Henry Beeby

KILDARE, Ireland--Those among us who leave their Christmas shopping until the last minute have the perfect opportunity to give the gift of a foal or a mare this festive period given the timing of this year's rescheduled Goffs November Foal and Breeding Stock Sale. With current events requiring the sale to be pushed back almost four weeks from its original calendar slot, the action now commences on Friday and consists of three days of foals and a single day of mare trade. Unfortunately for those with very deep pockets, the...

The two-day virtual online Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale came to a close on Wednesday, with global participation pushing the average and median above last year's figures. A heavily scratched down catalogue due to the many challenges of 2020 meant that 273 of the 475 catalogued yearlings went up for sale, with 170 (62.6%) finding new homes for an aggregate of €1,094, 200. Last year 288 were sold (74%) for €1,691,600. This year's average and median were each up 10% (€6,436 and €4,400). Taking top billing on Wednesday was a Zoffany...

Eleven-time Group 1-winning hurdler Apple's Jade (Saddler Maker) will be among the 522 lots catalogued for the Goffs December National Hunt Sale, which takes place Dec. 9-10 at Kildare Paddocks. Comprised of foals, yearlings and breeding stock, the catalog is now available online. Retired in March of this year, Apple's Jade, who is in foal to Walk In The Park, will be offered by Gigginstown House Stud as Lot 515 Thursday, Dec. 10. The winner of 15 career races, the 8-year-old became the first mare to achieve 11 top level...

The Goffs November Foal Sale catalogue, which includes a Kingman (GB) half-brother to €1.1 million Goffs November alum and MG1SW Ghaiyyath (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), is now online. Scheduled for Nov. 16-18, the three-day sale features 759 foals going under the hammer at Kildare Paddocks in Ireland. The sale will be conducted using the "rising tide" format. The Ghaiyyath half (lot 683), also a half to GI Man O'War S. heroine Zhukova (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) and out of Classic scorer Nightime (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), hails from the draft of The...

The trio of remaining sales at Goffs in 2020-the Autumn Sale (Nov. 4-5), November Sale (Nov. 15-22) and December National Hunt Sale (Dec. 9-10)-are all on schedule to remain at Kildare Paddocks in Ireland, the sales company announced on Tuesday. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen several sales move to the Goffs UK complex at Doncaster, including the Orby Sale held at the end of last month. Ireland returned to level three restrictions due to an increase in coronavirus cases on Monday. "Goffs' purpose is to provide the best marketplace for...

The Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale holds the unique distinction of being the only yearling sale to take place in Ireland in 2020, and the catalogue for the 2020 edition is now online. Slated for Kildare Paddocks on Nov. 4-5, the sale will offer 461 yearlings, with 61 lots originally from the Goffs Sportsman's Sale that did not travel to the UK. Past graduates include group winners Laws of Indices (Ire) (Power {GB}) and Elysium (Ire) (Belardo {Ire}). Many established sires are represented, among them Acclamation (GB), Australia (GB), Dandy Man...

The inaugural November P2P Sale, scheduled for Nov. 6, was announced by Goffs on Monday. The sale will offer Irish and UK pointers, as well as bumper horses and young horses with form at either Kildare Paddocks in Ireland or the Doncaster Sales Complex in the UK, depending on COVID-19 restrictions. "With the latter part of 2019-20 point-to-point season cancelled, as well as our highly successful Aintree and Punchestown Sales, we have been working to find a solution to get our P2P sales back up and running," said Goffs Group...

A different venue is not the only deviation from the norm as the Goffs Orby Sale takes centre stage in the European yearling sales calendar at Doncaster this week. On the last three occasions she has been represented in this sale Galileo (Ire) has been the sire of the star offering out of stellar producer Green Room (Theatrical), but on this occasion it will be Gilltown Stud's Sea The Stars (Ire) who has the honour of aiming to continue the mare's spectacular sales results. As usual consigned by Ballylinch Stud...

There was just one offering by Night Of Thunder (Ire) in this year's Goffs Sportsman's Sale, and the Castlebridge-consigned filly duly topped the two-day auction with bid of £72,000 from Peter and Ross Doyle. Lot 730 is the fourth foal out of the placed Manduro (Ger) mare Muzhil (Ire), whose 3-year-old Monzoon (Ire) (Bated Breath {GB}) has become the mare's first winner since the catalogue was published. Muzhil is a half-sister to Godolphin's triple group winner Beautiful Romance (GB) (New Approach {Ire}). The filly proved a profitable pinhook, having cost...

DONCASTER, UK—Well, at least that ordeal is out of the way. It was never going to be fun, but it could have been worse. Horses were sold, some of them even sold well; and other vendors, with an 83% clearance rate, were evidently ready to cut losses. And soon everybody will at least be able to start figuring out how venturesome they can afford to be, once finally bidding good riddance to 2020. Embarking on the European yearling circuit was always going to be extremely challenging for an industry so...

DONCASTER, UK--Well, this is the day when perhaps we'll start to know. Only perhaps, mind. Each auction is a market in its own right and, besides, everyone has over recent months become accustomed to such wild fluctuations in outlook that the world can look a very different place between breakfast and dinner, never mind between the opening session of the yearling sales season, at Doncaster on Tuesday, and its conclusion two months hence. All that said, the opening skirmishes of the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale are bound to be...

The catalogue for the Goffs Sportsman's Sale, which features a Camelot (GB) filly (lot 618) who is closely related to G1 Irish Derby hero Frozen Fire (Ger) (Montjeu {Ire}) from Camas Park Stud, was released on Thursday. A total of 386 yearlings will go under the hammer on Sept. 24-25 at the Goffs Sales Complex in Doncaster. River Boyne (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}), who won the GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile S. at Santa Anita Park in the U.S. on Mar. 7, is a Sportsman's Sale graduate and is just...