NANCY SEXTON

Weblog:  Running the rule over studs and sales

Goffs Kempton Breeze-Up as it happens

1.45 pm: The original catalogue of 94 is down to 85 as 7, 27, 33, 35, 40, 58, 66, 73 and 76 are withdrawn. Selling is starting an hour earlier than usual due to a larger catalogue (75 were catalogued last year).

All but one (which has been withdrawn) of the lots are eligible for the Racing Post Breeze-Up Bonus. 74 are also eligible for the Racing Post Yearling Bonus.

Most of the usual suspects watched the breeze and are now in the bar - although how many of them are here for a day out rather than to buy is another matter. A few trainers, such as James Given, Ralph Beckett, Tom Dascombe and Marcus Tregoning, have made the effort to attend.

2.05pm: First lot sells for £25,000 to Gay Kelleway, a profit on the €7,800 she costCon Marnane as a yearling. Remarkably she cost just 1,000gns as a foal.

2.18pm: Already on lot 10. Good. They know how to rush through them here. Ed Prosser thinks other sale companies should take note.

Willie Browne reckons it will be the same here as it has been at other sales: the top end will go well and 'the middle of the road horses will be harder to move on.' He says the yards have been busy despite the rain.

2.25pm: Mattie Bachelor enjoyed an uncoventional warm-up for Cheltenham earlier today by putting lot 9, a colt by Camacho, through his paces. Bachelor could renew his partnership with Carruthers a week today in the Gold Cup.

Norman Williamson, Neil Callan and Fergus Sweeney were other notable names breezing horses this morning.

2.31pm: Oaks Farm Stables' Tapit filly reaches £26,000 to a bid from John Quinn but it transpires she's been bought back. Quinn earlier paid £23,000 for a first-crop son of Majestic Missile.

2.47pm: Bobby O'Ryan has signed for a £50,000 daughter of Exceed And Excel from Mocklershill. The filly was knocked down to Gaybrook Lodge Stud for €28,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland September Sale last year.

"She's going to Dermot Weld," said O'Ryan. "I saw her breeze a few weeks ago at Willie Browne's and really liked her. She looks like she'll run early and I believe she ran the fastest time this morning.

"There's a good trader here. I'm the eternal optimist but I think it has to bode well for the other breeze-ups."

3.00pm: An hour into the sale and the average is running at £15,093. The clearance rate is 73 per cent.

3.1opm: As usual, there is lots of chatter about the progeny of first season sires, in particular Joe Foley's pair Diamond Green and Majestic Missile, and Tweenhills' Sleeping Indian. Bobby O'Ryan is particularly taken by the Holy Roman Emperors he has seen so far.

3.15pm: A son of Street Cry, who breezed particularly well under Norman Williamson, is heading to Sweden after selling to Lennart Reuterskiold on behalf of an owner from Oman for £55,000.

Trade Winds Farm purchased the colt - a son of the Grade 1-placed Inspired Kiss - for just $17,000 at last year's Keeneland September Sale.

3.35pm: Peter Kelly of Emerald Bloodstock is pleasantly surprised at how well this sale is holding up.

"It's a good, steady trade," he says. "Common sense is prevailing but it hasn't stopped good, steady business being done."

3.55pm: We could be in for an early finish with lot 72 now coming under the hammer. Apologies to those following the results - or lack of them - on our site. They are fed on a live feed from Goffs, which have stalled on lot 29.

4.20pm: Results have been updated to show that the average is running slightly below £17,000. Although only four years old, this sale has attracted a strong international following that is again evident this year with horses heading to Greece, Italy and Sweden.

4.30pm: With proceedings drawing to a close, it doesn't look as if last year's top mark of £55,000 will be surpassed. But Goffs should be encouraged by the general atmosphere of the sale (possibly helped by the proximity of the bar to the auctioneer's rostrum) and the number of individual buyers.

4.40pm: The first European breeze-up has ended and now we await the company's sales statement, which will no doubt have a positive spin. Full marks though to Goffs for getting through them so quickly.

4.55pm: Willie Browne is one of several vendors to think that there should have been more time between this morning's breeze and selling. The last lot breezed at around 12.40 and due to a larger catalogue, selling started at 2pm.

Meanwhile, Ralph Beckett believes that the RacingPost Breeze-Up Bonus was a better incentive to owners when it was £10,000. The bonus has been halved to £5,000 this year in order to give more owners a better chance of landing a payment. However, a horse will earn a £10,000bonus should it win two eligible races.

5.25pm: "There was a great buzz from start to finish...that said, we have some way to go to return this sale to 2007 heights and will be working hard with the Kempton Park executive and our vendors to produce an even better sale next year," says Henry Beeby.

Turnover has grown 30 per cent to £863,500 (from 81 offered compared to 57 last year) while the average is four per cent greater at £15,991.

5.45pm: Goffs have recalculated their figures and the average is actually down 15 per cent.