A Classic Collection Assembled For Orby

[Wandering Eyes]

Goffs has coined its 2019 Orby Sale lineup as a “Classic collection” in its latest advertising campaign, and when examining the catalogue in conjunction with the sale’s proven track record of churning out Classic winners, that claim looks very much on the mark.

The Goffs Orby Sale, which takes place at the Kill Paddocks on Oct. 1 and 2, rides the momentum of a second consecutive Oaks winner in 2019, with the G1 Prix de Diane winner Channel (Ire) (Nathaniel {Ire})-an €18,000 yearling pinhooked for €70,000 at two-following the 2018 G1 Investec Oaks winner Forever Together (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who represented the other end of the spectrum when bought by MV Magnier for €900,000 in 2016. Forever Together’s full-sister (lot 262)-and also a full-sister to the G1 Fillies’ Mile winner Together Forever (Ire) and last year’s Orby Sale topper, the €3.2-million filly Do You Love Me (Ire)-is one of two full-sisters to a Classic winner in the catalogue, the other being the full-sister to this year’s G1 Irish Derby winner Sovereign (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) (lot 213). Tally Ho Stud sends out a half-brother to this year’s G1 Irish 2000 Guineas winner Phoenix of Spain (Ire) from the first crop of another winner of that Classic in Awtaad (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) (lot 345), while lot 301 is a Le Havre (Ire) colt who is the first foalout of G1 Irish 1000 Guineas winner Jet Setting (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}). Popular sire Kodiac (GB) provides a half-brother to G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches victress Elusive Wave (Ire) (Elusive City) (lot 388).

Naturally, these are far from the only standouts in the book of 472, and the class of 2019 has a big task ahead of them to build on the success of last year’s Orby sale. Last year’s catalogue was given a decisive trim-from 468 in 2017 to 419-in order to tighten up on quality. The result was a 6.8% rise in aggregate despite 46 fewer horses sold; a 22% climb in average to €132,948 and a 23% jump in the median to €80,000. The clearance rate was 89%-the highest of any of Europe’s select yearling sales last year.

“We were delighted with last year’s sale,” said Goffs Group Chief Executive Henry Beeby. “I have to say going into last year’s sale I was slightly concerned, because I thought, ‘how could we match, with a smaller catalogue, what we had the year before?’ Whether we can match that this year remains to be seen. Notwithstanding Brexit there is a lot of uncertainty in the world. We have an expanded catalogue so maintaining an average and a median that was 22% and 23% up last year is a challenge in itself. Even if we’re down 10% on average and median we’d still be up 12% from two years ago, but you’re only judged against last year’s sale. So we have to take another step forward.

“Last year we tightened the catalogue to 419, and that was a conscious decision. We thought we’d slightly increase the numbers but we were quite taken aback by how much support we got off of last year,” Beeby added. “So we’ve ended up with 472. We didn’t set out to increase the catalogue by that much; it naturally happened because of the success of last year.”

And Beeby insisted the same standard of quality has been maintained.

“Genuinely when we were putting together a short list for our team to go to Saratoga and start talking to people before the catalogue had been published, the short list turned into a long list quite quickly,” he said. “And that’s not just a line; we said we’d pick out the world-class pedigrees and make a list and say, ‘there you are.’ Five years ago I might have had six on the list. This year I had 29. And they were horses that each one in their own right could go into any sale anywhere and attract attention.”

Another accomplishment the Orby sale will try to emulate from last year is selling the two most expensive yearling fillies in the world. Keeneland’s $8.2-million daughter of American Pharoah and Leslie’s Lady (Tricky Creek) makes that feat more challenging this year, but Orby certainly brings the right ammunition with full-sisters to last year’s two sale toppers, the Galileo sister to Forever Together being joined by another full-sister to three-time Group 1 winner Alice Springs (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and last year’s second-top lot, Glenvale Stud’s €2-million daughter of Galileo and Aleagueoftheirown (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) (lot 127).

The catalogue boasts nine Galileos in total, those aforementioned fillies being joined by the likes of lot 155, a colt out of G2 Ribblesdale S. winner Banimpire (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}). There are a pair of Dubawis set to be offered: lot 188, a half-brother to G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. winner Persuasive (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and lot 440, a filly who is the third foal out of dual Group 3 winner Purr Along (GB) (Mount Nelson {GB}).

Persuasive’s ever-popular sire Dark Angel has 20 catalogued, including a full-sister to champion sprinter Harry Angel (Ire) (lot 156)-also a half-sister to last weekend’s G2 Mill Reef S. victor Pierre Lapin (Ire) (Cappella Sansevero {Ire})–and a colt out of dual Group 1 winner La Collina (Ire) (Strategic Prince {Ire}) (lot 317). The full-sister to Harry Angel is consigned by Baroda Stud on behalf of breeder China Horse Club, and Baroda’s David Cox said, “the full-sister to Harry Angel, who was once rated the world’s best sprinter, is out of a mare who is herself a half-sister to a Group 1 winner, so she has a great pedigree and the looks to match it. She has been very straightforward since she was born, a lovely attitude and takes everything in her stride. It’s great to have a filly with a pedigree and physical to match. She will also be a lovely broodmare in a few years’ time, but she looks like she is going to be a racehorse first. The mare was covered by Justify this year so that’s something for potential buyers to keep in mind, thinking more long-term.”

There are eight chances to secure a yearling by the red-hot Kingman (GB), including lot 258, a filly out of a half-sister to Horse of the Year Golden Horn (GB). Fellow second-crop sire No Nay Never has 10 catalogued, including a half-brother to last year’s G1 Moyglare Stud S. winner and champion 2-year-old filly Skitter Scatter (Scat Daddy) (lot 205). Leading French sire Siyouni (Fr)’s haul includes lot 228, a half-sister to the dam of listed winner Edisa (Kitten’s Joy), winner of the $750,000 Jockey Club Oaks since the catalogue was published.

“The catalogue speaks for itself,” Beeby said. “We’ve been really pleased, and I suppose it’s a continuing evolution of the sale. More and more Irish breeders are saying ‘we’ll send you, if not our best, a share of our best,’ and plenty are now sending us their best. Our constant challenge in Goffs has always been people wanting to go to England for traditional reasons, currency reasons, because they thought there were more people there. Happily, more and more people are deciding to spread their risk. We’re not getting the second-raters; we’re getting a good share, if not all, of the best.”

Beeby was speaking from the grounds of Keeneland September, where he spent three days pounding the pavement and promoting the Orby sale to the buyers assembled for America’s largest yearling sale, and Beeby admitted Goffs has invested heavily in buyer recruitment.

“We specifically took Tom Taaffe onto our team last year as well as Hayley O’Connor to go out and get more buyers and spread the word about what we have,” Beeby said. “There are only so many places one person can go so we have our existing team-our global agents–and on top of that we’ve invested quite heavily in making sure we have more and more people in recruitment. The Orby sale is only two days long; we’re keeping it very tight so we can stand behind it and if we’re in Kentucky, Japan, or Australia we can say, ‘just give us two days, you will not be disappointed.'”

That strategy seems to be paying off, with the Orby sale last year having eight different buyers spend in excess of €1-million cumulatively.

“I think what we’ve seen at the Orby Sale as opposed to some other sales in recent years is that we’re not as reliant on one group of buyers,” Beeby said. “We’ve had a broad spread. There are more buyers per numbers catalogued at Goffs than anywhere else. I would expect that to happen again this year, and we expect to have the big buyers back. It was wonderful last year to have Sheikh Mohammed there for the first time in 13 years. We’re very grateful for his support and we’re very hopeful he’ll come back again. Of course Coolmore, it’s their local sale and they’re very much involved. They were underbidders on the top two lots last year, so they bid €5-million on those two alone and didn’t get either horse. There’s a very broad buyer base and we look to expand that each year.”

With a handful of major yearling sales already in the books for 2019-including Goffs UK’s Premier and Silver Sales at Doncaster-Beeby and his team have some evidence to draw on to make market predications.

“The over-used word this year, as ever, is going to be polarization,” he said. “That was very evident in France and very evident in England. For our part at our Doncaster sale we were delighted with the top of the market, including a new record price of £440,000 for a Kingman which was great and beat last year’s record price of £380,000. There were multiple buyers at the top of the market and a lot of interest.

“The middle market was ok and beneath that it was a lot of work. The Silver Sale, which has an £8,000 to £10,000 average, was very hard work. We were disappointed with a 60% clearance rate at the Silver Sale, but I’d be surprised if at the end of the autumn we don’t look back and see that very much reflected across the market. I think the further down you get you’ll see clearance rates lower than the top of the market. That augurs well for the Orby sale, and the Sportsmans Sale will be more of a challenge; we think there are a really nice bunch of commercial horses in the Sportsmans Sale, but later on it will be hard. If you don’t tick a certain number of boxes, you don’t meet a certain amount of criteria, it’s going to be hard work.”

In the meantime, those scouring the Goffs grounds in the days prior to Oct. 1 and 2 are sure to find plenty of reasons for optimism. The Orby sale begins at 10 a.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday and is followed by the two-day Sportsmans Sale on Oct. 3 and 4.

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