“It’s Disappointing” – Dam Of Japan Cup Hope Goliath Fails To Sell For 5 Million At Goffs

[Wandering Eyes]

Anticlimactic goes by the household name of disappointing and there was no disguising the glum faces at Goffs on Friday when Gouache (Ger) (Shamardal), the dam of live Japan Cup hope Goliath (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}), failed to sell at €5 million.

A collective groan was heard in the jam-packed auditorium when Henry Beeby uttered the words, “I'm afraid that's not enough,” at €5 million. One pressroom colleague suggested that he wouldn't be rushing into a game of poker with the Goffs chief executive any time soon as things seemed to be humming along nicely from one, two, three, and then four into five million euros. 

Alas, it was never going to be enough and the mare that was billed as the 'jewel in the crown' of the November Sale catalogue was led out unsold by Millennium Stud. 

Gouache was sourced by Agrolexica International Trading BV for just €200,000 at the December Breeding Stock Sale at Arqana last year. After she changed hands from Schlenderhan, the Francis-Henri Graffard-trained Goliath exploded onto the scene in Europe and accounted for the subsequent Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Bluestocking (GB) (Camelot {GB}) in the King George at Ascot. Goliath is a general 7-1 chance to win the Japan Cup on Sunday.

Beeby admitted to being disappointed following the sale on Friday and revealed that the connections of Gouache were hoping to achieve somewhere in the region of €5 million or €6 million. They were understood to value the mare on a par with Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) and Alpine Star (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), who lit up this sale 12 months ago when selling for €6 million apiece. 

Beeby commented, “As my late father used to tell me, if you haven't got the horse you can't sell it. So you get the horse and work it out after that. The market spoke and they [the owners] valued the mare very highly. That's their prerogative and I respect that very highly. They wanted more than the market valued her at. They took a line through Alpha Centauri and Alpine Star here last year, because they mentioned those mares when we spoke earlier.”

He added, “They obviously wanted somewhere between five and six million. It's a bit of a disappointment but that's the way it goes. We're still working, as we have done with the  Springfort Park Stud mare [Her Honour (Ire) (Shamardal), who was sold privately to Alex Elliott for €725,000 after failing to reach €850,000 in the ring]. We'll keep working through the weekend and, if Goliath happens to win, we'll ring a few people as well. If it happens, it happens.”

More to follow from Goffs

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