Goffs Autumn Sale poster boy Sons And Lovers (GB) could add another fillip to the Kildare Paddocks sale Nov. 2 when he lines up for Melbourne Cup (G1) glory Nov. 3.
The Joseph O'Brien-trained gelding has come a long way since his €40,000 purchase by Jane Chapple-Hyam from Kirsten Rausing's Staffordstown draft in 2022, claiming three group wins in three different countries and more than £1.3 million in prize money.
A son of Study Of Man, Sons And Lovers was a debut juvenile winner for Chapple-Hyam at Newmarket that October and he achieved multiple stakes placings for the trainer, including when second to a certain Ombudsman in a listed race at Deauville in August 2024.
Transferred to O'Brien's care after being purchased privately by Stuart Boman that winter, Sons And Lovers has taken his form to another level, landing the Ballyroan Stakes (G3) at Leopardstown last August before claiming the hugely valuable Red Sea Turf Handicap (G2T) at the Saudi Cup meeting in February. His penultimate start saw him claim a second group 2 win in the Prix Maurice de Nieuil (G2) at Longchamp and this form has allotted him top weight in the Flemington showdown.
The 5-year-old is not the only Melbourne Cup link to the Autumn Sale, with 2020 winner Twilight Payment going through the ring for €200,000 from the horses in training section in 2018.
There are multiple facets to this three-day fixture, with the horses in training and newly created point-to-point section leading the way on Monday. A strong team from the Aga Khan Studs headlines the former, with the draft including Leopardstown maiden second and recent Prix Chaudenay (G2) fourth Asakir, the dual-winning Handani (IRE), and the lightly raced Naas maiden scorer Zelani, all three from typically well-curated families.
The yearling section, which takes place over all three days, is one of the last opportunities for prospective flat owners and pinhookers to shop in 2026. The catalog includes progeny by a whole host of proven sires including Ardad, Awtaad, Bayside Boy, Camelot, Dark Angel, Gleneagles, Make Believe, Mehmas, and Phoenix Of Spain. Sires with their first-crop yearlings are headed by Dragon Symbol, Good Guess, Little Big Bear, Native Trail, Mostahdaf, and Triple Time.
Among the more notable pedigrees is a Make Believe colt out of a Teofilo half sister to Dawn Approach, a Naval Crown filly from the close family of 2026 Long Distance Cup (G1) victor Mount Atlas, a Ten Sovereigns colt out of Rockfel Stakes scorer Kitty Matcham, and a Bayside Boy half sister to this year's Tattersalls Ireland Super Auction Sales Stakes winner and Lowther Stakes (G2) second Star Of State.
There is also a Gleneagles granddaughter of Prix Vermeille (G1) winner Pearly Shells and from the family of Matron Stakes (G1) scorer Pearls Galore, as well as a Triple Time colt from the family of champion Ouija Board and her Irish Derby (G1)-winning son Australia and a Mehmas half sister to the group-winning The Strikin Viking.
