Grade 1 winner Shattered Love joins new Kildare breeders for €260,000

A quintet of mares who had carried the maroon and white silks of Gigginstown House Stud with distinction brought the Goffs December National Hunt Sale to a stirring crescendo on Thursday evening.

The virtuoso performer was the Grade 1 JLT and Fort Leney Novice Chase winner Shattered Love, a daughter of Yeats who was sold carrying her first cover, a Walk In The Park foal.

Bidding for the half-sister to Charlie Hall Chase winner Irish Cavalier opened at €100,000 and the Peel Bloodstock team were among those who made concerted attempts to buy the imposing bay mare.

However, when the hammer came down at €260,000, it was a new entrant to the scene who emerged victorious. The identity of the little group of three was shrouded in mystery and, as everyone was wearing the obligatory masks, it was difficult to discern familiar faces never mind unfamiliar ones and the name of MA Bloodstock was not one known to many people in the sales ring.

Justin Owens and the MA Bloodstock team sign for Shattered LoveCredit: Peter Mooney

The operation is quite local to Goffs, being based at Mountarmstrong Stud in Donadea, and it is in the embryonic stages of development, as Justin Owens explained.

"We're not long in the stud and we were looking for a really nice mare. Shattered Love had it all. She was a top-class racemare and is from a very nice family. She was sold with a good cover too, so we're looking forward to seeing what she produces now."

Fascinating Rock to serve dual-purpose role at Burgage Stud

Group 1 Champion Stakes and Tattersalls Gold Cup winner Fascinating Rock will be moving from Ballylinch Stud to Victor Connolly's Burgage Stud for the 2022 season to continue his career as a dual-purpose sire.

Group 1 winner Fascinating Rock is on the move from Ballylinch to Burgage StudCredit: Ballylinch Stud

The son of Fastnet Rock will receive strong support from Ballylinch Stud and his owner-breeder Newtown Anner Stud, and John O'Connor was busy stocking up on high-class mares for the partnership to send to the stallion in order to get him off to a flying start in his new role.

O'Connor purchased Surin, winner of the Grade 3 Fishery Lane Hurdle and third in the Grade 1 Spring Juvenile Hurdle, from the Gigginstown House Stud draft for €115,000.

The daughter of Authorized is in foal to another of Ireland's exciting young National Hunt sires in Boardsmill Stud's Poet's Word. He also purchased Clonbonny Stud's Listed-placed daughter of Shantou and Listed winner Karello Bay, five-year-old The Sliding Rock, for €80,000.

"They've been bought for an existing partnership between Newtown Anner Stud and Ballylinch Stud to go to Fascinating Rock and he'll be standing at Burgage Stud in 2022," O'Connor revealed.

"Our ambition is that he'll follow the well-trodden path of Bob Back and Shantou, who were hugely successful sires. We have a lot of faith in him as a dual-purpose sire and we're buying mares to send to him to support him.

"I've been lucky enough to have been involved with a series of good jumping stallions and I think Fascinating Rock has all the credentials to be a success."

Gigginstown mares play a sweet tune

Shattered Love was ably supported by the rest of the draft, who brought an aggregate of €657,000.

Tintangle, who is also by the four-time Gold Cup winner, was offered in foal to the red-hot Crystal Ocean and brought a winning bid of €190,000 from a much more familiar source: the Mariga family's Coolmara Stables.

The Cork family purchased Grand National runner-up Magic Of Light last month and they added the Listed-winning and Grade 1-placed Tintangle to their stable of high-class and expensive mares.

A Listed winner on the Flat and over fences for Gordon Elliott, Tintangle is also a half-sister to the Grade 3 winner and Grade-1 placed hurdler Tombstone from the family of Sefton Novices' Hurdle and Charlie Hall Chase winner Ballyoptic.

Walk In The Park foals come to the fore

Trade for foals was brisk on Thursday, appearing to step up a level on the previous session, with the progeny of popular stallions, both established and new, in particular demand.

Walk In The Park continues to come up with the goods in the sales ring, and the recent performances of Ginto, Jonbon and Itswhatunitesus on the track have only served to reinforce the strength of the pinhookers' belief in the son of Montjeu.

A congratulatory hug after the Walk In The Park colt out of Blue Berlais made €82,000Credit: Peter Mooney

Baroda Stud offered a colt out of the Saint Des Saints mare Blue Berlais, therefore bred on the same cross as Jonbon and his brother Douvan, who won eight Grade 1 contests.

"The sire is flying and that's not going to change, if anything it's going to get better and better," said Norman Williamson, who bought the colt for €82,000.

"He's a lovely-walking colt with a great action and from a very nice family. As always you'd prefer to get them a little cheaper but you have to pay for quality."

An April foal, he is a half-brother to Thirtyfourstitches, successful in three hurdles, and his dam is an unraced half-sister to Listed-placed Master Du Berlais. His second dam Electre Du Berlais is a half-sister to the dam of Hennessy winner Madison Du Berlais, who was second in the King George.

Michael and Bridget Lenihan's colt out of the Milan mare Alice Pink set the Walk In The Park train in motion early on Thursday morning when making €64,000 to Peter Vaughan. The Moanmore Stables man had anticipated having to pay a premium to get a foal of his calibre.

Vaughan said: "He's a very nice foal with a very good pedigree and I expected to have to pay that for him but I'm very happy to have bought him. He'll be coming back for resale."

He is the third foal out of his bumper-winning dam, who is a sister to the Grade 2-placed hurdler Milan Native and a three-parts sister to Colour Squadron, who was Grade 1-placed.

Crystal Ocean continues to make waves

Stock by Crystal Ocean continued their excellent start to life in the sales ring with another flurry of expensive foals by the Group 1 winner on Thursday.

Crystal Ocean colt out of Grade 1-placed Aurore D'Estruval made €70,000 at GoffsCredit: Peter Mooney

Two of the three most expensive foals on Thursday were sons of Crystal Ocean with Conna Stud selling a colt to Mark Dwyer's Oaks Farm Stud for €75,000.

He is the third foal out of the winning pointer Cheryl's Dream, who is a Getaway half-sister to Tolworth Hurdle winner Minella Class, also bred by Conna Stud.

Robert McCarthy, who stands Crystal Ocean at The Beeches Stud, offered a highly anticipated colt by the son of Sea The Stars. The March-born colt is the third foal out of the Listed winner and Fighting Fifth second Aurore D'Estruval by Nickname, whose half-brother No Risk At All sired Wednesday's record-breaking foal.

That race record of his dam was one of the many attributes that made the colt so attractive to bidders, none more so than the successful buyer Tim Nolan.

"He's a very nice foal from the first crop of an extremely popular stallion and out of a quality racemare as well, which is a plus. He has been bought to come back for resale as a store," Nolan confirmed after going to €70,000 to secure him.

The colt is from the family of Challow Hurdle winner Messire Des Obeaux, who also won last season's Dipper Novices' Chase for Alan King.

Goffs brings the curtain down on the year in style

The expanded sale was a success for Goffs, which has grown it from a single session just a decade ago to this week's three-day affair, which witnessed the first six-figure National Hunt foal sold at Kildare Paddocks and three broodmares make in excess of €100,000.

Foals accounted for the majority of the stock sold this week and turnover increased by a third to €6,003,800 with the average growing by two per cent from €14,487 in 2020 to €14,715. The median dipped slightly to €9,500 from €10,000 last year.

The sale as a whole recorded turnover of €7,164,300, which was an increase of 37 per cent on the 2020 figure. There was a small gain of one per cent in the average, up from €16,010 to €16,136, while the median remained unchanged at €10,000.

"It’s always good to break a record but there is special satisfaction in smashing the six-figure glass ceiling in relation to a National Hunt foal at Goffs," said Goffs group chief executive Henry Beeby.

"Indeed a top price of €100,000 sits very high on the scoreboard for the category and was another clear demonstration that Goffs December is now competing for market-leading status.

"National Hunt sales at Goffs have made a meteoric rise in recent years and we're so grateful to all those breeders who now choose Goffs as their first choice in increasing numbers.

"That so many of the best now come to Kildare Paddocks in June and December is testament to our team and expanding to a three-day sale this week was simply down to vendor demand, which is quite something when one considers this was a one-day, 200-lot sale just ten years ago.

"As ever we are indebted to every vendor for the trust they place in us with each entry and simply delighted to have returned such a vibrant trade to vindicate that faith in the Goffs service."

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