Goffs November Wraps

The Goffs November Sale drew to a close on Sunday after seven days of trade, the last two devoted to mares.

A strong lead session Saturday was followed by a quieter conclusion, with €1,199,900 accrued from the sale of 117 mares at an average of €10,256 and median of €6,000. But the day held up well enough to deliver improved figures across the board for the mares' section of the sale. Across both days, 314 of the 402 lots offered brought a clearance rate of 77% and a 26% rise in turnover to €9,826,400. Average and median were €31,294 (+20%) and €15,000 (+11%).

Goffs' Chief Executive Henry Beeby described the opening day of the mares' sale as a “truly stunning day of breeding stock,” before reflecting on the final session.

He said, “[Sunday], although at a lower level, continued in the same kind of vein allowing us to record significant growth in turnover, average and median over the two days.”

Beeby continued, “We have welcomed a really international audience of buyers following a number of targeted visits across the globe by the Goffs team and our colleagues at Irish Thoroughbred Marketing. They have flocked to Goffs to take advantage of our unique service and diverse catalogue which, although perhaps lacking a headline-grabbing star like Chicquita or Banimpire, represented the sort of sound commercial investments that have proved so lucrative for our buyers over the years. It seems that the 2015 offering appealed more than ever as our increases clearly illustrate.”

Turnover for the November Sale as a whole was up by 1% on last year's tally, with the extended seven-day feature bringing €35,678,900, with 1,124 mares and foals sold from the 1,464 taken through the ring–again a clearance rate of 77%. Overall, the average contracted by 6% to €31,743 and the median by 15% to €17,000.

Leading the way on the final day was 7-year-old Whipper mare Malagenia (Ire), a Group 3 winner in Italy and half-sister to another Italian black-type winner in Kaspersky (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}), victor of the G2 Premio Carlo Vittadini. Lot 1604 was sold in foal to Irish National Stud resident Worthadd (Ire) and knocked down for €70,000 to Sally Ann Grassick, representing her sister Cathy of Brian Grassick Bloodstock. The session-topper was bought on behalf of KK Eishindo, who also claimed another two mares on the opening day, including Tobann (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) for €180,000. All three will be exported to Japan.

Another Aga Khan-bred filly featured near the top on Sunday when the 3-year-old Shahzeena (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) fetched €46,000 to a bid from Pat McCarthy. A winner this year for Dermot Weld, Shahzeena, catalogued as lot 1543, is a daughter of Sharleez (Ire), a Marju (Ire) half-sister to the Group 3 winners Sharestan (Ire) (Shamardal) and Shareen (Ire) (Bahri).