The first major National Hunt store sale of the year in Ireland couldn’t quite match its returns from 12 months ago but the Goffs Land Rover Sale still posted one of the strongest set of results in its history.

A ground-breaking edition of the Land Rover in 2014 produced nine lots that made at least €100,000 and tremendous demand at all levels of the market. That left the latest renewal with a hard act to follow but a larger catalogue gave rise to a marginal increase in the aggregate, which came in at just over €11.7m. The average of €26,825 fell by 2%, while the median for the two days went from €22,000 to €20,000.

A strong opening day witnessed five six-figure lots but more horses made at least €50,000 at this year’s auction and day one was almost on a par with last year. The second day wasn’t quite as strong though, and this was the key factor in the slight decrease in several key areas. However, Goffs were more than satisfied with the performance of their flagship National Hunt Sale.

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The star of the sale was a €155,000 son of the Monsun horse Arcadio who was knocked down to trainer Mouse Morris. A €20,000 foal purchase, the Clifton Farm offering comes from the immediate family of the classy Gordon Elliott horse The Game Changer (see below), who is Arcadio’s best jumper to date.

The first crop of three-year-olds by Getaway were in some demand, as evidenced by MV Magnier having to go to €150,000 to secure a gelding from Jimmy Murphy’s Redpender Stud. He was showing an excellent return on the €14,000 he cost as a foal.

Elsewhere, a son of Yeats, who has made a good impression with his initial National Hunt runners, cost trainer Ian Ferguson €140,000.

Gerry Hogan picked up a number of choice lots for English trainer Emma Lavelle and these were headed by a €120,000 Kayf Tara gelding. Hogan also secured the sale’s top-priced filly when giving €62,000 for a daughter of the late King’s Theatre.