Ireland’s finest

Ireland is inextricably linked with the thoroughbred. The country has produced so many champions throughout Turf history, as well as countless important horsemen and horsewomen, and in September it opens its doors to the world with not one but two yearling sales of international consequence.

The headline event is the four-day Goffs Orby Sale at Kildare Paddocks starting on October 1. The Orby is often referred to as the Irish National Yearling Sale, and the makeup of this year’s 516-lot Book 1 catalogue offers a crystal clear illustration as to why.

The sire index features so many of Ireland’s high-achieving names, both established and up-and-coming. From Acclamation and Blue Point, Dark Angel and Lope De Vega, through to No Nay Never, Sea The Stars and Wootton Bassett. Other heavy hitting names from throughout Europe are represented too, most notably champion sires Dubawi, Frankel and Siyouni.

Among the world-renowned nurseries represented are the likes of Airlie Stud, Ballylinch, Baroda, Barronstown, Camas Park, Glenvale, Kildaragh, Lodge Park, Norelands, Staffordstown, Tally-Ho and Yeomanstown, to name but a few. In short, the lots being offered here are among the cream of the Irish yearling crop.

Last year saw €61,814,000 spent on 784 yearlings between Books 1 and 2. The market was headed by a Frankel half-sister to Tilsit who was sold by Camas Park Stud to Coolmore’s MV Magnier for €1,850,000. Make no mistake, this is big business indeed.

we spend a huge amount of money and resources flying people in

“The Orby is the most important sale of our year because it’s our biggest earner and our most high profile,” says Goffs group chief executive Henry Beeby. “Orby Book 1 is arguably the most important two days of the year for Irish breeders. It provides them with a gateway to the world and we spend a huge amount of money and resources flying people in to ensure the sale has the widest audience. It’s a massive deal for us.”

The Orby has become an increasingly big deal for international buyers too. American participation played a particularly significant role in underpinning last year’s market, with the likes of Glen Hill Farm, Jacob West, Mike Repole, Clay Scherer, Kim Valerio and Wells Watson just a few of the names to figure prominently on the buyers’ sheet.

“As things stand we anticipate at least the same amount of American interest, if not more given there’s some new faces set to join in,” says Beeby. “We’re very proactive about attracting American buyers and they love the horses we’re providing and the hospitality. A great advantage for us is that they like working the sales grounds because it’s so easy. We’ve spent a lot of time in the Middle East as well, we have agents everywhere, because it’s important we market this sale in every corner of the globe.”

Those sentiments were echoed by John O’Connor, managing director of Ballylinch Stud. “It’s very important to have a top-level international sale in Ireland, that’s hugely important to the Irish breeding industry,” says O’Connor. “It brings people to Ireland to buy the best horses and they expect to find some really good ones when they get here – and I believe they will. This sale has become more international in recent years and is certainly trending in the right direction. Goffs are doing a very good job of promoting the sale globally and I’m confident they’ll bring a strong international buying bench to the Orby.”

Another name among the buyers last year was Classic-winning owner-breeder Imad Al Sagar. The driving force behind Newmarket-based Blue Diamond Stud purchased six yearlings at last year’s Orby Sale, including recent debut winner Nancy J, and was so struck by the strength of the market that he has returned this year as a seller.

“Imad really liked the Orby, he thought they did a very good job of looking after him and felt there was more depth to certain areas of the market, so he thought we’d give selling there a try,” says Blue Diamond’s chief executive Ted Voute (left).

“He was very impressed by the variety and number of American buyers that were there last year and he loves to try new things – he bought a farm in America last year and we’re selling at Keeneland too – so he wants to try several angles and see where we end up. I’m sure we’ll learn along the way but Goffs have been very helpful and have made the path a lot easier, as they did when Imad went over there to buy.”

Blue Diamond’s debut Orby draft consists of six yearlings, most notably the Frankel colt out of Tisa River (Lot 10). The youngster is not only a half-brother to the Listed-placed juvenile Bolt Action but is out of a half-sister to Iridessa, Order Of Australia and Santa Barbara.

“He’s a lovely, easy going colt,” says Voute. “He’s a real Classic type of horse with three Breeders’ Cup winners underneath the second dam. He’s our star turn.”

The Blue Diamond draft also features a Siyouni filly out of a daughter of Majestic Sakeena (374). This means the six black-type performers beneath the second dam include two winners of the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes, namely Aljazzi, a 1,000,000gns purchase by Newsells Park Stud whose Frankel filly is bound for Book 1 at Tattersalls, and this year’s wide-margin winner Running Lion.

“The Siyouni is a beauty and would stand up well against the sire’s yearlings that I saw at Arqana,” says Voute. “She’s a good, strong filly. Having bought Le Brivido a few years ago, I think this filly is the type that fits the profile of the good ones by the stallion.”

This year’s Orby Book 1 catalogue contains 29 fewer lots than in 2023, a decision Beeby says was taken to ensure the emphasis was on quality over quantity.

“We had 545 lots last year but we set out to tighten things up on the basis that we understand what the market is doing, and that people have also told us that number over two days is probably as many as we could fit in,” he says. “We’ve seen over the last ten or 12 months that there’s been a tightening of the market, so you’ve got to have exactly what the market demands at the time.

“We’ve been very well supported and I think we have a better selection than we had last year because the major Irish breeders have given us a higher concentration of their best. An illustration of the point is that last year we had four Frankels, this year we have eight. We’ve really focussed on quality.”

Among the selected highlights of the stacked catalogue are: a full-sister to Winter Power (11); a Palace Pier half-sister to Anmaat (61); a Camelot full-brother to Luxembourg (93); the Dubawi colt out of Group 3 winner Dawn Wall (181); a St Mark’s Basilica half-sister to Sovereign (187); a Wootton Bassett half-sister to Continuous (232); a Frankel full-sister to Mohaafeth (243); a Dark Angel half-sister to Phoenix Of Spain (328); No Speak Alexander’s first foal, a colt by Frankel (383); and a Frankel half-sister to three-time Group 2 winner Sandrine (465).

Ballylinch Stud is among the Irish breeders to have thrown its support behind the Orby, with a 19-strong draft promising to add to the nursery’s already considerable roll of honour. “We’ve sold a lot of good horses down the years at the Orby, including Red Rocks, who won at the Breeders’ Cup, Together Forever and Forever Together, two outstanding fillies, the former of which is the dam of City Of Troy,” says O’Connor.

“Agnes Stewart was another good race filly, and she’s now the dam of Fallen Angel. We’ve sold a lot of very good racehorses there and I think this year’s draft will contain plenty of good ones as well. We’re not short of good pedigrees and there’s some very nice individuals among the draft too.”

The profiles of the youngsters Ballylinch is bringing to market certainly promise plenty. The standouts among the eight lots by the operation’s own Lope De Vega appear to be the half-brother to Saffron Beach (219), described by O’Connor as “a very nice colt”, and the filly closely related to Max Vega (131).

O’Connor also highlights the New Bay half-sister to Francesco Guardi out of a sibling to Treve (15), the St Mark’s Basilica colt out of Monroe Bay (360) and the New Bay half-brother to Lumiere and Sheika Reika (455) as among his best. There is also the Waldgeist colt out of blue hen Green Room who is closely related to Together Forever and Forever Together (257).

“We always bring a very strong draft to Goffs and this year is no different,” adds O’Connor. “There’s no point going with anything other than a good draft and we’ve picked these accordingly. The market is particularly strong for the top-level individuals, we saw that at Arqana both selling and buying. It’s been difficult to buy anything that has a big pedigree and the physique to match and I’d expect that trend to continue across all the sales. There’s probably a degree of softening below that level but it will be interesting to see how the sales pan out. We all know there’ll be some top-level racehorses coming out of every level of the market.”

The bonuses this year have had a massive difference and really caught the imagination

All yearlings in both books of the Orby Sale are eligible for the Goffs Two Million Series in 2025. As well as 20 €50,000 bonus races split equally between Britain and Ireland, the centrepiece of the programme is the seven-furlong Goffs Million, Europe’s richest two-year-old race. There is prize-money down to tenth place and winning is worth over €600,000. The last two runnings have been won by the €65,000 One Look and the €45,000 Galeron.

“We introduced the Million two years ago and it’s been very well received,” says Beeby. “The two runnings so far have been won by good commercial horses, which is what you want because it shows that everyone has a chance. The bonuses this year have had a massive difference and really caught the imagination.”

 

September Yearling Sale out to continue steep upward trajectory

The Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale, which takes place at Fairyhouse from September 24, is another event riding the crest of wave. Last year’s renewal bucked the wider trend at the commercial end of the yearling market with trade not only strong for the level but consistent too. This was reflected by the sale recording a record median price of €28,000.

The strength of 2023’s renewal has resulted in the catalogue expanding from 506 lots to 555 this time around. Hope is high that the growth in numbers will help the September Sale maintain its upward trajectory.

“There was a huge demand for places,” says Tattersalls Ireland’s chief executive Simon Kerins (right). “There was such a demand that handling the volume of applications was something of a challenge. As always, vendors ideally want you to keep catalogue numbers tight, but then they want you to get that yearling of theirs into the sale, so you’re always walking a tightrope when it comes to managing numbers in the sales.

“The critical number is somewhere in or around 500 lots, and we have 555 this year. We were under a lot of pressure to get horses into the sale and there were plenty of people left disappointed whose horses we couldn’t get in, but it’s a select sale and unfortunately we can’t take everything.”

Reflecting on the events of 2023’s September Sale, Kerins says: “It was a very, very strong sale last year. That was underpinned by a lot of European and UK buyers, which really helped to shore up the strength of the middle market. It was solid the year before too but it was even more solid last year. I’ve always believed that there was huge potential with this sale, so I think it can grow even more.”

The September Yearling Sale has produced 19 Group/Grade 1 winners who have landed 29 top-flight contests between them. These range from top notch two-year-olds like The Wow Signal and Unfortunately, a high-performing sprinters in Lethal Force, Classic performers such as Galileo Gold and Saoire through to those who improved with time and distance like Champers Elysees, Helvic Dream and Sonnyboyliston.

There is also a strong international theme running through the sale’s roll of honour, with celebrity names on the world stage including Lucky Nine, Time Warp, Waikuku and Xtension.

Although those graduates speak to the diversity on offer, the sale’s stock in trade in more recent times has been those who come to hand early. The September Yearling Sale produced more two-year-old winners than any other European sale in 2023, and has maintained that market-leading source of juvenile success deep into August of this year.

“You generally get a good mix in this sale,” says Kerins. “You get the two-year-old types – the breeze-up guys have done really well pinhooking yearlings here and trading them for very good rewards – and you’ll find the bigger models that will make a three-year-old too. Of the yearlings I saw during inspections, I’m very happy with what we are getting. There’s some really nice types.”

Among the standout pedigrees in this year’s catalogue are a Starspangledbanner filly out of a Frankel sibling to Middle East and Nayef Road (16); a Cotai Glory half-brother to the aforementioned Champers Elysees (105), while the same sire also supplies a half-sister to September graduate and Irish Oaks third Purple Lily (478); and a Ten Sovereigns half-sister to Technician (450). Lot 134 has already received a notable update as the Galileo Chrome colt out of Love On My Mind is now a sibling to a two-time Group 1 winner after Al Riffa added the Grosser Preis von Berlin to his victory in the National Stakes.

“A lot of vendors like to send their nicer horses to this sale and they invariably get well rewarded,” says Kerins. “There’s a good cohort of loyal breeders who always support us, so vendors like coming to the sale and purchasers seem to like it too. It’s an easy sale to work and they’re well looked after – we make a big effort to look after everyone who comes.

“We get a lot of Europeans and have some very active agents, and ITM are very helpful as well, while our own marketing team do a great job visiting the various different countries throughout the year. A lot of people are already booked in for this year’s sale.”

With the global bloodstock market appearing to be on the downward leg of its perpetual cycle, there are understandable concerns about the more commercial tiers of trade. However, while Kerins acknowledges those concerns, he says there are still plenty of causes for optimism as well.

“There’s still a good demand for horses globally,” he says. “The Flat market, as we know, is an international market and there’s still a healthy appetite for horses, so I’ve no major concerns.

“There’s volatility out there in the wider world, for sure, but traders need to buy yearlings to trade, trainers need to buy yearlings to train and agents need to conduct their business. You’re always cautious before any sale rather than bullish, but I’d be cautiously optimistic. I think there’s a danger of us becoming professors of doom at times because I don’t think it’s ever as bad as some vendors or purchasers will make out prior to a sale.

“There’s a good, solid bunch of horses in this year’s catalogue and I think people coming to the sale will buy lots of winners, as they always do,” adds Kerins. “We often have horses running in Classics, A Lilac Rolla being one this year. So I think we always punch above our weight, and I think at the end of the year people always feel they’ve bought value here.”