Goffs Online March Sale, held as a timed online auction on GoffsOnline.com featuring National Hunt young stock, breeding stock and horses in training, returned very satisfactory trade today as 32 horses sold for a total of £557,600, with a £17,425 average and a top lot of £110,000. 

The opportunity to purchase an entry in the 2021 Randox Health Grand National was one of the key selling points in today’s auction, and among those aiming for the Aintree showpiece was the sale-topping Balkos Des Flos, former winner of the Grade 1 Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham.  Consigned by Gigginstown House Stud, he was purchased for £110,000 on behalf of racehorseclub.com by Peter Molony, who commented:

“Balkos Des Flos will stay with Henry De Bromhead and is being aimed at the National.  He has been bought for an exciting new venture about which there will be further news announced in the coming weeks. 

On the sale format, Molony added: “I found the Goffs Online site and timed auction format extremely user-friendly - I bid on my phone while halfway up a mountain in the middle of Land Rover Sale inspections!”

Other notable purchases included Shallow River (Lot 80), a five-year-old son of Ocovango placed in a Bumper in Thurles on his only start two weeks ago for Margaret Mullins, who was sold by Canterbrook Stud to Shane Donohoe for £66,000.  Gerry Hogan Bloodstock meanwhile purchased the five-year-old Jet Away mare De Lady In Red (Lot 78), placed in a maiden hurdle at Navan on Monday, for £64,000 from The Borotown Stud. 

Click here to view the full results.

At the conclusion of today’s sale, Goffs Group Chief Executive Henry Beeby commented:

“This was Goffs’ second timed online auction, following the Doncaster January Sale which was moved online, and to see both sales topped by six figure sales - £110,000 and £300,000 respectively – is a great endorsement of the role Goffs Online now plays in our overall offering.  This method is never the first choice, but time after time since the Covid 19 pandemic began a year ago, Goffs Online has proven to be an invaluable vehicle for our clients with over €8.6 million of business successfully conducted so far. 

Following the January Sale we reviewed the timed format with vendors and purchasers, and launched a number of improvements to the site prior to today’s sale.  Since the catalogue was released, over 4000 unique viewers visited the online catalogue, and we accepted 197 bids from buyers in Ireland, the UK and France whilst feedback from clients was overwhelmingly positive in relation to usability and the opportunity to trade the sale provided. 

While we acknowledge that trade was not strong at all levels, it was pleasing to see the better horses achieve very satisfactory prices and the teams at Goffs and Goffs UK, who collaborated on today’s Group sale, are grateful to all vendors and wish all purchasers the very best of luck”.