The Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association will sponsor the inaugural Foal Show Championship at the December National Hunt Sale on Wednesday 7 December.
The ITBA Foal Show will take place in the Goffs parade ring at 9.30am prior to the sale at 12noon. Judges Richard Aston, Juliet Minton and Peter Molony (Chairman of the ITBA NH Committee) will have the task of selecting which foals they believe are most likely to make top class racehorses. Foal graduates of this sale include Grand National winner Ballabriggs, Gold Cup winner Imperial Commander as well as Grade 1 winners Captain Cee Bee, Peddler’s Cross and Pandorama to name a few.
Open to all foals in the sale, the championship is worth €5,000, with €2,500 to the winner, €1,500 to the 2nd and €1,000 to the 3rd placed foal. Prize money will be allocated to foals who are subsequently sold “under the hammer” at the sale.
Launching the catalogue, Goffs Chief Executive Henry Beeby said:
“We are grateful to the ITBA for their enthusiastic support of the show which seeks to promote Irish National Hunt breeding at a crucial time for ITBA members. This sale has an excellent reputation for producing National Hunt winners at the highest level as well as being a great source of pinhooking success, and we are confident that there is huge potential in the Foals catalogued this year”.
Commenting on the NH Foal Show Championships, ITBA Manager Shane O’Dwyer said:
“The ITBA is delighted to be involved in this inaugural NH Foal Show Championship and compliment Goffs on their initiative. As highlighted during our recent national roadshow, the ITBA is committed to supporting NH Breeders and this is just one of many initiatives we hope to be involved with in the near future”.
The 200 strong catalogue features 160 foals by sires such as Beneficial, Flemensfirth, Kayf Tara, Kings Theatre, Milan, Oscar, Presenting, Scorpion, Stowaway, Yeats and Zagreb, and yearling sires include Flemensfirth, Milan, Scorpion, Robin Des Champs etc. The multiple Grade 3 winning Presenting mare For Bill meanwhile is among a high quality selection of broodmares catalogued.
Catalogues are now available from Goffs (045 886600) or online at