Orby A Gem With Extra Sparkle

As Goffs, one of Ireland's oldest companies, celebrates 150 years in existence, it can look forward to presenting its flagship Orby Sale with a little twist in 2016.

Alongside 454 of the country's select yearlings to sell across Sept. 27 and 28, the second day of the sale will conclude with the first section of the 108-strong Wildenstein Dispersal, with 18 of the family's yearlings to be followed by 41 horses in training.

Last year's Orby Sale–at which 372 horses garnered turnover of €38,931,000 at an average price of €104,655–broke new ground in featuring four yearlings to sell for more than €1- million. Half-siblings to two of that quartet will be offered this year, with lot 290 being a half-brother to the sale-topping €2- million filly by Raven's Pass–now named Tocco d'Amore (Ire)–out of the revered Kilcarn Stud matriarch Spirit Of Tara (Ire) (Sadler's Wells). This season's colt is from the first crop of Coolmore's Declaration Of War, one of 22 yearlings by the young stallion in the Orby Sale, including another Kilcarn offering out of Prima Luce (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), whose Invincible Spirit (Ire) half-brother fetched €580,000 last year.

That colt was knocked down to China Horse Club, as was a Frankel (GB) colt from Noel O'Callaghan's outstanding racemare Alexander Goldrun (Ire) (Gold Away {Ire}), which brought €1.7- million. This time around O'Callaghan's Mountarmstrong Stud offers Alexander Goldrun's Shamardal filly as lot 358, and she is one of 13 yearlings catalogued by the Darley sire.

Despite this result last year, it's fair to say there was a certain degree of hesitancy from buyers when it came to committing to some of the Frankel yearlings offered in 2015. With the collected effort of his first-crop runners meaning that Frankel's stud career has started in a similarly explosive fashion to his racing career, that's unlikely to be the case this year. A pair of Orby yearlings by the sire boast typically exemplary credentials, with lot 168 being a half-brother to Group 1 winners Bago (Fr) (Nashwan) and Maxios (GB) (Monsun {Ger}), while lot 226 is a daughter of the treble Oaks winner Ramruma (Diesis).

Goffs Chief Executive Henry Beeby points to the renewed confidence behind his company's major sale of the calendar in helping to boost its profile in recent years. He says, “It's probably a common theme for the last few years but I'm happy that the message is resonating with leading breeders, particularly in Ireland, to the extent that they send us a good selection of their best horses. People now have the confidence to come here and that was borne out by the four millionaires last year. There are some very nice pedigrees in the catalogue and it's great to have one or two from America.”

He adds, “It's definitely a catalogue we can stand behind and say 'these are some of the best yearlings you'll find this year.”

Whatever Frankel ultimately achieves at stud, it will be a long time before he is threatening the records of his own super-sire Galileo (Ire). There are 10 yearlings by the Coolmore king in the Orby catalogue, among them a brace of fillies who should feature prominently. Lot 425 is a sister to Galileo's first-ever Group 1 winner, the Irish 1000 Guienas heroine Nightime (Ire), whose own daughter, Zhukova (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), added a third group win to her name in last weekend's G3 Enterprise S. at Leopardstown.

Lot 74, offered through Ballylinch Stud, is another sister to a Group 1 winner in Together Forever (Ire). The daughter of Vimal and Gillian Khosla's Theatrical mare Green Room is also a half-sister to G1 Prix Jean Prat winner Lord Shanakill (Speightstown), while another half-sister named Signe (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) brought €1.1-million at the 2014 Orby Sale and is in training in Newmarket with William Haggas.

Galileo's half-brother Sea The Stars (Ire) is also represented by some special individuals, not least Ballylinch Stud's half-brother to the crack sprinter Wizz Kid (Ire) (Whipper) (lot 124) and Barronstown Stud's son of the G2 Rockfel S winner Kitty Matcham (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) (lot 102), herself a daughter of dual Classic winner Imagine (Ire) (Sadler's Wells)

As in Deauville, a pair of Kitten's Joy yearlings is catalogued through Voute Sales, with lot 303 being a sister to three multiple winner and black-type earners, while a brother to GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Bobby's Kitten and GII American Turf S. winner Camelot Kitten is offered as lot 418.

The late Danzig stallion Exchange Rate features as the sire of Glidawn Stud's colt out of the unraced former Juddmonte mare Forever After (GB) (Sadler's Wells) (lot 57). The half-sister to the GI Manhattan H. winner Meteor Storm (GB) (Bigstone {Ire}) and G1 Dubai Sheema Classic winner Polish Summer (GB) (Polish Precedent) has produced two winners from her first two runners to date.

Exchange Rate's top-class European performer Reckless Abandon had his stud career halted abruptly by fertility issues, but the small number of offspring he did manage to produce are now yearlings and seven appear in the Orby catalogue, including lot 331, Monksland Stables's half-brother to G3 Meydan Sprint winner Fityaan (GB) (Haafhd {GB}).

The Wildenstein Dispersal–which, like the Paulyn Dispersal of 2013, is being handled by the Castlebridge Consignment–will be dealt with in greater detail in a further preview next week. The yearlings are all already named, but it will be the names of their forebears which pique potential buyers' interest.

Bringing the curtain down on the Orby yearlings with a flourish is lot 472, a colt by Dubawi (Ire) out of the Wildenstein family's Japanese-conceived G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Beauty Parlour (GB) (Deep Impact {Jpn}). He will follow into the ring his mother's half-sister by Dansili (GB) (lot 471).

“Dispersals are the end of one era and the start of another,” says Beeby as he relishes the opportunity to offer some of the most illustrious bloodlines in Europe this autumn. “I started in the business 34 years ago and there are certain names–Niarchos, Sangster, Magnier, Khalid Abdullah–that resonate as some of the greats, and the Wildenstein name is certainly right up there. Quite often members of such families don't come onto the market so it's a massive privilege for us to be handling the sale and a huge vote of confidence.”

He continues, “David Wildenstein was kind enough to give us the job and I very much hope we can do a job for him. Selling the horses in training at the end of the Orby Sale is an interesting one because it wasn't our first suggestion, but a number of people have said that it's handy to be able to see the horses in training at the same time as the yearlings without having to make another trip, so I think it will work quite well.”

“Goffs itself, and the Orby Sale in particular, exist to sell the best horses we can possibly find, so it's a very good catalogue in itself in our view, but having the Wildenstein Dispersal on top just makes it an exceptional bunch of horses. Landing the Paulyn Dispersal was a very big deal and it gave us the chance to show what we can do when given the ammunition. There's no doubt it had some influence on us being given the Wildenstein Dispersal.”

It's a year of key anniversaries for Europe's major sales companies, with Tattersalls celebrating 250 years of trade, while Goffs came into being a century later, with the Wildenstein Dispersal providing an extra highlight to the year's celebrations.

Beeby says, “Every year is an important year to us but it has extra resonance to us that we have this happening in our 150th year. For an Irish company to have been around for 150 years is quite a big deal. We're one of the longest-established companies in Ireland, which is quite special.”

Thus far, any potential fall-out from the Brexit vote in the UK has not been felt in European sales rings and Beeby is confident of a greater number of international visitors than ever to Kildare Paddocks later this month.

“The dispersal has helped to strengthen the interest in the Orby catalogue,” he notes. “People who were considering are now confirming. We also have two days of the Sportsman's Sale this year–we've added another day due to popular demand and increasing foal crops. So once we add the Sportsman's Sale to the Orby we can offer something for everyone at different commercial levels.”