Perfect Angel Tops Goodwood Sale

[Wandering Eyes]

The sight of a 4-month-old foal in the parade ring at Goodwood is a slightly incongruous one and none of the breeding prospects appealed to buyers around the ring after racing, but five of the horses in training were in demand, with Hong Kong and Singapore among their future destinations.

Of the 13 lots offered, which included a lifetime breeding right to Whitsbury Manor Stud stallion Showcasing (GB), six were marked as sold to bring turnover for the inaugural Goffs Goodwood Sale to £1,425,000.

Top of the tree was the first lot through the ring, Mildmay Racing’s 4-year-old Perfect Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) (lot 1), runner-up in the G2 Mill Reef S. at two and in the 2017 G3 Hackwood S. (Video), was sold to SackvilleDonald for £400,000. The sister to G2 Duchess of Cambridge S. runner-up Angel’s Hideaway (Ire) will leave Andrew Balding’s stable to join Richard Hughes.

“She’s been bought for a client of Richard’s and she will stay in training with the hope of getting some more black-type,” said Ed Sackville.

Just under the top price at £390,000 was Curiosity (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}) (lot 8) who will leave Hugo Palmer’s Newmarket stable for Singapore.

Mark McStay of Avenue Bloodstock placed the winning bid on the 99-rated 3-year-old and said, “He’s been wonderfully trained by my good friend Hugo Palmer and his owners have had great fun with him. He’s going to Singapore to be trained by the great Lee Freedman for a new client and I hope his new owners have plenty of fun with him.”

Last week’s Naas listed winner Sometimesadiamond (Ire) (Vocalised) (lot 13) has been bought to carry on racing for Phoenix Thoroughbreds for £220,000. Bred and trained by Jim Bolger, the 3-year-old was signed for by Dermot Farrington.

“We’ll assess her once she comes over from Ireland and make a decision on a trainer after that,” he said. “We were actually looking for something for the Southern Hemisphere but nothing has been decided yet.”

War Command juvenile Flying Dragon (Ire) (lot 7), who was runner-up on debut on his sole start at Chantilly, was the only horse in training to parade in the ring and was sold by Con Marnane for £175,000 to Ross Doyle. The colt will head first to Richard Hannon before shipping out to Hong Kong.

“That was a good, strong maiden run and he came very highly recommended,” said the agent.

The half-share in the Ebor entrant Cosmelli (Ity) (Mr Vegas {Ire}) (lot 2), who is also eligible for the G1 Melbourne Cup, was sold for £50,000 to Sydney-based Import Racing while China Horse Club snapped up the breeding right to Showcasing (lot 5) for £190,000. The sale’s headline lot, the G3 Anglesey S. winner Marie’s Diamond (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) (lot 4), who lines up for today’s G2 Qatar Richmond S., was unsold at £675,000.

The post-racing sale returned an average of £237,000 and median of £205,000.

“We are delighted with the results achieved at the inaugural Goodwood Sale at the Qatar Goodwood Festival which saw us achieve a sale average of £237,500,” said Goffs UK Managing Director Tony Williams. “The results in the ring this evening clearly demonstrate there is an appetite for these specialist, boutique sales and our top price of £400,000 certainly reinforces that. We would like to thank Goodwood for partnering in this sale, as well as our vendors and buyers, and we look forward to seeing it develop in the years to come.”

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