Annual Irish yearling sales season kicks off on Sept 23 with the three-day Tattersalls Ireland September Sale – followed a week later by the prestigious Goffs Orby Sale Books 1 and 2 (Sept 29-Oct 2)
It’s been a summer of glittering adverts for various Irish yearling sales. They are illustrated in all their glossy glory on the catalogues that have been thudding on to doormats around the world, ranging from the image of triple Oaks heroine Minnie Hauk that showcases the Goffs Orby Sale to those of Cercene, Docklands and Time For Sandals, who advertised the Tattersalls Ireland September Sale to such good effect on the G1 stage at Royal Ascot.
For Goffs, it’s 2023 sale-topper Minnie Hauk is the icing on a cake that also features John Stewart’s recent G1 Diana Stakes winner Excellent Truth, G2 Gordon Stakes winner Merchant and G2 Ribblesdale Stakes winner Garden Of Eden alongside the two-year-old fillies Composing, ante-post favourite for next year’s 1,000 Guineas following her facile wins in the G2 Debutante and G3 Silver Flash Stakes, and Green Sense, who defeated colts when landing the G2 Prix Robert Papin.
Two sessions of trading at Orby Book 1 are followed by a two-day Book 2, itself responsible for the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches first-past-the-post She’s Perfect and G2-winning sprinter James’s Delight.
Goffs Orby Sale – Book 1 Catalogue (Sept 29-30)
Goffs Orby Sale – Book 2 Catalogue (Oct 1-2)
“A dual Classic winner in Minnie Hauk on the front of the catalogue is a great thing to have and we’ve got an American G1 winner, Excellent Truth, on the inside of the catalogue as well,” says Henry Beeby, group chief executive of Goffs. “We’ve had a huge number of winners in America as well. [Goffs representative] Tom Taaffe was in Saratoga the other week and got great feedback.
“So we’re heading into the sale with a degree of optimism. The feedback we had was keep it tight and we’ve done that. We’ve cut both sales to 900 across both books [466 in Book 1]. The catalogue reads well and leading Irish breeders have given us some very good horses – there are some lovely horses in there.”
In response to client feedback, this year’s sale starts a day earlier on September 29, a Monday, than has previously been the case. “With Arc weekend coming up and a big meeting that same weekend at Newmarket, a couple of people said we’ve got to leave the sale early or we can’t come because we’ve got to be back for racing or working horses,” says Beeby.
“And then some vendors have horses going across the water [to Newmarket] as well, so it all made sense. We’ve had good feedback on the move and it can only be a help.”
As ever, all yearlings catalogued to Orby Book 1 and Book 2 are eligible for prize-money of €2,000,000 in the Goffs Two Million Series 2026. Broken down, it comprises the €1,000,000 Goffs Million – Europe’s richest two-year-old race which is staged at the Curragh on the eve of the sale and was won last year by €130,000 yearling Apples And Bananas – as well as €1,000,000 in €50,000 bonuses which are awarded to winners of designated juvenile races across Ireland and the UK.
The scheme was extended to Britain for the first time this year and come early August, each of the ten €50,000 bonuses on offer had been won. Among them were the Nick Bradley-owned pair Homestrait and Temple Of Athena, sourced for €5,000 and €14,000 respectively.
Sire power
This year’s catalogue is underpinned by an international breadth of sire power that includes Minnie Hauk’s sire Frankel, the unstoppable Wootton Bassett, transatlantic success story Justify and fellow leading sires Kingman, Lope De Vega, Night Of Thunder, Sea The Stars and Too Darn Hot. The sale also provides a taste of the first crop belonging to champion Baaeed.
There are no fewer than 19 yearlings by Wootton Bassett catalogued, including the full or half-sisters to G1 winners such as Jan Brueghel and Sovereignty (lot 99; filly from Barronstown Stud), Al Riffa (235; colt from Castlehyde Stud) and Garswood (317; filly from Glenvale Stud).
There is also a daughter of the 2019 Newmarket and Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Hermosa (Lot 168) catalogued from Baroda Stud. A half-sister to this year’s G1-performing 3yo Trinity College, she is from the famous Kilfrush family of Mill Princess also responsible this season for Whirl.
Strong Classic connections are also boasted by a Frankel half-brother to Derby winner Desert Crown (96; from The Castlebridge Consignment). He is one of four catalogued by his leading sire; others include Kirsten Rausing’s homebred colt out of G1 British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes winner Madame Chiang (239).
Sea The Stars, meanwhile, is represented by a brother to champion Emily Upjohn (169) and half-sister to Prix de Diane winner Channel (234), both from The Castlebridge Consignment.
It was at this sale three years ago that a No Nay Never full-sister to champion 2yo Blackbeard – the subsequently Listed-placed Run Away – realised a sale-topping €2.6 million. The family continues to develop, with another full-sibling, this season’s G2 Norfolk Stakes winner Charles Darwin, one of the year’s best 2yos. All of which should make the latest yearling out of their dam Muirin highly desirable when she comes under the hammer from Glenvale Stud as Lot 280.
Similarly, the progeny of Fallen Petals, dam of G1 winner Saffron Beach, have long lit up the Goffs ring led by a full-sister to Saffron Beach who made €1.65 million in 2023. Ballylinch Stud offers another New Bay full-sister this time around as lot 130.
Other well-related fillies include Hollyhill Stud’s Mehmas half-sister to Dubai Mile (43), Swordlestown Little’s Kingman half-sister to the G1-placed pair Arrest and Detain (297) and Mountarmstrong Stud’s Night Of Thunder daughter of its G1 Matron Stakes winner No Speak Alexander (298). The Castlebridge Consignment’s powerful draft also contains a Lope De Vega half-sister to US G1 winner Going Global (460).
Jamie Railton is a rare British-based consignor represented at both the Goffs Orby and Tattersalls Ireland Sales. He sold a Mehmas colt for €450,000 to the Hong Kong Jockey Club at last year’s Orby Sale and returns with a group of five by Havana Grey, Sioux Nation, Starspangledbanner, Tacitus and Zoustar. The latter, a colt out of the stakes winner and producer Tribune (431), shares his sire with fellow Railton Orby graduate Miaharris, a Listed winner for Owen Burrows.
“We’ve sold at the Orby Sale for a while,” says Railton. “Some of our foal pinhooks come from Goffs and it works well for us heading back there. The results on the track have been good this year.
“We had a good result last year with a Mehmas colt and we’ve got a nice Havana Grey going there who cost 190,000gns as a foal. I’ve also got a very nice Tacitus going. The sire is off the mark with his first crop in America and this is a good-looking colt that I like a lot.”
Tattersalls Ireland on a high
Class and value also go hand in hand at the preceding Tattersalls Ireland September Sale, held over three days the previous week at the company’s Ratoath complex.
The sale has enjoyed a remarkable run on the track highlighted by this year’s Royal Ascot meeting at which Docklands, Time For Sandals and Cercene swept the G1 Queen Anne Stakes, Commonwealth Cup and Coronation Stakes.
Tatts Ireland September Yearling Sale – Catalogue Part I (Sept 23-24)
Tatts Ireland September Yearling Sale – Catalogue Part II (Sept 25)
A €50,000 purchase by her trainer John Murphy, Cercene was the most expensive of the trio, thereby underlining the class that can be found by value-hunters.
Just as notable perhaps is the fact that it yielded no fewer than 167 two-year-old winners in 2024, among them the G2 Gimcrack Stakes scorer Cool Hoof Luke.
“To the best of my knowledge, no sale company has ever had three Group 1 winners at the same Royal Ascot meeting before,” says Simon Kerins, CEO of Tattersalls Ireland. "The vibes are really good – but then the sale has had such a good year.
“I’m ambitious for the sale and on paper, it’s strong again this year. We deliberately cut the first part of the catalogue back. There’s never been better demand for those horses they want. Those commercially-bred foals that once made €30,000 to €50,000 are now making six figures. Precocity is wanted at foal, yearling and breeze-up level, and then your Classic horses are in demand too.”
One key aspect to the sale is the level of overseas interest, and Kerins report that there is likely to be more of the same this year.
“Hotel bookings are up, better than ever,” he says. “There are a lot of people coming over from the UK to go with the domestic interest. It’s a sale that traditionally the breeze-up men have done very well out of.
“Then there’s plenty of overseas interest as well, especially from Italians, Spanish and Eastern European buyers. There’s been a little bit of interest from America. We’d be really hopeful judging by the level of interest in hotels and bookings.”
Sire power is deep, consisting of the calibre of last year’s champion Dark Angel, Kingman, Mehmas, Night Of Thunder and Sea The Stars, and in turn that is matched by a catalogue replete with black-type pedigrees.
Jamie Railton, for instance, returns with a full-brother to G1 Matron Stakes winner Champers Elysees (lot 12). “I’ve always sent a couple of horses there and done well,” says Railton. “We sold [108-rated] Bracken’s Laugh there a couple of years ago to Cormac Farrell. It’s a sale that consistently punches above its weight, as we’ve seen again this year.
“You get so many European buyers at that sale. Tatts Ireland and ITM do a fabulous job of promoting the sale and entertaining people.”
He adds: “I’ve got three going there this year by Elzaam, Perfect Power and Make Believe. The Make Believe colt (127) is an absolute belter.”
G1 connections are an enticingly regular occurrence throughout the catalogue. A typically numerically strong draft from The Castlebridge Consignment includes a Bated Breath brother to G1 winner Juliet Foxtrot (7) and a Saxon Warrior colt out of G1 Moyglare Stud Stakes heroine Miss Beatrix (68) while Baroda Stud offers a pair of interesting second-crop St Mark’s Basilica yearlings in a daughter of G1 winner Capla Temptress (378) and a half-brother to G1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains winner The Gurkha (385).
Weir View Stud’s draft includes a Naval Crown half-sister to G1 winner La Pelosa (28) while Ballintry Stud sends through a Blackbeard three-parts sister to G2 Norfolk Stakes winner Arizona (14).
Plenty also head to the sale armed with current pedigree updates, notably Leon Carrick’s No Nay Never half-sister to G2 German 2,000 Guineas heroine Lady Ilze (160) and Springfort Park Stud’s Nando Parrado half-sister to G3 winner Copacabana Sands (371).
There is also a half-brother to G3 Prix du Lys winner Rafale Design, by Ten Sovereigns, from Ballymarkham Stud (439) and a Cotai Glory half-brother to last year’s G2-winning sprinter Azure Blue from Ballyogue Stud (181).
As ever, the sale is supported by the popular €250,000 Tattersalls Ireland Super Auction Sales Stakes held at the 2026 Irish Champions Festival. Last year’s renewal was won by the Gavin Hernon-trained French raider Spirit d’Or, who had been a €55,000 purchase by Drummona House and David l’Estrange.
• Visit the Goffs website and the Tattersalls Ireland website
• Visit the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing website
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