Stars and stripes hoisted over Goffs as Flightline's owners among the buyers

The rain-lashed environs of Goffs on Wednesday seemed vastly removed from the sun-soaked tracks of southern California, where the Breeders' Cup Classic favourite Flightline earned his stratospheric reputation, but there was a strong, perhaps surprising, link between the horse officially rated the best in the world and the opening day of the Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale.

Hronis Racing, one of the members of Flightline's ownership group which includes his breeder Jane Lyons and Lane's End Farm, to where the son of Tapit will eventually retire to stud, will race the Due Diligence colt sold by Clare Manning's Boherguy Stud for €46,000.

Unlike Flightline, who is trained on the shores of America's Pacific coast, this colt will remain in Kildare and join the Moone stable of Jessica Harrington, who already oversees the career of Hronis Racing's Panic Alarm, a two-year-old Kuroshio gelding who won this season's Irish EBF Auction Series Final.

The Due Diligence colt who shares his owners with FlightlineCredit: Peter Mooney

Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland signed for the colt, and for Panic Alarm at last year's yearling sales, and said: "The owners kindly asked me to buy another horse for them. He's a nice precocious type of horse and hopefully will be successful."

The grandson of War Front was bred by Whitsbury Manor Stud, where his sire, the Diamond Jubilee runner-up, stands, and was returning a significant profit to the One For Silky Syndicate who paid just 7,000gns for him as a foal.

Stars and stripes forever

There was more than one starspangled thread connecting activity at Kildare Paddocks to the weekend's upcoming events in Kentucky - Coolmore's Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Mendelssohn is responsible for Grade 2 winner Delight, who leads the home team in Friday's Juvenile Fillies Turf, and Juvenile contender Wound Up.

Goffs' Scandinavia agent Filip Zwicky will be a very keen observer of events at Keeneland on Friday as he purchased the sole yearling in the catalogue from the second crop of the half-brother to champion Beholder, a triple Breeders' Cup winner, and leading sire Into Mischief.

Gerry Burke's homebred granddaughter of Scat Daddy made €46,000 to Zwicky, whose interest had been piqued from the moment he read her page.

The Mendelssohn filly who had Filip Zwicky singing a sweet tuneCredit: Peter Mooney

"She is for the JC Organisation and will go into training in Sweden," said Zwicky. "When I first got the catalogue for this sale, she really stood out because of her sire. I think Mendelssohn is a very exciting young sire and it's not easy to buy his offspring in Europe.

"She has a very good pedigree and her dam's half-sister won first time out in France since the catalogue was printed. I think this filly is a very good fit for Scandinavian racing."

From one of the most recognisable Hascombe and Valiant families, that of Derby and Arc hero Golden Horn and Coronation Stakes winner Rebecca Sharp, who is a half-sister to this yearling's second dam, the Listed Lupe Stakes third Nyarhini, he was sold in utero for 25,000gns by his dam's breeders.

New era Dawns for Manning

Clare Manning's Boherguy Stud ended the session as the leading consignor by aggregate with a total of 12 horses selling for €250,500.

In addition to the aforementioned Due Diligence colt, Manning sold two sons of a sire that has her family's handprints all over them, including the session-topper.

The 2,000 Guineas and St James's Palace Stakes winner Dawn Approach is hallmarked with Coolcullen and the undefeated European champion two-year-old sired Poetic Flare, who last season emulated his sire's Newmarket and Ascot exploits.

Clare Manning of Boherguy Stud: very successful day at GoffsCredit: Peter Mooney

Now at stud in Japan, Poetic Flare appears on the page of the colt who was purchased online by Alex Elliott for €80,000, and the agent explained by phone his reasons for purchasing the bay.

"I saw him here yesterday and he was my favourite colt in the sale," he said. "I have bought him for a trading partnership with Grant Tuer and we have purchased three yearlings.

"We had a War Command a few years back that we sold to Hong Kong and we think this colt might fit the bill. The mare has already produced two horses by Dawn Approach and both are rated in the nineties."

A full-brother to Strapped, who was third in the Group 3 Marble Hill Stakes last season for his breeder and trainer Jim Bolger, he is out of Strapless, a Whipper half-sister to Listed Eyrefield Stakes winner Dubai Sand and the Group 3 Naas Juvenile Sprint Stakes third Missing Matron.

His second dam, Bring Back Matron, is a daughter of champion Rock Of Gibraltar, whose death at the age of 23was announced last week. Bring Back Matron is a full-sister to Maria Lee, dam of Poetic Flare and the Listed winner Glamorous Approach. It is also the family of another Bolger homebred who claimed the title of champion two-year-old, Teofilo.

Bolger doesn't fear to tread where others wouldn't dare in his approach to breeding, and close duplication of Galileo in pedigrees has already yielded his Group 1 Irish 2,000 Guineas and Vertem Futurity Trophy winner Mac Swiney.

The incomparable sire features up close in the pedigree of the Dawn Approach colt that Boherguy Stud sold to BBA Ireland for €50,000 on Wednesday and using Dawn Approach with Something Graceful, a daughter of Galileo, has produced the 80-rated three-year-old gelding Level Pitch.

Something Graceful is also the dam of Listed Sweet Mimosa Stakes winner Sometimesadiamond, by Bolger's Greenham and Tetrarch Stakes winner Vocalised.

Donohoe to deliver Glamour and Glory

BBA Ireland agent Michael Donohoe is no stranger to the pressure of purchasing yearlings for discerning clients but the tension was ratcheted up several notches on Wednesday as he was charged with finding the first two fillies for new syndicate Glamour and Glory, of which his wife Sarah is a member.

BBA Ireland's Mick Donohoe is watched by Glamour and Glory members as he bids on their new Mehmas fillyCredit: Goffs

The syndicate was founded by leading communications and brand consultant Tamso Doyle Cox of Baroda Stud and Amber O'Grady, ownership manager with HRI. Both well-known industry figures with a wealth of experience in racing and breeding, they were inspired to launch Glamour and Glory by their positive experiences with another syndicate.

"Amber and I were on a long car journey not long ago and came up with the idea of doing this syndicate together, having been asked by a few good pals to put something together that they could join and get involved in," explained Doyle Cox.

"We were both in Legs' (Lawlor) It's All About The Girls syndicate and loved it, so with her blessing we have put Glamour and Glory together.

"We put it out there to a bunch of ladies and received an almost immediate, hugely positive response, so we decided to get it all organised and waited to purchase here. There are 35 shares sold and only a few left so we are now really up and running and looking forward to plenty of fun."

Quite a number of syndicate members were on hand to watch as Donohoe bid on and bought the two fillies that will be the first to carry the Glamour and Glory silks.

Some of the Glamour and Glory Syndicate members with their first buyCredit: Goffs

They struck early in the morning for a Camacho sister to winner Chestnut Express from the Aga Khan family of Keraka. Offered by Yeomanstown Stud, she is out of the Selkirk mare Kermana, dam of three winners from four runners, and cost €16,500.

Just over 100 lots later, they added their second purchase, a daughter of leading young sire Mehmas consigned by Mountarmstrong Stud. Out of One For June, a winner at two and by Arcano, she was knocked down for €33,000.

Doyle Cox outlined plans for their new acquisitions, saying: "We ended up striking early and buying both fillies today. Mick Donohoe sourced both of these in the hope that they are racy, early types.

"We are delighted with the two beauties he sourced. Jessie will train the Mehmas filly and Joseph will train the Camacho filly who, by chance, we purchased off syndicate member Rolline O'Callaghan and bred by her father-in-law Gay O'Callaghan."

Facts and Figures

Last year's Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale posted extraordinary returns, bolstered by the dispersal of a significant number of yearlings from Derrinstown Stud as part of Shadwell's stock reduction.

Without a similar contribution from a major breeding establishment, it was impossible that the 2022 edition could hope to match the figures posted last year, which were nothing short of astounding.

Comparisons with those numbers are futile and it is much more informative to examine Wednesday's returns in the context of the 2020 sale.

Wednesday saw 191 yearlings sell from a total of 249 offered, which gave a clearance rate of 77 per cent. Those sales generated €1,813,400 in turnover. In contrast, the first day of the 2020 Autumn Yearling Sale recorded turnover of €688,100 from just 102 horses sold, with the clearance rate rather lower at 61 per cent.

The average price from the equivalent day in 2020 was €6,746, whereas on Wednesday it was €9,494, which represents growth of 41 per cent. On Wednesday, the median came in at €6,000, which was 43 per cent higher than the equivalent in 2020.

The Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale concludes on Thursday, with a session starting at 10am.

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