By Brian Sheerin
Leading owner Charlie Bond admitted to already be dreaming of pitching up in next year's £500,000 Harry's Half Million race with his £210,000 Night Of Thunder colt purchase that led the way on the second and final day of a solid – if not spectacular – Goffs Premier Yearling Sale on Wednesday.
The Night Of Thunder colt was sourced from Eugene Daly's Longview Stud and was one of the most expensive lots sold at a sale that grossed £14,247,000. That was down 1% despite the fact there were 36 more horses catalogued at this year's sale. The average was down 7% to £40,022, while the median was down by 14% to £30,000.
On Wednesday's top lot, Bond said, “He's been bought for Bond Thoroughbred and Geoff Oldroyd will train him. Being by Night Of Thunder, who's on fire, he obviously stood out in the catalogue, and when Geoff and PJ [McDonald] came up the other day to look at the horses, he was their star pick.”
He added, “After Geoff trained another winner [Air Force One] for us at York last week we decided we'd buy the colt for him. We've invested a lot in the facilities at Geoff's so we need the horses to back the team up. Hopefully the colt will turn up in the sales race at York next year.”
Bond managed to secure the colt with one bid and simply said, “It was always the plan to play late.”
He concluded, “I was there myself yesterday and didn't manage to get a bid in on one. The good horses are making really good money, the market for those seems quite strong.”
Goffs UK managing director Tim Kent said at the conclusion of the sale, “Today wraps up another year for the Doncaster Premier Yearling Sale which has produced strong trade over the two days and it enjoyed a great advert leading into the sale with 2YO Sun Goddess showcasing the calibre of horse this sale repeatedly produces and what it stands for.
“With hotel space in Doncaster stretched to the limit, we have delivered another huge buying bench and the 85% clearance rate shows demand has been robust with buyers from around the world in attendance. Buyers have always shown a strong appetite for Donny yearlings and the sale's identity is alive and well which is fantastic – but there has been a call for more higher end horses at this sale from buyers, and some vendors, over the last 12 months.
“Ultimately it is for the market to decide what it needs and wants Premier to be and our message to the market is this; we remain ambitious and hungry to grow this sale. We want to offer a higher quality catalogue to buyers who walk in our gates wanting and expecting to see real quality, and we want to continue to surpass the high expectations of vendors when we are given the opportunity to offer something special.”
He continued, “We exist to offer vibrant competition to the market and with prices of up to £1,000,000 achieved in the Doncaster ring at our Breeze-up Sale, we have proven our venue can produce world-class results. And with another huge crowd of owners, trainers and agents on site this week, the ingredients are here, but we need the horses.
“All that said, we would like to thank our vendors who have brought some lovely types to Doncaster – headlined by 20 lots making six-figures. We have welcomed new vendors and welcomed back some who have returned to Premier which is wonderful to see. To our buyers, we wish you all the very best with your purchases and we look forward to awarding £250,000 in new bonuses next season.”
Tally-Ho Stud Strikes It Lucky With Bayside Boy Colt
Roger and Tony O'Callaghan are just about the last people on earth who need a slice of luck, but the pair got the rub on the green in the case of lot 295, a homebred Bayside Boy colt that sold to the now retired Grand National-winning jockey David Mullins.
The Bayside Boy was sourced by Mullins to join his small but select band of breeze-up horses for the forthcoming season. Meanwhile, Roger explained that visiting the Ballylinch Stud-based stallion only came about after John O'Connor suggested a swap. He sent a mare to Cotai Glory while Tony sent Pooky (Twilight Son) to Kilkenny. The rest is history.
“We got lucky,” Roger explained. “John sent a mare to Cotai Glory and we sent a mare to Bayside Boy, so basically we did a swap and it's after working out great. Very nice horse.”
A nephew of the dominant National Hunt trainer Willie Mullins, David retired aged just 24 in 2021. He has mostly been plying his trade in the point-to-point sphere over the past five years but, in a bid to keep his finger “in as many pies as possible” is bidding to build the breeze-up arm of his operation.
He explained, “I breezed horses for the first time this year. It was obviously a very tough year to be in it but it is a much shorter turnaround than the point-to-pointers. I will continue to do both – I am trying to broaden it a bit.”
A lot has been spoken – mostly by Goffs themselves – about O'Callaghan's quote from this sale 12 months ago. Walking out the gate after once again dominating the consigning ranks, O'Callaghan simply said that vendors could do with backing the sale a bit better. A year on, what does he think now?
“I think it has been a good sale here this week,” O'Callaghan said. “The sales race proved there were good horses here last year so why wouldn't there be good horses here this year? The appetite for good horses is huge. As good as always.”
He added, “I still see a few vendors missing and I feel it is bad form. Fellas that nearly always came to Donny. There are buyers missing as well but the place has survived without them.”
Progeny by one of the stud's younger guns, Good Guess, sold particularly well this week. For the 21 Good Guess yearlings offered, all bar three were sold for a combined sum of £1,061,000.
O'Callaghan commented, “It's been a good sale for him as well, thankfully. Hopefully there will be more to come.”
Tally-Ho Stud ended the sale as the leading vendor with 24 horses sold for a combined sum of £1,437,000
Kingman Colt Joins Kavanagh's Breeze-Up Team At £145,000
Bidding on behalf of leading breeze-up consignor Roderic Kavanagh, young French bloodstock agent Louis Dubois landed a Kingman colt from Tweenhills Stud for £145,000.
“He will go to Roderic Kavanagh in Ireland and will be aiming for the breeze-ups,” the agent said. “Beautiful horse with a lot of substance and a beautiful walk – a big horse for a Kingman. He stood out and it's a beautiful page. He caught the eye of a good few people and we will try our luck at the breeze-ups. I will jump in myself – Roderic is a good man and he knows what he is doing, so we will follow his lead.”
Tweenhills boss David Redvers was one of many people in attendance at Doncaster who had been in action at Arqana. While he acknowledged that the two sales are worlds apart, he agreed that the market shares the same common trend in that the market for the good horses is as strong as ever.
He said, “It's a very different marketplace and very different type of horse here at Doncaster but it seems to be pretty healthy and horses seem to be changing hands. As usual, it's difficult to buy the nice horses and difficult to sell the ones who don't quite hit the mark. It's the start of a long sale season and hopefully we are still standing at the end of it.”
Breeze-up buyers played an important role on the day, with Paddy Vaughan securing also accounting for a six-figure lot on Wednesday when going to £110,000 on a Havana Grey filly from WH Bloodstock. Vaughan revealed that the filly had been purchased in partnership with Kilminfoyle House Stud's Mick Fitzpatrick.
Buy of the day
George Boughey and Henry Morshead were quite active on Wednesday and the £42,000 they parted with to secure Pa Doyle's Harry Angel filly looks money well spent. A fast-looking filly, she is out of a sister to the Windsor Castle Stakes runner-up Savannah's Dream, and looks as though she will be out early. Elsewhere, the £30,000 that Sean Grassick spent on Herberstown House Stud's Blackbeard filly also looked quite smart. It is fair to say that none of the first-season sires have put their head above the parapet at this point, which might explain why this quality filly that hails from one of the most respected outfits didn't make more.
Golden touch
It was largely a tricky sale for pinhookers but Conor Walsh of Beechlane Stables enjoyed a right touch when his Calyx filly, sourced for just €8,000 at Goffs last November, rocked into £65,000 to Tom Biggs and Archie Watson.
Walsh said, “A great touch. She was an eight grand foal – my sister Ciara owned her with a friend of hers. She's a big, powerful and straightforward filly. We're only a small operation so it's great to get a result like that.”
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