Goffs UK closed out its 2018 sales year with its inaugural December Sale on Friday. Ninety horses-in-training, flat foals, yearlings and mares were sold, with horses-in-training providing the highlights and mares and foals finding a tougher time reaching their reserves. The day's top lot was Richard Fahey's 4-year-old gelding Northwest Frontier (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) (Lot 87), a four-time winner purchased by Craig Buckingham for 36,000.
Of the foals, first-crop sires filled the top spots: a filly by New Bay (GB) brought 32,000 (lot 162), and a colt by Twilight Son made 29,000 (lot 182).
At the close of trade, the clearance rate for 90 horses sold was just 54%, with a total of 632,500 accrued, an average of 7,028 and a median of 4,000.
“The sale's opening session of horses-in-training saw strong demand with a clearance rate of over 70% and some good prices; however, that demand did not translate into the latter mare and foal sessions where trade at this level of the market was reflective of that seen at a variety of locations this year,” said Goffs UK Managing Director Tony Williams. “The mare and foal sessions were the result of vendors asking for another avenue to offer their stock and we actively sought a date in the sale calendar to provide another outlet. As is the current trend, those that held appeal did sell well which is encouraging for the future of this sale.
“We now turn our attention to the 2019 January Sale, the UK's premier winter NH sale, for which we are assembling a top-class catalogue of National Hunt Mares, Foals and Horses-in-Training.”
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