$693K filly tops Day 1 at Goffs sale

The Goffs auction house in County Kildare, Ireland, opened its Orby yearling sale Tuesday with a session-topper that brought 475,000 euros, or about $693,500.

The session-topper was a Giant's Causeway filly out of Irish 1000 Guineas winner Saoire, by Pivotal. Trainer Tom Tate signed the ticket on behalf of owner Jim Hay. The filly went through the auction as part of the Cahermorris Stables consignment.

Americans at the sale included West Point Stables agent Buzz Chace, who picked up a pair of colts: a Holy Roman Emperor colt out of the unraced Mr. Greeley mare Ting a Greeley and an Ad Valorem son of Queenliness, a winner by Exit to Nowhere. West Point paid 140,000 euros, about $204,400, for the Holy Roman Emperor colt and 50,000 euros, about $73,000, for the Ad Valorem colt.

The Goffs Orby sale this year replaces the Goffs Million auction held last year. The first Orby session Tuesday sold 159 yearlings for about $16,455,660, resulting in an average price of about $103,495 and a median of about $73,000. The buyback rate was 26 percent.

The auction was to continue through Oct. 1.