Ryan Mahon lands top lot Crooks Peak at low-key Goffs UK Autumn Sale

Handicap chaser Crooks Peak topped a low-key day of trade at the Goffs UK Autumn Sale in Doncaster on Thursday. The single session comprised three distinct catalogue sections, namely Autumn Horses-in-Training, the Silver Yearling Sale and the Autumn Yearling Sale.

Year-on-year comparisons bear minimal relevance given the reformatted nature of this year's Autumn Sale, which generated turnover of £786,400, an average price of £4,915 and a median of £3,000. The clearance rate closed at 70 per cent, with 160 of 229 offered lots finding a buyer.

The session-topper is set to switch from Philip Hobbs to Dan Skelton after a final wave of Ryan Mahon's ipad was enough to bring the gavel down at £36,000. Crooks Peak, a seven-year-old son of Arcadio, won five races for Hobbs, including a Listed bumper at Cheltenham and a Newbury handicap hurdle.

View full Goffs UK Autumn Sale results and stats

He achieved a career-high Racing Post Rating of 137 for the latter effort, a mark he matched on his latest start when a close second to Locker Room Talk in a Kempton handicap chase.

"He goes to Dan Skelton," said Mahon after signing the docket from his position in the bidders' area opposite the rostrum. "He's a consistent handicapper and if we're lucky he might pick up a nice prize somewhere along the line.

"He's just a nice sound, straightforward horse. He's been bought on spec but Dan has a few people looking for this sort of horse. If he goes and wins a half decent pot somewhere that money won't look ridiculous."

Mahon continued: "With the lack of clarity around sales at the moment we don't know what's going to happen. If there's a couple of people who want this sort of horse, we might not even be able to buy a couple of months down the line."

Lot 131: Crooks Peak in the Doncaster parade ring ahead of fetching £36,000 from Ryan MahonCredit: Goffs UK

The Autumn Sale has traditionally hosted a point-to-point section, but this year those lots will be offered at the new November Sale, which has been switched from Doncaster to Yorton Farm, with the South Yorkshire town set to go into Tier 3 lockdown on 12.01am on Saturday.

When asked how difficult an ever-shifting sales calendar is to manage for a busy National Hunt agent, Mahon said: "It's an absolute disaster as you're trying to work out where you can go, figuring out where you need to quarantine, the gaps in between everything, you organise one thing and then the dates are changing and that makes the whole situation a lot more difficult.

"The sales companies are in the same boat as they're trying to do their best but situations keep changing all the time. Everyone is trying to work around it as best they can but it's the situation that's a disaster."

He added: "It's frustrating and with so much uncertainty it's not an ideal time to be buying as who knows what's going to happen. It's not a nice situation to be in but all you can do is buy in the hope that things clear up and we get back to some sort of normality soon."

Mahon also went to £16,000 for Ambassador, a three-year-old son of Invincible Spirit with a peak RPR of 66, to top the buyers' chart with a spend of £52,000.

Lot 73: Arctic Fox brings £25,000 from Martin TodhunterCredit: Goffs UK

Two more horse-in-training lots broke through the £20,000 barrier, with Martin Todhunter going to £25,000 for Arctic Fox, a useful middle-distance handicapper for Richard Fahey and Sir Robert Ogden, while Gary Moore Racing signed at £21,000 for Tenfold, a placed son of Teofilo offered by Martyn Meade's Manton Park Racing.

The Silver Yearling Sale section was topped by a daughter of War Command who went the way of Tony Coyle and David Bishop at £12,000.

Profit was in short supply during the Silver Sale section but the War Command filly proved to be a successful pinhook for Kimberley Priori and Vitruvian Bloodstock, who picked the youngster up for just 800gns at last year's Tattersalls December Foal Sale.

Trade during the Silver Sale and Autumn Yearling sections highlighted the sobering nature of life at the foot of the yearling market, with the former generating a clearance rate of just 63 per cent, with 32 of 51 offered lots finding a buyer for an aggregate of £148,600, an average price of just £4,645 and a median of £4,150.

At the close of trade, Goffs UK managing director Tim Kent declared himself satisfied with the reformatted Autumn Sale, saying: "This year's Autumn Sale was very different to previous years with the addition of the Silver Yearling Sale and the absence of a point-to-point and form horse session.

"The Silver Yearling Sale is usually held in conjunction with the Premier Yearling Sale but due to the altered sales calendar we were forced to incorporate it into today's sale.

"A decision was also made to remove the sale's traditional point-to-point and form horse session and instead offer those horses in a new dedicated sale – the first of the autumn for 2020. As such we have introduced the November P2P Sale which, due to new government restrictions in Doncaster, will now be held at Yorton Farm Stud on Wednesday, November 11.

"The changes above make direct comparisons very difficult, but we were satisfied with the level of trade achieved today as we exist to sell horses and that is exactly what we have done. We would therefore like to thank all of our clients for their participation today and wish buyers the best of luck with their new purchases."

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