyne €95,000.

From the second crop of a sire whose first runners have made a significant impact this year, this filly is out of the five-times winner and Listed Abergwaun Stakes second Ostatnia.

Another popular Shadwell offering was a Lope De Vega colt out of a half-sister to Makfi who cost Willie Browne €68,000.

“I thought he was reasonable value in the market and he will go breezing next year. We’ll just see how we go before deciding where to go with him but he’s a colt with a lot of options and he’s a well bred son of a leading sire from a great family,” reported the leading breeze-up consignor.

COMPARATIVE FIGURES

YEAR CAT OFF SOLD AGGREGATE AVERAGE MEDIAN

2021 270 234 214 €3,151,500 €14,796 €8,000

2020 296 167 102 €688,100 €6,746 €4,200

2019 290 254 191 €1,130,400 €5,918 €3,800

2018 290 255 149 €862,150 €5,786 €3,200

2017 277 245 176 €1,288,750 €7,324 €5,000