Vibrant trade over the two days of the Goffs Doncaster Premier Yearling Sale resulted in a 9% increase in average to £43,194 and 17% surge in median to £35,000. 26 horses sold for £100,000 or more. 
 
A lot of happy vendors returned home with empty headcollars, as the clearance rate checked in at a robust 86%.

The best was saved for nearly last on the second day as the penultimate lot in the ring, Tally-Ho Stud’s Mehmas full-brother to York nursery winner East Tyrone and half-brother to this season’s Queen Mary Stakes runner-up Flowerhead (410) was bought by Jason Kelly Bloodstock with an online bid of £150,000.
 
Kelly had hotfooted it to the airport to catch a late flight, but reported by phone: “He’ll be in the Bond Thoroughbred colours with Geoff Oldroyd. Geoff’s had a fantastic season and Charlie Bond was looking to find a nice, sharp two-year-old for him for next year. 
 
“Geoff and PJ McDonald have been on the ground this week and both saw the horse and were keen on him. It was a long wait for him, but he was the one they wanted. 
 
“PJ has been a big part of the team this year. He’s been in Geoff’s yard riding plenty of work and has been a big part of the success this season.”
 
Describing what he liked about the colt, he said: “He’s a May foal but he’s a very strong, powerful horse. Obviously the half-sister has looked sharp and precocious this year when running to a very high level, so hopefully he’ll be able to do something similar. This mare looks like she’s producing strong two-year-old types.”
 
Giving his thoughts on trade this week he added: “It’s been a strong sale and buying has been tough throughout. Every horse was pushed to the top end of their valuation, which is a great sign for the market.”

Richard Hughes has enjoyed a banner year, having sent out Goffs Doncaster Premier Yearling Sale purchases No Half Measures and Sayidah Dariyan to big-race victories, and he was busy restocking at the source of that success this week.

His most expensive purchase in today’s second session was a first-crop son of Minzaal out of Oriental Step (Lot 321), a Tamayuz half-sister to Group 3 winner St Jean and four other black-type performers. Consigned by WH Bloodstock, he cost £135,000.

“Everything we’ve seen by Minzaal we’ve liked,” said Hughes. “This is a lovely horse with nice balance and plenty of bone, and he comes from a very good farm. He’s probably for Jaber Abdullah, he has a bit of affinity with Tamayuz mares. I told him we’d look for the nicest colt here for him, and we’ve found exactly that, I think.

Asked if he was stepping up the shopping in the afterglow of all his recent success, he added: “Yes, obviously. I’m definitely spending a bit more. We’ve always bought five or six here, maybe at 30, 40, or 50 grand, but recent results have made me put my neck on the line a bit more and buy some more expensive ones. 

“I bought a Blue Point filly here yesterday for £175,000 and four people rang me to buy her soon afterwards. That would never happen before. It gives you a bit of confidence to go and buy one on spec for plenty of money, knowing you’re going to sell it.”

Hughes’ other purchases today included a Sergei Prokofiev filly out of a Showcasing half-sister to stakes winners Chil The Kite and Pastoral Player (336), who was offered by Yeomanstown Stud and cost £100,000, and a Tweenhills-consigned daughter of Kameko and Group 3-winning sprinter La Rioja (250), who was secured for £72,000.

Angie Bailey’s famous yellow and purple silks, which have been carried by top-notchers like Astaire and Brando, will also adorn the jockey who rides the Tweenhills-consigned Zoustar filly out of Group 3 runner-up Moravia (297), after trainer Kevin Ryan and agent Stephen Hillen went to £120,000 to buy her for the owner.

Hillen said: “She’s for Peter Tingey and Angie Bailey who owned Brando, and who wanted a filly this year. She’s very scopey and has a bit of pedigree – her dam was very fast. She was my pick of the sale.”

Bailey has enjoyed plenty of success with Doncaster yearlings, including Bogart, who won the Premier Yearling Sale Stakes back in the day, and Bergerac, a classy sprint handicapper.

Dynamic young racing syndicate Pompey Ventures struck at £100,000 for an A’Ali colt out of the Listed-placed Raven’s Pass mare Mazzuri (281) offered by Longview Stud.

“He’s a full-brother to Fairy Oak, who was fifth in the Albany Stakes,” reported the operation’s founding partner Owen Haly. “She’s a very good filly and made a good amount at the Goffs London Sale. We’ve spent money on horses for lower graded races before and done well, and after the success we’ve had we want to take it to the next level. We hope this fella can do that. 

“David Byrne, who buys all of our unraced horses, loved him. He came up here on Monday and that evening he said this is the one we have to go for. Alex Elliott was the underbidder and that probably tells you everything you need to know.

“He’ll go to Ollie Sangster, he’s been a great part of our team turning out winners like Tuco Salamanca, Profit Refused, Bob Mali, multiple winners. It’s nice to be top lot but let’s hope he can go do it on the track now.”

Tally-Ho Stud enjoyed another good day at the office. Besides the session-topper, its draft included a Mehmas full-brother to Group 3-placed filly Shelton (349) bought by Robson Aguiar and Alex Elliott for £120,000, a Cotai Glory full-brother to Group 3-placed two-year-old Pearl Glory (314) who went the way of Peter Trainor and GS Bloodstock for £95,000, and a Starman colt out of the winning Kingman mare Luxuriant (271) purchased by Rogues Gallery Racing also for £95,000.

Elliott reported of his purchase: “Robson loved him and he’s a man you’ve got to row in behind when you think about horses like Arizona Blaze and Power Blue. 

“He’ll go back to Robson and be one for him to have when his name is on the licence next year. We’ve bought five or six now, including a couple of Persian Forces, and I think it’s good that Kia came up here yesterday and saw a lot of the horses.

“He was very keen to come up and, as he said yesterday, you’ve got to be at all the sales and try to buy the better horses from each one. I think it’s a good change in policy and hopefully it continues.”

Trainor, one of the original owners of Goffs Doncaster Premier yearling The Lir Jet, who went on to win the Norfolk Stakes, said: “The Cotai Glory colt is going breezing. It’s a new partnership I’m putting together for next year’s breeze-up sales. 

“He’ll go to Sean Davis and the guys, I’ve just come in this year with him, a bit of fresh bloodstock, and we’ll see how we go. This is our second one today, we also bought an A’Ali colt [for £50,000 from Baroda Stud] so it’s been a good start to the day. 

“Personally I’ve had a number of Cotai Glorys and I’ve had a bit of luck with them. He comes from Tally-Ho, which is well renowned for being a good hotel. For me he was the standout colt here today. He was an expensive foal, which tells you they liked him as well.

“I’m delighted to get him. The plan for both colts will be to come back here next April. Hopefully they’ll go on and breeze well.”

Anthony Stroud wasn’t to be denied on Norris Bloodstock’s Havana Grey filly out of Stubble Field, an Adaay half-sister to the sire’s Group 3 winner and Haydock Sprint Cup runner-up Shouldvebeenaring (389), which he purchased for £100,000. 
 
“She’s been bought for Shapoor Mistry,” reported Stroud. “He won a Listed race the other day with a Havana Grey filly called Rosy Affair and he had a good filly a few years ago called Thundering Nights. 
 
“I thought this filly looked very racy and he likes Havana Grey, obviously. Con Marnane bred her and she just looked particularly sharp. She looks like she can motor.”
 
Stroud struck again a few lots later, giving £100,000 for a Sioux Nation filly out of dual winner and Montrose Stakes fourth Teodolina from Clara Stud (402).

Clive Cox, standing with Middleham Park Racing’s Tom Palin, had the final say on one of the best-bred lots in the catalogue, Taroka Stud’s Wootton Bassett colt out of an Invincible Spirit half-sister to recent Prix Jacques Le Marois hero Diego Velazquez (384), at £105,000.
 
“I’m thrilled to secure such a nice individual with a top pedigree,” said Cox. “Wootton Bassett is a proven statistical high-achiever, so it’s good to have one in the yard. Wootton Bassett won the Doncaster sales race in the past and hopefully this colt can follow a similar path to the Harry’s Half Million.”
 
Sorteo, the dam of Cox’s new acquisition, is also a half-sister to brilliant talents Broome and Point Lonsdale, both of whom, along with future National Stud entrant Diego Velazquez, have found stallion roles. 
 
“I’m very proud of our record making stallions, we’ve had Harry Angel, Supremacy and Golden Horde,” said Cox. “This one has a proper stallion’s pedigree, I’m very keen on it. I’m really looking forward to seeing if he can live up to it on the track.”
 
Commenting on the market at Doncaster this week, he added: “There are lots of nice, racey horses here as usual, and there’s good, competitive opposition for them.”
 
Middleham Park Racing also signed separately for a Supremacy half-brother to Listed-winning sprinter Room Service (400) from Jamie Railton Sales Agency who cost £100,000, and a Space Traveller filly from the family of Futurity Stakes scorer First Cornerstone (409) from Oghill House Stud who cost £65,000.
 

The team behind brilliant sprinter Big Evs struck for another son of up-and-coming young sire Blue Point, with Conor and Kathryn Quirke giving £100,000 for a colt by the sire out of Tabernacle, an Unfortunately half-sister to Group 2 winners Penitent and Supplicant (397), for RP Racing.
 
“We’re trying to repeat the trick,” said Conor Quirke. “He’s a dead ringer for Big Evs, and if he can get to within a stone of Big Evs we’ll be happy. He’ll also be going to Mick Apple Pie, as the announcers at Santa Anita called him when he won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.”
 
The cracking colt, the first produce of his dam, was bred by Oak Lodge and Springfield House Stud, who also bred the wonderful multiple Group 1-winning sprinter Blue Point.

Compas Equine and Iain Jardine’s £90,000 purchase of an Ardad colt out of Lady Caroline, a Teofilo three-parts sister to high-class sprinter and hotshot sire Havana Grey (254), was a poignant transaction for the vendor, Richard Kent’s Mickley Stud in Shropshire. 
 
“We named the dam after Lady Caroline Lonsdale,” said Kent. “She told me about ten years ago that she was determined to put speed into the Galileo line and she did exactly that, by breeding Havana Grey with us. He was the first foal out of Blanc De Chine and this is the first foal out of Lady Caroline, so we were a bit emotional selling him. 
 
“We’d love to have kept him but we don’t really keep colts, so he was here to sell. We’ve got the foal full-sister at home, and we’ll do our best to resist the temptation of bringing her to the sales, and will likely race her instead.”
 
Lady Caroline is back in foal to Perfect Power, Kent reported. 
 
“She’s a big, beautiful mare and I think she’s got a bright future,” he added. “Teofilo was a bit of an unusual choice when we sent Blanc De Chine to him, but he put a bit of scope into the mix, and being the sire of Havana Grey’s sire Havana Gold the cross worked.”
 
Asked if he could have predicted that Havana Grey would turn out to be the superstar he is when he foaled him a decade ago, Kent replied: “I did! Lady Caroline knew, she told me she’d breed a fast one from the Galileo line and I always believed her.”

Goffs UK Managing Director Tim Kent commented: 

“A hot run of Group 1 form plus over 100 two-year-old winners leading into this sale, meant that Premier was well and truly in the spotlight ahead of this week and we are very pleased to have delivered an equally hot sale which meant that vendors were well rewarded when selling proper horses in Doncaster.
 
“The yards have been buzzing throughout the week and the car park was overflowing since Monday, when we welcomed a huge number of owners, trainers and agents who have come in search of the iconic Donny rockets. The first day proved stronger at the top end and realised a top price of £190,000, however the second day provided a higher median whilst the two days saw a consistent trade from start to finish. The sale generated 26 six-figure transactions with an impressive 86% clearance rate and we are proud that the average and median grew by 9% and 17% respectively.
 
“We made a conscious decision to tighten the catalogue, and we have proved again that we do an excellent job and get the best results when given the right yearlings. If the industry wants a vibrant market, there needs to be competition, and the consequences of a monopoly should not be underestimated by all those who participate in this wonderful business.  This is the message that we will be delivering over the next twelve months to ensure that we continue to grow and remain a viable alternative to the market leader. 
 
“We would like to pass on a sincere thank you to everyone who has contributed to this year’s sale. We can’t do it without you and with one leading purchaser telling us that we have ‘plenty of racehorses’ over the two days, we are confident that the hot run of results will continue. We now turn our attention to the Goffs Orby Sale and look forward to welcoming an international audience to Kildare from Monday 29 September.”