Pinhookers Dominate On Red-Hot Opening Day’s Trade At Goffs February Sale

[Wandering Eyes]

Day one of the Goffs February Sale got off to a blisteringly-hot start on Wednesday when the €3,898,500 turnover, which was headlined by a €220,000 Mehmas colt that went the way of Tally-Ho Stud, eclipsed the entire sum this sale generated 12 months ago by €41,000. 

Henry Beeby promised that the pinhookers would “be out in force” this week and, true to his word, the majority of the most expensive weanlings sold on Wednesday were knocked down to some of the masters of that craft. 

Few do it better than Tony O'Callaghan who, despite decrying the fact Tally-Ho had to pay big for the Boherguy Stud-drafted Mehmas colt, admitted that he simply could not leave Kildare Paddocks without lot 126. 

“The horse is right but the price is wrong,” O'Callaghan said. “We had to have him. We liked the horse; he is the full shilling. Trade is good for the good ones.” Endorsing this view, his son Roger added, “He is the best horse in the sale.” 

The Mehmas colt was bred by Hanshen Tham and Carol Henley. He is one that Goffs can get the trumpet out on given Tham purchased the dam, Russian River (Dandy Man), at the Orby Sale in 2019 for €210,000. Russian River won and gained black-type for Joseph O'Brien and Tham, who was not in attendance at Goffs, described himself as over the moon with the result. 

He said, “We thought he was a very nice colt and the pedigree is nice also. The foal sales at Goffs were so strong, we decided to come here in a bid to stand out and thankfully it worked out. It's great doing business with Tally-Ho Stud and they really support breeders at the sales so a massive thanks must go to them. I really hope he is lucky for them. Clare deserves a lot of credit as well because she foals all of our mares and does a great job. We bought the mare, Russian River, at the Orby Sale here in 2019 off Joe Foley. She managed to get black-type and her first foal, a No Nay Never filly, sold for €330,000. This is another great result and the mare is in foal to Night Of Thunder, which is very exciting.”

Of the 239 horses offered on Wednesday, 161 were sold at a clearance rate of 67%. The turnover was up a remarkable 187% while the €24,215 was on the rise by 71%. The median was up by a remarkable 129% at €16,000.

Manning commented on the top lot, “That was unbelievable. He's a very nice colt and has been going down very well for the past couple of days, but I don't think we expected to get that much. There were plenty of lads there for him and they were very strong, but Tally-Ho were very keen to have him, clearly.

“I took him from the clients to prep him about a month ago and he's improved massively; I think there's more improvement in him too. The owners usually sell as yearlings but they decided to take a chance selling him in February. I thought it was a good sale and that he'd stand out, and then he's shown all that improvement in the last month. Hopefully he'll go on and improve even more for Tally-Ho.”

Manning added, “I foal all the mares for them [the owners, Hanshen Tham's Pattern Bloodstock and Carol and Peter Henley] so I actually foaled several of the mare's progeny, including him, and then he'd have gone back to Carol's. I'll have the mare back in another few weeks as she's in foal to Night Of Thunder. Even though they're not with me the whole time, I do tend to know all their mares and foals quite well as they're with me for a while, so I certainly get to know them.”

O'Brien The Latest Small Breeder To Enjoy Welcome Change Of Luck Courtesy Of Starman

Colm O'Brien | Goffs

One of the emerging themes from the foal and yearling sales last year was the amount of smaller breeders who benefited from Starman's rip-roaring start at stud and Colm O'Brien, a man who openly admits that he was ready to give up on his mare, was the latest man to count himself lucky about supporting the stallion in his third year at Tally-Ho Stud. 

The County Tyrone-based breeder enjoyed his greatest day on a sale ground when, selling through Peter Kelly's Ballybin Stud, netted a cool €120,000 from Kevin Blake for his filly by the stallion. 

He said, “We're absolutely over the moon. She is a special filly and the stars aligned with Starman. It's a real thrill for us to have her down here and everyone to like her. That's what every small breeder strives to produce – a horse that is well-respected by the market. She showed herself so well and we got a massive kick about the fact that, every time we came down to see her, somebody else had pulled her out of the box. It was some feeling.”

O'Brien added, “We bought the dam in foal to Fast Company a good few years ago and she slipped the foal and we didn't cover her particularly well after so, when that happens, you are just pulling your hair out. Then, suddenly, you get a turn of luck like that today. It's just unbelievable. The line is so thin between winning and losing and, if I was completely honest, that Starman was probably her last cover before we threw the towel at it because we were only just about keeping the ship afloat. I can't tell you what a sale like today means to me or anyone else in a similar position. It provides you with the confidence to go again and I know my own father, Hugh, who is 80, got just as much of a buzz out of it today. It's an amazing result.”

The Starman filly is out of a Pivotal mare who has produced three winners from four runners and the transaction represents an exciting new chapter for Blake, the well-known broadcaster and pundit.

He said, “She was bought on behalf of a new client to Golden Farm – wanted to pinhook a nice one and she was the best one here so it was as simple as that. It's something different for us on the farm but we are trying to develop the business at home and bring things up a level so hopefully she's lucky. We've no sale in mind for her but we'll have the discussion in the next month or so but she is the type of filly you'd be happy to take anywhere.” 

Blake added, “Starman is getting lots of good racehorses and it's going to be really interesting to see how they go as three-year-olds. With his physique and race record, there should be good progression there and everyone wants to send a mare to him – but not everyone can get in! The pieces appear to be coming together for him.”

Hogan Stocks Up

Fearghal Hogan was the second-busiest buyer behind Tally-Ho in terms of spend on Wednesday when signing for an Ace Impact filly for €95,000 along with a Blackbeard colt for €88,000. 

He said, “I loved the idea of the Ace Impact filly and, to be honest, she was the one in the back of mind the past two days. She's a lovely big filly with a serious page and sure the sire was a world class racehorse. She will be offered for re-sale later in the year. Very happy with my shopping today. “

Hogan added, “We also got a Blackbeard, who was one of my favourite horses in the sale. I have a Blackbeard in training with John Murphy and he's very nice so we're optimistic about the stallion. Look, it's very hard to buy nice horses so, when I saw this lad, I knew I had to have him. We've no sale in mind for him just yet. It will all depend on what the sire does.”

Thought for the day

Goffs made the decision this year to split up the weanlings from the rest of the catalogue and it clearly paid off in spades with that section of the market up by 29% on last year.

The post Pinhookers Dominate On Red-Hot Opening Day’s Trade At Goffs February Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article