The European winter breeding stock sales season kicks into full swing on Monday with the Goffs November Sale, a seven-day auction consisting of five days devoted to foals and another two to mares.
Last year’s sale was buoyed by the final round of the Wildenstein dispersal and, while there isn’t a group to match that power this time around, great interest should be generated by the presence of G1 winners and/or producers such as Inca Princess, Fix, Melito and Muravka, some of whom are also represented in the sale by their foals, as well as Saxon Princess, the half-sister to Cracksman.
The foal sale, which has been reformatted to open the auction with a three-day run starting from Monday before closing it with a pair of sessions at the weekend, tasted classic success only last year as the source of Irish 1000 Guineas winner Jet Setting. Further high-profile success has been forthcoming this year, with Ribchester, bought by Jamie Railton for €78,000 from Kilmore Stud in 2013, confirming his place among the season’s elite milers.
Graduates of 2015, meanwhile, include Barraquero, Fighting Irish, Ghaiyyath, Rajasinghe and Wells Farhh Go, all of whom look like excellent prospects for next year.
As expected, many of Europe’s leading sires are represented, including Galileo, whose trio of entries are offered by The Castlebridge Consignment on behalf of either Desert Star Phoenix Jvc or the Coolmore/China Horse Club Partnership. The sale also features the auction debuts of 22 first-crop sires, including Golden Horn, Gleneagles, Muharaar, Make Believe and Night Of Thunder.
The November Mares’ Sale also enjoyed its own slice of classic success in 2016 courtesy of Hazariya, the dam of Derby winner Harzand who sold for €480,000 to Oliver St Lawrence on behalf of Newsells Park Stud in 2014. As per usual, her vendor, the Aga Khan Studs, is again well represented with 27 fillies and mares catalogued while another highly anticipated draft, that belonging to Godolphin, contains 52 entries.
The sale also features four mares belonging to the Ballymacoll Stud dispersal. Offered by Jockey Hall Stud, they include Desert Bloom (927), the dam of G1 Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente in foal to Teofilo, and Olympienne (926), the dam of classy stayer Patkai and G3 winner Modun who is in foal to Alhebayeb.
Outlined below are a select group of horses that are likely to light up the sale ring.
541) b f Galileo - Inca Princess (Holy Roman Emperor)
and her dam
970) INCA PRINCESS
Friday’s session promises to get off to a strong start with the sale of this filly, the latest Galileo foal out of multiple stakes producer Inca Princess bred by Desert Star Phoenix Jvc.
The first two foals out of Inca Princess, who hails from the family of Shirley Heights, have each done their bit for the powerful Galileo - Danehill cross by tasting Group success. Johannes Vermeer, for instance, won the 2015 G1 Criterium International and has been placed in the G1 Melbourne Cup, G1 Caulfield Stakes and G1 Caulfield Cup during a productive spell in Australia since the publication of the catalogue. As for Elizabeth Browning, she won the G2 Kilboy Estate Stakes en route to selling for a sale record of 700,000gns to Alex Elliott at last month’s Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale.
All of which makes Inca Princess a strong candidate to top the mares sale when she comes under the hammer as lot 970 on Thursday. Still only nine-years-old, the mare is again in foal to Galileo.
The Castlebridge Consignment
553) b c Night Of Thunder - Leala (Montjeu)
Darley’s first-crop sire Night Of Thunder, the winner of a vintage 2000 Guineas in 2014, is well represented in the catalogue with 21 foals, led by this colt, a half-brother to top American miler Obviously.
The Irish-bred Obviously was sold to race in the U.S. after winning two of his first three starts in Ireland for Peter Fahey. He proved to be an inspired purchase by agents Jamie Lloyd and Craig Rounsefell, winning a further 11 races under the care of Mike Mitchell and then Philip d’Amato, including the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint and two renewals of the G1 Shoemaker Mile.
The gelding retired earlier this year as the earner of $2,321,751, quite remarkable for a horse that passed through Goffs as a foal for just €2,000. It’s a safe bet that his younger half-brother will command significantly more.
Baroda & Colbinstown Studs
561) ch f Sea The Stars - Magic Sister (Cadeaux Genereux)
A daughter of one of Europe’s leading sires who has three individual G1 winners to his credit this season, this filly hails from an active black-type family that is also responsible for its share of classy 2yos.
She is a half-sister to Rajeem, Clive Brittain’s shock G1 Falmouth Stakes winner of 2006 who hit notoriety again this year as the dam of Invincible Army, who was saddled by James Tate to win the G3 Sirenia Stakes winner and run second in both the G2 Gimcrack and G2 Mill Reef Stakes.
Another half-sister, Sister Golightly, bred the G3-placed 2yo Jeanie Girl while Magic Sister herself is a full sister to champion 2yo Hoh Magic.
Tullogher House Stud
568) b c Cappella Sansevero - Mean Lae (Johannesburg)
This colt has the distinction of being the only half-sibling to a classic winner catalogued during the foal sale.
Bred by Brian Duffy, he is a half-brother to Jet Setting, herself a graduate of this sale who famously denied Minding to take the 2016 Irish 1000 Guineas for Adrian Keatley before changing hands for £1,300,000 to the China Horse Club at the GoffsUK London Sale. The pair are out of the winning Mean Lae, a direct descendant of the G1-placed Miss Boniface.
Lot 568 is one of nine foals catalogued to the sale from the first crop of Round Tower Stakes winner Cappella Sansevero. The first son of the ever popular Showcasing to retire to stud, he stands at Bridge House Stud.
The Castlebridge Consignment
569) b c Galileo - Melito (Redoute’s Choice)
and his dam
978) MELITO
Galileo’s exceptional draft also includes this youngster with immense dual hemisphere appeal. Bred by Coolmore in partnership with the China Horse Club, he is the fourth foal out of the G1 T J Smith and G1 Winter Stakes winner Melito, who was also G1-placed on five occasions for trainer Gerald Ryan. Both runners out of the mare to date have won, led by Campbell Junior, who has been G3-placed in Japan.
Melito herself sells as lot 973 back in foal to Galileo. While that cover in itself provides plenty to look forward to, so does the fact that Melito also has a 2-year-old, Roudha, who was bought by Emirates Park for 500,000gns as a yearling and is in training with John Gosden. The mare also shares her sire, Redoute’s Choice, with last year’s top Australian 2yo Pariah, who is out of her half-sister Secluded.
The Castlebridge Consignment
586) b f No Nay Never - Muravka (High Chaparral)
and her dam
971) MURAVKA
No Nay Never’s first crop of yearlings made a good impression earlier this year, selling for an average of £117,592. A fast and precocious horse himself, he promises to throw runners in his mould, all of which makes him a fine complement on paper to Muravka, the dam of French champion 2yo The Wow Signal - the JS Company obviously thought so, since they went to 850,000gns for this filly’s brother at the yearlings sales in October..
Muravka, who sells herself as lot 971, is also the dam of listed winner Miss Infinity from just four foals of racing age and hails from the further family of Poule d’Essai des Pouliches heroine Ta Rib.
As with Inca Princess and her Galileo filly, both Muravka and lot 586 are being sold by the Castlebridge Consignment on behalf of Desert Star Phoenix Jvc.
The Castlebridge Consignment
732) b f Galileo - Fix (Iffraaj)
and her dam
976) FIX
The third and final Galileo foal to pass through Goffs is the first foal out of multiple New Zealand G2 winner Fix, yet another horse offered during the week by the Castlebridge Consignment on behalf of the Coolmore and China Horse Club Partnership.
The ultra tough Fix, who sells herself as lot 976 back in foal to Galileo, was crowned New Zealand’s Filly of the Year in the 2012/13 season following her sweep of the G2 Eight Carat Classic, G2 New Zealand Bloodstock Royal Stakes and G2 Sir Tristram Fillies Classic en route to a close second to Habibi in the G1 NZ Derby. An eight-time winner overall for Ken Kelso, she was also third in the G1 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas.
Although bred in New Zealand, Fix boasts a pedigree that should be familiar to Europeans as an Iffraaj granddaughter of G1 Cheveley Park Stakes winner Prophecy, also the granddam of Showcasing. It is an excellent Juddmonte family that is also responsible for this year’s G3 winners Grand Jete and Shutter Speed.
The Castlebridge Consignment
740) b f Invincible Spirit - Ghurra (War Chant)
It says everything about the immense talent of Shalaa that he covered the likes of Treve, Jemayel, Twyla Tharp and La Cressionniere during his first season at Haras de Bouquetot this year.
Described by trainer John Gosden as the fastest 2yo he had ever trained, Shalaa captured the G1 Prix Morny, G1 Middle Park Stakes, G2 July Stakes and G2 Richmond Stakes at two and the G3 Bengough Stakes in two starts at three.
Now in lot 740 comes the opportunity to purchase a full sister to that exceptional 2yo. Out of the stakes-placed Ghurra, a half-sister to another G1-winning 2yo in Hayil, this filly should ensure that Wednesday’s session of the Goffs November Foal Sale closes with a bang.
Castlefarm Stud
917) DAWN OF A NEW ERA
Part of a strong draft hailing from Jim Bolger’s Glebe House Stables, this New Approach filly offers the chance to tap into a real Bolger dynasty.
She is a sister to one of the trainer’s greats in champion Dawn Approach, the G1 Dewhurst, G1 National and G2 Coventry Stakes winner who trained on to take the G1 2000 Guineas and G1 St James’s Palace Stakes at three, as well as Herald The Dawn, who won the 2015 G2 Futurity Stakes prior to running second in the National Stakes.
Bolger has also profited well from her older half-sister, Fainne, out of whom he bred the G1-placed Sanus Per Aquam, while another sibling is the dam of current promising Japanese 2yo Jun Valerot, who is unbeaten in two starts.
Dawn Of A New Era is preceded into the ring by this year’s listed Salsabil Stakes winner Vociferous Marina. The daughter of Vocalised is a half-sister to the listed-placed Focus On Venice and was bred by Bolger out of the winning Marina Of Venice, a Galileo mare from the further family of Sun Princess.
Glebe House Stables
957) SAXON PRINCESS
Few mares will be offered over the course of the new few weeks with such an update as Saxon Princess, the Dalakhani half-sister to Cracksman who was purchased by her vendor Meadowlands Studs for just 20,000gns in 2014.
When the catalogue went to press, Cracksman looked like a G1 winner in waiting having run out the dominant winner of the G2 Great Voltigeur Stakes at York. He duly delivered on that promise in resounding style with one of the performances of the season to take the G1 Champion Stakes at Ascot, sealing champion Cartier Three-year-old Colt honours in the process.
Not only that, the 6yo Saxon Princess is also a sister to G3 Solario Stakes winner Fantastic Moon and sold carrying a foal from the first crop of G1 Middle Park Stakes winner The Last Lion.
This is the famous Hascombe and Valiant Studs family that traces back to Lora, also the fourth dam of Golden Horn, via Sir Philip Oppenheimer’s 1982 1,000 Guineas winner On The House.
Meadowlands Stud