The sale of promising Irish pointer Criquette provided the highlight to a low-key second and final day of the Goffs UK January Sale in Doncaster on Wednesday.
The French-bred daughter of Crillon captured a four-year-old mares maiden at Borris House last month in a quick time on only her second start and was duly in demand on Wednesday, selling out of the Baltimore Stables draft for £52,000 to Jerry McGrath and owner Stuart Brackenbury. Plans call for her to join trainer Alex Hales.
As on Tuesday, it was quality fillies who generated most interest at the top end of the market, with another promising pointer, I Am Gonna Be, selling for £37,000 to Derek O’Connor and Mark Murphy. Although yet to win, Maike Magnussen’s daughter of Barely A Moment has run consistently well with placings in both completed starts in points to her credit.
Wednesday’s session featured the sale of 52 horses for a total of £417,200 and an average of £8,023.
Overall, 176 horses – 70% of those offered – sold for a total of £1,821,800, an average of £10,300 and median of £7,000.
“It has been a very satisfactory start to the 2022 sale calendar – we had to cancel this sale at Doncaster last year and offer the foals as part of the Doncaster August Sale so it’s great to be back,” said Goffs UK Managing Director Tim Kent. “The number of National Hunt foals catalogued for yesterday’s opening day was the highest in recent years so we would like to extend a big thank you to the vendors who supported the sale and made yesterday in particular a success.
“We are all starting to see things return to normal which bodes well for our Aintree Sale which we were forced to cancel in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions and we are very much looking forward to returning to the Aintree Grand National Festival in April to offer some world-class Irish and UK pointers after racing on Thursday 7 April.”
Criquette sold for £52,000 to top the second day of the sale. Photo – Goffs UK
