Goffs November Foal Sale

Bear with me now, but parallels could be drawn between the Irish football team's World Cup qualification campaign and the Goffs November Foal Sale. Last year's sale was akin to the boys in green thumping Portugal 2-0 in the Aviva Stadium. Nobody saw it coming.  One swallow doesn't make a summer, though, and it would all have been forgotten had Ireland come up short in Hungary. Well, Troy Parrott didn't read the script, and neither did Henry Beeby. A last-minute winner in Budapest gives Ireland a fighting chance of making...

There can be few forces more unstoppable than a stallion on fire and Yeomanstown Stud's recent purchase Sands Of Mali ensured that the warm glow that burned bright in the sales ring throughout this year's Goffs November Foal Sale remained ablaze until the bitter end on Thursday.  Sands Of Mali was responsible for two of the most expensive lots - a filly and a colt at €100,000 and €90,000 respectively - on a day when the turnover climbed by 24%, the average by 17% and the median by 27%. Such...

Fearless pinhooker Philipp Stauffenberg broke his own record for the most money he has ever spent on a foal when going to €650,000 to secure a New Bay half-sister to Group 1 heroine Dreamloper (Lope De Vega) and Group 2 scorer Santorini Star (Golden Horn) at yet another memorable renewal of the Goffs November Foal Sale.  The sale-topping filly was consigned by Luke Lillingston of Mount Coote Stud and headlined trade that saw a 91% clearance rate. The €18,359,000 turnover was roughly the same as last year while the average...

Pinhookers have their say on the market ahead of the November Foal Sale at Goffs Philipp Stauffenberg, Fearghal Hogan, Roger O'Callaghan and more have weighed in on what many pinhookers have described as being one of the trickiest yearling sale seasons in recent times and outlined how they will be approaching next week's Goffs November Foal Sale.  Pinhookers definitely didn't have it easy at the yearling sales this year, yet the first chapters of some of the most spinetingling stories of life-changing profits were written at a sale that has...

Goffs sparks happy memories for the family-run Ballinacurra Stud, which comprises brothers George and David Mullins along with their cousin Denis McCarthy, who have enjoyed some major results at the foal sales here in recent years.  It was at this sale in 2022 when the boys of Ballinacurra enjoyed a week to remember when selling foals by Blue Point (Ire) and Ghaiyyath (Ire) for €200,000 and €145,000.  The team are quietly hopeful of another profitable week at Kildare Paddocks with a seven-strong draft set to go under the hammer, including...

The catalogue for the Goffs November Foal Sale, which features 1,021 lots, was released on Wednesday. Set to run from Monday, Nov. 18 through Thursday, Nov. 21, the sale will have lots catalogued alphabetically by dam each day from Monday to Thursday inclusive. Monday and Thursday are billed as equal, Tuesday raising the bar to an extent, and Wednesday traditionally attracting the most black-type pedigrees. Successful alumni include Japanese Group 1 winner Mad Cool (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), and Classic victories in the G2 German 2000 Guineas by Devil's Point...

Pa Doyle of Galbertstown Stables labelled the pinhookers who were out in force at the Goffs November Foal Sale "as brave as lions" with the popular consignor capping off a memorable week by topping the Thursday session with a €90,000 Phoenix Of Spain (Ire) colt.  The Thursday sale-topper was bred by Tony Cosgrave, who Doyle described as one of the best show people in the business, and it played a part in Galbertstown ending the week as one of the top consignors with 17 horses selling for €632,000. The Phoenix...

Billed as the star attraction of the Goffs November Foal Sale, the brother to Ghaiyyath (Ire) did not disappoint when selling to powerhouse owner Zhang Yuesheng under the banner of Lucky Vega for €700,000. Bred and consigned by legendary trainer Dermot Weld's farm Springbank Way Stud, the Dubawi (Ire) colt (lot 767) boasts one of the most coveted pedigrees in the book being a brother to champion older horse and exciting first-season sire Ghaiyyath. He is out of the trainer's own blue hen Nightime (Ire), reported to be happily in...

Goffs has been a lucky place for the Finegan family of Milltown House Stud given they sold a foal at this complex for €250,000 in 2018 and the County Meath outfit reached similarly dizzying heights on Tuesday when a Ghaiyyath (Ire) colt fetched €200,000 to Tally-Ho Stud.  The buyer in this story came in for special mention from Jack Finegan, the third generation of Finegans working on the family farm, who is under no illusions about the role the O'Callaghans of Tally-Ho Stud have played in their success in producing...

It was a day for the young guns at the opening session of the Goffs November Foal Sale on Monday with a colt by Earthlight (Ire) sharing top lot status with a filly by the already proven Mehmas (Ire) at €80,000.  The progeny of the Irish National Stud-based Lucky Vega (Ire) also played a leading role on the day with Yeomanstown Stud's Supremacy (Ire) going down similarly well with buyers.  But the main story of the day was the positive start to the week in terms of trade, highlighted by...

Top pinhookers John Foley, Kitty Fitzpatrick and Luke Coen have shared some of the dos and don'ts ahead of the eagerly-anticipated Goffs November Foal Sale where some of the sharpest minds in the game will battle it out for over 1,000 lots throughout the four days. Coen has not been in this game as long as Foley or Fitzpatrick but he proved age can be no barrier to turning major pinhooking profit when an Invincible Spirit (Ire) filly that he sourced for just €23,000 at this sale last year rocked...

It is the most wonderful time of the year. No, I'm not talking about Christmas, but the upcoming foal sales.  What is it that we all love about this time of year? Surely much of the attraction about the foal sales revolves around seeing the progeny of first-season sires and predicting who is here to stay and who will be banished to the memory banks in the years to come.  The best part of the whole thing is you get to put your money where your mouth is and there...