Not since Elon Musk was enamored with space, there have been more rockets assembled at one location at any given time than at Doncaster prior to last year’s Sale.
These exceptional airships have been bred to fly and, lurking among the 411 crested birds ready to take off at the UK Goffs in the next few days could be the Next Praise (GB), Heaven god of darkness (Ire), Wootton Bassett (GB) or Tasleet (GB), all of which are graduates of this sale.
Joe Foley knows a thing or two about rockets. The Ballyhane Man took a flight to Doncaster on Monday morning and was not greeted with nice reports from suppliers and buyers about Latest Soldier’s Call (GB) (Exhibit {GB} ) his.
A smart sprinter, Soldier’s Call won the G2 Flying Childers at the age of 2 and was placed in King’s Stand S. and Nunthorpe S. at the age of 3. There are 14 desires that belong to him in the sale, four of which will be provided by Foley’s Ballyhane Stud.
However, rather than put a “kiss of death” into his draft by speaking too soon, Foley spoke in general terms about his enthusiasm behind the prospect of making it a Showcasing stallion.
He explains, “The soldier’s call is exactly what everyone in Doncaster is looking for – sharp, refined, classy and speedy types. Obviously we’ve been approached to see a lot of them in their preparation and we couldn’t have been more pleased.
“They have a great attitude and they love their job. I am extremely hopeful and, as time goes on and the more you see them, the more confident you will be that he will be a good steed.”
Foley added, “His progeny love to rush in, love to walk and love to go in and do things, and that is a great sign in the progeny of a stallion, because that that doesn’t always happen. Some don’t like the job, showing a bit of a temper, but the Call of the Soldier is not like that. They are very dangerous.
“They all have a lovely attitude. When you come here and people report it like that, it gives off a good vibe and I’m very pleased with what I’m seeing.
“Doncaster is a very popular sale and a lot of people try to support it. It looks like everyone is here this year so there will be a lot of competition for the right ones. “
You don’t have to walk beyond Barn A to realize that there’s going to be a fierce battle in the sales round to knock out the best on offer in this year’s sale.
Especially at one end of that barn on a Monday afternoon, you have George Boughey busy checking out birds of prey while at another, Mark Johnston has just arrived.
William Haggas, Andrew Balding, Joseph and Donnacha O’Brien, Kevin Ryan and Roger Varian are just a few of the other famous coaches who have been around in recent days.
The cute fraternity was in effect, too, with Johnny Collins, Byron Rogers, Katie Walsh, Roger Marley and more providing snapshots of faces on the ground at Doncaster.
Like the Soldier’s Call, the descendants of Le Brivido (Fr) represent something new for potential buyers. Simon Sweeting, who stood for a season with Le Brivido at Overbury Stud, offers two out of three expectations sold by former G3 hero Jersey S., the pick of which looks to be lot 201.
A half-brother to Ladies Church (GB) (Churchill {Ire}).
Sweeting said, “He’s a pony and obviously the page has improved a lot. Unfortunately, we picked Le Brivido for a season sharing him with Coolmore – but he’s not as popular as we hoped he would be.
“Why is that, I don’t know. Even if they can’t go around Siyouni (Fr) at the time, I don’t know, but we thought he was everything a breeder could want.
“We supported him and there were some who were eager he would sell this year, but as he did not have enough mares we made the early decision to move him back to France.”
Sweeting added, “He has a lot of mares out there right now and we obviously hope some of these stallions can win as many races to get his stallion career up and running. develop. He only included 60 mares in that first season for us, which was not enough, so to give him a chance we sent him to France. He’s busy there so we’ll see what happens on the racecourse.”
All told, there are six Advertisers (GB) in the sale, one of which is lot 174, a pony offered by Llety Farms, whom David Hodge is quietly optimistic about.
“He’s busy and I call it the typical Donny horse – that’s what we picked him to bring him here for,” Hodge said. He is the son of the family. It was bred on the farm for Paul Brocklehurst, winner of Cesarewitch’s Sweet Selection (GB) (Stimulation {Ire}) award. “
Breeds of the first season for next year, Inns Of Court (Ire), Blue Point (Ire), Bell (GB), Eqtidaar (Ire), Invincible Army (Ire), Ground Forces (Ire), Magna Grecia (Ire), Masar (Ire), Too Darn Hot (GB), Phoenix Of Spain (Ire), and Ten Sovereigns (Ire) are in the list.
Mark McStay, who was busy during the August Sale at Arqana just over a week ago, is scheduled to operate in Doncaster and praises Goffs for making the large number of customers in attendance feel welcome.
He said, “I would buy for many different people — several trainers and owners. I think it’s a typical aspirant draft and as usual it’s going to deliver a lot of good winners for ages 2 next year. Goffs did a great job at making people feel really welcome here and that must be a very good sale.”
There’s only one man who knows more about rocket launches than Musk, and that’s Goffs CEO Henry Beeby, the man behind that warm welcome.
Beeby is generally upbeat on the eve of the 2022 Doncaster Premier Yearling Sale, which kicks off at 10am on Tuesday, and admits that things are ready to sell well.
He said, “The suppliers are all very active. They brought very good horses and were very busy yesterday and very busy today and everything is well arranged. We’re cautiously optimistic but the closer you get, the more you think, ‘oh my god, there are some lovely horses here.’ We’ll see what happens. It is looking very positive at the moment. “
