Baroda Stud kicks off Goffs February Sale in match-winning form

Baroda Stud began the Goffs February Sale in a similar manner to how the Irish team kicked off their Six Nations campaign last weekend, heading the list of consignors with half of the top six lots donning their mauve colours.

The session-topping colt from the first crop of Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and Prix du Jockey Club winner Sottsass was consigned by David and Tamso Cox's Newbridge farm and brought the hammer down at €115,000, the second-highest price for a Sottsass foal so far.

Purchased by Tally-Ho Stud, he is the first foal out of the Camelot mare Stage Call, who was placed twice for Jean-Claude Rouget. She is a half-sister to the Blue Wind Stakes runner-up Festival Princess, dam of Group 3 Spring Stakes winner and Sandown Guineas third Festival Dancer.

Second dam Uliana is a Darshaan half-sister to the Group 1 Grosser Dallmayr-Preis Bayerisches Zuchtrennen winner and sire Ransom O'War.

Camas Park Stud bought the New Bay colt from the family of Rock Of Gibraltar, consigned by Baroda Stud, for €85,000.

He is the second foal out of Beautiful Gesture, who was placed three times for Karl Burke and is a Shamardal half-sister to the Hong Kong Listed winner Pleasure Gains and to Sarinda, a daughter of Dubawi who was a Listed winner in Germany. 

Second dam Viola Da Braccio is a Vettori half-sister to the Listed-placed Offshore Boom, dam of Rock Of Gibraltar.

Burning Topic comes from an outstanding Niarchos family and her filly from the second crop of 2,000 Guineas and Vertem Futurity winner Magna Grecia was another of the Baroda draft to hit the headlines, making €58,000 to the MAB Agency.

She is the second foal out of Burning Topic, who is a winning Maxios half-sister to the Group 2 Prix d'Harcourt winner Smoking Sun, who was also runner-up in the Group 1 Singapore Airlines International Cup. Her Pivotal half-sister, the Group 3 Prix d'Aumale second Ikat, is the dam of Main Sequence, who was North America's champion older horse of 2014 and four times a Grade 1 winner.

Her second dam, Burning Sunset, won the Listed Prix Solitude and is a Caerleon half-sister to Oaks heroine Light Shift, in turn the dam of Juddmonte International and Eclipse winner Ulysses. Another of her half-sisters is the Group 1 winner Shiva and she is also a half-sister to the dam of Prix Ganay winner Cloth Of Stars. 

By the close of trade, Baroda had sold nine of the 11 horses offered in their draft for a total of €321,000, making them leading consignors on the day by average sale price. 

Tony Elliott's Rogues Gallery is known more for their racing syndicates but the pinhooking division struck at Goffs on Wednesday, with the aid of Billy Jackson-Stops going to €110,000 for a colt by Night Of Thunder.

"We were very keen to get him, for us he was the standout in the sale and even at that price could still be value for a Night Of Thunder," remarked Elliott, who founded Rogues Gallery in 2008.

Consigned by Ringfort Stud, the March-born colt is the sixth foal out of Serene Beauty, a Street Cry full-sister to the Group 3 Sweet Solera Stakes winner Discourse. Serene Beauty is also a half-sister to Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes winner Bandini and to Najoum, dam of Prince of Wales's Stakes winner Lord North, also successful twice in the Dubai Turf.

Serene Beauty has a perfect record as a broodmare with all three of her foals to race so far visiting the winner's enclosure, and she has a three-year-old New Approach colt named Treasure Cove and a two-year-old filly from the first crop of Derby winner Masar still to run.

The horses in training section provided the other lot to venture into six figures at Goffs on Wednesday with a transatlantic partnership of Shamrock Thoroughbreds and Team Valor going to €100,000 for the four-year-old New Bay colt Tosen Wish. 

Offered by The Castlebridge Consignment, he won his maiden on his second start at two and returned from more than a year off to win at Dundalk a week ago on his first start for Joseph O'Brien. That earned him an official rating of 82 and Stephen Thorn of Shamrock Thoroughbreds believes there is more to come from the lightly raced colt.

"He has a nice profile and seems a straightforward horse," said Thorne. "We will give him time but he looks like a nice horse for the premier handicaps in the summer."

Tosen Wish will join the Shamrock team in Ado McGuinness's Dublin yard, where Current Option, owned by Shamrock Thoroughbreds in partnership with Dooley Thoroughbreds and BT O'Sullivan, has been the flagbearer for their horses-in-training purchases. 

Recent winner Tosen Wish changed hands for €100,000

The Camelot gelding was successful in the Group 3 Concorde Stakes and the Listed Platinum Stakes. Shamrock's other investments at the sales have yielded Listed Sean Barrett Bloodstock Stakes winner Laugh A Minute and Harry's Bar, whose victory in the Listed Belgrave Stakes was ahead of Laugh A Minute.

Walk In The Park recorded a treble of five-year-old maiden winners at the weekend, including both the geldings and mares' races at Bellharbour, and the only foal in the catalogue by the most popular stallion in the country duly became the most expensive National Hunt prospect sold on Wednesday.

Knocked down for €56,000 to Gerry Aherne, who has been busy buying foals by Montjeu's Derby runner-up, he was sold by Thistletown Stud on behalf of Haras Dormul.

The May foal is the first out of Cathmart Desjy, a Marresca Sorrento full-sister to Grade 1 Top Novices' Hurdle and Grade 2 Craddockstown Novice Chase winner Felix Desjy.

The 2023 Goffs February Sale is a two-day event, a session shorter than last year's. Turnover on Wednesday reached €2,056,250 from 128 horses sold. That equated to a clearance rate of 60 per cent, with the average for the opening session coming in at €16,064 and the median at €9,000.

The second session starts at 10am on Thursday.

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