'He's an exciting prospect' - Snells smell more success at Goffs UK Spring Sale

With the small exception of the Cheltenham Festival, the Goffs UK Spring Sale can lay claim to being the most significant four-day event in the British National Hunt calendar. Proceedings begin at 12 noon on Monday with part one of the two-day Spring Store Sale, and 313 choice lots have been catalogued for the 60th renewal of the renowned Doncaster auction.

Among those looking forward to offering an exciting draft of unbroken three-year-olds is Lulham Bloodstock, the up-and-coming operation run by father-daughter duo George and Libby Snell.

The Lulham Bloodstock team enjoyed a day to remember at last year’s Spring Store Sale when their Kayf Tara gelding out of Gaye Sophie topped the market at £165,000 to the bid of Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls.

“It would be nice for that to happen again but it might have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” reflects Libby. “You need a lot of luck in this game and he really was a special horse. It was great to have a result like that, especially so soon after starting Lulham Bloodstock.”

Although she rather modestly puts last year’s breakthrough success down to luck, the family have a long-running involvement in the National Hunt scene stretching back to George riding in point-to-points during his younger days.

The decision to pinhook their first foals was taken almost ten years ago and recent times have seen the Lulham Bloodstock brand start to gain real momentum.

“Dad has always been involved in racing and he decided one day that he wanted to buy a couple of foals,” explains Libby. “This was probably ten years ago so we went to Ireland and bought our first two and caught the bug from there.

"We’ve bought a couple more each year since and recently we expanded to buy more than just a couple.”

While sourcing the right raw materials is half of the pinhooking battle, putting in the hard yards during prep is no less essential and this is an area Libby puts a particular emphasis on.

She says: “We focus a lot on the feeding and handling from a young age. Exercise is vital when it comes to the prep and we like to start by doing a bit of work with them as two-year-olds.

"Then when they turn three we like to get them in during January and do four weeks of basic prep before turning them out and then bringing them in again for the main prep in March.

“That way you get to know what they're like so when it comes to the main prep you're already halfway there and know what you're dealing with.

"I really love the prepping side and seeing how they change in the eight to ten weeks before the sale. I’m quite fussy about how they look though and like to have everything absolutely perfect.”

While her CV includes a spell on a stud in New Zealand, and other roles have seen her spend significant amounts of time at the sales, Libby explains she is essentially self taught when it comes to the art of store sale prep.

“My day job is in racing and I’ve spent a lot of time at the sales working for bloodstock agents but I’m mostly self taught when it comes to stores,” says the 26-year-old.

“You pick up different things as you go along and you're forever learning in this industry, and of course you learn from your mistakes too.

The Kayf Tara gelding out of Gaye Sophie who topped proceedings this time last yearCredit: Sarah Farnsworth

"We've had things go wrong from time to time but that’s all part of the learning curve. As long as you learn from it, each mistake just makes you better next time.”

This year’s consignment features six well-credentialled youngsters, including lot 185, who is not only from the final crop of the much-missed Champs Elysees but is a half-brother to The New One.

Libby says: “He's a big, strong, impressive stamp of a horse with a lot of presence. The sire has done well, including with his four-year-old point-to-pointers this year. He's an exciting prospect.”

She describes the Mount Nelson filly out of Madame Stella (79), whose siblings include the Grade 3-winning Waitnsee, as another standout of the draft, saying: “She’s an exceptional mover and is all class. She has a great temperament and finds her work very easy.

"She’s got a very good pedigree and she’s had a big update under the first dam [Waitnsee’s Grade 3 win] since we bought her. You just can't fault her.”

There are two lots by sire of the moment Blue Bresil, source of recent Grade 1 winners Blue Lord and the brilliant Constitution Hill. The first (161) is the gelding out of Speed Bonnie Boat and the latter is the filly out of Cresswell Willow (295), a half-sister to the winning and Listed-placed Cresswell Breeze who is also 100 per cent GBB-registered.

“Blue Bresil is obviously doing exceptionally well and we’re lucky enough to have these two who are both very smart, athletic types,” says Libby. “They’ve got good pedigrees and are impressive physicals to back it up.”

The draft is completed by a “very athletic” son of leading sire Kayf Tara (207) with “exceptional movement” and an “eye-catching” Mahler gelding from the family of Grade 1 winner Farmer Brown (276).

Despite Lulham Bloodstock focusing on the jumps market at present, Libby’s full-time role is with one of the country’s leading Flat trainers as she is responsible for bloodstock and communications at Ed Walker Racing.

“I was brought up with National Hunt racing and I didn’t really get into the Flat until I went to university,” she says. “I spent a summer working with bloodstock agents SackvilleDonald and that really opened my eyes to the Flat game and also helped me with my job at Ed’s, but my passion has always really been in jumps racing.

“I really like the process of pinhooking these National Hunt foals. I know it takes a long time between the buying and selling but you really get to know them in the three or so years that you have them at home and it’s just such an enjoyable side of the industry to be involved in.”

Libby with her dad George: 'It’s a real team effort and Dad and I work well together'Credit: Sarah Farnsworth

She now mixes her time between Walker’s Lambourn base and the family farm in Hereford, with weekends spent at home helping to fine-tune her fledgling National Hunt prospects.

“It’s a real team effort and Dad and I work well together,” she says. “We’ve been very lucky this year to have had extra help during the prep from a very experienced and knowledgeable girl called Kajsa [Lindsjö], who has come over from Sweden.”

While Libby remains committed to her role at the Walker yard for the time being, she says she hopes to eventually run Lulham Bloodstock as a full-time concern. Another good result or two in Doncaster this week would be an important step towards that dream becoming reality.

“At the moment it’s still a side business because Dad and I both do other things as well,” she says. “But in the next few years I think it will be expanding and we'll go more full-time.

"Obviously I’d like to prep and consign at other sales as well, including at the Flat yearling sales. We've already had people approach us about consigning after last year, which is great, so hopefully we can keep moving in the right direction.”

Goffs UK Spring Sale factfile

Where Goffs UK sales complex, Doncaster

When Four days of selling start on Monday at noon

Last year’s Store Sale stats From 271 offered 224 (83 per cent) sold for turnover of £7,191,500 (up 52 per cent against 2019), an average of £32,105 (up 21 per cent) and a median of £27,000 (up 29 per cent)

Last year’s Horses-in-Training/P2P stats From 296 offered 274 (93 per cent) sold for turnover of £6,348,200 (down 31 per cent), an average of £23,169 (up two per cent) and a median of £12,250 (up 23 per cent)

Notable graduates Constitution Hill (sold by Bernice Stables, bought by Seven Barrows for £120,000); Midnight Shadow (sold by Clarendon Farm, bought by Aafke Clarke for £28,000); Stattler (sold by Treannahow Stables, bought by Ian Ferguson for £59,000)

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