Godolphin go to €1 million for Sea The Stars brother to Group 1 heroine Teona at Goffs

Night Of Thunder: sire of prospective pinhooking sensation at GoffsCredit: Patrick McCann

Goffs Scandinavia representative Filip Zwicky and his clients John Christensen and Alice Weiste of the JC Organisation must have veins as cold as the ice that still lingers around Kildare Paddocks despite it being past midday.

The trio has purchased the second-most expensive foal of the morning – a Night Of Thunder colt out of a full-sister to Group 1 winner Gear Up – for €550,000 and their initial plan is to bring the foal back to Goffs for next year's Orby Yearling Sale.

"We had our eyes on the Kingman [half-sister] in Japan and we are looking forward to bringing him back to Goffs next year," remarked Zwicky.

"We will see what happens and how he develops. He will board here in Ireland and we will see how he goes. Obviously a few years back we took a chance on a €300,000 pinhook and now we have upped the game!" he added.

Fortune very much favoured the brave last time round. They went to €300,000 at the 2020 Goffs November Foal Sale for a Footstepsinthesand half-brother to Lucky Vega, who was consigned by Baroda Stud, and returning to Goffs the following autumn they more than doubled their initial investment when Yulong went to €630,000 for the colt, sold through Anna Sundstrom's Coulonces Sales.

We wish them all the very best in their punch endeavour with the colt who was sold by The Castlebridge Consignment out of a mare who was bred, trained and raced by Jim Bolger.

Teona: Prix Vermeille heroine's full-brother made €1m at GoffsCredit: Scoop Dyga/France Galop

A Sea The Stars full-brother to Prix Vermeille winner Teona sparked a sales ring bidding battle between bloodstock behemoths Godolphin and Juddmonte that culminated in the first seven-figure foal sold in Ireland since 2019.

Offered by Baroda Stud on behalf of breeder Yulong Investments, the colt is also the son of a Group 1 performer in the Pretty Polly Stakes winner Ambivalent and Anthony Stroud, who signed for the foal at €1,000,000 on behalf of Godolphin is dreaming of Derby glory with the striking bay colt.

"We are very, very pleased to have him. He moved very well and is an extremely nice foal. We had his Dubawi half-brother, the Group 2 winner Al Hilalee. We like staying horses so we are very happy to have him."

In response to questions about whether Derby or Cup targets would be on the distant horizon for the colt, Stroud nodded and replied: "You would hope so anyway, that's what the dream is."

It was the second seven-figure sale of the autumn for David and Tamso Cox's Baroda Stud on behalf Yuesheng Zhang's Yulong Investments and David Cox revealed he had an inkling on Tuesday that something spectacular in the sales ring was afoot.

"When I saw who was vetting [the foal] I thought we could get there. One team in particular were very keen on him yesterday and I saw them looking up what the top-priced foals at Goffs were so I thought we could get into that bracker," Cox revealed.

"A mare like that who is a Group 1 winner, has bred a Group 1 winner and turns up a foal like that who x-rays clean and has a brilliant mind as well, you have to hope that he can do that.

"I am delighted for Mr Zhang and all the team at home, especially Kitty Conry who foaled him and Brian Delahunt, our stud groom."

It is the highest price for a foal at Goffs since the record-breaking sale of the Dubawi full-brother to Ghaiyyath for €1.2m. That foal, named Al Nafir, makes his debut on for new trainer Bhupat Seemar at Meydan on Friday.

Ghaiyyath himself made €1.1m in this ring as a foal and both Dubawi colts were purchased for Godolphin, as was this son of Sea The Stars.

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

Our first potential sale topper is about the enter the ring.

Lot 566 from Baroda Stud is a Sea The Stars full-brother to the Group 1 Prix Vermeille winner Teona and out of Ambivalent, the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes winner who sold for €925,000 at the 2023 Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale to Avondale Bloodstock carrying this foal.

He makes €1,000,000 to Anthony Stroud.

Updates to come.

Elvstroem: champion racehorse has died aged 24Credit: Edward Whitaker

Sad news reaching us from France of the death of dual hemisphere Group 1 winner Elvstroem who has died at the age of 24 at Haras du Petit Tellier.

The Caulfield Cup hero was a half-brother to Haradasun, a Group 1 winner in Australia who moved to the care of Aidan O'Brien and won the Queen Anne Stakes, in an early precursor to Coolmore's transfer of Storm Boy from Australia to Ballydoyle which happened last week.

Elvstroem was a Danehill full-brother to the Group 1 Australian Oaks third Hveger, dam of globe-trotting Group 1 winner Highland Reel and his full-brothers, the young Coolmore National Hunt sire Idaho, and Australian Group 1 winner Cape Of Good Hope. Their full-sister Cercle De La Vie is the dam of Prix Jean Luc-Lagardere winner Angel Bleu, a son of Dark Angel who stands at Sumbe.

It's also the family of Starspangledbanner whose foals are proving extremely popular here at Goffs.

My colleagues in ANZ have the full story

https://www.racingpost.com/bloodstock/news/international/death-of-champion-racehorse-and-group-1-winning-sire-elvstroem-aged-24-a2cnX2b4QTrr/

Alice Fitzgerald's Kingman half-sister to Basil Martini sells to Roger O'Callaghan for €200,000 at GoffsCredit: Sophie Webber Photography

Alice Fitzgerald, who runs Summit Bloodstock with Michael Doyle, has a stellar reputation as a breeder and consignor with the Group 3 Park Stakes winner Basil Martini one of the flagbearers for the young breeder.

The daughter of Starspangledbanner was a six-figure yearling herself and went on to be a high-class juvenile for Joseph O'Brien, making the offspring of her dam highly coveted.

This morning, Fitzgerald presented a Kingman half-sister to Basil Martini and she sparked a bidding battle in the ring which ended with her becoming the first foal to make €200,000 this week. She was knocked down to Roger O'Callaghan with the purchaser listed as Tiger Bloodstock.

A Summit Bloodstock-homebred, she is the only foal that Fitzgerald has catalogued to sell today.

It's cold outside but the sales ring action is hot with the first €200,000 foal of the session coming just five lots in to the sale.

Winter at GoffsCredit: SARAH FARNSWORTH

Good morning from a gloriously wintry Kildare Paddocks where day three of the Goffs November Foal Sale starts at 10am. My fingers have defrosted enough to type and we're ready for an action-packed session of trading.

Yesterday was robust, following on from the high-end yearling sales as pinhookers and end-users alike were in competition for the best foals and today trade should jump to another level as the choicest foals from Ireland's best breeders come under the hammer.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the day on this blog with photos from the brilliant Sarah Farnsworth and Sophie Webber.