Trade at the Goresbridge Breeze-Up sale on Friday took a little while to warm up, but when it did spring into action business remained solid throughout the day. The 183 juveniles to sell grossed €5,289,500, compared to 175 sold for €4,608,500 last year. The average was up 9.7% to €28,904, while the median dipped 5.9% to €16,000. The clearance rate was 78%, compared to 86% last year. The sale broke a previous records when lot 65 exited the ring having sold to Eamonn Reilly of BBA Ireland for €270,000, eclipsing the previous top-price for this sale by €100,000. The son of Shamardal was offered by Willie Browne's Mocklershill and represented an excellent pinhook, having cost the Grangebarry Partnership 30,000gns as a yearling at Tattersalls October Book 1. Reilly was pushed all the way by Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock and commented, “He is a fine horse and breezed very well. He has been bought for a longstanding client, Maura Gittins, and he will be trained in England, though I'm not sure yet by who.”
The first horse to make six figures on the day was lot 38, a son of Invincible Spirit (Ire) (Green Desert) offered by Oghill House Stud and sold for €160,000. The colt went the way of Adam Driver, who fought off the attentions of David Redvers after Ger Lyons had opened proceedings with an audacious bid of €100,000.
Oghill's Hugh and Pat Hyland, who had twice bought back the Invincible Spirit colt in sales rings, for €75,000 as a weanling and 14,000gns last year, were delighted with the result, with Hugh commenting, “We have a lot of the family at home, I bred the dam and Pat actually bought her back cheaply as I had enough of the family already. The mare is in foal to Born To Sea, so it will be a similar cross to this lad.”
Driver, a vet by trade, buys under Global Equine Group, and he made another significant purchase a short time later when signing for lot 49 from Grove Stud. A smart breeze and recent pedigree updates courtesy of his half-sister Squash (GB) (Pastoral Pursuits {GB}) saw the son of Kyllachy (GB) make €155,000, a nice return on his 32,000gns yearling price. Driver was buying on behalf of a client from Abu Dhabi, and he commented, “They are two nice horses and they will go to Newmarket, although we haven't decided on a trainer yet. They both breezed well; I didn't time them. I prefer to assess them physically as opposed to rely on the clock. Hopefully they will go on and do well.”
Jim McCartan has had some good days in the sale ring, and his Gaybrook Lodge offered the only Pivotal (GB) juvenile in the catalogue. He was duly rewarded when Alex Elliott signed the buyer's sheet for lot 74 for €150,000. The colt's dam, Asaawir (GB) (Royal Applause), has already produced two stakes performers, and he showed a good return on the 30,000gns invested by McCartan at Tattersalls last October. Elliott bought the horse for owner Bill Gredley, and commented, “He is a beautiful horse and he did an exceptional breeze; I reckon he did the fourth-fastest time. He looks really athletic and came out of his breeze in great shape.”
David Redvers and the Qatar team didn't take long to get on the buyers list, also striking early in the day for lot 40 from Tally-Ho Stud. The Kodiac (GB) (Danehill) colt was knocked down for €100,000, with Sheikh Fahad keen to win the battle for the colt on his first visit to Goresbridge. They subsequently added lot 76 to their haul, a filly by Dark Angel (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) that cost €135,000, and David Redvers commented, “This sale is a credit to Martin Donohoe. Each year it has grown in quality and it really has gone from strength-to-strength. The market is solid, we've been underbidders on quite a few so we're happy to have gotten the ones we did.” The team's spending didn't end there as they also landed lot 127, a Requinto (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) colt from Thomond O'Mara's Knockanglass Stables for €165,000, which marked a return on his €3,000 purchase price by Kilronan at Goffs February this year.
Father and son duo Peter and Ross Doyle got in on the action when going to €150,000 to secure lot 155 from Johnny Collins's Brown Island Stables. The colt by First Defence is a Keeneland graduate, where he was bought by Chad Schumer for $35,000 last September and continues the good run of success of American-bred horses at European breeze-up sales this year. The colt is destined to wear recent Classic-winning colours, with Doyle senior commenting, “He's for Al Shaqab Racing and goes to Richard Hannon. He is a lovely individual and did an impressive breeze. We thought he was one of the nicest horses in the sale.”
Stroud Coleman were under-bidders last year on Bear Cheek (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), and when Tally-Ho offered the Group 3 winner's half-sister by Sir Prancelot (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}), Matt Coleman was keen not to lose out on the well-bred filly. Coincidentally, she was catalogued as lot 110 and it took a bid of €110,000 to buy her, with Coleman revealing, “She has been bought for an owner of Robert Cowell, and hopefully she can emulate her sister.” Coleman later teamed up with Harry Dunlop to buy lot 169, a filly by Spirit One (Fr) (Anabaa Blue {Fr}) who is eligible for French premiums and cost €66,000. The sale was another pinhooking homerun for Mary Reynolds and Ambrose O'Mullane of Ardglass Stables. The pair bought the filly for only €4,000 at Arqana last October, and it follows their sale of a Le Havre (Ire) colt, Pouvoir Magique (Fr), that made 300,000gns at the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up sale.
The innovation of beaming the sale live to the owners' lounge at Kranji Racecourse certainly bore fruit as lot 18 was knocked down to Hong Kong-based owner Peter Lau. The colt by Paddy O'Prado was pinhooked by BBA Ireland for $20,000 at Keeneland last September and Lau, who traveled to Singapore to avail of the online bidding facility, eventually fended off trainer Michael Halford to secure the colt for €85,000. The colt will be pre-trained on The Curragh for a period before going to Singapore-based trainer C T Kuah.
Michael O'Callaghan has an exciting weekend ahead with runners in both Irish Classics, one of them Blue De Vega (Ger) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), a horse he bought at Goresbridge last year from Tally-Ho Stud for €75,000. O'Callaghan will be hoping lightning can strike twice as he bought lot 60 from the same vendors and for the same price. The colt is by Dandy Man (Ire) and a half-brother to the German Group 3 winner Donnerschlag (GB) (Bahamian Bounty [GB}). O'Callaghan said he was glad to get him and commented, “He is a lovely loose mover, by a sire I like. The vendors have been lucky for me, the price has been lucky for me and I was bidding from the same spot as last year, so let's hope history repeats itself.”
Goresbridge boss Martin Donohoe was understandably thrilled with the sales results and said, “To sell a horse for €270,000 is a great achievement for the company, and I'd like to thank all the vendors, purchasers and underbidders that contributed to such a strong sale. I have no doubt some top-class horses will emerge from it and we look forward to building on the success in the coming years.”
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