Ireland's flagship yearling sales to be held in Britain this year

The main Irish yearling sales comprising the Goffs Orby and Sportsman's Sales and the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale will be held in Britain this year in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Goffs Orby Sale - which attracts the cream of the Irish yearling crop each year - will be held at the Goffs UK sales complex in Doncaster this year on the slightly later dates of October 1-2.

The Sportsman's Sale, which normally follows on from the Orby Sale, will be held a week earlier on September 24-25, again in Doncaster.

The move follows feedback from vendors and purchasers, and reacts to concerns that overseas purchasers, in particular those from the UK, will be unable to attend a yearling sale in Ireland while the Irish government's 14-day self-isolation requirement remains in place.

Goffs chairman Eimear Mulhern said: "In view of the Covid-19 pandemic and the current Irish and localised protocols, and in the best interests of our clients and the Irish breeding industry, the board of Goffs are announcing today that it will, on a purely one off occasion, stage the Orby and Sportsman's Sales in the Goffs UK sales complex in Doncaster."

Goffs Group chief executive Henry Beeby said: "Naturally our first preference would have been to hold what is the Irish national yearling sale in Kildare Paddocks but, given the current issues caused by Covid-19, we judge that is not in the best interests of our vendors who have supported us with a stellar selection of wonderful yearlings."

The Orby Sale date has been moved to the end of the week in question to allow buyers who wish to take in Books 1 and 2 of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale to self-isolate for two weeks before travelling to Doncaster, while the Sportsman's Sale has been given a standalone date which will provide the yearlings concerned with the greatest exposure to potential purchasers.

Meanwhile Tattersalls Ireland has moved its flagship yearling sale to Newmarket, on its scheduled dates of September 21-23, preceding the Sportman's Sale.

Tattersalls Ireland chief executive Matt Mitchell said: "The decision to relocate the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale to the Tattersalls headquarters in Newmarket has not been an easy one, but the sale traditionally attracts large numbers of overseas visitors and at present Britain, while also being the source of many of our buyers, is significantly more accessible than Ireland.

"The primary objective at Tattersalls Ireland since the outbreak of the global pandemic has been to deliver sales which combine the minimum of disruption with the optimal conditions for both vendors and purchasers alike.

"We're confident that, bearing in mind the prevailing Covid-19 related restrictions in Ireland, this difficult decision allows us to fulfil this objective and to provide as vibrant a market as we possibly can."

Matt Mitchell: 'This decision has not been an easy one'Credit: Caroline Norris

The remaining Goffs sales programme for 2020 will stay in Ireland and any yearling vendor not wishing to sell in the UK will be accommodated in the Goffs Autumn Sale on November 2-4, while the Goffs November Foal and Breeding-Stock Sale is being planned for Kildare Paddocks.

Beeby explained: "The situation with our market-leading foal sale is entirely different as by far the biggest group of buyers are Irish so, to be clear, the November Sale will be held in Kildare Paddocks on its planned dates.

"Goffs foals are true market leaders with Europe's top-priced foals being sold at Goffs in five of the last six years headed by the world's best in 2019 at €1.2 million, and this year of all years it makes most sense to sell Irish foals in Ireland while the breeding-stock section will be enhanced with our online platform, videos and agents on the ground.

"The December National Hunt Sale is also a largely domestic affair and, as we clearly showed at our recent Land Rover Sale, we can deliver a safe and compliant environment for successful sales in Ireland when the buyers are largely domestic."

Read more...

John Magnier on Justify

Goffs Orby catalogue published online