Eight lots sell for €50,000 or more during two-day sale

Demand from domestic and international buyers at the two-day Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale which concluded on Thursday saw 392 of the 512 lots offered sell for €3,679,400 at an average of €9,386 and median of €5,500. The figures were the second best recorded for the sale behind last year's when a significant dispersal of yearlings from Derrinstown Stud underpinned a record trade. 

The sale was topped by a colt by Dawn Approach (New Approach) who was bought by bloodstock agent Alex Elliott for €80,000 on day one. Sold by Boherguy Stud, the colt is a brother to stakes placed gelding Strapped (Dawn Approach) being out of the placed mare Strapless (Whipper). This is also the family of Godolphin's 2021 Group 1 2000 Guineas (1m) winner Poetic Flare - another son of Dawn Approach. 

On the second day a filly by Sioux Nation (Scat Daddy) was the most expensive sold when the Mountarmstrong Stud-sold filly was bought by Bronsan Racing for €72,000. The filly is the second foal out of the unplaced Exceed And Excel (Danehill) mare Emerald Isle who is herself a daughter of the Group 2 winner Elating Merici (Beaudelaire). 

At the conclusion of the Autumn Sale, Goffs Group Chief Executive Henry Beeby said: "You're only as good as your last sale" is an oft used adage when analysing bloodstock sales and we are all guilty of only measuring against the immediate predecessor.

"Twelve months ago the Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale benefited from a large dispersal from Derrinstown Stud following the sad passing of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum who was such a valued and revered supporter of Goffs. That draft accounted for a quarter of the turnover with eight of the top 10 prices and propelled the sale to record breaking levels headed by a top price of €180,000.

 "Those lofty heights were always going to be out of reach and so it is that the statistics from the last two days are well behind 2021. However we are far from despondent when reviewing this year's renewal as it has finished ahead of every other incarnation of the Open/Autumn Yearling Sale since its inception in 2010 with a second best turnover, average and median flowing from a reasonable clearance rate of 77%. Whilst some of these figures do not necessarily point to massive returns for breeders, they do demonstrate a vibrancy to the proceedings and those that appealed most had plenty of admirers."