Dark Angel Colt Tops Goffs UK Premier Sale Day One

John Dance was busy stocking up ahead of his Manor House Stud training operation opening for business with James Horton, who will hold the license at the Middleham property, and bloodstock agent Ed Sackville walking away from day one of the Goffs UK Premier Sale in Doncaster having signed for the £120,000 (US$164,212) top lot.

Consigned by Yeomanstown Stud, the session-topping colt (Lot 109) is a son of Dark Angel  and the listed-winning Elusive Pimpernel  mare Elusive Beauty . Horton and Sackville were busy throughout the session and also secured a £95,000 ($130,001) Showcasing  filly out of Girls Talk (Lot 146) and later added a Havana Gold  colt out of Epatha (Lot 113) in a private sale at £40,000 ($54,737), both of whom were consigned by Lynn Lodge Stud.

The three acquisitions meant Manor House Stud's day one spend clocked in at £255,000 ($348,951).

"We're looking for horses by proven sires and these are good-actioned, racy horses and we all liked them as a team," said Horton. "We're looking for horses we think will be early and hopefully that's what we've bought and we can get going with them early next year. All of these horses fit that brief and we're looking forward to getting on with them."

Dance is no stranger to success when buying at the Premier Sale, having landed his flagship horse Laurens , who went on to win no less than six group 1s, when bidding £220,000 ($290,378) for the daughter of Siyouni  alongside Daniel Creighton in 2016.

While Horton has cut his teeth as assistant to Sir Michael Stoute, he has found time away from his duties at Freemason Lodge Stables to get involved in the sales scene before and said he was relishing sourcing the raw materials for the next stage of his career.

"I've been doing the sales for a few years now and it's always interesting, and it's fascinating seeing stock by all the new sires," Horton said. "It's an exciting time of year and Ed Sackville and Dan Creighton have been helping me hugely."

The session yielded solid, if somewhat unspectacular, trade, with 178 lots changing hands at a clearance rate of 87%. In turn, those transactions generated a turnover of £7,007,500 ($9,589,300), an average of £39,368 ($53,842), up 8% year-on-year, and a median of £32,000 ($43,789), which was up 10%.

Mehmas Mania

One of the day's big talking horses was the Mehmas  colt out of Interweave, consigned as Lot 175 with Shinglis Stud, and the strapping chestnut lived up to his billing when bringing a final bid of £115,000 ($157,370) from Billy Jackson-Stops, who was sat in the front row of the auditorium while surrounded by the colt's new owners.

"He's been bought for Sheikh Abdullah Almalek Alsabah," said Jackson-Stops. "They're great guys and have been buying a few horses lately and wanted to start a relationship with Andrew Balding.

"I've helped Andrew at the sales for a couple of years and this is one of a very small number of horses we had on our shortlist for these guys, so they were keen to get him.

"Although he's not got the deepest pedigree he's an absolutely cracking physical and is by a sire who's really upgrading his mares so hopefully he's lucky for them. He looks like he should be early enough and he's certainly going to the right trainer."

Although the colt's pedigree is light enough under the first two dams, his page contains a couple of big talents further back, most notably 2004 Jaguar Lowther Stakes scorer Soar , who is now the dam of the group 2-placed Konchek .

Elliott in Action

Another lot by Mehmas broke the six-figure barrier when Alex Elliott went to £100,000 ($136,843) for the filly out of Fainleog  (Lot 121) offered by Tally-Ho Stud.

Elliott said, "She's the one horse I wanted to buy today, although I don't have a very long list, tomorrow's is longer. We all know about Mehmas and she looks like an Ascot type of filly. She vetted very well and she's going to go to Archie Watson; he's a very good operator and my client wanted to support him."

The filly is out of the listed-placed Fainleog, whose siblings include the listed scorer The Reaper . Elliott said he held Royal Ascot ambitions for his purchase, but noted that Mehmas's recent success across the Atlantic with Going Global  winning the Del Mar Oaks (G1T) meant she possessed significant resale value should she fall short of his aspirations.

"Even if she just misses she's going to have good resale value to the States because after Going Global winning a grade 1 they're all going mad for Mehmas. Even if she gets placed in a maiden here she's worth double what we paid for her today. But I've come here trying to buy Ascot horses and hopefully, she's one of them."

St Lawrence Strikes Gold

Tweenhills' Havana Gold has enjoyed a resurgent season on the track with 21 2-year-old winners across Europe, and the son of Teofilo  enjoyed a notable result in the ring too when Oliver St Lawrence went to £105,000 ($143,686) for the colt (Lot 151) out of Golden Spell  consigned by Baroda Stud.

"It's the age-old thing in that we loved him from the minute we saw him," said St Lawrence after getting the better of Mick Murphy. "He's a lovely individual and a great first foal, we thought he stood out as one of the nicest horses here today.

The colt is out Golden Spell, a three-time winner and listed-placed performer from the debut crop of Al Kazeem .

St Lawrence continued, "He's a real stocky type and there's a bit of Dubawi  about him coming through from Al Kazeem.

"It was very noticeable that a lot of the trainers were pulling him out of the parade ring to stand him up. The trainer is still to be decided upon but he's been bought for Fawzi Nass."

Longways Stables Hoping for Repeat Success

Mick Murphy and Sarah O'Connell of Longways Stables have already enjoyed one punchy pinhooking touch with a daughter of Kingman , having transformed listed-winning Queen of Love  from €125,000 ($144,363) yearling into a €650,000 ($730,275) 2-year-old.

And the couple will be hoping to repeat the trick with their latest acquisition having paid £100,000 ($136,843) for the Kingman filly (Lot 74) consigned by Whatton Manor Stud. The January-born youngster boasted one of the catalog's more eye-catching pages, as she is the second foal out of Daban , winner of the Lanwades Stud Nell Gwyn Stakes (G3), and third to Winter  in the 2017 QIPCO One Thousand Guineas (G1).

Daban was sourced for her racing owner Abdullah Saeed Al Naboodah by Blandford Bloodstock at 260,000 guineas ($398,826) from the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale, and Murphy confirmed her Kingman filly would also be pointed towards the 2-year-old sales.

"She's been bought to go breezing," said Murphy. "She's a handy filly, a little on the small side, but she looks like she'll be quick and I remember her mother well from when she breezed, Katie McGivern breezed her.

"We've had great success with a Kingman filly before in Queen of Love and we've been very lucky with fillies generally with Queen of Love and Al Raya  as well. And with her pedigree, there's a bit of upside to her beyond racing."

When asked if he planned to maintain his usual levels of investment in yearlings for the Longways breeze-up program, Murphy said, "My wife says no, but yes! We'll probably buy a couple of pricey ones for next year and we've bought a few today already. We'll probably aim to have 20 breezers for next year, which is a little less than this year when we had 25."

McKeever and Hills Combine

Johnny McKeever and Charlie and Barry Hills combined to secure five lots across the session at a combined outlay of £280,000 ($383,161), with the partnership's haul headed by the £100,000 ($136,843) Acclamation  colt out of Dukinta (Lot 95), another to emerge from the sought after Lynn Lodge Stud draft.

Shortly before that six-figure play the McKeever-Hills axis also struck for the Kodiac  half sister to the listed-placed Lexington Grace  at £90,000 ($123,159) when the filly (Lot 36) was offered by Tally-Ho Stud.

"We've done some work together and Charlie very kindly asked me to do some selecting for him so I'm just here helping him out," said McKeever on the pair's exploits together. "The colt is a good old-fashioned Donny yearling, exactly what you come here to buy—a 2-year-old winner, hopefully!"

He added of the Kodiac filly, "I absolutely loved her, I thought she's a Queen Mary (G2) type of filly. She's a real sharp type by a great sire and with a bit of pedigree so there's something to fall back on in the page."

The Goffs UK Premier Sale continues Aug. 25 at 10 a.m. local time.