Dam of Goliath providing international attention as cream of Irish mares and foals parade at Goffs

Sunday morning at Goffs and, as the late comedy genius Jon Kenny said, "it was blatant abandonmentness" in the car park with every available spot, and plenty of areas that aren't designated for parking, taken by vehicles ahead of the November Foal Sale, which gets under way on Monday morning.

More than 1,000 foals are catalogued for the sale, which takes place over four days and is followed by the November Breeding Stock Sale. Last year featured a draft of mares from the Niarchos family, with the Group 1 winning half-sisters Alpha Centauri and Alpine Star equalling the Irish auction record of €6,000,000 set by Irish Oaks winner Chicquita a decade before.

This time, the dam of this year's Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Goliath leads a selection of mares that includes another Classic winner in 2015 Epsom heroine Qualify and an unraced daughter of Galileo and record-equalling champion Alpha Centauri.

No wonder the car park is overflowing, and the international flights to Dublin airport are carrying quite the contingent of buyers, according to Goffs group chief executive Henry Beeby.

"There's been a great response to the November Sale catalogue, with a lot of people coming in from abroad and a big contingent of Japanese buyers who are coming in for both the foals and mares sales," says Beeby.

"We have clients from all over Europe, Turkey, the Middle East and America. We welcome them like friends when they come here, give them the best of Irish hospitality, but the enjoyment comes when they get the results – that's the highlight of it all for us."

Naturally, with Goliath set to contest the Japan Cup on Sunday, interest in his impeccably bred dam has been enormous from Japanese breeders and buyers, though Beeby suggests the depth to the catalogue of mares and foals has generated wider interest from that part of the world.

Gouache, the dam of Goliath, is the star attraction of the Goffs November Breeding Stock SaleCredit: Goffs

Labeling, the Listed Shinetsu Stakes winner who was third in the Group 1 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes at two, is a graduate of the November Foal Sale, having been bought for €360,000 by the Lowry family's Oneliner Stables from Neilstown Stud four years ago.

Beeby says: "This is undoubtedly the cream of the Irish foal crop and therefore many people are coming here for those elite foals. The best horses in the world are bred here in Ireland and a lot of them are offered as foals here at Goffs so, naturally enough, many of the big international buyers are here for the foal sale, and with the mare sale happening straight afterwards they tend to stay on and see those elite mares.

"Many of the best stallions in the world are at stud in Ireland, so people who want exposure to those sires buy the mares here in foal to them."

Glance at the list of sires represented in both the foal and mare sale catalogue, and it reads like a who's who of the stallion book. 

From champion sire-elect Dark Angel through to Kingman, Lope De Vega, Sea The Stars and Wootton Bassett, the foals are by Europe's leading sires. Rising stars Blue Point and Too Darn Hot are also strongly represented, and from those yet to have runners come foals by champions and Group 1 winners Baaeed, Blackbeard, St Mark's Basilica and Sealiway.

At last year's storied sale, Avondale Bloodstock went to €925,000 for Ambivalent, the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes winner by Authorized, and in foal to Sea The Stars. A little over a week later her five-year-old daughter Teona, by Sea The Stars, would make 4,500,000gns to Juddmonte, and the foal Ambivalent was carrying this time last year returns to the ring this week as lot 566.

The brown colt offered by Baroda Stud is a full-brother to Teona, who won the Group 1 Prix Vermeille and was third in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf behind Yibir.

Ambivalent at Goffs last year, where her son sells this weekCredit: Sophie Webber Photography

Another Sea The Stars full-sibling to a Group 1 winner is due to come under the hammer on Wednesday as Oak Lodge and Springfield House Stud offers Sea Of Class's little brother (642). The star-crossed filly won the Irish and Yorkshire Oaks and was a fast-finishing second to Enable in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

In addition to her, the May-born foal is a half-brother to Group 1 winners Charity Line and Final Score, and the Group 2 Oaks d'Italia winner Cherry Collect, who is the dam of Japanese Group 2 winner Satono Glanz and Listed winners Wakea and Diana Bright. 

He also counts the Group 3 winner Wordless and the Italian Derby runner-up Back On Board as half-siblings, and it's one of those rare catalogue pages where just one dam features, meaning European champion two-year-old Dabirsim doesn't even make the cut.

Gouache (1184), the dam of Goliath, has a deep enough pedigree that there is room for just two dams on the page. The Listed winner is by Shamardal and offered by Millennium Stud in foal to Baaeed.

Gouache is out of Guantana, who is a Listed winner and a Dynaformer half-sister to Group 1 winners and sires Guignol and Guiliani, out of the Group 1 winner Guadalupe, a Monsun full-sister to Group 1 winner and National Hunt sire Getaway.

"It's quite exciting because with her selling on Friday and Goliath running on Sunday, whoever is the lucky purchaser of the mare could have a huge update in a couple of days," says Beeby.

"It's an incredible pedigree and it's great to see really good pedigrees coming up again. The horse was bred by a great guy, Philip von Ullmann, and he still owns a share in him. Although he sold the dam, he has plenty of siblings at home and I think he'll be as excited as anyone on Sunday."

Goffs November Foal Sale factfile

Where Kildare Paddocks, Kill, County Kildare

When Four-day sale starts on Monday; each session begins at 10am

Last year's stats From 902 offered, 709 sold (79 per cent) for turnover of €25,950,2500 (down 12 per cent year-on-year), an average of €36,326 (down nine per cent) and median of €24,000 (unchanged)

Notable graduates Labeling (offered by Neilstown Stud, bought by Oneliner Stables for €360,000); Arrest (offered by Swordlestown Little Stud, bought by Juddmonte for €440,000); Power Under Me (offered by Nanallac Stud, bought by Wyanstown House for €28,000); Make You Smile (offered by Airlie Stud, bought by Grangemore Stud for €130,000); My Mate Alfie (offered by Yeomanstown Stud, bought by Richard Ryan for €70,000)

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