By Brian Sheerin
Baroda Stud were responsible for two of the three six-figure lots on day one of the Goffs February Sale, including the €115,000 top lot, a colt by Sottsass (Ire), who was purchased by Tally-Ho Stud.
Of the 2017 lots offered, 128 were sold, which represented a clearance rate of 59% and an aggregate spend of €2,056,250. The average for day one of first sale for 2023 at Goffs was €16,064 with Cox explaining that the nice horses had no trouble in finding new homes.
He said, “A few people said to me that the horses we had here stood out. The Sottsass was a good, straightforward colt who had good X-rays and a good scope. He was a homebred of China Horse Club and sold very well to Tally-Ho Stud. He'd plenty of fans–he had six or seven vets and there was plenty of action on him.”
Baroda offered 11 horses on Wednesday, of which nine were sold to the tune of €321,000 at an average of €35,667. They included another China Horse Club homebred by New Bay (GB) (lot 186), knocked down to Camas Park for €85,000, and a Magna Grecia (Ire) filly (lot 200) snapped up by MAB Agency for €58,000.
Cox added, “The New Bay was another homebred by China Horse Club and the sire is flying so he definitely attracted plenty of attention before selling to Camas Park. The Magna Grecia filly was lovely. She's a homebred by the Niarchos family and the half-sister [Burning Topic (Ger) (Ulysses {Ire})] is doing well in France.”
He added, “This is a sale where, if you put a good foal in here, it will stand out and sell well. We're happy with how the day went.”
Rogues Snap Up Night Of Thunder Colt
One of the major subplots to the 2022 sale season was the strength of Night Of Thunder (Ire)'s progeny at public auction and the Rogue's Gallery Syndicate, best known for owning listed winner Rogue Millennium (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), gave €110,000 for a colt by the Darley sire.
The Night Of Thunder colt was consigned by Ringfort Stud and signed for by the syndicate's Tony Elliott, who was standing alongside bloodstock agent Billy Jackson-Stops. Elliott revealed that lot 109 would be offered for resale later in the year.
He said, “This horse has been bought to pinhook. We had three for pinhooking last year and we've three this year as well. We've got some nice horses.”
Elliott added, “We thought he was the standout and it was exactly what we wanted to give for him. That would have been our last bid I reckon.
“We're really pleased to get him because he's a lovely-looking horse and, being by Night Of Thunder, he could be anything. Sometimes we buy them back into the syndicate, which we did last year with a Zoustar (Aus).
“If we really like this lad and he's going the right way we could look at buying him back into the syndicate. There's two syndicates–a pinhooking syndicate and a racing one. We've got some nice horses for the coming years.”
Shared Wish For Shamrock Thoroughbreds And Team Valor
The Joseph O'Brien-trained Dundalk winner Tosen Wish (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) (lot 35) provided some early interest when selling for €100,000 to Shamrock Thoroughbreds and Team Valor.
Tosen Wish overcame a 469-day absence to win a seven-furlong handicap off 82 at Dundalk last week, justifying 9-4 favouritism in the process.
The 4-year-old, who is now two from three, boasts a rating of 89 and will be aimed at a turf campaign by Ado McGuinness, according to the trainer's assistant Stephen Thorne.
He said, “Tosen Wish won well on the polytrack at Dundalk last week. He'd been off for a good while but we made plenty of enquiries about him and put the picture together and I think he's a nice lightly-raced horse moving forward. We've partnered up with Team Valor on this one so it is an exciting new partnership and hopefully he will be lucky for us.”
Asked how the new partnership with Barry Irwin's Team Valor came about, Thorne added, “We made contact with him and we've had a few conversations with him. He's obviously seen the success Ado has had on the track. He's a dual Group 1-winning trainer now and we're delighted to have Team Valor on board. We were waiting to find the right type of horse to pitch to Barry and he obviously liked him. He was a standout at this sale by a mile. I thought we'd get him a little cheaper but there was strong competition in the ring. We've no major plans but I think he'll be a nice horse for the turf.”
Tosen Wish was consigned by Castlebridge, who also offered the placed Arabian Legend (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) (lot 37), sold for €48,000 to Italian owner Mr. Ciampoli to be trained by Grizzetti Galoppo.
Another horse with form, the Cormac Farrell-trained and consigned Seven Hills (Ire) (Camacho {GB}) (lot 40C), who placed a couple of times at Dundalk, sold for €40,000 to the New Racing Factory.
Walk In The Park Colt Comes Up Trumps
The Flat-bred weanlings may have dominated but once again the progeny of Walk In The Park (Ire) proved to be in high demand with Coolmore's Gerry Aherne going to €56,000 to secure a well-bred colt (lot 209) by the sire from Thistledown Stud.
The colt is out of a sister to Felix Desjy (Fr) (Maresca Sorrento {Fr}), a classy performer for Gigginstown House Stud and Gordon Elliott at one point, and was the highest-priced National Hunt-bred lot through the ring on Wednesday.
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