“This Sale Will Be Happening” – Goffs Close To Firming Up Plans For New Breeze-Up Sale

[Wandering Eyes]

Goffs will firm up plans for the Classic Breeze-Up Sale, initially slated for June 28 and 29, by the end of this week with Henry Beeby sharing that the reaction to the new sale by consignors has been overwhelmingly positive during inspections throughout the past fortnight. 

Up until this year, the Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up Sale was the only show in town on the Emerald Isle. Goffs announced last August its intention to enter the breeze-up market in Ireland and, for a brief period, Goresbridge–which was the original home of the Irish breeze-up sale–entered the picture. 

However, after Goresbridge failed to find a suitable date for its proposed new sale, Goffs will provide the only opposition to the Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up Sale this year. 

Beeby explained, “For the avoidance of any doubt, this sale will be happening. By the end of the month we will have the exact format clarified. There are complications surrounding the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby weekend and we are trying to fit it around that so the date is slightly fluid at the moment. But absolutely categorically, there will be a sale of quality breeze-up horses at Naas racecourse followed by the sale at Goffs around Irish Derby Weekend.”

He added, “We have had some very good feedback about this sale during our inspections. Obviously we've fielded a lot of questions about what we will be doing and how we will be doing it. We are aiming to attract two types of horses. One is the later maturing, three-year-old type; they will be well suited by this sale by virtue of the later date. Also, we are providing a quality, strong marketplace for a breezer who may not have made it–for whatever reason–to one of the earlier targets in the breeze-up season. It is going to be a very select sale and we will be working closely with the vendors. But we're looking to make this a quality breeze-up and, as a result, aim to keep numbers particularly tight in year one. There have been a few complications, which we've dealt with. We're not going to hold a sale on the same day of another sale.”

The Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale, one of the premier sources of National Hunt store horses, is due to take place on June 25 and June 26. Breeze-Up Consignors Association [BUCA] chairman Brendan Holland agrees that any overlap between the new Goffs sale and the Derby Sale should be avoided, but stated there is definite merit to the additional sale in the calendar. 

In his role as chairman of BUCA, Holland provided a robust challenge to the proposed new sales in the breeze-up calendar last autumn, stating that the supply was in danger of exceeding demand. However, the leading consignor–who operates under Grove Stud–has given the thumbs up to a select offering of back-end types at the Goffs Classic Breeze-Up Sale. 

He said, “I don't think there will be a significant change in the numbers [roughly 1,200] at the main sales this year. The sales companies might try to tighten them up if they can but that's easier said than done. My only wish was that it wouldn't go the other way, in that supply would not exceed demand. The new breeze-up sale is there at Goffs and there seems to be a desire there from the Irish consignors who perhaps don't want to have to travel those horses or who perhaps have horses who miss earlier sales, which happens every year. It will also suit the consignors who buy horses who need more time. The lads [consignors] expressed a wish for the sale so I hope it does go ahead and that they find a suitable date.”

He added, “I thought it was a good idea to tie it around the Irish Derby weekend but we are also mindful that we don't want to encroach on the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale, which is an important National Hunt store sale that takes place around the same time. There is a big crossover between breeze-up and store horse producers so we couldn't have a clash but I still think it would be good to tie the sale around the Irish Derby.”

The new sale is likely to be limited to 50 horses, according to Beeby, who also explained that Goffs intends to trim its flagship breeze-up sale at Doncaster to 200 slots.

He said, “We're there to serve the market and we react to what the market wants as best we can. We can't please all of the people all of the time. But when a small number of people were telling us we couldn't have a new sale, we had as many if not more people ringing us telling us they wanted a new sale in Ireland. That's not to say that one person is right and the other is wrong. We're here to help everyone and work together to make it happen. And it will happen. The feedback from vendors has been extremely positive during inspections and this new sale will sit alongside our existing breeze-up sale at Doncaster, which we anticipate will be a book of 200–back from 235 last year. We're looking at a maximum of 50 horses for the new sale.”

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