Some choice offerings from the Aga Khan Studs helped fuel another day of "extraordinary" trade as the Goffs February Sale concluded with turnover having more than doubled year-on-year.
Thursday's market was headed by the lightly raced Shamalza, who was knocked down to Alex Elliott at €190,000 (US$225,407, €1=US$1.19).
The 3-year-old, a Lope de Vega half sister to 2022 Railway Stakes (G2) winner Shartash, made just the two starts for Dermot Weld and the Aga Khan Studs team, winning a Navan maiden on debut before failing to fire on her only subsequent outing on heavy ground. Shamalza was initially identified as a high-end breeding prospect, but will instead get the chance to enhance her race record after the successful purchaser decided upon a change of plan.
"When I came over, I thought she was the best breeding prospect in the sale on page," Elliott said. "I was looking to breed her to Kingman. Shartash is by Invincible Spirit, so the Green Desert line has worked well, and Indestructible, who's by Kodiac, is under the second dam. I thought Kingman was an obvious horse for her with that in mind.
"But actually, when I saw her and did a bit of digging, there was potentially some racing upside there as well. She won well on debut after hitting the front a bit early on good ground, then they ran her back on bottomless ground when she got stuffed. Looking at her move at the sale, I wouldn't imagine she's going to want very soft ground."
He continued: "We realigned the target a bit, and we're going to send her to Ralph Beckett, who's had great success with Lope de Vega fillies, and she's been bought for Anthony Ramsden's Valmont. We'll give her a chance on better ground, so we'll probably see her in early summer.
"There's always good residual there, and she's got a Wootton Bassett half sister who's a yearling, and the mare is getting bred back to Camelot; it's a young family with lots of upside. She's got a rating of 86, so we've got options to go handicapping or straight into black-type races, which is where the uplift will be."
On Shamalza's session-topping value, Elliott said: "She fell below the top of where we had her. Put it this way, I don't think it's a long way to fall, even if we don't get any updates. She's a really good breeding prospect, even if we're going to postpone that for a year."
The Aga Khan Studs sold five lots for a total of €478,500 at an average price of €95,700. Only leading vendor The Castlebridge Consignment generated more gross receipts, with the outfit's 23 lots bringing a combined €515,000 and an average of €22,390.
The mixed two-day auction produced some hefty year-on-year gains right across the market indices. Turnover more than doubled to €6,301,400 (US$7,475,666), a 63% gain. The average price rose 37% to €24,615 (US$29,202), while the median went up by 48% to €14,750 (US$17,499), having been €10,000 12 months ago. The clearance rate was 68% as 256 lots sold from 375 offered.
