On the day that one of its graduates from an earlier breeze-up sale this season won her first race, Brendan Holland’s Grove Stud topped the Goresbridge Breeze-up Sale at Gowran Park when selling a first-crop son of Haatef for €100,000.

Brendan Holland of Grove Stud sold the top lot at Goresbridge

Stephen Hillen made the winning bid on behalf of trainer Kevin Ryan, who also trains Surely Speightful, a winner on her second start at Musselburgh on Friday having been bought by the same partnership from Grove Stud for £30,000 at the Goffs Ready To Run Sale at Kempton in April.

Hillen was also responsible for the second top price of the day, a colt by Distorted Humor out of the Niarchos family’s Group 1 winner Shiva, who was sold from the Mocklershill draft for €70,000.

Grove Stud and Mocklershill were each responsible for another member of the top five sellers of the day, with Anthony Stroud going to €58,000 for the most expensive filly of the sale, a daughter of Curlin, from Willie Browne’s team, while Brendan Holland consigned a first-crop Mount Nelson filly which caught the eye of Sweden’s Lars Kelp, who secured her for a bid of €52,000.

David Redvers has been active at all the European breeze-ups on behalf of Pearl Bloodstock and he struck again at Goresbridge, buying an Elusive City colt for €42,000 from Brown Island Stables, while trainer Gary Moore signed for two of the dearer lots – a €67,000 son of Dutch Art and a filly by that colt’s sire Medicean for €30,000.

Of the 162 two-year-olds offered at the one-day sale, 137 were marked as sold, posting a highly encouraging clearance rate of 84.5%.