By Emma Berry and Daithi Harvey
The headline session of the two-day Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale was once again a showcase for the Aga Khan bloodlines, with an in-foal mare and a filly in training filling Saturday's top two slots.
Ebeyina (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}) (lot 1368), a winner last year on debut at three for Dermot Weld, hails from the black-type-laden family that has produced the Queen's G1 Ascot Gold Cup winner Estimate (Ire) (Monsun {Ger}) and her half-sister, the Irish champion 3-year-old Ebadiyla (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), who features as the grandam of the sale-topper.
Sold for €460,000 with her first covering to hot property Kodiac (GB), she will reside forthwith in the Kilkenny paddocks of Ballylinch Stud. Ballylinch Manager John O'Connor commented, “Obviously she's a very nice mare; the fact that she is a black-type mare is particularly appealing. She comes from a true Classic family and I've been lucky buying from Gilltown before.”
Ballylinch Stud later went to €260,000 to secure another mare in foal to Kodiac, lot 1402, the G3 Firth of Clyde S. winner Majestic Dubawi (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) from the Darley draft, which ended the day as leading vendor with 38 fillies and mares sold for €2,028,500.
A trip farther afield beckons eventually for the 4-year-old Peintre Celebre stayer Silwana (Ire) (lot 1362), whose four wins include the Listed Loughbrown S. at The Curragh.
Irish-based Japanese trainer Takashi Kodama signed the ticket at €320,000 and outlined plans for the filly, saying, “I've bought her on behalf of Mr Koji Kamiyama of Kawakami Racing. She will stay in training with me next year but will ultimately go to Japan as a broodmare.”
Pat Downes, who manages the Aga Khan Studs' operation at Gilltown Stud, commented, “I'm delighted with the prices for the two top fillies. I believe Silwana stays in training in Ireland before being covered and continuing her breeding career in Japan. Ebeyina is a beautiful mare; everyone who came to see her agreed and she had a very attractive cover with Kodiac, whose foals have been so popular all week. Overall we're very happy with how they sold. There's a great buzz in the ring, year after year we come to Goffs and we seem to always sell well.”
The trade was certainly healthy. The 198 fillies and mares to have found new homes represented a clearance rate of 81% and turnover for the day improved by 29% to €8,640,500, albeit for 20 more horses sold than in 2014. The average was also up by 16% at €43,639 and the median improved fractionally to €25,000.
David Nagle stepped in at €270,000 for the unnamed and unraced 2-year-old Galileo (Ire) half-sister to stakes winners Yellow Rosebud (Ire) (Jeremy) and Seeharn (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) who was offered by the Irish National Stud as lot 1333. He said, “She's a beautiful looker and you could say she is a long-term project. Her credentials were quite obvious being by Galileo. She will come back to Barronstown Stud and we will take a bit of time in deciding what stallion to cover her with.”
The Irish National Stud's John Osborne added, “Obviously it's a bit unusual in that she is a 2-year-old; she missed her engagement at the sales as a yearling after a sequence of minor setbacks, but eventually we got her here. We are delighted with the price; she is a beautiful filly and was very well received on the sales grounds. We still have the mare, who is middle-aged, and we also have her half-sister Aimhirgin Lass (Ire) in training for the President, Michael D. Higgins. She stays in training next season with the hope of adding some further black print to the family.”
He continued, “The mare is in foal to Mastercraftsman (Ire) and I believe her Dragon Pulse (Ire) yearling half-sister is with Richard Fahey, so there is lots going on in the family.”
Two more mares also brought €270,000, the first being lot 1324, the four-time-winning sprinter Badr Al Badoor (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), who was offered by Darley in foal to Dream Ahead. The 5-year-old is a half-sister to four black-type performers, including listed winner Profitable (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}).
Purchaser Eamonn Reilly of BBA Ireland was unable to name his client but offered, “When the catalogue came out online he picked her out on pedigree and when I went to see her she had the looks to match her page. She is a lovely individual from an active family and she is a young mare so should have a great future.”
Late in the session, Galileo's 3-year-old daughter Mohini (Ire) out of the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac winner Denebola (Storm Cat) reached the same price when sold from Lord and Lady Lloyd-Webber's Kiltinan Castle Stud to Hubie de Burgh.
Gatewood Bell swung into action to buy the Ridge Manor Stud mare Bridal Dance (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) (lot 1390). With an enticing covering to Dark Angel, the dam of this year's G3 Prestige S. winner Hawksmoor (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}) fetched a winning bid of €260,000 and she too will be heading to Barrownstown Stud.
“I've bought her for David and Diane Nagle. Obviously Dark Angel needs no introduction and she has already proved she can breed a top-class horse so I think she should make a fine addition to the Nagles' broodmare band,” Bell commented.
Wildcard entry Quake (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) (lot 1344A) may be an unraced 3-year-old but she is also a half-sister to Group 1-winning sprinter King's Apostle (GB) by one of the world's best stallions, and thus attracted a bid of €200,000 from Peter and Ross Doyle on behalf of an unnamed client.
The sale day ended with the auction of nine stallion nominations on behalf of the Ann Hanley Research Fund for Parkinson's Disease, including the last one available to Haras de Bonneval's popular young sire Siyouni (Fr) (Pivotal {GB}), which was sold for €58,000. His advertised fee for 2016 is €30,000.
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