Johnny McKeever delves into the Godolphin goldmine to land Ascot top lot

Trade proved brisk at the Tattersalls Ascot July Sale on Tuesday, where a pair of £55,000 lots topped a lively list of prices and key market indicators showed sizeable year-on-year gains.

By the time the final horse had exited the Ascot ring, 121 of 149 offered lots had sold for a clearance rate of 81 per cent. In turn, those transactions brought turnover of £982,700 - up a huge 96 per cent on the aggregate at 2018's July Sale.

The average and median prices showed similarly healthy increases, with the former figure up 93 per cent to £8,121 and the latter rising by 82 per cent to £4,000, having been £2,200 12 months ago.

The second of the joint sale-toppers was Winter Sky, who will now head to the southern hemisphere after Johnny McKeever saw off a persistent Geoffrey Howson with a bid of £55,000 delivered from the front row of the auditorium.

Offered by Godolphin, the once-raced daughter of Invincible Spirit hails from a family steeped in Antipodean success. She is the sixth foal out of Movin' Out, a daughter of Encosta De Lago whose siblings include the Group 3-winning Murjana, who in turn is the dam of Gathering, winner of the 2010 Group 1 Railway Stakes.

View full Tattersalls Ascot July Sale results and stats

A host of Australian Group 1 performers also appear beneath Winter Sky's third dam, most notably the breed-shaping sire Redoute's Choice.

"She'll go to Australia, all her family is from there," said McKeever, who was acting on behalf of an undisclosed client. "She's very good-looking to go with it and Invincible Spirit is very popular in Australia too."

Johnny McKeever: 'Invincible Spirit is very popular in Australia'Credit: Debbie Burt

McKeever's purchase may have topped the list of prices at Ascot, but he was confident the transaction represented good value, particularly in light of the intense trade witnessed at last week's Tattersalls July Sale.

"The main thing is her physique, she's gorgeous," said the agent. "She's as good-looking as anything that sold for a lot more money at Newmarket last week. There was a technical reason why she wasn't entered into that sale so they brought her here instead, which made buying her easier.

"She'll be put in foal in Australia and you'll see her progeny, or herself in foal, at a sale down under."

Winter Sky was the second lot to hit the £55,000 mark after Betfair Hurdle runner-up Magic Dancer was knocked down to Tattersalls' Irish representative Jamie Codd. The son of Norse Dancer will return to the Herefordshire base of trainer Kerry Lee.

Magic Dancer in the Ascot ringCredit: Debbie Burt

Stronge trade

Ali and Sam Stronge saw an exciting recruit join their ranks at Castle Piece Stables in Berkshire when owner Mark Goggin went to £50,000 for Jinsha, a daughter of Presenting offered by Peter Fahey's Roefield Stables.

Jinsha - who was bred by Roland Crellin, the breeder of Cue Card - was a promise-filled runner-up on debut in a Worcester bumper earlier in the month.

"She looks a lovely mare and has a good pedigree," said Sam Stronge. "She's a nice scopey mare too and she travelled nicely during her bumper run but she might just have been a bit green. She looks like a mare who could go on and win straight away, though I wouldn't want to run her on rattling ground.

"She's got residual value too. She's been bought for a new owner in the yard, Mark Goggin of Rockingham Reins."

The five-year-old, who is out of the Listed-winning Bob Back mare Golden Sunbird and from the family of Alexander Banquet, was a €40,000 purchase by Winning Ways Racing at the 2017 Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale.

Fahey also sold Bathiva, a placed son of Spanish Moon, who went the way of David Dennis for £46,000.

Godolphin goldmine

The horses from the Godolphin draft proved typically in demand, as 14 lots sold for £266,500 and at an average of £19,035. Among those was City Tour, a winning son of Dutch Art who went the way of Lydia Richards for £30,000.

"Everything!" was Richards' answer when asked what she liked about the half-brother to Listed-winning juvenile Private Matter. "I wouldn't pay £30,000 for a horse I didn't really, really like. We'll keep him to sprinting for the time being. It remains to be seen what happens in the future but he's a lovely, big scopey horse."

Another Godolphin offering to find favour in the ring was Nordano, who was knocked down to Neil King for £22,000. The son of Jukebox Jury, who carried the colours of Abdulla Al Mansoori, was placed twice from six starts for Mark Johnston.

"I bought him to go juvenile hurdling," King said of the three-year-old, who is out of a sister to King George hero Novelist.

"He's a very solid stamp of a horse with a good bit of bone, and I like the fact he's got form on soft ground too. Gelding him might help improve him a bit more too. He's been bought on spec."

Venner keeps it in the family

Paul Venner was among those in attendance at Ascot and left the July Sale having added an old friend, the Godolphin-consigned Crown Of Flowers, to his Petches Stud broodmare band at a cost of £25,000.

Venner bred the daughter of Garswood before he sold her to Peter and Ross Doyle for 31,000gns at the December Foal Sale in 2016. The filly is the 12th foal of the Magic Ring mare Ring Of Love, making her a half-sister to Bahia Breeze, a daughter of Venner's 2,000 Guineas-winning colour bearer Mister Baileys.

"We bred her and sold her as a foal, which is what we did with her dam as well," said Venner. "I bred all the family and it has been very good to me. She won’t race again and will join the broodmare band now.

"Ring Of Love has a yearling full-sister to her who's in France and will go into training. We took the decision to retire Ring Of Love after she foaled a colt by Twilight Son earlier this year."

More sales news:

James Harron is the new king of the ring after landing 450,000gns top lot

Third time lucky for 350,000gns Inverleigh at final July Sale session