Son of Showcasing Tops Goffs London

INTERNATIONAL CAST AT LONDON SALE 
by Emma Berry 
A mare in foal to Frankel (GB) and with a Frankel foal at foot was certainly the star package in advance of the sale, but their combined sale price of £1.15 million (US$1,952,876) was not enough to secure top billing at the inaugural Goffs London Sale at Kensington Palace. That honour went to Cappella Sansevero (GB), the Listed Marble Hill S.-winning son of freshman sire Showcasing (GB), who sold to Sheikh Hamad Al Thani with a bid of £1.3 million (US$2,207,706). 
Unlike many sales purchases, the colt (lot 49), who is trained in Ireland by Ger Lyons, will instantly have a chance to demonstrate whether he was a good buy or not when he lines up in today’s G2 Coventry S. on the first day of Royal Ascot. 
Speaking on behalf of Sheikh Hamad, who, with his brothers Sheikh Fahad and Sheikh Suhaim lent their backing to the sale through their QIPCO organisation, the team’s advisor David Redvers said, “Sheikh Hamad particularly wanted to buy this horse and Ger Lyons loves him and thinks he’s as good a horse as he’s had. We’ve been very successful with Ger and the horse will continue to be trained by him. We’ve paid a premium for him, but that’s what happens at sales like this.” 
Whether or not there are other “sales like this” is debatable. The eclectic auction offered not just breeze-up horses and 20 horses in training holding golden-ticket entries to this week’s Royal meeting, but also the aforementioned mare, Crystal Gaze (Ire) (Rainbow Quest {GB}) and her Frankel colt–the first offspring of the outstanding champion to be offered for sale publicly–not to mention a lifetime breeding right to one of Europe’s most popular stallions, Invincible Spirit (Ire), which was sold as the final lot for £160,000 to David Redvers. 
They may not have made top price, but the interest shown in Group 2 producer Crystal Gaze and her Frankel colt (lot 65) was second to none at a bloodstock auction. The only two horses to be paraded at Kensington Palace, bar the stallions Makfi and Zoustar who were shown prior to the sale, the duo kept their cool under the constant whirring of many camera shutters from a throng of national media jostling for position alongside the regular racing pack. MV Magnier opened the bidding at £1 million and had to counter just one other bid with his final offer of £1.15 million. 
Confirming that the foal had been bought for a racing partnership, Magnier said, “He’s a really nice horse and we’ll take him back to Coolmore and hopefully race him in the future. He made plenty of money, but he deserved to.” 
Referring to the concept of the London Sale, Magnier added, “It’s fantastic. Anything that brings in new people to this business has to be a good thing.” 
Collectively, the equine assortment amassed £7,915,000 for 41 sold of the 53 on offer (77%) at an average price of £193,000 and median of £120,000. 
Topping the breezers was a filly by Distorted Humor, who, offered as lot 3, got the sale off to a heady start when knocked down for £600,000 to agent Stephen Hillen. Offered by Willie Browne’s Mocklershill operation, she is a daughter of the Sadler’s Wells mare Secretariat’s Soul, a sister to Grade I winner Perfect Soul (Ire). 
“She’s been bought by a new American client who doesn’t want to be named, but she will be trained in Europe,” confirmed Hillen. “I’d seen her previously at Willie Browne’s and she’s always pleased me and she did the fastest breeze of the day by at least half a second and obviously she has a lovely pedigree.” 
Adding to the international feel of the sale was Australia’s leading lady trainer Gai Waterhouse, who was the successful bidder on 4-year-old Motivator (GB) gelding Cafe Society (Fr) (lot 47), who holds entries at Ascot for the Wolferton Handicap and Duke Of Edinburgh S. 
Having won the battle at £330,000, Waterhouse was full of praise for the new sale. “It’s sensational and I’ll tell you why,” Waterhouse said. “It’s all about the timing, it’s perfect. In Australia, when they brought in the Magic Millions, they challenged the market and that’s what Goffs have done with this sale. It’s on the eve of the Ascot and at Kensington Palace. How much closer to central London can you be?” 
Waterhouse added that Cafe Society would go into quarantine for Australia after running at Ascot. “We offered £300,000 for him last year and couldn’t buy him, so we came back for him,” she said. 
Russian interests were represented when Volga Star Racing went to £400,000 for lot 18, a colt by Giant’s Causeway out of the Deputy Minister mare Ender’s Valentine consigned by Ballintry Stud, while Mubarak Al Naemi, the Qatari owner of Ireland’s Kilfrush Stud, paid £300,000 for Bwana (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) (lot 46), a winning 2-year-old half-brother to Group 2 winner Silk Blossom (Ire). 
With the ornate gardens at the Orangery at Kensington Palace packed with bloodstock folk from all corners of the globe, the Goffs team was unsurprisingly thrilled with the response to its extraordinary sale. 
“We’re delighted on a number of levels,” said Goffs Chief Executive Henry Beeby. “We’re pleased because the sale has gone well, and the venue and concept have both worked well. And we’re pleased with the enthusiasm demonstrated by vendors, purchasers, our partners and the industry in general. 
“There’s genuine goodwill towards the idea,” Beeby continued. “It’s been complicated to put on and we had to get people on side. The vendors have been brilliant and we thought to ourselves that we wouldn’t consider anything that wasn’t a reasonable idea. Selling a breeding right to Invincible Spirit was a good idea and Qatar Bloodstock coming up with the mare and foal was sensational.” 
Beeby added, “We’ve tried to promote the thrill of Royal Ascot and I think there are new people here. The enthusiasm has blown us away. We couldn’t have done it without our partners, particularly QIPCO. I can’t underline how important their involvement was, both as supporters of the sale and the horses they’ve bought.”