Mehmas (Ire) | Horse Racing Free Tips

Goffs to Ride Online Momentum

Goffs kicks off its 2021 sales season on Tuesday and Wednesday with Part I of its February Sale. Prevailing unprecedented circumstances mean that the mixed sale of yearlings, 2-year-old, fillies and mares and horses in training will take place as a live online auction, with no horses, vendors or purchasers on the grounds at Kildare Paddocks.

COVID-19 safety measures late last year meant that Goffs staged its Autumn Horses-In-Training and Yearling sales in the live online format, and the positive results spoke to the resilience of the bloodstock market as well as the work put in by Team Goffs to perfect the process. The turnover and average at the horses in training sale were up on 2019, with two lots surpassing the prior year's top price, while the yearling sale posted 10% increases in both average and median with 2261 individual online bids.

All this means that the Goffs team can approach their 2021 curtain raiser with added confidence.

“Goffs Online has done us so much good,” said Goffs Group Chief Executive Henry Beeby. “Ten years ago we would have been in a far more difficult position. Since we launched Goffs Online as a support to our sales last July at our breeze-up sales, we have sold over €6.3-million worth of horses to 12 different countries and taken something like 6,000 bids online. That is business that would not otherwise have been attainable [last year] had we not had Goffs Online. It may be peculiar and alien to some people but it's been an absolute god send in COVID and pandemic times when people can't travel. It's something we've come to rely on and it's been a great help.”

“With breeding stock and form horses and older horses, I think it's a viable proposition to sell with online videos,” Beeby added. “It's not ideal, it's not what we'd like, but we're making the best of what we've got. We demonstrated with our horses in training sale last autumn that it can work and it can work well. We've sold horses now for up to €300,000 without anyone seeing the horse in the flesh and without anyone being anywhere near it.”

The sale begins on Tuesday with a catalogue of 89 2-year-olds by sires like Australia (GB), Belardo (Ire), Churchill (Ire), Dandy Man (Ire), Decorated Knight (GB), Footstepsinthesand (GB), Make Believe (GB), Mehmas (Ire), New Bay (GB), Oasis Dream (GB), Starspangledbanner (Aus) and Zoffany. Highlights on pedigree include a colt by the recently deceased Zoffany (Ire) whose dam is a half-sister to G1 Ascot Gold Cup winner Big Orange (GB) (Duke of Marmalade {Ire}) (lot 4); a Mehmas (Ire) filly whose second dam is a full-sister to Fantastic Light (lot 21); and a filly from the first crop of Guineas winner Galileo Gold (Ire) whose second dam is champion and Group 1 producer Red Camellia (GB) (lot 72). Day one concludes with a small section of horses in training, including offerings from the Aga Khan.

Wednesday is dedicated to breeding stock, with standouts expected to include Soft Lips (GB) (Rahy) (lot 140), a dual stakes producer in foal to New Bay; Margarita (Ire) (Marju {Ire}) (lot 141), a stakes producing full-sister to champion Soviet Song (Ire) in foal to Starspangledbanner (Aus); Kitkitty (Fr) (Olympic Glory {Ire}) (lot 145), a 4-year-old filly from the family of champion and sire Konigstiger (Ger); Royal Free Hotel (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) (lot 155), a winning 4-year-old filly from the family of G1 Fillies' Mile and G1 Falmouth S. winner Simply Perfect (GB) (Danehill); Musical Rue (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) (lot 163), a winning 4-year-old filly from the family of champion Finsceal Beo (Ire) (Mr. Greeley); Gracefully Done (Ire) (Australia {GB}) (lot 190), a daughter of GI Matron S. winner Sense Of Style (Thunder Gulch) in foal for the first time to Ten Sovereigns; Shringara (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) (lot 197), a winning 6-year-old whose dam is a half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner Youmzain (Ire) (Sinndar {Ire}); Topaz Clear (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) (lot 214), a half-sister to two stakes winners including top stayer Forgotten Rules (Ire) (Nayef) offered by breeder Moyglare Stud in foal to Zoffany (Ire); Rose Tinted Sand (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) (lot 219), a daughter of the well-related Group 3 winner Afternoon Sunlight (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}); Gold Lace (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) (lot 241), a stakes-producing mare in foal to Camelot (GB); and Rubira (Aus) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) (lot 253), a stakes winner in New Zealand in foal for the first time to New Bay.

“The vendors have been very supportive and we're very grateful for it,” said Beeby. “Since the pandemic outbreak our goal has been to continue providing an ongoing marketplace by whatever means we can. Obviously we prefer to have physical sales and we were able to hold those with some very strict protocols last autumn, but there have been a couple of occasions, as now, where that hasn't been possible. So having an online system to back it up is a great help. It's not our first choice but it's certainly a very worthy second choice and it provides a market and allows us to continue to put liquidity into the market.”

“We're grateful to the people who have supported the sale and stood their ground with entries,” Beeby added. “We'll be doing our best and we'd encourage people to engage online. Every online sale we hold we improve the service and we've been very gratified and flattered by the really positive feedback we've had, with people saying our platform is as customer-friendly if not more than any out there.”

Part I of the Goffs February Sale begins online at noon on Tuesday and Wednesday. Part II of the sale is currently set for Mar. 11 as a live sale of short yearlings.

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Big Books and Breaking Records

The setting of new sire records in the modern era tends more than not to be a direct consequence of ever-greater book sizes. But they must still be acknowledged as legitimate breeding benchmarks as they will inevitably feature some outstanding performances. Just look at Mehmas (Ire)‘s tally of first-crop 2-year-old winners this term. Currently on 56 winners, he is already 17 clear of Iffraaj’s old record and in normal circumstances we might be entitled to expect his record to stand for many years. It may well do, but his strike rate of 53% winners to runners, achieved by quite a few other freshman sires down the years, suggests that the big total of winners is just as much a function of a big crop of runners. So, we cannot rule out another Mehmas-like total in the near future.

We could say the same about black-type records. Larger numbers of runners tend to be the reason why these records fall, but it’s not always so. Take the case of Frankel (GB), the sire who has posted the highest number of stakes winners (56) and group winners (41) of any European sire in the first five years of his career. Frankel has already eclipsed the previous records set by Dubawi after his first five years, which stood at 53 stakes winners and 35 group winners. Dubawi, in turn, took the record away from Galileo (Ire), who had amassed 51 stakes winners and 30 group winners after his first five years.

No one could accuse Frankel of relying on sheer numbers of runners to outpace Dubawi and Galileo. In fact, he has set the new standards with fewer runners than either of his major rivals. Hence he has posted superior strike rates–14.2% stakes and 10.4% group winners–than Dubawi and Galileo had at the same point in their careers. But Frankel really did get a head start on all his rivals by covering Europe’s best mares from the outset of his career, unlike either Galileo or Dubawi. As many as 62% of the mares that have produced Frankel’s runners so far can be classed as elite, which is in stark contrast to the corresponding percentages for the early runners by Dubawi (30%) and Galileo (35%). What’s certain is that Frankel will need to have very long innings at his current strike rate to overhaul Dubawi’s current mark of 171 stakes winners and, by my calculations, another 20-plus years to reach his sire’s tally of 298. It’s a sure sign of the times that Frankel not only has more group winners than Galileo after five years but also has nearly double the number of his grandsire Sadler’s Wells and has over three times what the great Northern Dancer had in their first five years.

Remarkably, there is yet another sire that can boast an even higher number of group winners in his first five years. Shadai’s Deep Impact (Jpn), the very definition of a big fish in a small pond, sired 47 group winners in his first five years with runners. The lack of serious competition among Japan’s stallion ranks possibly casts a shadow over such an achievement, as does the fact that Deep Impact’s percentage of group winners (7.4%) is not quite as good as the percentages posted by Frankel, Galileo or Dubawi all of whom average above 10% group winners to runners. To counter that argument, though, it must also be recognized that Japan has far fewer group races per head of population than Europe does. So, 47 group winners in five years is still a formidable achievement.

Not surprisingly, North America’s records for stakes winners and graded winners at the end of five years have also fallen quite recently. The phenomenal Uncle Mo set new standards at the end of 2019 with his 48 stakes winners and 26 graded winners. It’s hard to believe that there are now 19 sires with more stakes winners in their first five years than the great Danzig, but none will ever get close to his 21% strike rate.

Among sires who stood exclusively in America, few would have guessed that it wasn’t Speightstown, nor Distorted Humor, nor Scat Daddy that held the record prior to Uncle Mo, but the one and only Kitten’s Joy, a sire that perhaps still struggles for due recognition.

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From the Experts: Hubert Honore

On the back of the eagerly anticipated stallion fee announcements in Europe, Emma Berry spoke with a number of leading industry figures about value. Today we hear from Hubert Honoré.

EB: Who have you identified as a first-year stallion at an appealing opening fee?

HH: Sottsass (Fr), at €30,000, is very good value for what he’s done; he was a very consistent horse. Also Wooded (Ire) was a good sprinter who was very well trained and he will get a good chance. He’s not too dear at €15,000.

EB: Best value proven stallion, and why?

HH: I am a fan of Make Believe (GB). I also think Mehmas (Ire) is good value, even though he’s now standing for three times more than he was. I think he will be a hell of a horse. In the U.S., I would also mention Summer Front, a son of War Front, who gets a lot of winners for the mares he has covered.

EB: Who would you consider to be an under-the-radar stallion?

HH: Here I would name two horses who have come to France who have been elsewhere before. Dream Ahead is not a commercial stallion but he is a very consistent stallion and I like him a lot. Lawman (Fr) is also still a very interesting horse who has been quite overlooked lately. On a much smaller scale, I would also say that Stormy River (Fr) has always been a good stallion who is underrated. It is hard for a horse if he isn’t getting the best mares. In this business a horse has to be good in the first two years otherwise he gets rejected.

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Breeding Right in Mehmas (Ire) Tops Arqana Online

During the Nov. 24 sale of breeding rights and stallion shares on Arqana Online, a breeding right in champion first-season sire elect Mehmas (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) (lot 2) brought €195,000 from Haras du Mont-dit-Mont. Already the sire of 48 winners, 10 black-type performers and four black-type winners led by G1 Middle Park S. hero Supremacy (Ire), the young stallion will command €25,000 at Tally-Ho Stud in 2021.

A breeding right to four-time Group 1 winner Golden Horn (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) (lot 3), whose oldest foals are three, went for €42,000 to Select Bloodstock. Also marked as sold were a breeding right in Due Diligence (War Front) (lot 5) to Haras Mont-dit-Mont for €6,000 and Blandford Bloodstock snapped up a breeding right to Group 1 winner Havana Grey (GB) (Havana Gold {Ire}) (lot 4) for €19,000.

The only lot that was unsold was a 1/50th share in champion Almanzor (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) (lot 1)which RNA’d for €240,000.

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