Mixed start at Goffs UK as £170,000 colt stars but sale regulars Shadwell absent

Trade proved mixed at the curtain-raising event of the European yearling sales circuit, as the Goffs UK Premier Sale in Doncaster saw a string of six-figure transactions and a solid clearance rate but a sizeable drop in turnover and average price.

While the sale is being held at a time when the British and Irish economies are feeling the full effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic, much of the talk on the sales ground was of Hamdan Al Maktoum's Shadwell buying team.

At last year's Premier Sale the operation spent £1,993,000 on 17 yearlings, but, 12 months on, was notable for its absence only.

How big an impact Shadwell's no-show will have on trade will be revealed only in the fullness of time, but when day one's results are compared against the corresponding session 12 months ago, when a £440,000 record top lot was sold, the figures make for sobering reading.

Turnover was down by 34 per cent year-on-year at £6,970,500; the average took a hit of 25 per cent, down to £36,685; and the median was down 21 per cent at £30,000.

However, a clearance rate of 83 per cent, with 190 of 229 offered lots finding a buyer, should provide a degree of encouragement about the appetite of buyers, albeit their budgets are plainly below the levels of previous years.

The top lot on Tuesday was the Starspangledbanner colt offered by Anna Sundstrom's Coulonces Sales who went the way of a determined Richard Ryan at £170,000. The strapping colt is due to head into training with Roger Varian for owner Teme Valley Racing.

View full Goffs UK Premier Sale results and stats

"He was the star of the show; the best in the sale in our opinion, and in the opinion of the trainer," said Ryan, who stood besides Varian as he delivered the decisive bid from the top tier of the auditorium.

"Starspangledbanner gets winners out of all sorts of mares and all sorts of pages, but only very rarely will they have that kind of look at this age: that scope and quality, backed up by a top-class pedigree. It's a beautiful family. We're looking for Classic horses, but those who have the precocity to show something at two. He fits that brief perfectly."

The sale of the Starspangledbanner colt supplied Coulonces Sales with yet another big Premier Sale result, as past drafts from the French operation have included the mighty mare Laurens and the Group 3-winning Nickajack Cave.

Richard Ryan: 'We're looking for Classic horses, but those who have the precocity to show something at two'Credit: Claudia Claydon

It was also some 12 months ago that Ryan bought Legion Of Honour for Teme Valley Racing from the Coulonces draft. The £280,000 son of Wootton Bassett ran a promise-filled second behind Devious Company on debut at Haydock.

The Starspangledbanner colt is the first foal out of Dalakania, a placed daughter of Dalakhani from the famed Wildenstein family of Aquarelliste and Arcangues. Sundstrom explained that the mare is owned in partnership by senior figures in the Coulonces team.

"He was bred by me and my head girl, Charlotte Hutchinson, who was leading up," said a delighted Sundstrom. "Charlotte bought the mare out of training from the Wertheimers, she cost only €16,000. We love Starspangledbanner, we've had a lot of luck with him, so it was an obvious choice to send Dalakania to him."

She continued: "It's a fantastic result in a market like this. It just shows that there are people there for good horses. We knew he had a lot of people interested but I didn't think he'd make this much. Doncaster has been very good to us so it's easy to keep coming back here."

Lot 160: the Acclamation colt bought by Richard Ryan for £115,000Credit: Claudia Claydon

Just five lots earlier Ryan also went to £115,000 to secure an Acclamation colt offered by Tinnakill House Stud, again on behalf of Teme Valley Racing. He said: "He was one of the best Acclamations I've seen in the ring. He will go into training with Roger Varian too."

Warren leaves it late

The six-figure transactions continued well into the evening, and late in the piece Jake Warren outpointed Alex Elliott at £140,000 for the Dark Angel colt out of Futoon offered by Guy O'Callaghan's Grangemore Stud.

"He's a cracker of a horse who's by a top sire," said Warren from his position by the gangway. "Getting horses like this by stakes-performing mares by Kodiac gives one tremendous confidence.

"He's a terrific mover and there's a lot of substance to him and he should make into a lovely two-year-old. He'll stay in England but we haven't decided who'll train him yet. He's been bought for a private client."

The colt is the first foal out of Futoon, a Listed-placed daughter of Kodiac who joined the Grangemore Stud broodmare band when acquired for 100,000gns at the 2017 Tattersalls December Sale.

The family has produced a succession of precocious talents, with the likes of Mill Reef Stakes winner Galeota, Molecomb Stakes scorer Brown Sugar and the Listed-winning Darkanna appearing on the colt's page.

"I'm delighted as he was an absolute champion of a horse," said O'Callaghan. "I'm thrilled good people were in after him and a good judge bought him. If you read the pedigree and then look at him, he looks like he'll do what it says on the tin!"

O'Callaghan, whose operation sold two lots for a total of £170,000 on Tuesday, offered a sanguine assessment of trade, saying: "The market isn't as strong as in recent years but the world is in a very different place right now and we're just lucky to have a market.

"After what we've all been through in the last six months, it's great we're in a position to trade. The figures might be down but I think that's to be expected. The good horses will sell well and the average ones will struggle; I think that's the same in any industry at the moment."

Sackville strikes

Ed Sackville was another buyer to land a notable brace when the agent went to £120,000 for an Acclamation colt from Longview Stud and £105,000 for a son of Dark Angel offered by Yeomanstown Stud. Both colts will head into training with Tom Dascombe.

"Acclamation is a sire we've been very lucky with," said Sackville. "We have a nice two-year-old by him this year called Lauded, he runs in the Sirenia Stakes this weekend. This horse is a similar model; strong and precocious-looking. He's from a very good farm that we know well as they're just down the road in Cheshire. We hope to have a lot of luck with him."

The colt boasts a proper Doncaster pedigree, as his sire graduated from the South Yorkshire sales ring, while his dam, Duchess Power, is a sister to Slade Power, who sold to Eddie Lynam for £5,000 at the 2010 Premier Sale before developing into one of the finest sprinters of recent generations.

Of the Dark Angel colt out of Cut No Ice, Sackville said: "Tom trained the brother Frozen Angel for us. He was a very good horse and we sold him on to Hong Kong for 335,000gns. We thought this colt was a very similar type. He's not only by a stallion we've been lucky with but from a family we've been lucky with."

Doyle and Hannon get busy

The Premier Sale may have felt the absence of Shadwell, but other long-standing supporters of the auction made their presence felt in no uncertain terms as Peter and Ross Doyle and Richard Hannon went in hot pursuit of future stars. By the close of trade, the Doyles had signed for 11 yearlings at a total outlay of £657,000.

The priciest of those was a strong-looking Acclamation colt offered by Redpender Stud who fetched £105,000. Ross Doyle was returning to the source of some notable successes when he dipped into the Redpender draft, having bought the likes of Canford Cliffs and Toormore from Jimmy Murphy's operation.

"We've had some very good Acclamations down the years; Mehmas, Ventura Tormenta, Harbour Watch," said Doyle. "He's been a very good sire for our clients and the Hannons. And I don't need to explain our association with Redpender, we've bought two champions from them and we bought Happy Romance last year.

"This is a pedigree we know well too, we bought Oh This Is Us, who's under the second dam, as a yearling. He's by Acclamation as well so this colt is closely related to him - he reminded us of him as a yearling in a big way."

The colt is the first foal out of Western Safari and was pinhooked as a foal at €94,000.

Doyle's purchases also included the Kodiac filly out of Zvarkhova offered by Loughtown Stud who fetched £100,000 and a Mehmas colt out of Beauty Of The Sea from Ballyvolane Stud who realised £95,000.

Kodi Bear filly leads the way

The first six-figure lot of the day came when Phil Cunningham struck a successful online bid of £110,000 to secure the Kodi Bear colt out of Usem bred and sold by Lewinstown Farm and Lemongrove Stud.

That transaction represented a tidy profit for the Lewinstown and Lemongrove teams as they paid just 4,000gns for Usem when the daughter of Bahamian Bounty was carrying the Kodi Bear colt in utero at the 2018 Tattersalls December Sales.

The mare's first two runners are the Listed-placed Ikigai and the 86-rated Sayem, both of whom are by Sayif.

"It's thanks to the mare, look what she's done with her first two runners by Sayif," said Lewinstown's Ken Carroll. "She has a Galileo Gold filly foal, who's a queen, and she's in foal to Invincible Spirit, so that tells you what we think of her.

"Though take nothing away from Kodi Bear as Invincible Spirit was a Kodi Bear once upon a time."

Lot 30: the Kodi Bear filly bought by Phil CunninghamCredit: Claudia Claydon

The filly was Lewinstown's sole offering at the Premier Sale, and Carroll reported there had been a steady stream of prospective purchasers coming to her door since she arrived in Doncaster from Westmeath.

"There were six or seven vets and everyone seemed to be on her," said Carroll, who previously worked for Eddie O'Leary at Lynn Lodge Stud. "He was one of the easy ones to sell."

On the strength of trade, Carroll said: "It's select but good horses will always sell, and if you think negatively you're doomed straight away."

Fairytale result for Fitzgerald

Selling may not have been straightforward in a market missing some major players, but Alice Fitzgerald was among the vendors to enjoy a big result when her Mehmas filly out of Applauding was knocked down to Jake Warren at £100,000.

The filly is out of Applauding, whose eight winners include the stakes-winning Ginger Nut.

A delighted Fitzgerald said: "We were confident coming here, the sire is absolutely flying and she's a half-sister to a good, fast filly so we were always hopeful. She's a good, racy filly and she's been very popular since she arrived here so we're delighted with that result."

Warren added: "She's an extremely athletic filly and she's obviously by what looks a very exciting up-and-coming sire.

"Her female family was very attractive to us too; the dam has produced a lot of winners and a nice black-type performer. She stood out as one of the best fillies in the sale and we're going to send her to Richard Fahey for a private client. We'd expect her to be an exciting, early summer two-year-old."

The Premier Sale continues on Wednesday at 10am with a session that includes the likes of A'Ali's Cotai Glory half-sister and a Starspangledbanner half-brother to Ventura Tormenta.

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