Rookie Breeder Scores Big With Blue Point Colt at Goffs

There was a full-circle moment on Day 1 of the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale Aug. 25 when a Blue Point (IRE) colt (Lot 136) out of the popular Happy Romance (IRE) sold for a session-topping £250,000 (US$341,204, £1=US$1.36). The dam fetched just a tenth of that price—£25,000—when she passed through the Doncaster ring seven years ago, but went on to become a Premier Sale poster girl by winning seven races for Richard Hannon and first-time owners, the McMurray family. Those successes included the 2020 running of the auction's sales race and a pair of group 3s, namely the Dick Poole Stakes (G3) and Hackwood Stakes (G3). The daughter of Dandy Man amassed more than £745,000 in prize-money earnings, prompting her owners to try their luck at breeding. Her second career got off to the best possible start when her first foal was knocked down to Newmarket-based training partnership Ismail Mohammed and Jose Santos, who signed Rabbah Bloodstock's name on the docket. Willie Browne filled the role of underbidder. "Happy Romance was the first filly we had in training and she did so well racing that we thought we'd give breeding a go," Oliver McMurray said. "This is her first offspring, so it's gone pretty well so far! We had a couple of offers for Happy Romance, but as we only paid £25,000 for her, which in the grand scheme isn't a massive amount, we were well in the green." Asked how he found the experience of selling compared to racing, McMurray said: "I found that far more nerve-wracking. I felt sick before he went through the ring! The racing was easy in comparison to that. "You can never go in there hoping for a certain amount; it's all about what the market says on the day, but that completely outdid our expectations. We were hoping for somewhere in the region of £100,000 to £150,000, so we're over the moon with that result." The colt was sold through Chasemore Farm, which was selling under its own name in Doncaster for the first time. McMurray explained how the serendipitous connection came together. "I actually called Chasemore out of the blue," he said. "It was around the time that Lezoo (bred by Chasemore) won the Cheveley Park Stakes. We were looking for a stud to have our filly with and their name cropped up. I gave them a ring and this is where we're at now! They're brilliant, Jack (Conroy, stud manager) and Pat (Sells, vet) and the rest of the team are great to deal with." McMurray was also responsible for devising the mating between Happy Romance and Kildangan Stud's Blue Point, who stood for €60,000 in the year this colt was conceived. "Blue Point had had a cracking season, it was the year Rosallion won the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere," he said. "He'd worked well with Danehill-line mares, too, and with Happy Romance being as precocious and speedy as she was, I thought mixing that with Blue Point would make a good commercial mating. "We've put a fair amount into it, so selling this colt was about balancing the books. We'll probably look to sell the colts and keep the fillies to make it work. We have another filly in training with Richard, but we'd love to build up a small broodmare band and go from there." After signing the session-topping docket, Ismail Mohammed said: "We need the quality for our stable, and when we saw this colt by Blue Point from a black-type mare we said, 'He's the type we need to buy.' "He's a good-looking horse and when we inspected him everything looked positive. Being by that sire, with that quality, he could be a Royal Ascot type. We're looking to support the sport here in Britain as well as in Dubai." The Mohammed-Santos partnership was back in business a short while later when going to £180,000 for a No Nay Never filly out of listed scorer Inspiriter from Camas Park Stud. The youngster is a sibling to four winners, including group 3 scorer Leading Spirit (IRE). The day's leading price eclipsed the high mark from last year's sale, which came when Shadwell went to £190,000 for a daughter of Minzaal (IRE). Other market indices were broadly in line with the corresponding session 12 months ago. Turnover was almost identical at £7,859,000 (US$10,726,081); the average price was down 2% at £43,905 (US$59,922), and the median was down 4% to £32,000 (US$43,674). The biggest change came in the clearance rate, which dropped from 88% to 81%, as 179 lots sold from 221 offered.