Harry Angel (Ire)

DONCASTER, UK--Any fears that a reduced catalogue and lack of high-end Maktoum participation could lead to a soft market at the Goffs UK Premier Sale were firmly quashed as the auction came to a close on Wednesday in Doncaster with a set of results that compared favourably with the pre-Covid era. At 366 lots, Goffs UK compiled a catalogue that was 8.5% smaller than last year. Yet in a testament to the quality of horse on offer, not to mention the appetite of buyers on the ground, the sale returned...

The opening hour of last week's Yorkshire Oaks card was about as good as it gets for a sales firm just days out from its flagship stand. Thirty-five minutes before Goffs UK was firmly in the spotlight with the running of its time-honoured Premier Yearling S., Premier Yearling Sale graduate Zain Claudette (Ire) (No Nay Never) provided a welcome introduction with victory in the G2 Lowther S. Bought for what now feels like a staggering bargain (£20,000) last summer, Zain Claudette has won three of her first four starts including...

In the third installation of our Value Sires series, we will dig into the sire crop with its first foals born in 2020, and therefore with its first yearlings this year. After some two years in waiting since most of these retired to stud, the judges got the chance at the recently concluded foal sales to lay eyes on the first progeny of most of them, and though it is still incredibly early days, their opinions, corroborated through their actions in the ring, will have an impact on the perception...

The start of the racing season, and in fact the yearling sales season itself, may have been badly impeded by the coronavirus pandemic, but that didn't stop Goffs UK's Premier Yearling Sale graduates from getting off to a flying start once things finally did get underway. One of the fastest from the gate was The Lir Jet (Ire) (Prince Of Lir {Ire}), whose debut victory three days after racing's resumption on June 3 led to a private deal with Qatar Racing and a subsequent victory in the G2 Norfolk S....

To breed three world champions would be considered by many a major achievement. To do so in a six-year period, even more so. But it is far rarer still to accomplish such a feat from 12 or 13 mares at any one time. That is something Paul and Marie McCartan can lay claim to after Battaash (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) topped the sprinters' division in the 2019 Longines World Racehorse rankings, following in the footsteps of fellow Ballyphilip Stud champions Harry Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel) and Tiggy Wiggy (Ire) (Kodiac...

In the second installment of TDN Europe's Value Sires Series, we take a look at the sire crop with its first foals due this season. While the first real clues will be laid out once the foals actually hit the ground, many of this intake had in-foal mares go through the ring at the latest round of breeding stock sales, thus providing a minimal amount of data to tear apart. Numbers of mares bred are taken from the Weatherbys Return of Mares published in November 2019. The covering sire returns...