There are easier ways to buy a racehorse, I’m sure. However, most do not involve an invitation-only gathering in Kensington Palace Gardens, a glass (or many) of Provençal rosé, and the possibility that your purchase could be running at Royal Ascot less than 24 hours later. This is precisely what has made the Goffs London Sale one of the most anticipated events of the racing calendar.
Held the evening before Royal Ascot, you would be mistaken for thinking most of the tight-knit guest list gathered here would be busy collecting their morning coats from the dry cleaners and checking their fascinators sit right. Instead, owners, trainers, bloodstock agents, and select guests chat beneath white marquees, while anticipation for the week ahead hangs in the warm June air.
By this time tomorrow, many of those gathered will be standing trackside at Ascot. Some may even be cheering on horses they purchased the night prior. An even luckier few might be Ascot winners.
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“Everybody wants to be at Royal Ascot, and that’s what the sale offers,” says Ramiro Restrepo, a bloodstock agent and co-owner of 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage. “But it’s not only the opportunity to buy or sell a racehorse. It’s the networking opportunity – people from America, South America, Australia, Japan, the Middle East.
“You’re fortunate to be a part of [Goffs London Sale], and if you get lucky enough to buy or sell a horse, you’re sitting in a good spot,” he adds.
Restrepo is not just here for chit-chatting and soaking up the atmosphere. His horse, Immortal Guard, is hoping to start a bidding war in the next hour or so, along with the 19 other lots available – though Restrepo tells me he won’t accept less than half a million for him.
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Part of the appeal of buying and selling here lies in Goffs’ unusual format. Unlike a conventional auction, there are no horses parading through a sales ring. Instead, prospective buyers gather around giant screens displaying photographs, racing footage, and pedigrees. Decisions worth hundreds of thousands of pounds are made based on form, reputation, and a touch of instinct rather than a final glance at a horse walking around a ring.
Yet the atmosphere feels remarkably relaxed considering the sums involved. This year, the headline sale was Green Sense, which ultimately sold for £700,000 (approx. $939,113) to American owners Boyd Racing following a private deal after initially failing to meet her reserve in the ring. “We’re very excited about her and looking forward to her running in the Jersey Stakes on Saturday,” said new owner Randy Boyd.
Green Sense ultimately topped the list of completed sales, but the most dramatic moment of the afternoon belonged to Alparslan. Bidding climbed to £1m (approx. $1.34m) for the day’s final lot, only for the colt to return to his owners after failing to meet his reserve. Across the 11 completed sales, horses changed hands for an average of £270,000 (approx. $362,230).
Restrepo’s Immortal Guard also fell just short of expectations, the hammer coming down at £495,000 (approx. $664,000), just £5,000 (approx. $6,708) shy of the reserve he had set. Yet disappointment is in short supply. Unlike many auctions, the London Sale is filled with owners who are perfectly happy to leave with the horse they arrived with. For Restrepo, he may be leaving Kensington Palace without a sale, but he still has the prospect of heading to Royal Ascot with a live contender.
“Whilst the statistics are well behind last year, we don’t measure this sale in the same way,” explains group chief executive Henry Beeby. “Normally, we obsess over percentage rises or falls but with the London Sale it is an entirely different approach.
“Success is judged by the reaction of both vendors and purchasers and, by that measurement, we’ve had a very positive evening,” concludes Beeby.
On this Monday afternoon in Kensington Gardens, Beeby and buyers are not concerned with turnover, but with participation. Buyers arrive from multiple continents not simply because they want to acquire a horse, but because they want to be part of the week that follows.
That global appeal is reflected in the event’s partnerships. This year’s headline sponsor was ULYSSIA, the ultra-luxury residential yacht concept that mirrors the sale’s international outlook.
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“Goffs London Sale […] brings together an exceptional international community around one of the world’s most prestigious sporting traditions,” says ULYSSIA chief executive Alain Gruber.
As the sun begins to dip behind Kensington Palace, attention inevitably turns towards Ascot itself. In the morning, owners will make their way west to stand trackside, and certain horses and jockeys will change colors ahead of the starting boxes tomorrow. But for those in attendance at Goffs, Royal Ascot has already begun.
