Godolphin and Juddmonte renewed their auction ring rivalry during the early stages of the Goffs November Foal Sale Nov. 20 as a full brother to group 1 winner Teona burst to the head of the market at €1 million (US$1,070,000, €1=US$1.07).
"What an opportunity," said auctioneer Andrew Nolan, shortly before Juddmonte's general manager Simon Mockridge moved the price to €850,000 from his position opposite the rostrum. The Godolphin team, huddled on the top tier of the auditorium, returned in kind as Anthony Stroud delivered a €50,000 raise with a subtle nod of the head.
It took a while for a response to materialize but, after a long hold while Mockridge made a seemingly crucial phone call, the Juddmonte man eventually pushed matters to €950,000. But Stroud wasted little time in delivering with the raise that took the price into seven-figure territory, at which point Mockridge hung up the call and gave an unequivocal shake of the head.
The rival camps had clashed over Teona herself when she topped last year's Tattersalls December Mares Sale at 4.5 million guineas (US$5,968,859). On that occasion it was Juddmonte who came out on top.
"He's a beautiful horse and he's out of a group 1 winner," said Stroud. "He's by Sea The Stars, who speaks for himself, and he's a full brother to a group 1 winner. Obviously we thought he was very nice; he moves very well, has a good body. He's just an extremely nice horse and we're very pleased to have him. Juddmonte were very strong opposition, as they always are."
The colt is a sibling to three winners, with 2021 Prix Vermeille (G1) heroine Teona joined by 2019 Prix Hocquart (G2) scorer Al Hilalee and the group 3-placed Imperial Quarter.
There are plenty of stamina influences in this youngster's pedigree as his dam, 2013 Pretty Polly Stakes (G1) winner Ambivalent, is by Authorized and out of a Darshaan mare. Asked whether the stout nature of the pedigree appealed, Stroud said: "It's a very good thing, we like staying horses. The dream is that this could be a potential Derby horse."
Godolphin also purchased the last foal to sell for seven figures in this ring after bidding €1.2 million for Al Nafir, a brother to Ghaiyyath, in 2019.
The Sea The Stars colt was bred by Yulong Investments’ Yuesheng Zhang under the banner of Rifa Mustang Europe. The dam was purchased with the seven-figure youngster in utero for €925,000 at last year’s Goffs November Mares Sale. That ticket was signed by Avondale Bloodstock.
The session topper was prepped, raised, and sold by Baroda Stud. Asked how the transaction had matched up to expectations, Baroda’s David Cox said: “When I saw who was vetting him I thought we could get there. When one team were looking at him yesterday I saw they were looking up what the top-priced foals at Goffs were, so I thought we could be getting into that bracket!"
To the surprise of no-one present at Kildare Paddocks, trade not only reached record-breaking levels but also produced some major year-on-year gains across the key market indices.
Turnover reached €18,246,500 (US$19,523,755), which is up 47% year-on-year. The average price rose fully 61% to €115,485 (US$123,569), while the median went even further, up 64%, at €82,000 (US$87,740). All three metrics returned record results for a session of foals in the Goffs ring. There was also a rock-solid clearance rate of 88% as 158 lots sold from 180 offered.
The November Foal Sale continues Nov. 21, with the concluding session starting at 10 a.m. local time.
