Familiar partnership of Dermot Weld and Bobby O'Ryan back recruiting yearling talent at Goffs

What Dermot Weld and Bobby O'Ryan don't know about horses isn't worth knowing with the success the pair have achieved during their respective careers in the industry more than most people could ever aspire to emulating.

The ground-breaking trainer and inimitable agent have forged a deeply fruitful relationship over the years and with O'Ryan on site at Goffs for the Autumn Yearling Sale, later to be joined by the master of Rosewell House who plotted Tahiyra's course to a treble of Group 1 triumphs in 2023, there was a sense that serious business was to be done.

That sense was heightened when they appeared in O'Ryan's usual spot prior to the entry of Erenagh House Stud's filly by red hot sire Havana Grey.

An opening bid of €20,000 for the half-sister to five winners would have bought the majority of yearlings here this week but it was only a fraction of what those assembled were willing to venture for the filly who shares her sire with this season's unbeaten Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes winner Vandeek.

With O'Ryan and Weld's collective might, the opposition didn't stand a chance and O'Ryan's bid of €65,000 brought the hammer down in favour of the pair.

This month marks the 30th anniversary of Vintage Crop's pioneering Melbourne Cup success and the trainer who sent him to the other side of the world to complete a feat that no European horse had ever managed was impressed by this bay filly.

"She is a lovely filly and the sire has done exceptionally well, she has been purchased for an existing owner in the yard," Weld said.

Erenagh House Stud's Havana Grey filly made €65,000 to Bobby O'Ryan and Dermot Weld

Erenagh House Stud's Havana Grey filly (with Jen Malone) made €65,000 to Bobby O'Ryan and Dermot WeldCredit: Sophie Webber Photography

Out of Nellie Ellis, a winning daughter of Compton Place, the filly is bred on the same cross as Havana Grey's Japanese Listed Crocus Stakes winner Yakushima.

Her second dam Tamora is a Dr Fong half-sister to the Prix de l'Abbaye winner Gilt Edge Girl while Arcano, the Prix Morny winner by Oasis Dream, is out of a half-sister to her third dam.

It was a triumphant pinhook for Victoria Macauley, who picked up the filly for just 8,000gns at the foal sales last December. Originally from Downpatrick in County Down but now based in Herefordshire, Macaulay is only in her second year of pinhooking.

"I targeted this sale for both of the fillies [seven lots prior she sold a Bungle Inthejungle for €25,000 to Kevin Ross] as there is always a good footfall. I knew that there would be plenty of people here for the Bungle filly and I thought the Havana Grey would stand out," explained Macauley, displaying some of the tactical acumen that brought her this success.

She added: "They are very different fillies; the Bungle is a big, strong filly while the Havana Grey is an elegant and racier type."

O'Ryan and Weld's first purchase of the day was also by a sizzling young sire who received a fee increase, in this case the quadruple Group 1 winner Blue Point who will cost breeders €60,000 for his services next season.

Standing out from the crowd is often the way to success in a crowded marketplace and that was certainly the case for Rochestown Lodge Stud at Goffs during the session as David Byrne's Monasterevin farm consigned the sole yearling in the sale from the second crop of Blue Point.

With Darley's Royal Ascot winning sprinter scorching to the first season sires' title whichever way you count it - winners, stakes winners or prize-money earned - Blue Point's yearlings have been commercial catnip this sales season.

They have averaged €170,996 across Europe's yearling auctions so with one in the catalogue on offer with a less glamorous profile, bargain hunters were on the prowl and the usual gathering ahead of the entrance into the sales ring of a potential top lot signalled that this colt was not going to slip through the net.

Practitioners of the breeze-up arts, professors of the training ranks and agents were all spotted attempting to buy the colt who is bred along similar lines to another of Shamardal's late masterpieces in Pinatubo, having Dalakhani as his broodmare sire.

O'Ryan was in no mood for hanging about and was keen to raise the stakes. After €40,000 the bidding became a straight shootout between the seasoned gunslinger and young gun trainer Jack Davison but it was O'Ryan who had the ammunition, bringing the hammer down at €50,000.

"He will go into training with Dermot Weld," O'Ryan said. "The sire had an amazing season, and this is a nice colt with a good page."

That page includes his dam's half-brother Mons, who won the Royal Lodge and was third in the Futurity Trophy, and Gran Premio del Jockey Club and her half-sister Lomapamar, dam of the Kieswetter family's Pretty Polly Stakes winner Urban Fox.

The colt's third dam, Arewehavingfunyet, won the Grade 1 Oak Leaf Stakes and Grade 2 Del Mar Futurity Stakes.

Supplements important part of diet

A supplementary catalogue of 39 yearlings, many of which were eligible for the Goffs Two Million Series, ensured that a strong team of buyers remained at Goffs until auctioneer Michael Ryan dropped the hammer for the final time after lot 772.

It also provided three of the five most expensive horses on the day with a filly from Peter Nolan Bloodstock achieving the highest price of the section at €48,000. A half-sister to the Listed Chelmer Stakes third Dense Star, she was purchased by agent Gerry Hogan and is out of Condensed, an unraced Dansili half-sister to the Listed Dick Poole Stakes winner Brevity by Street Cry.

The Invincible Spirit filly from Peter Nolan Bloodstock made €47,000

The Invincible Spirit filly from Peter Nolan Bloodstock made €48,000Credit: Sophie Webber Photography

Her second dam, Cut Short, is a winning Diesis full-sister to Champagne Stakes winner and sire Daggers Drawn and the family also includes the Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Indian Haven.

Paddy Twomey added a Starspangledbanner filly to the powerhouse string he has assembled in Tipperary, securing Pier House Stud's daughter of the Listed Prix Vallee de l'Auge second Kemble for €40,000.

That Kodiac mare is out of Cherrington, an unraced Lope De Vega half-sister to Queen Anne and Sussex Stakes winner and sire Toronado. That pair's dam Wana Doo is a Grand Slam half-sister to the Futurity Trophy winner Casamento, by Shamardal.

The Slatterys of Meadowview Stables were the buyers of the Kodi Bear half-sister to Group 3 Prix de Lutece third Theme Astral for €40,000. Offered by Rathbarry Stud, home to her sire, she is out of the Listed Prix de Thiberville third Lumiere Astrale who is a Trempolino half-sister to the Grade 1 Manhattan Handicap winner Desert Blanc and the Listed winner Lumiere Noire, dam of Group 2 Park Stakes winner and 2,000 Guineas second Wichita.

Oliver stocking up on new talent

Patience is obviously one of Andy Oliver's virtues with the Tyrone trainer's purchases bookending Thursday's session.

He scoured the barns for new recruits at a sale where he has sourced success in the past and came up trumps with a Starspangledbanner colt early in proceedings but darkness had fallen by the time the Raven's Pass colt from Old Carhue Stud entered the ring.

Oliver's first purchase was from Poulmaleen Stables, who bought the half-brother to Chriszoff for €10,000 in this ring back in February, and sold him to Oliver for €32,000.

Three-year-old Zoffany colt Chriszoff won four of his six starts this season for Archie Watson, culminating in success at Pontefract in late September, the win for which he received his current, career-best, rating of 96.

Andy Oliver signs for one of his purchases at Goffs Credit: Sophie Webber Photography

"He's a nice big son of Starspangledbanner and we have a good two-year-old by the sire in Bright Stripes [second in the Group 3 Killavullan Stakes]. I've been looking at this colt for the last couple of days and was waiting for him," said the trainer of Panama Hat and First Cornerstone.

His family is one of Meon Valley's finest; his dam Countess Chrissy is an unraced daughter of Declaration Of War and Monzza, a Montjeu half-sister to the Pretty Polly Stakes and Prix Jean Romanet winner Izzi Top who is the dam of Group 3 winner Prince Eiji and Listed winner Zagato. Monzza is also a half-sister to Group 2 Prix de la Nonette winner and Prix de l'Opera runner-up Jazzi Top and Grade 3 winner Emaraaty.

Thier dam Zee Zee Top won the Prix de l'Opera and is a half-sister to the champions Opera House and Kayf Tara, who became the dominant sire force in British National Hunt breeding.

Oliver had to extend his wait at Goffs by several hours to land the Raven's Pass colt who has Declaration Of War's sire War Front as his broodmare sire. The chestnut colt is the third foal out of Mise En Rose who was purchased out of the Godolphin draft, carrying this colt, for €30,000 at the 2021 Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale by Kelly Equine.

Old Carhue Stud offered the son of Group Oak Tree Stakes and Sceptre Stakes second Mise En Rose, who is a daughter of Grade 2 winner Buy The Barrel. She is an E Dubai half-sister to Indian Bay, dam of Tarabi who was second to Echo Zulu in the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes and filled the same position behind that filly in the Grade 3 Dogwood Stakes at Churchill Downs in late September.

Roman road for Circus Maximus

There was a delightful serendipity to the sale of the only filly in the catalogue from the first crop of Prix du Moulin, St James's Palace and Queen Anne Stakes winner Circus Maximus as she heads to Italy, where the ruins of the chariot racing stadium after which the son of Galileo was named are encountered in the capital city.

Offered through Grenane House Stud at last year's November Foal Sale, she was unsold at €8,000 so the decision to offer her for sale here was the correct one as Achille Varzi paid four times that amount for her, having been impressed by her physical development in the intervening 11 months.

Gerry Hogan bought the Invincible Spirit half-sister to Dense StarCredit: Sophie Webber Photography

"She was quite long as a foal but has done very well since then and grown into a very elegant horse. She is a good, big filly with a lot of bone and her sire was a very good racehorse so we are happy to buy her," said Varzi's spokesperson.

Inbred 3x3 to Sadler's Wells and 4x4 to Danehill, she is the first foal out of Haida Gwaii, who is an unraced daughter of Zoffany and the Listed Trigo Stakes winner Briolette. By Sadler's Wells, Briolette is a full-sister to the Listed Ballyroan Stakes winner Peace Out Of Reach and a half-sister to Pilsudski whose six Group 1 wins included the Breeders' Cup Turf and Japan Cup.

Briolette is also a half-sister to Fine Motion by Danehill who was champion three-year-old filly in Japan 21 years' ago, when she won the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup, Shuka Sho and Sapporo Kinen. Another half-sister, Anima, is the granddam of Group 1 winners and half-brothers Youmzain and Creachadoir.

Statistics

Despite the presence of the supplementary lots and the careful targeting of a number of horses at the sale by their canny vendors, the Autumn Yearling Sale continued the downward trajectory of recent auctions.

On the equivalent day of the 2022 sale, a total of five yearlings sold for in excess of €50,000 while on Thursday just two horses made at least €50,000 from a similar sized catalogue. Thursday's session saw 262 yearlings offered with 208 sold for a clearance rate of 79 per cent while last year 200 yearlings from 263 offered were sold, which is 76 per cent.

Overall, seven fewer horses were sold at this year's sale than at the 2022 version and they generated total turnover of €3,240,300, which is a decline of 13 per cent on last year's turnover. The average fell by 11 per cent from €9,405 to €8,373 while the overall median of €5,000 was the same as for day two and also represented a year-on-year decrease of nine per cent.

Henry Beeby, Goffs group chief executive, acknowledged the difficulties that two days of sticky trade had posed for many vendors in his end of sale statement, which also highlighted how vital European buyers are to the viability of the bloodstock industry in Ireland.

"While celebrating our overseas clients we acknowledge that the last two days have been challenging for many and that is symptomatic of the issues facing the industry at the moment. Indeed, our sale has followed the trends at other recent sales at this level and it only goes to underline the importance of overseas investment in our produce," he said.

"How blessed we are to have Irish Thoroughbred Marketing working with us, not just to bring people to Ireland but also to ensure they have a positive experience and want to return. ITM are great ambassadors for Irish bloodstock and they complement the work of Joey Cullen, Hayley O’Connor, Tom Taaffe, Mark Richards and the superb Goffs overseas agents in making sure that a trip to Goffs is hassle free, memorable and productive.

"To put that into context 88 lots from the last two days head to Italy and another 62 will be spread across Eastern Europe which graphically illustrates their contribution to the market whilst their positivity and enthusiasm ensured a lively atmosphere from start to finish."

Familiar partnership of Dermot Weld and Bobby O'Ryan back recruiting yearling talent at Goffs

Aisling Crowe reports from the final session of the Autumn Yearling Sale