Cover image courtesy of Sarah Farnsworth
Written by Chris McGrath, TDN Europe
Look, we all know to refrain from any bold pronouncements in such an uncertain world. But the same market that was last year first to be broadsided by the pandemic has now made consecutive statements: first one of cautious optimism and now, remarkably, one of record-breaking confidence.
For if we left Newmarket last week reminding ourselves that a single swallow does not a summer make, then flight after flight seemed to fill the air at the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale.
Whatever the ups and downs that inevitably still await, make no mistake. This was a huge day not just for the breeze-up sector, not just for the auction house, but for the whole bloodstock industry in Europe. Even in the absence of important recent investors, the prospect of a return to the racetrack appears to have opened the sluice gates on pent-up demand for one of the great joys of the life we all want to retrieve: the thoroughbred racehorse.
Of course, there has never in history been a horse sale where every single vendor skipped away like Morecambe and Wise at the end of the show, and there were duly one or two consignors still grumbling about their fortunes. As prospectors and vendors basked in glorious spring sunshine, however, only the deserted benches around the sales ring told of the lingering impact of COVID. For if obliged to keep their distance indoors, then bidders were found themselves frantically congested in terms of competition.
Comparisons with the auction salvaged here last July (amalgamated with Arqana) would be pretty pointless, but the fact is that this Sale outpunched even the buoyant returns of the preceding couple of years, when the sector overall had been riding a sustained bull run.
"The fact is that this Sale outpunched even the buoyant returns of the preceding couple of years, when the sector overall had been riding a sustained bull run."
Perhaps most heartening of all, as at the Tattersalls Craven Sale which last week opened the European calendar, was the median. There really was a solid spread of business, and those perennial complaints about the soft centre of the market were silenced here. A median of £34,000 (AU$61,000) compared with £26,000 (AU$46,600) in 2019, and £25,500 (AU$45,760) the year before.
The average £48,590 (AU$87,200), equally exceeded £45,750 (AU$82,110) two years ago and and if it's the home run you're after, then the 15 six-figure sales notched on Thursday compared with 11 in 2019 and 13 the year before. Overall business of £6,219,500 (AU$11,163,000) represented a 22 per cent gain on 2019 while the clearance rate, as has become commonplace in the COVID economy, was again very purposeful at 89 per cent.
“To have the ability to hold the Sale on its original date and at its intended location was the first success,” Goffs UK Managing Director, Tim Kent, said. “To then smash all records is something that we couldn't have envisaged in the lead-up to this Sale, and the results are very positive for the industry and for our loyal vendors who really backed us with some very nice horses."
Tim Kent | Image courtesy of Goffs UK
Tally Ho tops
Horses run no faster or slower because of their price, as we know, and the petrified 2020 market here duly produced a £28,000 (AU$50,300) winner of the G3 Molecomb S. And it was the man responsible for that coup, Michael O'Callaghan, who for a long time topped proceedings here with the £210,000 (AU$377,100) he gave for Lot 118, a colt by Twilight Son (GB) presented by Tally Ho Stud.
But the consignors, who had a remarkable day even by their standards, had an equivalent trick up their sleeves with the very last animal into the ring: a son of Galileo Gold (GB) who joined his draft companion at the head of the day's business with a £210,000 (AU$377,100) docket signed by Armando Duarte.
“He was my pick of the Sale, by a long way,” said O'Callaghan, who credited namesake Roger for his endorsement of the colt. “He's from a great hotel that we've been extremely lucky with. I saw him at home three weeks ago, loved him, and he couldn't have come more highly recommended. He took the preliminaries so well, he walked round the parade ring like an old handicapper. Though hopefully that's the last time he looks like one of those.”
Duarte, for his part, had saved his best until last and his purchase will be staying in England, but no more could be disclosed at this point.
Pinhook of the day
It's not hard to see where the Kodiac (GB) filly who came here from Derryconnor Stud might have found the resources to punch above her wait. Consignor Katie McGivern has been in the wars this spring but her fighting spirit evidently rubbed off on Lot 154, who she bought for just £13,000 (AU$23,340) at the Tattersalls Ireland Yearling Sale and turned into the fastest of all the breezers clocked here on Tuesday. That earned her a £180,000 (AU$323,200) docket signed by Oliver St. Lawrence on behalf of KHK Racing.
“I'm speechless, even though I can't stop talking,” McGivern said. “I couldn't believe it when they kept going after £100,000 (AU$180,000). This is a life-changing result. I had no-one call and ask me for a half, so I actually own her outright. We're desperate for a straight gallop, so I suppose it'll have to go toward that.”
She may be indebted to the wit of auctioneer Nick Nugent for goading an extra bid or two as the impetus began to slow. “Come on,” he chided from the rostrum. “Do you want to be Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin?”
Mission control will now be the yard of Robert Cowell, whose brief was intimidatingly simple. “A fast, sharp Ascot 2-year-old,” St Lawrence said. “Katie says five or six furlongs, so we have a choice between the Queen Mary and the Albany. She's not the biggest but she's built like the proverbial brick 'outhouse', looks like a colt, and Robert loved her the moment he saw her.”
Nay, not too bad
An opening bid of £150,000 (AU$270,000) appeared to suggest that all the pre-sale talk about Lot 74, a No Nay Never (USA) colt presented by Willie Browne, was going to be matched by ringside deeds.
In the event, then, Browne permitted himself mild disappointment when Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock was able to secure an animal he prized so highly for 'just' £200,000 (AU$360,000).
“A little bit of an anti-climax, with all the action I had on him,” admitted the Mocklershill maestro, who presented the colt for breeders Meadowcourt Stud. “In a real strong market, maybe he could have made a bit more. Listen, it's a fine price, but he's potentially very good. I haven't had one as good for a couple of years. Hopefully he's the real deal: he has lots of speed, but he'll stay too.”
"Listen, it's a fine price, but he's (Lot 74) potentially very good. I haven't had one as good for a couple of years. Hopefully he's the real deal: he has lots of speed, but he'll stay too.” - Willie Brown
If he's right, then what kind of bargain did Paul Nataf strike when acquiring the dam, an unraced daughter of Mastercraftsman (Ire), for just €11,000 (AU$19,750) through Baroda Stud at Goffs last November? Besides this colt she has just a yearling filly by Gleneagles (Ire), and she was sold with a Ten Sovereigns (Ire) cover.
Willie Browne
Sticking to Royal Formula
Robert Cowell is hoping that history will repeat itself after giving £170,000 (AU$305,135) for a Kodiac colt consigned as Lot 52 by Bansha House Stables. That is precisely what he did here five years ago, virtually to the day, and two months later he had won the G2 Norfolk S. with Prince Of Lir (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}).
The Newmarket trainer signed for the colt in the company of Tim Palin of Middleham Park, who will race him in partnership with another client, Tom Morley. Whether or not he can emulate Prince Of Lir at Ascot, the hope is that he will prove a longer-term project.
“Ascot is the dream, but it's not the be-all and end-all,” Cowell said. “He has plenty of size and substance. He's not just a little 2-year-old, I hope he would have a lot more to him than that. We were looking for a nice fast horse that can hopefully repeat the kind of success we had with Prince Of Lir. We know he comes from a very good outfit, and he's a lovely specimen, with a good walk on him, and a great action. So all the stars aligned.”
Lot 52 - Kodiac (GB) x Dream Dana (Ire) (colt)
Dance continues
The same family produced a good yield on Lot 96, a May colt by New Bay (GB) who made £120,000 ($AU215,500) for Gaybrook Lodge Stud. He's a half-brother to Wizz Kid, whose relationship to Robert Cowell's new Kodiac is noted above, and joins the team of breeze-up recruits being dynamically assembled by Manor House Stud.
The Classic quality of this colt's sire obviously balances out the family speed and the purchasing strategy duly looked consistent with the £140,000 (AU$251,365) acquisition of Lot 76, who was certainly not a standardised, sharp-and-early type off the “Donny” conveyor belt.
This was a colt by Kingman (GB) out of a sister to Group 1 winner Jan Vermeer (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), therefore a half-sister to another Ballydoyle high achiever in Together (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). He was pinhooked by Mags O'Toole out of Book 2 last October for 87,000 gns (AU$167,170).
