It was a rather subdued start to November at Goffs for Day 1 of the Autumn Yearling Sale where many vendors felt like the crowds at a firework display when the anticipated pyrotechnics failed to ignite.
The roman candle among them was a filly from the second crop of Inns Of Court who caught the eye of Johnny Murtagh when shown by the team from the Castlebridge Consignment.
Foaled in March, she is a half-sister to Caught U Looking who won the Weld Park Stakes (G3) at the Curragh in late September for Noel Meade, Tony O’Callaghan, and breeder Peter Kelly. That form helped her achieve a price of €50,000 (US$52,500, €1=US$1.05) which was considerably more than the €27,000 her Harzand half-sister brought at this sale last year.
“She is a big, scopy filly and with the dam producing a group winner with her first foal it’s encouraging,” said Murtagh, who had bought the filly on spec but should have no problem finding an owner for the well-related bay.
The session-topping filly was the only yearling to make €50,000 on the opening day of the sale whereas on the equivalent day last year, a trio of yearlings made at least that amount.
The sale experienced a decline across the board in all the key indicators with the aggregate suffering the sharpest drop of 25% to €1,367,600.
