Blue Bresil filly heading to the US after €195,000 play trumps domestic buyers

The weather may have come straight from the kitchen of an Irish summer but there was a distinctly French flavour to part one of the Goffs Land Rover Sale, which was dominated by horses either bred in France or by sires who stand or formerly stood in that country.

The upper reaches of the sale were monopolised by the blue, white and red, with ten of the 11 most expensive horses sold on Wednesday either born in France or by a French-born sire.

It was an action replay of the opening day, when the ten priciest lots were either French-bred or the progeny of French-bred sires, and in total 18 of the record-breaking 24 horses to make six figures on the first day had a French connection.

Blue Bresil, Rathbarry Stud's red-hot sire, was bred in France, where he raced and began his stud career before moving to Yorton Farm ahead of the 2016 breeding season. Now coming towards the end of his third spring at Rathbarry, his progeny have swept all before them at Goffs this week on the back of a season which saw his son Constitution Hill anointed hurdling king.

From ten horses offered over the two sessions of part one, he recorded a perfect ten out of ten sold for a massive average of €107,200 and an even more impressive median of €120,000. Blue Bresil reserved his best for last as the final offering by the sire became the most expensive filly of the entire sale, making €195,000 to Keri Brion on behalf of leading American owner Rod Moorhead.

Johnny Collins' Brown Island Stables offered the half-sister to last season's Grade 1 Punchestown Stayers' Hurdle third Gentlemansgame out of the unraced Terimon mare Grainne Ni Maille, who is from the family of Teeton Mill.

It was a massive pinhooking success for Collins, who bought the filly as a yearling at the Goffs UK January Sale for £16,500 from Yorton Farm, who bred her with the late Margaret Luck, mother of Racing TV and NBC broadcaster Nick.

"The pedigree speaks for itself and the stallion is hot, she looks the type of horse to suit America as she just floats across the ground," said Brion, who was recovering from the tension of the bidding battle.

"I fell in love with her when I went to see her. James [Doyle] and Davy [Russell] had seen her at the farm and sent videos of her to me and she was the horse I did not want to leave without.

"All of the horses I have bought this week will go to James to be broken in and prepared and will come to me in December or January ahead of the spring season, which starts in March where I am based."

Brion has been making waves on the American National Hunt circuit with her recruits from the Irish point-to-point scene for owner Moorhead's Buttonwood Stables, headed by last year's triple Grade 1 winner The Mean Queen.

Assisted by Doyle of Baltimore Stables and three-time champion jockey Russell, Brion and Moorhead have changed tack and were in the market for store horses for the first time. The team picked up €548,000 worth of stock over the course of the sale, including a Gentlewave gelding from Micheal Conaghan's Evergreen Stud on Tuesday for €130,000.

This Blue Bresil filly was the one Brion was determined to ensure wound her way across the Atlantic and eventually to Moorhead's broodmare band.

She said: "Mr Moorhead has a big breeding operation and is committed to his mares, she will make a lovely addition to that down the line. We have bought five boys and hopefully a queen this week."

She explained why the team had decided upon a change in direction for the recruitment programme, saying: "It's a bit of a different venture for us as Mr Moorhead likes to buy pointers but we thought that there might be more value in buying them as stores, that maybe we might get more horse for the money, but we were prepared to spend to get her as she has broodmare value at the end of her racing career."

Flat or National Hunt, success comes alike to Tally-Ho

Tally Ho Stud's success on the Flat as the home of leading sires and the producers of a plethora of classy runners is well known, but Tony O'Callaghan likes to keep busy in the off-season with a selection of National Hunt pinhooks and his Saint Des Saints gelding lit up the ring at Goffs, selling to Mags O'Toole for €170,000.

"He is a lovely horse, from a really good family and has come off a top farm. He has been bought to stay in Ireland," said the successful purchaser.

Tally Ho's Saints Des Saints gelding sells for €170,000 to Mags O'TooleCredit: Sarah Farnsworth

A €60,000 buy as a foal in France, the bay is a full-brother to Saint Firmin, whose three Grade 3 successes included the Prix d'Indy Hurdle. He is also a half-brother to the Listed-winning hurdler Foreign Flower and out of the Listed-placed Fleur Des Villes, a daughter of Villez.

Only three stores by Haras d'Etreham's National Hunt kingpin were offered during the course of the sale but the trio were among the most expensive horses to change hands. They sold for an average of €121,667, with the median even higher at €135,000.

No Risk At All inherits the crown

Saint Des Saints is the established monarch of French sires but the heir to his throne is surely No Risk At All, who stands at Haras de Montaigu and is the sire of the horse who topped the opening session of the sale on Tuesday.

His progeny were once again in demand with buyers on Wednesday and Gerry Hogan was effusive in his praise for the gelding consigned by Allenbach Bloodstock who he secured for €160,000.

Platoon marches around the sale ring before selling to Gerry Hogan for €160,000Credit: Peter Mooney

"He is for an existing client and we loved the horse," remarked the agent. "He is a top-class model with great balance and just a particularly handsome horse; he is as good looking a horse as you are likely to see and we are delighted to get him."

Named Platoon, he is the second foal out of Enimie, successful over jumps in France and an Astarabad half-sister to the Listed-placed chaser Bathilde, who is by Nickname. A Grade 1 winner in France and Ireland, Nickname was a Lost World half-brother to No Risk At All.

Nicholls sticks to the clan with Kapgarde

Glacken View offered one of the best-bred sons of leading sire Kapgarde at Goffs this week in the form of Kap Boy, who returned a healthy profit on the €62,000 he cost Abbeylands Farm as a yearling when selling to Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls for €160,000.

Kap Boy is out of the Pistolet Bleu mare Bumble, who is the dam of dual Grade 3 chase winner Santa Bamba, by Saint Des Saints. She is in turn the dam of De Bon Coeur, whose three Grade 1 victories include the Grand Course de Haies d'Auteuil (French Champion Hurdle).

His dam, who has produced four winners from seven runners, is a half-sister to the Flat Listed winner Grandes Illusions, by Kendor, who is herself the dam of two Listed winners on the Flat. Third dam Leariva, by Irish River, won the Grade 1 Budweiser International Stakes and is the second dam of City Light.

Kap Boy, who caught the eye of Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls to the tune of €160,000Credit: Peter Mooney

"He's one of the top three or four horses here this week, he's a gorgeous horse with a lovely pedigree," said Malone after signing for the gelding.

"Paul [Nicholls] has enjoyed success with the sire and given the strength of trade here this week I don't think he looks bad value at the price. I thought that there would be more players for him."

Nicholls' best by Kapgarde is the indefatigable Clan Des Obeaux, who has won or been placed in 24 of his 31 races and has been successful in five Grade 1 chases including Kempton's King George and Punchestown's Gold Cup.

Familiar feeling for Harrington

Nicholls was not the only trainer returning to a familiar source of success. Jessica Harrington bought the only filly to break the chain of French dominance at the head of the market when going to €150,000 to secure the Milan filly offered by Peter Molony's Rathmore Stud.

Harrington is strongly acquainted with the breed and seed of the impeccably-bred filly; she trained her dam Burn And Turn to win the Glencarraig Lady Mares' Handicap Chase and finish second in the Galway Plate for Joe O'Flaherty, and under her fourth dam is Space Trucker, the Fighting Fifth Hurdle winner and Champion Hurdle third who was the horse to launch Harrington's training career.

"It is a family I know very well and have known for a long time and she has been bought for Joe, who raced Burn And Turn," the trainer explained.

Given her knowledge and experience with the family, Harrington was able to point out the characteristics she shares with her relatives.

"She is a beautiful filly and very like the mare, there was a lot of her dam in her and a lot of Flemensfirth [broodmare sire] about her too," she said.

Jessica Harrington was delighted to acquire the Milan filly out of Burn And Turn for €150,000Credit: Peter Mooney

"Hopefully she is one to win the Land Rover, her dam was placed on her bumper debut as a four-year-old and won a bumper early in her career."

Molony bought the filly as a foal at the 2019 Goffs December National Hunt sale for €54,000 from Carrolls Grove Bloodstock.

Giant strides

The growth of the Goffs Land Rover Sale over the past decade has been phenomenal, with the strength of the sale illustrated by the fact that ten years ago there was just a single horse sold for six figures while over the last two days a staggering 41 store horses made at least €100,000 - the highest number ever recorded at any store sale.

In only its second year as a two-day event, part one of the Goffs Land Rover Sale returned a set of results that more than justified the company's decision to increase the catalogue.

The second session saw 189 of the 216 horses sell for a clearance rate of 89 per cent and an aggregate of €9,642,000, a leap of 24 points on last year's sum total. Accordingly, both the average and median grew, with the former coming in at €51,016 and the latter at €42,000.

From a total of 440 horses offered over the two sessions, 394 were sold, which represents an impressive clearance rate of 90 per cent. Aggregate turnover in the ring grew by a quarter from 2021 to €20,406,000, while the average and median also posted strong gains. This year's average of €51,792 was 12 per cent higher than last year and the median of €45,000 was a 13 per cent increase on 12 months ago.

Henry Beeby, group chief executive of Goffs, was understandably delighted with the blockbusting set of results.

"The statistics make for happy reading with a massive 41 horses realising €100,000 and over, and all from a sale that is only in its second year as a two-day event following the unprecedented demand for places from all the big farms," he said.

He was quick to pay tribute to the calibre of horses provided by vendors for the enhanced sale.

"We have always said we are nothing without the horses our vendors
supply and this year we have been provided with a catalogue of unsurpassed quality," he said.

"Indeed, we have not needed spin to promote the sale as from the moment the catalogue was published so many people commented on the depth and class over the two days. That translated into a trade of phenomenal intensity from start to finish."

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