Courtesy of Emma Berry, Kelsey Riley and TDN Europe

At A Glance

>> A son of Invincible Spirit (Ire) offered by the Irish National Stud topped the session when sold to Stonestreet Stables for £420,000 (AU$757,000) .

>> One of the highlights of the day came for Baroda Stud, which sold a Dark Angel (Ire) filly (Lot 153) for £400,000 (AU$721,366) to CBR Bloodstock, bidding through a phone call to Goffs’ Joey Cullen.

>> The progeny of Mehmas (Ire) have wasted no time in showcasing their sire’s promise this season and his son, Lot 51, brought the hammer down at £330,000 (AU$595,000) to the bid of Hugo Merry.

>> The 165 yearlings sold throughout the day brought an aggregate of £11,504,000 (AU$20.7 million) with the corresponding figure during the same session last year was just over €23 million (AU$37.6 million).

>> The average price was £69,721 (AU$125,688) and the median £50,000 (AU$90,141).

>> Direct comparisons are not being made by Goffs until the end of the Sale, but the most encouraging statistic to be drawn from the first day of trade was the 81 per cent clearance rate .

NB: With the sale’s move from Ireland to England came a change of currency from euros to pounds

Drop in trade expected

On a day without the millionaire highlights that we have become accustomed to at the Goffs Orby Sale, trade struggled to keep pace with recent strong renewals of this auction, a factor which had been widely expected in advance and has been seen throughout the 2020 yearling market.

Despite the industry being fuelled largely by dreams, only the foolhardy could dream that this year’s trade would be unaffected by a global pandemic, which is not only restricting international travel but also plunging plenty of businesses into precarious situations.

To a certain extent, the upper tier of the yearling market remains immune to such outside forces, but there was a more workmanlike feel to the first session which progressed at a rate significantly below recent levels.

Stonestreet Stables purchased the session’s top lot, a son of Invincible Spirit (Ire) for £420,000 (AU$757,000) who was offered by the Irish National Stud.

Of course, with the Sale’s move from Ireland to England came a change of currency from euros to pounds. Direct comparisons are not being made by Goffs until the end of the Sale on Thursday, and the most encouraging statistic to be drawn from the first day of trade is the 81 per cent clearance rate.

“The clearance rate demonstrates a pragmatism and a realism from the vendors and once again we salute them. They’ve read the market well,” Goffs Group Chief Executive Henry Beeby said.

The 165 yearlings sold throughout the day brought an aggregate of £11,504,000 (AU$20.7 million) with the corresponding figure during the same session last year was just over €23 million (AU$37.6 million). The average price was £69,721 (AU$125,688) and the median £50,000 (AU$90,141).

American influence

American buyers have increased their investment in European yearlings in recent years and it wasn’t long before their influence was felt when Ben McElroy went to £420,000 (AU$757,000) for the session-topping son of Invincible Spirit.

Offered by the Irish National Stud as Lot 12, the second son of the dual winner Aimhirgin Lass (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) will race for Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Stables, which enjoyed success at Royal Ascot this year with Campanelle (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), the winner of the G2 Queen Mary S.

“He’s been bought for the same connections as Campanelle and will head to Florida to Stonestreet Stables’ facility before joining Wesley Ward in the spring,” McElroy said.

The mare’s first foal, the once-raced Castlebar (Ire), was bred by the Irish National Stud and is out of the unraced Nebraas (GB) (Green Desert {Ire}), whose three black-type performers and eight winners include Listed winner Seeharn (Ire), also by Pivotal (GB), and the Group 3 winner Yellow Rosebud (Ire) (Jeremy {USA}).

“I know the family pretty well as I was underbidder on Yellow Rosebud,” McElroy said. “And I remember the brother from last year. This is a really nice colt, just the type of horse we are looking for, and we hope he’ll be a Royal Ascot horse.”

Bold pinhook pays off

Most vendors will say that trade was tough at Doncaster during the opening session of the Orby, but one of the highlights of the day came for Baroda Stud, which sold a Dark Angel (Ire) filly (Lot 153) for £400,000 (AU$721,366) to CBR Bloodstock, bidding through a phone call to Goffs’ Joey Cullen.

“I can’t tell you much about the filly’s future, other than that she will be trained in England or Ireland,” said Cullen after seeing off underbidder Michael Donohoe.

The Dark Angel filly was also a bold foal pinhook, signed for at the Goffs November Sale by BBA Ireland for €260,000 (AU$425,434), but she had every right to be sought after even in her weanling days as she is a half-sister to the dual Group 3 winner Jack Naylor (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}).

She also wasn’t the only popular Dark Angel filly in the Baroda draft as Lot 67, out of the American Grade 3 winner Button Down (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) was another to fetch six figures and sold for £120,000 (AU$216,432) to Peter and Ross Doyle.

Magic Mehmas

Members of the first-crop of Mehmas have wasted no time in showcasing their sire’s promise this season and on the back of their success on the track the Tally-Ho Stud resident was catapulted into the upper echelons of the bloodstock market when Lot 51 brought the hammer down at £330,000 (AU$595,000).

Hugo Merry placed the successful bid for the Mehmas filly who is out of Big Boned (USA) (Street Sense {USA}), a half-sister to German Group 3 winner K Club (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}).

Bred by Nicky Hartery, Big Boned has a colt foal by Mehmas’s sire Acclamation (GB) and was covered this season by Ten Sovereigns (Ire).

“She’s for a new client and there’s been no decision on a trainer yet,” Merry said. “She was a fairly obvious pick: she has a lovely pedigree and is by a very successful first-season sire. She just looks like she could be a very fast filly.”

Late family highlights

Invincible Spirit was back in demand late on the first day, as was his son Kingman (GB). Mark McStay of Avenue Bloodstock went to £350,000 (AU$631,000) for Lot 221, the Invincible Spirit half-brother to G3 Bengough S. winner Eastern Impact (Ire) (Bahamian Bounty {GB}), who was bred and consigned by Airlie Stud.

“He’s got size, scope and a lot of class and Anthony Rogers just said to me that he thinks he’s one of the best they have ever bred, which is quite a compliment from a high-class farm,” McStay said.

“He’s been bought for an old family friend and existing client. The mare has already bred three stakes horses and of course Invincible Spirit needs no introduction, he just keeps doing it on the racecourse.”

Juddmonte Farms will have no shortage of Kingman’s offspring in their paddocks, but the introduction of some new bloodlines is required from time to time by even major breeding operations.

Juddmonte’s Simon Mockridge secured a Kingman filly whose pedigree combines at least three extremely popular stallions. Consigned and bred by Denis Brosnan’s Croom House Stud, Lot 228 is out of a Galileo (Ire) half-sister to Zoffany (Ire), who is just one of the three Group winners produced by the Machiavellian (USA) mare Tyranny (GB).

Mockridge, standing with his colleague Barry Mahon, went to £280,000 (AU$504,814) for the filly whose family also includes recent St Leger runner-up Berkshire Rocco (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}).

Lightning strikes

The sales ring at Doncaster is where the public had a first glimpse of the Siyouni (Fr) filly who would become known as multiple Group 1 winner Laurens (Fr).

Another daughter of the Aga Khan Studs stallion (Lot 161) was one of the bestsellers of Wednesday when knocked down to Ted Durcan for £250,000 (AU$450,867). Durcan could not name the filly’s new owner, who now has a lovely future broodmare prospect on his or her hands.

The April-foaled daughter of 3-year-old winner Fork Lightning (USA) (Storm Cat {USA}) was bred by Cabalo Ltd and offered for sale through the Castlebridge Consignment.

Her dam is a daughter of G2 Nassau S. and G2 Sun Chariot S. winner Last Second (Ire) (Alzao {USA}), whose 10 winning offspring include the G1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains winner Aussie Rules (USA) (Danehill {USA}).

Two fillies for White Birch

Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm bought subsequent dual Grade 1 winner Raging Bull (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}) from the 2016 Orby Sale and, though Brant was absent this year, Demi O’Byrne was in Doncaster to buy two yearlings for the owner on Wednesday.

He was another to plump for a yearling by Camelot (GB) and signed for Lot 143, a filly from the family of G1 Irish St Leger winner Duncan (GB), at £130,000 (AU$233,165). Bred by O’Connor International Ltd, the daughter of Ethel (GB) (Exceed And Excel) was bought as a foal for €100,000 (AU$179,358) and was offered by the Mahon family’s Mountain View Stud.

Watch: Lot 143 parade

O’Byrne stayed in play for the following lot through the ring (Lot 144), a filly from the first crop of Caravaggio (USA) whose half-siblings have realised €260,000 (AU$466,388) and €220,000 (AU$359,446) respectively at the Orby Sale in the last three years. Their dam Euphrasia (Ire) (Windsor knot {GB}), won the G3 Blue Wind S. and is the dam of 82-rated Goodwood winner Bright Eyed Eagle (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}).

West Point makes splash

The New Jersey-based D.J. Stable has been to the top echelons of American racing, having campaigned the likes of Jaywalk (USA) (Cross Traffic {USA}), the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and Eclipse Award champion filly of 2018.

Jon Green, the general manager of D.J. Stable who runs the show alongside his father Len Green, said he has had his eye on European sales for a few years and on Wednesday took the plunge, signing for two yearlings early during the opening session of the Goffs Orby sale.

First up was Lot 5, a colt from the first crop of Caravaggio out of a daughter of the Group 1-winning Zee Zee Top (GB) (Zafonic {USA}), for £80,000 (AU$144,151).

Two lots later D.J. Stables signed for a No Nay Never (USA) filly, who is the first foal out of A Bid In Time (Ire) (Fastnet Rock), a half-sister to multiple Group-winning sprinter Libranno (GB) (Librettist {USA}) (Lot 7), for £52,000 (AU$93,723).

Watch: Lot 7 parade

“This is really a new twist on what we’re trying to accomplish with our racing operations,” Green said. “When we took a look at where North American racing is trending it looks like there are going to be more opportunities to have turf horses and more opportunities to have distance turf horses.

“A couple years ago we made a very conscious decision to study what was going in Europe, study bloodlines, study racing and people we felt comfortable working with, with the idea that in time we would ultimately buy some of these racehorses.”

Green said the ultimate goal is to campaign D.J. Stables’ European purchases in America, but he does not yet know at which point they will travel.

In the meantime, the stable has gotten a jump start on its European racing stable with the private purchase of 2-year-old filly Earth Strike (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), a half-sister to Group 1-winning stayer Order Of St George (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) who won at first asking at Leopardstown.