New Colts' Record For Ghaiyyath's Brother

KILDARE, Ireland—As the night drew in it was Nightime (Ire) who stole the show at Goffs. The mare, who already has her place in racing history as the first Classic winner for the great Galileo (Ire), has been responsible for no shortage of big moments in the sales ring and on the racecourse via her illustrious offspring. The latest, her chestnut Dubawi (Ire) colt foal—a brother to G1 Grosser Preis von Baden winner Ghaiyyath (Ire)—held those in the Goffs arena in his thrall as he appeared an hour before the end of the sale as lot 745 from The Castlebridge Consignment. It was widely expected that he would top the sale, and it wasn't hard to guess that it would be Sheikh Mohammed who came after him with the greatest intent—the one detail missing was his price tag. As Dermot Farrington, Laurent Benoit and David Redvers all threw bids at Henry Beeby, Anthony Stroud's catalogue eventually twitched as the bidding reached €1 million, and through Redvers countered with one last offer, it was Stroud who had the final say on Godolphin's behalf at €1.2 million—a record price for a colt foal at the Goffs November Sale.

As Stroud indicated the various members of the family on the catalogue page now owned by Sheikh Mohammed, which include Nightime's Group 1-winning daughter Zhukova (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), bought for 3.7 millions gns, and her yearling colt, also by Dubawi and bought for 700,000gns last year, he joked that they might as well have bought the mare.

Unsurprisingly, Dermot Weld, who trained Nightime for his mother Marguerite and bred the colt foal through the family's Springbank Way Stud, said with a smile, “She's not for sale. Nightime has the place of honour at Springbank Way and she's in wonderful condition. Of course she is very special to me for the enjoyment and pleasure she gave my mother in her racing days when she won the 1000 Guineas. My mother believed in Galileo from the start and she sent Caumshinaun, who was a champion filly, to him in his first year when he was IR£50,000. The result was Nightime and as well as being a very good racehorse she has been a wonderful producer.”

He continued, “We have just five mares now at the stud, including Nightime's daughter Sleeping Beauty, by Oasis Dream (GB). We also have Nightime's 2-year-old half-sister by Golden Horn (GB) in training, named Skye (Ire).”

As well as selling the top lot, Weld also invested in a pair of foals at Goffs this week, and bought a Free Eagle (Ire) filly (lot 132) for his grandchildren, as well as a Profitable (Ire) half-sister to G3 Loughbrown S. winner Kastasa (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) (lot 696), whom he trains for the Aga Khan.

“Kastasa is a very tough filly, she has won five races for us this season, so I was very pleased to buy her sister,” he said.

Intense Trade

The day started with a liberal sprinkling of six-figure lots even in the first hour of trade, and it was a trend which continued throughout the session as the day's turnover was driven up by 35% on last year to €16,211,000, with an average just shy of the six-figure mark at €98,248 (+32%). Similarly, the median was also up, by 31%, at €68,000, these boosts in the figures being helped in no small part by a session clearance rate of 91% after 165 of the 181 foals found buyers.

For Part 1 of the November Foal Sale as a whole, the clearance rate was up from 72% in 2018 to 81%, with the money changing hands for the 525 foals sold amounting to €25,751,800—an increase of 26%. The three-day average rose by 16% to €49,051 and the median by 7% to €30,000.

In his end-of-sale assessment, Goffs Group Chief executive Henry Beeby said, “'We're nothing without the horses' is a phrase we use regularly and it was never truer than today as we witnessed a trade of intensity and strength which was driven by a superb selection of the cream of the 2019 foal crop. We are indebted to so many leading breeders, from Ireland and the UK, who have entrusted us with their best foals and are simply delighted to have repaid that trust with some amazing prices.”

He continued, “Heading the day was unsurprisingly the beautiful own-brother to Ghaiyyath, who had held the distinction of being the highest-priced colt foal ever sold in Ireland, as well as Europe's highest-priced foal of his year. For the 2019 colt to eclipse even that price at €1.2 million is a superb result for his breeders and we are so grateful that we were given the chance to deliver for them again. His price was backed up by three others to better last year's top price and a trade of sustained demand over the three days of our Part 1 Foal Sale that built to a real crescendo today.

“We extend our thanks to every vendor, however big or small, and wish each buyer the best of luck whether they have bought to resell or race. Goffs November foals have an excellent record in both spheres so we look forward to offering many of this year's catalogue at Goffs and Doncaster next year, and then cheering them into winner's enclosures around the world. For now we turn our attention to some lovely breeding stock and then the Part 2 Foals which are sure to offer more great opportunities.”

Just The Judge Sister Leads Fillies

The Dark Angel (Ire) half-sister to Classic winner Just The Judge (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}) was the star filly of the day, drawing several big owner-breeders into a bidding battle. But eventually lot 658 ended up in the ownership of Sheikh Hamdan, a confirmed fan of her sire, with Derrinstown Stud's Stephen Collins lasting longest in the pursuit.

“We're delighted to get her,” he said. “Sheikh Hamdan was very keen on her pedigree. She's a very well-bred filly and he has had a lot of luck with Dark Angel. She has plenty of residual value as a broodmare.”

The filly was bred by Joan Keaney Dempsey, who bought her dam Faraday Light from breeder Ballylinch Stud at this sale 12 years ago for €26,000. As well as Just The Judge—who died after suffering a bout of colic in April—the mare has produced another four winners, including the listed-placed Obliterator (Ire) (Oratorio {Ire}).

Last year, the yearling colt and filly foal out of Just The Judge—both by Dubawi (Ire)—sold at Arqana for €1.4 million and €1 million, respectively.

Collins later signed for another well-related filly (lot 687) at €360,000. The Lope De Vega (Ire) half-sister to dual Group 3 winner Venus De Milo (Ire) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}) is a granddaughter of former champion filly Inchmurrin (GB) (Lomond), whose descendants include Inchinor (GB), GI EP Taylor S. winner Miss Keller (Ire) and St Leger winner Harbour Law (GB).

Sheikh Hamdan was not the only leading breeder on the hunt for a well-bred Dark Angel weanling, as later in the day Katsumi Yoshida of Japan's Northern Farm was listed as the buyer of lot 722, who sold from the Moyglare Stud draft for €225,000. The colt is a son of G3 Gladness S. winner Mad About You (Ire) (Indian Ridge {Ire}) who is herself out of the G2 Ribblesdale S. heroine Irresistible Jewel (Ire) (Danehill).

Pinhooking Power

Siobhan O'Rahilly's €5,500 purchase of the treble-winning Haafhd (GB) mare Gems (GB) at Goffs in 2013 was certainly money well spent. Her previous sale-ring high for O'Rahilly and her husband Padraig had come two year ago when selling the mare's first-crop No Nay Never colt for €110,000, and he was kind to all of his connections along the way as pinhooker Mark Dwyer sold him as a yearling for 250,000gns to King Power Racing, for whom he became this season's G2 Superlative S. winner Mystery Power (Ire).

In the meantime, 'Flash' Conroy of Glenvale Stud had turned the mare's next foal by Australia (GB) from a €56,000 weanling into a €525,000 Orby yearling, so it was no surprise to see Conroy in the hunt for the mare's current foal, a full-brother to Mystery Power (lot 672), though this time around he had to stretch to €360,000 to buy him.

Little Stars

The Jennings family's Stonethorn Stud Farms ended the 2019 Flat season on a high with the victory of Millisle (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) in the G1 Cheveley Park S., and her half-sister Greenisland (Ire) featured at Goffs on Wednesday as the dam of a Sea The Stars (Ire) filly (lot 675), who was bred by the farm in a foal-share arrangement with the stallion's owner Sunderland Holdings.

Through agent Ed Sackville, the Stonethorn team elected to buy out their partner, going to €350,000 to retain the half-sister to listed winner Shamshon (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}).

“She's an outstanding looking filly by a great stallion and from a top family so the breeder was keen to keep her,” said the agent.

From the time his first crop hit the sale ring back in 2011, Sea The Stars has routinely featured in the leading lists and among his bestsellers this time around were lots 633 and 679, which sold for €200,000 and €205,000.

The former, consigned by Tinnakill House, is a sister to Godolphin's juvenile winner Volkan Star (Ire), himself a €330,000 foal purchase two years ago by Gerry Dilger, who returned him to Tattersalls October Book 1 to sell for 1 millions gns. The buyer this time around was the equally shrewd pinhooking team from Yeomanstown Stud.

Al Eile Stud consigned the Sea The Stars colt out of Heroic Heart (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), whose immediate family includes the Group 1-winning fillies Yesterday (Ire), Quarter Moon (Ire) and Diamondsandrubies (Ire) and was sold to Oneliner Stables.

Late in the session, a Sea The Stars weanling from the family of High Chaparral (Ire) (lot 752) joined the list of top five fillies in the sale when selling from Jockey Hall Stud for €300,000 to John McCormack, bringing her sire's contribution to the sale to €1,578,000 for 10 sold.

Breeding Syndicate Bonus

The Irish National Stud Mare Syndicate consists of six broodmares and 25 shareholders, and those investors had plenty to smile about on Wednesday morning when a colt by the stud's superstar stallion Invincible Spirit (Ire) out of the syndicate mare Boldarra (Giant's Causeway) joined the Godolphin fold, bought by Anthony Stroud for €330,000.

Lot 624 is the second foal of the unraced Boldarra, a half-sister to two graded stakes winners in the U.S. and a granddaughter of treble Grade I winner Gorgeous (Slew O'Gold). The 5-year-old mare was bought for €62,000 at Arqana in December 2017 when in foal to Anodin (Ire). She was covered this year by reverse shuttler Zoustar (Aus).

“He's a homebred so we are delighted,” said the Irish National Stud's Chief Executive Cathal Beale. “The traffic on him all week was very good and once again Goffs team has got everyone here that you would expect to be here to buy a colt like that. More importantly, we're delighted for our partners because the colt is from one of the mares in our mares' syndicate and this is the first one out of her that we've sold.

“We purchased six mares for almost €400,000 and we sold 25 shares at €16,000 and retained the other 25. Really it was a way of applying the same syndication model there is on the racing side to the breeding side, and getting people interested in having their own bloodstock and doing it in the most sensible way possible, whereby they have a portfolio of stock rather than all their eggs in one basket. We had all the components to do it ourselves—not everybody could do it but we're the National Stud and I felt we should do it. We have the sire power and we could put Invincible Spirit across some of these mares.”

Anthony Stroud had to see off Franny Woods and Ger Morrin to secure the colt and said, “I felt like Butch Cassidy—they were all coming after me. He'll make a nice addition to the foals we already have. He's a very nice horse from a good hotel and the sire speaks for himself.”

Show Me the Money

Another of the day's top prices—and the highest for a first-crop foal by Coolmore's Caravaggio—was given for a member of the same family as the Irish National Stud's Invincible Spirit colt.

The young Dubawi (Ire) mare Show Me The Music (GB), who has Gorgeous as her third dam, was bought from the Godolphin draft at last year's December Sale for 110,000gns by Ennistown Stud. She foaled her first offspring, a colt by Caravaggio (lot 553), in early February and he instantly repaid the investment in his mother, with a handsome dividend on top, when selling for €240,000 to Brendan Holland of Grove Stud within the first 15 minutes of Wednesday's session.

Placed third in her only two starts as a juvenile, the 5-year-old mare is a daughter of the G1 Falmouth S. winner Music Show (Ire) (Noverre) and her stay with her present connections looks to be short-lived as she is entered for sale again in a fortnight's time during the mares' sale at Tattersalls, now carrying a foal by Teofilo (Ire) as lot 1744.

“He's one of the best foals here,” said Holland. “The Caravaggio foals have plenty of substance and length, and they are good walkers with good minds. He's had some nice foals here this week and I'm sure there will be some nice ones next week [at Tattersalls].”

Kingman Duo in Demand

Only two weanlings by Juddmonte's Kingman (GB) featured in the November catalogue and, unsurprisingly, both returned six-figure sums to their breeders.

Both colts have been recruited by one of the boldest—and most successful—pinhooker Mick Fitzpatrick of Kilminfoyle House Stud.

First up was lot 615, the colt from Archangel Gabriel (Arch), a sister to American Grade I winner Prince Arch, consigned by Eimear Mulhern's Abbeville Stud on behalf of his British-based breeders Hunscote Stud and Chris Humber. The colt whose close relatives also include G1 National S. winner Kingsfort (War Chant) was eventually knocked down at €270,000 to agent Cormac McCormack.

Andy Lloyd, who manages Hunscote Stud for Steven Smith, said, “It wasn't an easy decision to bring him to Ireland to sell as Newmarket is very big next week, but we felt that he might stand out a bit here this week. I brought him over myself eight weeks ago and he's been very well prepped. The thing that stood out about him, both at the farm and here at the sale, was that his temperament is absolutely bombproof. If he has racing ability he certainly won't be let down by his mind.”

Chris Humber added, “He was a wonderful specimen and the mare has done us extremely well.”

The second Kingman colt (lot 665) was sold by the Castlebridge Consignment for €310,000 on behalf of breeder Frank Dunne and is the first foal of the dual listed winner and Group 3-placed Flying Fairies (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}).

All Class

The sole purchase by MV Magnier during the three days of the foal sale was the Camelot (GB) half-brother to Arc runner-up Sea Of Class (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) (lot 681). Bred by the Botti family's Razza Del Velino and offered through Joe Hernon's Castletown Stud, the late May colt brought the hammer down at €280,000.

In addition to the ill-fated Sea Of Class, winner of the Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks last season for Ling Tsui and William Haggas, the foal is a half-brother to no fewer than six black-type earners, including the Oaks d'Italia winners Charity Line (Ire) (Manduro {Ger}), Final Score (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}) and Cherry Collect (Ire) (Oratorio {Ire}).