A trio of high-rolling buyers clashed over the Blue Point half brother to Bay City Roller during the early stages of the Goffs Orby Book 1 Sale Sept. 29, with the hammer eventually falling at €675,000 (US$791,547, €1=US$1.17).
The Amo Racing team, with principal Kia Joorabchian at the center of the huddle, were still in there pitching at the business end, as was Blandford Bloodstock's Richard Brown, a key cog in the Wathnan Racing machine.
The rival camps were standing on the top tier of the auditorium, while John Stewart of Resolute Racing sat in the seats below. Despite appearing the most nonchalant of the three, it was Stewart, a first-time visitor to Goffs, who played the winning hand.
"It's a really good pedigree," Stewart said. "He's a well-bred horse and we're really high on Blue Point; he rates really good on our system so this was one of the top colts we had on our list today. I'm excited to get him, and I felt like we got a good price on him as well. I'm pretty happy with that. It's a proven family and the dam is only going to improve. He'll probably end up with Francis Graffard, he trains most of our horses over here in Europe."
The six-figure youngster was bred by John Connaughton and consigned by Church View Stables. He is the fifth foal out of Bloomfield, a homebred daughter of Teofilo who won three of her eight starts for Connaughton and Willie McCreery. Two of those successes came in listed company, namely the Noblesse and Vintage Tipple Stakes.
Bloomfield has proved to be an even better broodmare than she was a racehorse, as she has produced two winners from three runners, both of whom have black type. Bay City Roller is the headline act, having rounded out his unbeaten juvenile campaign with victory in the 2024 Champagne Stakes (G2). Although he has not regained the winning thread at 3, he was last seen going down by a narrow margin in the Prix Niel (G2) won by Cualificar.
The dam's first foal is Botanical, a three-time winner who was listed-placed for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum and George Boughey. The dam also has a 2-year-old filly by Blue Point on the ground, named Blooming Rose. She fetched €850,000 from Agrolexica International Trading at last year's Orby Sale.
"Fantastic, unbelievable," said Church View Stables' Tom Whelan. "Lovely horse, never put a foot wrong. He's bred by a great man; he's unfortunately not here today but his daughter and granddaughter are. I'm glad they're here to see this. He'll be thinking about this and it'll be a great tonic for him. I've had the horse for about the last 10 weeks and he has been straightforward, no issues. It's a fantastic result and let's hope he is as lucky for the next person. That's what it's all about."
Stewart was back in business a short while later when bidding €550,000 for a colt with one of the catalog's most eye-catching pages. The son of Frankel and Desert Berry is, of course, a three-parts brother to the star-crossed Derby (G1) hero Desert Crown.
"Of course we're big fans of Frankel, he's a strong stallion and we sent our Breeders' Cup winner Caravel over to be bred to him twice," Stewart said. "The colt has a really nice pedigree, the dam's already produced a champion and another good horse. We feel pretty confident about him. I think we got good value on him. Frankel's stud fee is £350,000, after all.
"He'll more than likely go to Francis. We'll send them to Britain to be prepped, broken and pre-trained first, and a few might go to the U.S., depending on where we think they'll best suit the racing program. David Redvers coordinates that all for us with Francis."
The colt was bred by Coolmore and presented by The Castlebridge Consignment. He is a sibling to four other winners besides Desert Crown, including Archie McKellar, who raced as Flying Thunder in Hong Kong where he won the 2019 Premier Cup (G3).
Stewart's haul totaled four purchases, with the group fetching a combined €1,555,000, a figure that meant Resolute Bloodstock was the leading spender on the day.
"This is my first time here in person," he said. "It's good fun. The sale yard is easy to work. The weather could've been a little better, it's typical Irish fall I guess! It's nice though and we enjoy being here."
Trade was decidedly solid throughout, as evidenced by year-on-year growth across the range of market indices. By the close of play the clearance rate stood at 88% as 199 yearlings found a buyer from 226 offered. In turn, aggregate sales went up 3% to €26,218,500 (US$30,745,462). The average price increased 10% to €131,750 (US$154,498) and the median rose fully 25% to €100,000 (117,266).
