‘There’s Always A Great Atmosphere At The Goffs Premier Yearling Sale’

[Wandering Eyes]

Jenny Norris, one of the leading consignors in Britain, runs through her draft of 'Donny rockets'

The Goffs Premier Yearling Sale is riding the crest of a wave but so too is one of the leading British-based consignors, Jenny Norris, who will offer what she says is arguably one of her strongest-ever drafts at this year's sale. 

That is saying something as Norris is already responsible for six individual two-year-old winners this season from just over 40 yearlings that passed through her consignment last year. 

Among them features Windsor Castle Stakes winner Havana Hurricane (Havana Gold), along with the third from that race, Azizam (Havana Grey), while Norris also sold Group 2 July Stakes hero Jasour (Havana Grey) at the Premier Yearling Sale in 2022. 

Havana Hurricane was sold at the Tattersalls Somerville Sale for just 9,000 gns. He won on debut at Goodwood for Eve Johnson Houghton before providing connections with that day they will never forget at the Royal meeting.

Such stories prove that, without parting with massive sums of money, you can go and take on the big boys and Norris says that she is hopeful that her track record of producing top-notchers can fuel return business at Doncaster this week. 

“You have to keep pinching yourself,” Norris commented. “I consigned three horses at the yearling sales last year that ended up running at Royal Ascot, with Havana Hurricane obviously winning the Windsor Castle Stakes. Azizam, who I sold here last year [for £46,000], won very nicely on debut before finishing third in the Windsor Castle behind Havana Hurricane so that was amazing. Sadly, the third horse, Harry's Girl, was fatally injured in the Queen Mary. We sold her here [for £36,000] and she won first time up for Richard Hannon at Newmarket before finishing second in the Listed Marygate Stakes so she was looking very promising so that was extremely sad.”

Norris added, “As a British and a female consignor, it is a great buzz to get these horses to sell and it ensures that you keep getting nice horses from clients to sell on their behalf year after year.”

While Norris was not active at Arqana last week, she observed with interest record-breaking trade at the top during one of the most memorable August Yearling Sales that has ever been held at Deauville. 

While the median and the average was down during the V2 session, the strongest clearance rate [86%] was posted for over a decade and many Irish buyers reported that it was the first time in history that they made the trip to France and didn't come home with a horse. In summary, the nicer horses are proving harder and harder to buy which is good news for Norris, because her nine-strong draft is packed full of potentially smart prospects.

She said, “You'd have to be fairly upbeat about how Arqana went. I wasn't there but the figures were up and there seemed to be a very strong demand for horses across all levels. I think the main takeout so far this season is there has been a really good spread of winners. Even at Royal Ascot, smaller trainers, syndicates and a wide variety of different owners have enjoyed success so I think that helps. It's not just the bigger connections that are winning and, when connections who have bought more reasonably-priced horses are getting amazing results, it just provides everyone with a bit of hope. People can actually go out and buy a horse for not a lot of money and have a huge amount of fun so I think that message has carried through this season on the racecourse.”

Norris added, “I have nine yearlings to sell this week and, when you look at their pages and see them in the flesh, they all scream Donny rocket. They are horses that should suit this sale and the one thing that is really exciting about our draft is that we have sire-power as well. We have yearlings by Mehmas, Sioux Nation, Blue Point and our Havana Grey filly is from the family of Shouldvebeenaring so you can't get much better than that, can you?”

Norris was famously involved in the pinhooking of dual Group 1 winner Shalaa and, despite offering just a select number of yearlings every year, has twice topped Book 1 of the October Yearling Sale at Tattersalls. But her role as a consignor at the foal sales means that she doesn't buy as many to resell as she used to and the majority of yearlings offered this week will be on behalf of her growing client base. 

She explained, “I own two-and-a-half of the horses selling this week and it's just really nice to have been asked to consign some of the horses that we are consigning. They've all settled in well and we're very happy with what we have for this sale. Hopefully we'll still be happy on Wednesday and Thursday!”

Norris concluded, “There is something for everyone and, as I said, we have a really good spread of stallions. I always feel like everyone is always in great form at Donny because it's the start of the yearling sale season in Britain and hopefully the only way is up from here. The winters can be long and, if you don't go to the breeze-ups and, if you are like me and you didn't go to France, it will be your first time seeing people on the sales ground for a while. It's always great fun catching up with people here and people are usually raring to go. There's always a good atmosphere here and, when you bring the right model – which we think we have -, you can do well.”

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