A momentous new chapter in the rich history of Doncaster sales was written today when the auction-house record was not so much broken, but smashed, by a Mehmas colt sold by Greenhills Farm to Godolphin for £1 million at the Goffs Doncaster Breeze-Up Sale.

Emotions ran high when Henry Beeby finally brought the hammer down after a thrilling round of bidding, which saw offers being fired in from all over the ring, as the colt (Lot 168) was being offered on behalf of the Nordic Partnership, a group of Scandinavian investors which includes Danish-born businessman Jakob Dalhoff and his Ukrainian partner Maria, who live in war-torn Ukraine.
 
Jakob Dalhoff said: “I said to our agent Filip Zwicky two years ago that I wanted him to find a new, interesting project for us, and so he and Anna Sundstrom bought two foals for us to pinhook at the Goffs November Sale – this Mehmas colt and a Blue Point filly, who made a nice profit as a yearling last year. All the credit has to go to them for finding such lovely horses.
 
“Never in our wildest dreams did we think the Mehmas colt would make that much money today. We were thinking £400,000 or £500,000, so we’re over the moon. 
 
“It’s very bittersweet, though, as we’ve had a lot of joy here but we face horrors at home in Ukraine. Life is so odd now. We were in the middle of enjoying a cosy meal with friends in Doncaster last night and our mobiles started bleeping to alert us to an air-raid attack at home. 
 
“We own a couple of horses in Denmark, and a percentage of any winnings goes to renovation work after the bombing of Ukraine. It helps a lot, and we’ve seen the difference it makes. We do humanitarian work in Ukraine and help as much as we are able in any way we can. We’ll be back home to Ukraine next week.”
 
Greenhills Farm’s Katie Walsh commented: “It’s unbelievable. I’m delighted for my clients. He’s been extremely straightforward from the get-go. Mehmas is obviously having a fantastic time and this colt has a lovely pedigree. He breezed very nicely and is going to a very good team, and I just hope he’s extremely lucky for them.”
 
Asked to compare the thrill of success in the saddle to success in the sale-ring, the former top jockey replied: “It’s very different, I’m not going to lie. Financially, this makes an awful lot more sense of course, but they’re two completely different things. It’s a different thrill, a different buzz, a different adrenaline rush.”
 
Stroud reported that the Mehmas colt, out of the Listed-placed Shamardal mare Rapid Reaction and from the family of ace sire Wootton Bassett, would go to Charlie Appleby.
 
“If the horse is here, the people will be here,” said Stroud. “He did a very good breeze and is from a very good consignor. I thought he’d sell well, but at the top end it’s always difficult to work out where you’re going to end up. He’s by a very good stallion and Katie does a fantastic job. Our principal is keen to buy some breeze-up horses.”

Remarkably, the Goffs Doncaster auction-house record had already been broken by another Mehmas colt earlier in the session, when stalwart consignors Tally-Ho Stud sold its three-parts brother to Listed winner Benefit (Lot 42) to Stroud, acting for Godolphin again, for £720,000.
 
“Mehmas is an excellent sire and Tally-Ho have a fine track record of producing high-class breeze-up horses,” said Stroud. “He did a good breeze, passed all the veterinary examinations, and just looked exactly like what he’s meant to be: a real two-year-old. 
 
“It’s very lively trade. Obviously the better ones are making the money, but it’s encouraging that we’ve got so many people in this sport who want to race good horses.
 
“There’s a good selection of horses here. It’s important that the middle and bottom of the market are strong as well, so I hope there’s a trickle-down effect from all these big prices. It’s important that the clearance rate holds up.”
 
Tally-Ho Stud’s Roger O’Callaghan was understandably delighted with the result, saying: “Stuart Boman deserves a lot of the credit because he was very keen to buy the horse last year. 
 
“We want to be the best, and we want to sell the best, but you’re only as good as the next horse. We just go with the flow; show up, see what happens and take whatever comes your way on the day. This has been a great place for us, it’s been lucky for us and the team here work very hard. 
 
“Dad and all the family are at home looking after the place. They’re the ones doing the work, I’m on holiday!”

Mehmas two-year-olds filled all positions in the top three lots on the day, thanks to the sale of a filly by the sire and out of an Oasis Dream half-sister to Sussex Stakes hero Lightning Spear (Lot 29) from Mick Fitzpatrick’s Kilminfoyle House Stud to Blandford Bloodstock for £650,000 early in proceedings.
 
“Mehmas goes from strength to strength, and I bought a good colt off Fitz here last year,” said Blandford Bloodstock’s Richard Brown. “That was Electrolyte, who won a Group 3 and we still have high hopes for. Archie Watson has done a great job with him.
 
“This is a very nice filly by him and she did a good breeze. Everyone talks about times, and with reason, as it’s horse racing: the fastest horse wins, so people moaning about times is madness. But it’s also the style they do it in, of course. That’s very important. We finished at 3am this morning watching videos of the breezes, and got back up at 5am, so ended up with two hours’ sleep.
 
“The breeze-ups are a massive test of temperament, we’re very hard on that, and she just nailed it. She ran with her head low to the ground and she had a great stretch to her action. She wasn’t rocketship quick, but very stylish.
 
“We should see her on track soon, we’ll give her every chance of being a Royal Ascot filly. I didn’t anticipate having to spend that sort of money. But I don’t think there’s ever been more demand for horses at the top of the market. This is a very well assembled group of horses, a good renewal of the Doncaster breeze-up.”
 
Fitzpatrick said: “I thought she was a bit above the rest of them, she was one of the quickest times. I had her in a different league so I hoped the big players would play for her. If your heart doesn’t race when that goes on then it’ll never race. 
 
“I’d like to thank my staff, especially Pamela Coogan, she’s an unbelievable person. This result is all credit to them, I can only buy them and sell them. They put in an awful lot of hours and labour, they put their lives on hold for me to come here. I’m probably reaping the rewards of them coming in here at 6am every morning, putting in long hours every day. A lot of people don’t look after their staff enough because they put so much work in. 
 
“I really hope she’ll turn up at Royal Ascot for the new owners and she does the business for them.”

There was more high emotion when up-and-coming consignor Johnny Hurley of Woodlands Lodge sold his Kodi Bear colt out of the Group 3-placed Lawman mare Legitimus (Lot 118) to Godolphin for £500,000.
 
The widely admired relation to champions Arcangues and Luxembourg had been pinhooked from Book 2 of the Goffs Orby Sale for just €9,000.
 
Hurley returned to his box to rapturous applause from his neighbouring consignors, and a few tears were shed.
 
“We knew he was going well but that’s just a dream,” he said. “He was only a cheap yearling, but I’d valued him at 25 or 30 grand. He’s always been a gorgeous horse.
 
“He’s been a dream to prep,” he said. “He goes away, does his work, he’s just a pro. From the first day it’s all been easy to him, and there’s a ton of improvement in him too; he’s big and scopey. They don’t make many like him. 
 
“We love taking them away from home. They get onto the box, they go wherever, do their work and come back and sleep. We bring them to Curragh, we started doing it two years ago and I think it’s been great. Now, when they come to a sale they’re in the groove straight away.” 
 
Asked what he’ll do with his windfall, he replied: “A holiday, new stock, a bit of everything to be honest.”

“Thank you to everyone who contributed to an extraordinary day in Doncaster. In 1983 the company was just 21 years old and our late Chairman Harry Beeby said he had two dreams for DBS - now Goffs UK. One was to sell a Derby winner and we will continue to work towards that, but he also dreamed of selling a million-pound horse and it was fantastic to achieve this at a sale which he introduced to Europe in 1977. Today is a day that we will remember for an awful long time and is a real milestone in the evolution of the company, whilst it’s particularly fitting that Harry’s son Henry, the Goffs Group CEO, was on the rostrum for this historic event.

“Meanwhile, we will celebrate this historic day by raising a glass to Harry tonight as I know that he would be very proud of us all and we look forward to doing the same again in the winners enclosure at Royal Ascot.”