Goffs Orby Million Sale maintained its solidity to the very
end on Wednesday, turning the tide for a fixture that had seemed to
be on the slide in recent years.
Eimear Mulhern’s new team
achieved the results they hoped for with a blend of hard work and
the creation of the sales races due to be run for the first time
next September. For most buyers, the prospect of scooping some of
the 2.4 million in prize money on offer in the Goffs Million and
Fillies Five Hundred loomed large on the horizon. For Managing
Director Matt Mitchell, this played a big part in achieving a
cumulative average of 99,455 and median of 65,000 for the new
Orby Million.
“The sale has exceeded our wildest dreams,” he said
at
the end of a third ground-breaking session. “Vendors have been
rewarded by coming to us and 166 horses sold for more than
100,000, which is an unbelievable result. The sales races played
a big part and have excited people who aren’t normally into flat
racing to take part.”
After the huge part played by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum over the first two days, the final day belonged to some
of Coolmore’s finest past and present, who accounted for the top
eight colts. Head and shoulders above the rest was Hip 578, the
Galileo (Ire) three-quarter brother to Phoenix S. (Ire-G1) heroine Damson
(Entrepreneur) from Denis Brosnan’s Croom House Stud. Introduced by Nick
Nugent as “one of the nicest, if not the nicest horse in the
sale,” the bidding opened at 200,000 and Matt Mitchell provided
the opposition to John Magnier and Demi O’Byrne as he took instructions by phone. Nevertheless, it was O’Byrne who won the
day with a deciding bid of 950,000.
“He is very special and his
sister was very good,” O’Byrne said of the colt, who is also a three-quarter brother to Prestige S.
(Eng-G3) winner Geminiani (King of Kings [Ire]) and
whose family includes this year’s Flying Childers S. (Eng-G2) winner,
Godfrey Street (Compton Place), and last year’s Norfolk S. (Eng-G3) victor, Blue
Dakota (Namid). “He was probably the best horse in the sale.”
Trainer Tom Taaffe had already been delving deep during the
second session, when he went
to 325,000 for a filly by Danehill
Dancer and he was in for the kill again on Wednesday when
securing the top-priced filly of the sale. By Danehill out of a listed-winning half-sister to Pilsudski (Ire)
(Polish Precedent) and Fine Motion
(Danehill), Hip 444 from David Nagle’s Barronstown Stud received a
significant update on Saturday when Briolette (Sadler’s Wells) chased home
Ouija Board (GB) (Cape Cross [Ire]) in the Princess Margaret S. (Eng-G3) at Newmarket and
the hammer fell at 660,000.
“She has a collector’s item pedigree
and is one of the last
of the Danehills,” Taaffe said.
“Briolette has come up in the pedigree since the weekend and she
was bought with a view to her residual value. It’s a hard page to
get and she is a smashing individual.”
Danehill was dominant
throughout the trading and Hip 500 was one of several of the
Camas Park Stud draft in demand. Out of the Princess Margaret
S. (Eng-G3) winner Saintly Speech (Southern Halo), he is a full-sibling to the smart
juvenile Pure Illusion (Danehill) and was knocked down to Richard
Brown of Blandford Bloodstock for 620,000.
“He is for an
existing American client, but I can’t say for whom or where he’ll
be trained,” he said. “He is a gorgeous horse with a great page
and he is one of the last of the Danehills.”
Coolmore’s late sire was also responsible for Huma Park Stud’s Hip 536,
a March-foaled half-brother to Dehere who sold to the Hong Kong
Jockey Club for 360,000; and Hip 434, out of a half-sister to Epsom Derby
(Eng-G1) hero Erhaab (Chief’s Crown) who has produced Haami (Nashwan).
Consigned by Paul Shanahan’s Ashtown House Stud, she was
purchased by Bobby O’Ryan for 320,000.
It was a strong session for the sale’s leading vendor, Camas
Park Stud and their Johannesburg offering as Hip 606 was snapped
up by Bobby O’Ryan on behalf of Howard Johnson. The half-brother
to the Tour of the Cat (Tour d’Or) from the family of Editor’s Note and
Hold that Tiger realized 475,000. Timmy Hyde’s nursery was also
responsible for the second-highest priced filly when Hugo Merry
went to 340,000 for Hip 465,
a Grand Lodge half-sister to two
stakes performers. Her second dam is Cheveley Park S. (Eng-G1)
heroine Pass the Peace (Saint Ballado), producer of the champion juvenile
Embassy (GB) (Cadeaux Genereux) and Pretty Polly S. (Ire-G2) winner Tarfshi (GB)
(Mtoto).
Rachel
Bennett consigned Hip 539, a Sadler’s Wells half-brother to Dante S. (Eng-G2) runner-up Celtic Silence (Celtic
Swing) from a smart American
family, who achieved a final bid of 380,000 from James
Delahooke. Two lots later it was the in-demand freshman Rock of
Gibraltar (Ire) who was back in the spotlight when his
February-foaled half-brother to the Pretty Polly runner-up
Snippets (Be My Guest) appeared in the ring. Demi O’Byrne was pushed to
370,000 to collect the offering from Eddie O’Leary’s Lynn Lodge
Stud, whose dam is a half to Prix Vermeille (Fr-G1) heroine Pearly
Shells (Efisio).