Goffs UK

One year on from the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, each and every individual in the racing and bloodstock realms has been faced with decisions they never wanted to, or dreamed they would have to, make. Those sentiments certainly ring true for the board and management team at Goffs. Faced with enduring national lockdowns and quarantine measures far more strict than those experienced by its competitors and clientele across borders, the Irish auction house found itself constantly returning to the drawing board throughout 2020 and into 2021. A measure of...

Goffs UK Director Stuart Mactaggart will take early retirement and finish with the company at the end of the month. Mactaggart began with Goffs UK as an assistant pedigree researcher in 1990. His role evolved to include the production of catalogues before he was appointed a director in 2006. Since then, Mactaggart has worked as the head of bloodstock alongside his role as company secretary.He has also been a key member of the inspection team since 2000. Goffs Group Chief Executive Henry Beeby said, "On behalf of the shareholders and...

Debut bumper winner Hollymount (Ire) (Jet Away {GB}) (lot 52) commanded the top price of £300,000 during the Goffs UK January Sale timed online auction on Tuesday when sold to Bective Stud. The 5-year-old Hollymount is a half-sister to Grade 2-placed winners Windsor Avenue (Ire) (Winged Love {Ire}) and Ravenhill Road (Ire) (Exit To Nowhere). Hollymount was sold on behalf of Peter and Alan Buchanan who said after the sale, "it was a nerve-wracking and exhilarating experience watching the auction countdown, we were kept on the edge of our seats...

The weanling portion of the Goffs UK January Sale has been moved to the Doncaster August Sale on Aug. 4-5, Goffs UK announced on Thursday. The foal session has become a yearling session and it was transferred due to continued COVID-19 restrictions. The Goffs UK January Sale was originally split into two parts-the online horses-in-training and National Hunt breeding stock portion was part one on Jan. 26 and Part II was a physical sale of NH weanlings at Doncaster on Feb. 17. After this rescheduling, Part I of the sale...

Goffs UK has released the catalogue for the first of two parts of its Doncaster January Sale. Part 1 will be a timed online breeding stock and horses in training sale with 89 horses on Jan. 26 and for which the catalogue is now online. Part 2 will be a physical sale of National Hunt short yearlings at Doncaster on Feb. 17, with the catalogue to be released at a later date. Goffs UK Managing Director Tim Kent said, "We were all hopeful that we could start off 2021 with...

For the second time in a month at Yorton Farm, a record for a point to point horse was reached on Thursday when Classic Getaway (Ire) (Getaway {Ger}) (lot 7) matched the £570,000 made by Jonbon at the Goffs UK November P2P Sale. Classic Getaway was one of 31 horses offered at the Goffs UK December P2P Sale, and he was bought by Tom Malone and Gordon Elliott. Five horses were sold for six figure sums on the day, and also among those was Queens River (GB) (Kayf Tara {GB})...

Trainer Colin Bowe was chosen as the recipient of the Willie Stephenson Memorial Trophy for 2019, Goffs UK announced on Tuesday. The award commemorates the co-founder of DBS, now Goffs UK and is awarded annually to the person or persons whom the Goffs UK Board feel have made the biggest contribution to the success of the company during the year. Bowe trainees are a regular feature at the Goffs UK Doncaster and Aintree Sales, particularly the latter, where they have topped three of the four sales held at the venue...

Indianapolis (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a former Ballydoyle incumbent most recently under the care of James Given, topped proceedings during the single session Goffs UK December HIT Sale on Friday when selling to Ian Williams and Richard Ryan for £52,000 as lot 24. The 3-year-old Indianapolis last won in October of 2019, but was twice placed in one mile six furlongs handicaps this year. The entire is out of the dual Grade I winner Adoration (Honor Grades). David Elsworth's Egerton House Stables offered the 6-year-old gelding Dash Of Spice (GB) (Teofilo...

Goffs UK stages its single-session Doncaster December HIT Sale on Friday beginning at 11 a.m. Horses will be sold by owners and trainers like Alan King, Anthony McCann, Brian Ellison, Denis Hogan, Godolphin, Gordon Elliott, Hugh Morrison, Iain Jardine, John Gosden, Karl Burke, Mark Johnston, Mick Channon, Noel Meade, Peter Bowen, Richard Hannon, Richard Hughes, Richard Newland, Tim Easterby, Tom Lacey. Entry to the sale will be limited to those who wish to take part in the auction and those planning to attend must pre-register and complete the online COVID-19...

Tattersalls and Goffs have released further changes to the schedule of point-to-point sales in December. The Tattersalls Cheltenham December Sale, which originally had been scheduled to follow the end of the Tattersalls December Mares' Sale on Thursday, Dec. 3, will now be staged at Park Paddocks in Newmarket a week later on Thursday, Dec. 10. Goffs UK will hold its December P2P Sale at Yorton Farm Stud in Wales on Thursday, Dec. 17. "Not for the first time in 2020 Tattersalls and Goffs have worked collaboratively in the best interests...

In March and April, the bloodstock sales world stood on the precipice, or so it seemed, as the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale--the first major international auction to confront the social upheaval of COVID-19--was put under severe pressure. In the event, team Inglis rose to the challenge and showed a potential way forward for other sales houses with its innovative virtual sale. It didn't, however, escape completely unscathed, and trepidation remained high for those with horses to sell all over the Northern Hemisphere. Six months on, we can now report that...

Goffs UK staged a pair of sales at its Doncaster headquarters on Thursday: the Autumn Horses-in-Training & Autumn Yearling Sales and the Silver Yearling Sale, which was amalgamated with the Autumn sales for 2020 due to the rescheduling necessitated by COVID-19. The Autumn Sale also had a new look in 2020 due to the movement of the point-to-point and form horse session to its own dedicated sale later in the calendar, and as such comparisons with last year are insignificant. An offering of 129 horses in training kicked off proceedings,...