Galileo Colt Tops December HIT Sale

Indianapolis (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a former Ballydoyle incumbent most recently under the care of James Given, topped proceedings during the single session Goffs UK December HIT Sale on Friday when selling to Ian Williams and Richard Ryan for £52,000 as lot 24. The 3-year-old Indianapolis last won in October of 2019, but was twice placed in one mile six furlongs handicaps this year. The entire is out of the dual Grade I winner Adoration (Honor Grades).

David Elsworth's Egerton House Stables offered the 6-year-old gelding Dash Of Spice (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) (lot 86), and he was picked up by the Ontoawinner Syndicate for £29,000. From the family of the Elsworth-trained G1 Juddmonte International winner Arabian Queen (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), Dash Of Spice was placed in a mile and a half Doncaster handicap on Oct. 24.

Also bringing £29,000 was Al Shaqab's 2-year-old colt Saeiqa (GB) (Shalaa {Ire}) (lot 141). Trained by John Gosden, Saeiqa was third in his first two starts including the G2 Coventry S. at Royal Ascot, where he was beaten 2 1/4 lengths by Nando Parrado (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}). He was bought on Friday by Denis Hogan.

From a significantly larger offering this year than last (127 through the ring compared with just 77 last year) figures held up at the December HIT Sale. The 104 sold represented a clearance rate of 82%, up from 78% last year. The aggregate was £694,500. The average and median both made marginal gains on last year: the average was up 2.8% at £6,678, while the median climbed 6.7% to £4,000.

Goffs UK Managing Director Tim Kent said, “Whilst we are not going to pretend that today's sale is the highlight of our year, we are very proud of the trade that has been achieved throughout the day and we would like to thank all vendors and purchasers for their participation. We saw some spirited bidding throughout the day, with those present competing with a strong online buying bench, and this has helped to produce a very satisfactory end to the sales in Doncaster for 2020.

“The December Sale is normally the last fixture in the Goffs UK calendar, but we have an additional date in 2020 which will see us return to Yorton Farm Stud for the new December P2P Sale on Thursday, Dec. 17. We have already announced some very smart pointers for this sale, and we will be adding to the catalogue in the coming weeks to ensure that the Goffs UK year finishes in style at Yorton Farm.”