Some £7,720,000 was spent on exciting form horses over the afternoon, for an average of £406,316 and median of £300,000. Nineteen out of the 28 lots on offer changed hands, for a creditable clearance rate of 68 per cent.

“To be honest, my son picked this horse out a little while ago and he said ‘We’ve got to buy this!’,” reported the owner, whose previous Goffs London Sale purchases include Beresford Stakes winner Crypto Force. 

“Maxi isn’t here, but I’ve got my adopted son, Alex Elliott with me. Anyway, he didn’t want to buy it so he doesn’t have any pressure. This one’s on me.”

“Ghostwriter is third favourite for the Hardwicke and I think he’s got a chance to go up to Group 1 level, so we’ll see.” 

Ghostwriter, whose career to date has been overseen by Clive Cox, was offered by his owner Jeff Smith, whose stud manager David Bowe was in attendance to congratulate the son of Invincible Spirit’s new owners.

“It was a win-win situation really,” said Bowe. “We were sad to lose him, as Clive Cox and his team have done a wonderful job with him, and we would have been more than happy to keep him at a certain price, but we thought this was a fair amount to take for him. We wish Kia all the best of luck.”

Commenting on the Goffs London Sale, Bowe said: “What a fantastic party and a wonderful place to hold it in. The atmosphere and theatre of it all is amazing.”

Tycoon (16), a lightly raced son of Kingman who finished third in the Cocked Hat Stakes at Goodwood last time for owner-breeder Bjorn Nielsen, will also join the Amo Racing Squad after being signed for by Nick Bell at £600,000.
 
“I thought he was very impressive at Windsor when he won, and then he didn’t quite stay at Goodwood,” said Bell. “I’m very keen to run him in the Golden Gates on Saturday, and I think Kia is intending on leaving him with the Gosdens for that race at least. He’s lightly raced and has a big pedigree, so he has the right profile to put in a big run.

“He’s going to be a single-figure price on Saturday. If he runs well in that he’d end up looking well bought at this sort of money, especially considering the different jurisdictions he could race in. I thought he was a fair price.”

“He’ll stay with Francis Graffard and be campaigned in Europe,” reported Stewart. “Francis said he would be in the sale and thought he was a good horse. I actually thought he might make a little more money but he didn’t have a Royal Ascot entry so we might have got a bit of value. 

“Around 80 per cent of our programme is turf, and we’ve got a lot of sprinters, so now we’re looking for some more stayers.

“This is my second year at the Goffs London Sale. It’s a wonderful occasion in a unique setting in central London. I’m looking forward to the week ahead, I’ve got a leg in Believing with Coolmore and she’s a leading fancy for the King Charles III Stakes, and we also have Rogue Legend, who’s favourite for the Windsor Castle Stakes, so we’re going there with lots of chances.”

Christensen, who races under the banner of The JC Organization and already has horses in training with Burke, said the purchase was made for pragmatic reasons.

“We have Thunder Run with Karl and were looking forward to running him in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes, but he got balloted out, worst luck,” said Christensen. “I’d invited some friends over so we were all dressed up and had nowhere to go! He’ll run in the Coventry Stakes tomorrow and we’ll cheer him home. My friends have taken a leg each and we have two.

“We also have War Socks, trained by Niels Pietersen in Norway, entered for the Golden Gates Stakes at Royal Ascot on Saturday. We can’t wait!”
 

Bloodstock agent David Skelly teamed with Queensland trainer Tony Gollan and First Light Racing to purchase Brindavan (7), who won at Ascot last time and is entered for the Golden Gates Stakes on Saturday.

“We bought Hey Tru Blue at the breeze-ups this spring and sent him to George Boughey,” said Skelly. “He did well on debut and he’ll run in the Norfolk Stakes on Thursday. The plan was to buy a breezer to get to Royal Ascot but ultimately to get down to Tony’s – maybe a 1,400 to 1,600-metre horse, but forward enough to run at Royal Ascot. So the plan worked out.

“Tony came up for Hey Tru Blue so we said why not add another one to the team while we’re here? Brindavan suited his stable and fell into the right price bracket. He’s entered on Saturday so fingers crossed he gets in the race and gets there in one piece. After Royal Ascot he’ll join Tony down in Queensland.”

Blandford Bloodstock’s Stuart Boman signed for the 2023 Chesham Stakes winner Snellen (12) at £200,000 for Australian owner Tim Porter.

“I’m a big believer in Royal Ascot form and she won the Chesham well,” said Boman. “She’s an honest filly, and we’ll look to run her in the Kensington Palace Stakes. She’s drawn very well, coming out of a high number should suit her. She’ll be competitive.

“She’s got a lot of residual value too, of course. She’s a good model and is well bred. I love those German pedigrees.

“Tim’s up here for Royal Ascot, he loves having runners at the meeting, and luckily he’s brought his colours up! She will end up in Australia, probably with Ciaron Maher.”

Gai Waterhouse, the first lady of Australian racing, was also on the mark with three purchases at this year’s sale. 

With bloodstock agent Johnny McKeever and co-trainer Adrian Bott, she signed for Fantazy Man (19), who was won handicaps at Ballinrobe and Fairyhouse on his last two starts and is entered in the King George V Stakes and Golden Gate Stakes, for £250,000; Solar Army (21), successful in a Newbury handicap last time, for £200,000; and Mo Chroi (29), a lightly raced winner at Fairyhouse recently, for £160,000.

“We enjoyed another superb renewal of the Goffs London Sale with a veritable who’s who of international racing descending on the grounds of Kensington Palace.  A top price of £2 million was the fantastic highlight of a very strong trade, as evidenced by the median increasing by 50%, demonstrating the depth of the market.  We’re very grateful to all participants – to our partners, our vendors and wish our buyers all the very best for Royal Ascot and the future”. 

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