November Memories: The Shergar Factor At Goffs

Ahead of the 2017 November Sale, we look back at some of the defining moments in the history of Goffs foal and breeding stock sales in the words of some of those closest to the action.  Beginning the series, former Goffs Managing Director Jonathan Irwin reflects on the impact of Shergar at the 1983 Goffs Foal Sales. 

 


"Once in a generation there is a stallion who transcends the racing and bloodstock industry and catches the interest and imagination of the public. Shergar was one of those horses.  It was very exciting to have the first foal by Shergar selling at Goffs in November 1983, nine months after the stallion was kidnapped.

When it came to the foal sale the interest in Shergar’s offspring was phenomenal, they were two enormous days with crews from television and radio stations across the world reporting from Goffs. The fire safety officer informed us that we had to lock the doors of the auction house and not allow anybody else into the venue. I don’t recall that ever happening in my time at Goffs, either before or after that sale. Most of the people there were spectators, there were probably two or three people with the money to afford the foal. The colt broke the European record on both occasions he was sold at Goffs.  Thomastown Castle Stud sold him for 325,000 Irish guineas to the BBA and at the Invitation Yearling Sale of 1984, Camas Park Stud sold him to Tote Cherry-Downes for 3.1 million. That remains a record for a yearling sold at auction in Ireland, which demonstrates the excitement around Shergar.

The Shergar factor helped Goffs as a company too, from 1975 when I took over and we built the sales complex in Kill, my idea was to put much more theatre into the auctioning of horses. It’s why we never put windows into the auditorium, I didn’t want people to be able to stare out of a window, I wanted them looking at the auctioneer’s podium. The auctioneer and bid-spotters were dressed in dinner jackets, we added glamour and pizzazz to the experience. There is a lot of emotion involved in auctioning horses, you are auctioning a dream really and with Shergar it was the gamble that his progeny would possess the same magic he did.  The yearling would be named Authaal and went on to win the 1986 Irish St Leger for Sheikh Mohammed and trainer David O'Brien".  




Trish Hyde pictured with the 3.1 million guineas son of Shergar at Goffs.