Economic highs and lows mean there is usually a steady flow of different names at the top table of Ireland's most important yearling sale but yesterday's best-priced animals came from tried-and-tested sources at Goffs, including a massive €2.4 million paid out by the Coolmore boss John Magnier for a Sadler's Wells filly.
The coveted grey daughter of Albanova is from the same family as last year's €2 million sales-topper and was also submitted by Kirsten Rausing's Staffordstown Stud near Dunboyne in Co Meath.
She entered the ring at 7.55 last night and it took only five minutes for her to reach the €2.4 million figure that remarkably some of the large crowd looking on described as being a bargain.
Magnier's representative, Demi O'Byrne, didn't seem ready to disagree either and said afterwards: "What can you say? She's by a world-class sire who is still the best and she comes from one of the very best families around."
Rausing is a regular seller at Goffs but even her record pales compared to Pat O'Kelly's Kilcarn Stud near Navan.
That has produced the Goffs sales topper in eight of the last eighteen years and the €900,000 forked out yesterday for the Rock Of Gibraltar filly out of Spirit Of Tara briefly made a pitch for making it nine on day two of the select Million sale.
However, that nine hundred thousand paid out by Stephen Harris on behalf of himself and his business partner, Peter Tonnery of Glenview House Stud in Athenry, was a way of securing a little bit of history.
It's over 40 years since O'Kelly took over the running of the stud set up by her father, Major Ned O'Kelly in 1943, and even back in 1966 the victory of the Leger winner Sodium made Kilcarn the leading breeder in Britain and Ireland.
However, it was the filly Flame Of Tara who really began Kilcarn's love-in with Goffs. In 1987, she produced the triple classic winner Salsabil, and the year after that, a future sire in Marju.
In 1994, Flame Of Tara's produce was Spirit Of Tara whose own son, Echo Of Light, was the €1.2 million sales topper here in 2003.
Flame Of Tara died a couple of years ago, aged 25, but her influence carried on through her yearling grand-daughter yesterday, and also another relative, a Sadler's Wells colt, who made €380,000 when bought by Magnier.
"The family of Ireland," announced auctioneer Nick Nugent as Harris battled out it out with the English bloodstock agent, Tom Goff.
Afterwards, Tonnery, said: "We knew she would be hard to buy. But you have to pay a premium to get into families like this one. It's a wonderful pedigree and she was bought with a view to breeding from her."
A new face at Goffs was the German agent Jurgen Albrecht who paid €325,000 for a Kingmambo filly and he said: "I thought she was a very active sort, light on her feet, with an excellent pedigree."
A rare Goffs buyer is the American Andrew Rosen who paid €260,000, through agent Hugo Merry, for a filly by Street Cry, the sire of this year's Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense.
It helped the day-two turnover reach over €20 million at an average price of €117,878.
Lot 407 - Staffordstown Stud (filly by Sadler's Wells - Albanova) DL O'Byrne
€2,400,000
Lot 304 - Kilcarn Stud (f by Rock Of Gibraltar-Spirit Of Tara) De Burgh/Farrington
€900,000
L371 - Ashtown House Stud (f by Invincible Spirit - Watch The Clock) Newtown Anner Stud
€440,000
L373 - Kilcarn Stud (colt by Sadler's Wells-Welsh Love) DL O'Byrne €380,000
L204 - Camas Park Stud (f by Kingmambo - Piquetnol) J Albrecht €325,000
L326 - Thomastown Castle (f by Sadler's Wells - Tarascon) J Magnier €300,000
L324 - Ballymoney Park Stud (c by Rahy - Tango Charlie) J Ferguson €280,000
L392 - Knocktoran Stud (c by Refuse To Bend-Zeiting) J Ferguson €280,000
L220 - Ashtown House Stud (c by High Chaparral - Queens Music) K Radcliffe
€270,000
L223 - Castletown Stud (f by Rock Of Gibraltar - Quiet Mouse) B Grassick €270,000
