Not since Elon Musk became infatuated with space has there been so many rockets assembled in the one place at any given time than at Doncaster ahead of the Premier Yearling Sale.
These particular starships have been bred to fly and, lurking among the 411 yearlings getting ready for takeoff at Goffs UK over the next few days could be the next Acclamation (GB), Dark Angel (Ire), Wootton Bassett (GB) or Tasleet (GB), all of whom are graduates of this sale.
Joe Foley knows a thing or two about rockets. The Ballyhane man jetted into Doncaster on Monday morning and was greeted with nothing but good reports from vendors and buyers about his freshman sire Soldier's Call (GB) (Showcasing {GB}).
A smart sprinter, Soldier's Call won the G2 Flying Childers as a 2-year-old and placed in the G1 King's Stand S. and the G1 Nunthorpe S. at three. There are 14 yearlings belonging to him in the sale, four of which will be offered by Ballyhane.
However, rather than put the “kiss of death” on his own draft by speaking too soon, Foley spoke in general terms about his enthusiasm behind the son of Showcasing's prospects of making it as a stallion.
He explained, “Soldier's Call is exactly what the people at Doncaster are looking for–sharp, precocious, classy and speedy types. We have obviously had access to seeing a lot of them in their prep and we couldn't be more pleased.
“They've a great attitude and they love their work. I'd be apprehensively hopeful and, as time moves on and the more of them that you see, the more confident you'd be that he's going to be a good stallion.”
Foley added, “His progeny love lunging, love walking and love coming in and doing stuff, and that is a great sign in a stallion's progeny, because it doesn't always happen. Some of them don't like work, show a bit of temper, but the Soldier's Calls are not like that. They're deadly.
“They all have a lovely attitude. When you get over here and people report back the same, it creates a good vibe and I'm very happy with what I am seeing.
“Doncaster is a very popular sale and loads of people try to support it. It would appear that everyone is here this year so there's going to be a lot of competition for the right ones.”
You don't have to walk beyond Barn A to realise that there will be a wicked fight in the sales ring to smoke out the best of what's on offer at this year's sale.
At one end of that barn in particular on Monday afternoon, you had George Boughey busy inspecting yearlings while in another, Mark Johnston had just arrived.
William Haggas, Andrew Balding, Joseph and Donnacha O'Brien, Kevin Ryan and Roger Varian are just a handful of other well-known trainers to have made their presence felt in recent days.
The breeze-up fraternity were also out in force, with Johnny Collins, Byron Rogers, Katie Walsh, Roger Marley and more providing a snapshot of the faces on the ground at Doncaster.
Like Soldier's Call, progeny by Le Brivido (Fr) represent something new for prospective buyers. Simon Sweeting, who for one season stood Le Brivido at Overbury Stud, offers two of the three yearlings in the sale by the former G3 Jersey S. hero, the pick of which appears to be lot 201.
A bonny half-brother to Ladies Church (GB) (Churchill {Ire}), who bagged the G2 Sapphire S. at the Curragh when last seen, lot 201 will bid to provide his stallion with something of a springboard.
Sweeting said, “He's a super colt and obviously the page has improved a lot. Unfortunately, we stood Le Brivido for a season-shared him with Coolmore-but he wasn't as popular as we hoped he'd be.
“Why that was, I don't know. Whether they couldn't get their heads around Siyouni (Fr) at the time, I don't know, but we thought he was everything that a breeder could want.
“We supported him and have several yearlings by him to sell this year but, because he didn't cover enough mares, we made an early decision to move him back to France.”
Sweeting added, “He's over there now covering plenty of mares and obviously we hope some of these yearlings can win plenty of races to get his stallion career up and running. He covered just 60-odd mares in that first season for us, which isn't enough, so to give him a chance, we sent him to France. He's been busy over there so we'll see what happens on the racecourse.”
All told, there are six yearlings by Advertise (GB) in the sale, one of which is lot 174, a colt offered by Llety Farms, whose David Hodge is quietly optimistic.
Hodge said, “He's been busy and is what I'd call a typical Donny horse-it's what we picked him out for, to bring him here. He's a homebred. He was bred on the farm for Paul Brocklehurst, who had the Cesarewitch winner Sweet Selection (GB) (Stimulation {Ire}).”
Fellow first-season sires for next year, Inns Of Court (Ire), Blue Point (Ire), Calyx (GB), Eqtidaar (Ire), Invincible Army (Ire), Land Force (Ire), Magna Grecia (Ire), Masar (Ire), Too Darn Hot (GB), Phoenix Of Spain (Ire), and Ten Sovereigns (Ire) are all represented in the catalogue.
Mark McStay, who was busy at the August Sale at Arqana just over a week ago, expects to be active at Doncaster and praised Goffs for making the huge number of clients in attendance feel welcome.
He said, “I will be buying for a variety of different people–some trainers and owners. I thought it was a typically good draft of yearlings and, as per usual, it will throw up a lot of good 2-year-old winners next year. Goffs have done a great job in making everyone feel really welcome here and it should be a very good sale.”
Only one man knows more about launching rockets than Musk, and that's the Goffs Chief Executive Henry Beeby, the man behind that warm welcome.
Beeby was typically optimistic on the eve of the 2022 Doncaster Premier Yearling Sale, which kicks off at 10 am on Tuesday, and admitted that everything was in place for a good sale.
He said, “The vendors have all been very positive. They brought very good horses and were very busy yesterday and very busy today and everything is set up nicely. We're cautiously optimistic but, the closer you get, the more you think, 'goodness me, there are some lovely horses here.' We'll see what happens. It's looking very positive at the moment.”
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