Small Breeders Smiling as 240k Havana Grey Filly Tops Opening Session at Goffs

“A victory for small breeders!” That was the emphatic verdict from an emotional Muriel Knox after her family had topped Tuesday's opening session of the Goffs UK Doncaster Premier Yearling Sale with their homebred Havana Grey (GB) filly for £240,000. Mark McStay's Avenue Bloodstock struck the winning bid on behalf of Skara Glen Stables.

Lot 157 might have been consigned by Sarah Fanning Sales, but it's fair to say that this was a Knox filly through and through with Miss Mercy (Ire) (Law Society) as her fourth dam, a mare Muriel's late father-in-law, Ken Knox, bought nearly three decades ago for just 3,000gns.

Miss Mercy quickly proved herself a shrewd buy as the dam of three black-type performers, including the listed winners Sadeek (GB) and Dubai Dynamo (GB), both by Kyllachy (GB), while her listed-placed granddaughter Spinatrix (GB) will be a familiar name to most as the winner of 10 races for the Michael Dods yard. She in turn is the dam of the G3 Athasi Stakes heroine Twilight Spinner (GB) (Twilight Son {GB}).

However, no matter what went before it, there could be no mistaking that the sale of this filly, the first foal out of Spinatrix's winning daughter Twist of Hay (GB) (Showcasing {GB}), was the most exciting result that this generation of the Knox family has experienced during its time in the sport.

Muriel was joined by son Josh, who said, “We always knew we had a nice horse and we landed on the right sire at the right time. We never thought she'd make that much–it's by far our biggest result, by a long, long way.”

“It's emotional,” Muriel continued. “My heart was pounding. It sort of went quiet for a little bit, and we thought maybe she's stuck here, but then off she went again. We were joking yesterday that we better put a bigger reserve on her, but it's worked out well!

“We're based in Northallerton and it's a victory for small breeders. We only have five mares and most of them are from the same family. My husband Jeremy's father bought Miss Mercy and bred from her. She was just a little, cheap acquisition, but he really liked her and she was the foundation mare.”

Twist of Hay is said to be in foal to Ardad (Ire) having produced a colt by Lope Y Fernandez (Ire) earlier this year, giving the Knoxs plenty more to look forward to with what is the fifth generation of this family to have passed through their hands over the last 30 years or so.

McStay, too, is excited to see what the next chapter might hold with a filly who was purchased on behalf of his new client and is now set to join Donnacha O'Brien.

“She's a beautiful filly,” he said. “She was very well-presented and has been bought on behalf of Ira Gumberg of Skara Glen Stables. She has the Queen Mary written all over her and goes into training with Donnacha O'Brien.

“Doncaster is renowned for selling sharp and early 2-year-olds and this filly is exactly that. She is very typical of the quality of animal we have seen do well from this sales ground over the years and she joins a trainer with a track record of producing Royal Ascot winners.”

Whilst the Havana Grey filly was one of two yearlings to surpass the £200,000 paid for last year's top lot, trade on day one was otherwise down on 12 months ago. Of the 243 yearlings offered–25 more than last year–200 sold at a clearance rate of 82%. The aggregate was down by 11% at £8,209,500, while the average dipped by 14% to £41,048 and the median by 11% to £31,000.

Lot 157 is now leading proceedings at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale.

This filly by Havana Grey has stolen the show and her breeders were overjoyed with her making £240,000. pic.twitter.com/7senWLeWOB

— TDN (@theTDN) August 27, 2024

Mehmas Colt Heads Phil Cunningham's Haul

Classic-winning owner Phil Cunningham has reaped the rewards after enlisting the services of Highflyer's Anthony Bromley at last year's Premier Yearling Sale, and the brief given to the ace agent was much the same 12 months on, as he secured one of the top lots from Tuesday's opening session, a Mehmas (Ire) colt from the Houghton Bloodstock draft who commanded £210,000.

“Mehmas was on our wish list if we could get one,” said Bromley last year after securing another yearling by the Tally-Ho Stud resident for £145,000, one of seven lots he signed for on behalf of Cunningham at that sale for a total of £617,000.

Admittedly, the colt since named The Man (Ire) is yet to add to his Southwell debut win in three further starts for Richard Spencer, but at least two others have shown genuine group-class potential, namely listed scorer Yah Mo Be There (GB) (Mohaather {GB}) and Newmarket debut winner Righthere Rightnow (Fr) (Kodiac {GB}). That duo were bought for £95,000 and £72,000, respectively.

A return trip to Doncaster for next month's G2 Champagne Stakes has been earmarked for the last-named colt, while Bromley is already thinking of York next summer for what proved to be just the first of six new recruits to the Rebel Racing ranks on Tuesday.

Lot 28 is out of Cheveley Park Stud's listed-winning mare Red Box (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), herself a daughter of the G1 Prix de Diane heroine Confidential Lady (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}).

“He's a real Donny type of horse and we've bought him to try and win Harry's Half Million,” Bromley said. “We've had a bit of luck from last year's sale. We've got Yah Mo Be There, Righthere Rightnow, who won at Newmarket and goes to the Champagne Stakes, and The Man who is not a bad horse as well.

“It was definitely more than I was hoping to bid for him. We had to outbid George Scott, who was very strong on the horse. I don't normally spend that sort of money on Flat yearlings, but I'm very excited to get this one.”

By the end of the opening session Bromley's six purchases for Cunningham came to a total of £730,000, with the others including lot 87, a Sergei Prokofiev colt from Whitsbury Manor Stud, and lot 92, a Dark Angel (Ire) colt from the Yeomanstown Stud draft who reached £170,000.

“It's for the same team,” said Bromley after going to £140,000 for the yearling by Whitsbury Manor's leading first-season sire. “He was a great athlete, with size and scope, and the sire is obviously flying. I've loved this horse since I saw him on Saturday and Richard [Spencer] liked him when he got here on Sunday. He's been high on our list to buy all week.

“We ran into Clive Cox again and he's a good judge to outbid. I'd hoped to get him for around £100,000, but sometimes you've got to go a couple more bids than you'd budgeted for.”

16,000gns ➡️ £140,000

Not a bad pinhook for Whitsbury Manor Stud who stand the sire of lot 87. pic.twitter.com/X2S0gUA95L

— TDN (@theTDN) August 27, 2024

Too Hot To Handle

One of only two yearlings by Too Darn Hot (GB) in the catalogue, lot 76, continued the good work the young Darley stallion put in at the Arqana August Sale where three of his six yearlings made at least €200,000, with a colt out of the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches runner-up Irish Rookie (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}) leading the way at €520,000.

This filly from the Barton Stud consignment is out of the listed-winning Exceed And Excel (Aus) mare Shamandar (Fr), already the dam of the listed-placed Admiral Nelson (GB) (Kingman {GB}), as well as the unbeaten 3-year-old Shamrock Bay (GB) (Cable Bay {Ire}), who is two from two for Daniel and Claire Kubler since the catalogue was published.

That update no doubt helped the Parks Farm Stud-bred filly achieve one of the highest prices of the session when knocked down to SackvilleDonald and Manor House Stables for £170,000, not to mention the soaring reputation of the stallion.

“She's a very strong, precocious-looking filly by a stallion who needs no introduction,” said Ed Sackville. “She's been bought for an existing owner of Hugo Palmer and will be trained at Manor House Stables.”

“I think you never know until you're in the ring,” he added when asked whether the fee was in the ballpark of what he'd expected to pay. “But I think if you're spending that kind of money you want to have something [in the pedigree] to back it up and she had that.”

Lot 76 at the Goffs UK Premier Sale sells for £170,000.

Consigned by Barton Sales, this filly by Too Darn Hot will join Hugo Palmer at Manor House Stables. pic.twitter.com/ef2clEN42O

— TDN (@theTDN) August 27, 2024

A'Ali Is Alright

Of the seven yearlings by first-season sire A'Ali offered during this opening session, Anthony Stroud struck for the two most expensive in the shape of the colt who was offered by Lynn Lodge Stud as lot 206 and Sarah Fanning's filly who went through the ring as lot 173.

The latter is set to carry the same colours A'Ali sported during his own racing career, those of Shaikh Duaij Al Khalifa, after being bought for £130,000, while the £150,000 colt is set to go into training with George Scott, with the owner yet to be confirmed.

“He was a very athletic colt,” Stroud said of lot 206, a half-brother to the listed winner and G3 Molecomb Stakes runner-up Rocket Rodney (GB) (Dandy Man {Ire}). “He's going to go to George Scott, who trained the half-brother, and he was a very good representation of the sire. He should be a two-year-old and I liked him very much.”

Stroud, of course, is a long-time fan of A'Ali, having been the one to buy him for £135,000 when he went under the hammer at the breeze-up sale here at Doncaster, and he seemingly likes what he's seen of the high-class sprinter's progeny on his return to Town Moor for this sale.

He added, “There's 14 of them [yearlings by A'Ali] here and I thought they were a really good example of his stock. They look really good, really athletic, early two-year-old types–I thought they were very nice.”

Another first season sire who is impressing is A'Ali. His progeny have been very well received at Goffs UK with Anthony Stroud purchasing two so far. pic.twitter.com/0lMChJNeXD

— TDN (@theTDN) August 27, 2024

Mehmas Continues To Make Waves

Oliver St Lawrence Bloodstock was the name on the docket for lot 146, a colt by Mehmas (Ire) offered by Tally-Ho Stud, but it was young trainer John O'Donoghue who did the bidding as he looked to add to his growing team at John Oxx's former base at Currabeg.

A one-time assistant to Roger Varian in Newmarket, O'Donoghue has saddled 16 winners in Britain and Ireland since sending out his first runners under his own name in 2022, including  Pearling Path (Fr) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), who provided him with perhaps his most notable result so far when filling the runner-up spot in the Listed Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot in his first season.

This year O'Donoghue has sent out 16 different horses in Ireland, including the Sergei Prokofiev 2-year-old Majestic Wave (GB), last seen dead-heating for second in a maiden at Cork last month.

The horse he couldn't be split from on that occasion was another son of Mehmas in Magnum Force (Ire)–since listed-placed at York for Ger Lyons–a result which clearly had a lasting impression on O'Donoghue as he explained the decision to part with £130,000 for this colt. He was bought for Bahraini clients, including Fawzi Nass who is already involved in the yard.

“I think he was typical of the stallion and they've done well of late,” O'Donoghue summed up. “We dead-heated for second with a nice Mehmas in Ireland with a Sergei Prokofiev of ours. I just thought he ticked all of the boxes. I was keen to get a Mehmas that really looked like a Mehmas and that's what he is.”

He added, “We're very lucky to have that support from Fawzi, Sheikh Nasser and the guys in Bahrain. Hopefully, he's a nice horse and lucky for them next year. We thought he'd be around the six-figure mark, maybe 115 or 120–130 was probably the top of our ceiling.”

Talking points

• Safe to say that Sergei Prokofiev is beginning to earn the respect he deserves. Currently leading the first-season sires' championship in Europe, Sergei Prokofiev had something of a coming of age here on Tuesday when respected buyers like Anthony Bromley and Clive Cox stretched to secure colts by the Whitsbury Manor Stud-based stallion. It's one thing talking the talk, which the progeny of Sergei Prokofiev did at the yearling and foal sales these past couple of years, but now that they are actually doing the business, shrewd judges are standing up and taking notice. That was reflected in seven yearlings selling for an average of £52,286.
• And what about next year's first-season sires championship? Both Starman and Supremacy performed creditably on Tuesday, which they ought to have given the sheer strength in numbers offered by the young stallions, but it was A'Ali who shone brightest. Two of the Norfolk Stakes winner's yearlings broke the six-figure barrier which led to a hugely impressive average of £79,750 for four horses sold.
• Few buyers have quite an affinity with Doncaster as Peter and Ross Doyle do. The father-and-son team have sourced Canford Cliffs (Ire), Olympic Glory (Ire), Tiggy Wiggy (Ire) and Barney Roy (GB) at this sale and it was only right to see the team featuring high on the buyers' sheet at the close of play on Tuesday. All told, Peter and Ross Doyle signed for 10 yearlings for £676,000.
• There were 14 yearlings who rocked into six figures on day one compared to 18 on this corresponding day of trade last year.

Golden Touch

It was all smiles for the team at Whitsbury Manor Stud after lot 87, a colt by their own stallion, Sergei Prokofiev, sold to Highflyer and Phil Cunningham for £140,000. Bred by Whatcote Farm Stud out of their winning Dandy Man (Ire) mare Shrara (Ire), he'd previously been bought for just 16,000gns at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale.

“We're absolutely delighted–it's a fantastic result,” said Joe Callan, Whitsbury Manor's head of bloodstock and sales. “He's been bought by a fantastic judge and he's going to a great trainer in Richard Spencer, so we couldn't be more pleased.

“He's a great horse, a big mover and very strong–he caught everyone's eye here. We're absolutely thrilled with the result and wish the new connections the best of luck with him.”

Buy of the day

They say the early bird catches the worm and Karl and Kelly Burke might well be rewarded for playing early in the case of lot 38, a block of a filly by Twilight Son (GB) who appears to have speed to burn. Consigned by Folland-Bowen Bloodstock, the Twilight Son filly is a sister to six-time winner Under The Twilight (GB), who achieved a rating of 90 in her pomp. The pedigree is just speed on speed with the dam, Rococoa (Ire) (Zebedee {GB}), having won twice over sprint trips. It would be no surprise to see this £40,000 purchase feature in the early part of the season next year and she couldn't have gone to a better trainer to fulfill her potential. She should prove to be a value buy.

Thought for the day

Goffs might have uncovered a bit of a gem in Tadhg Dooley. The youngster has taken to auctioneering like a duck to water and proved to be assured and competent beyond his years on the rostrum again on Tuesday. Put it this way, no vendor would be heard complaining when young Dooley steps up to offer their yearling. And that, perhaps, is the greatest compliment of all.