Dick Mulhall, chief buyer for Prince Ahmed Salman's Thoroughbred Corporation, arrived at the Goffs sales ring yesterday like an answer to every salesman's prayer.
But instead of the normal individual perusal of the blue-blooded stock at Ireland's premier yearling sale, the American bloodstock expert was in a hurry.
"He had his two acolytes going up and down the line shouting for all the colts to be brought out at the same time," recounted a thankful Goffs chairman, Michael Osborne. "It looked like Puck Fair!"
Mulhall was quickly into the action, forking out £110,000 for a Lear Fan colt. It seemed just the presence alone of another international big hitter, alongside John Magnier and Sheikh Hamdan of Dubai, helped settle a lot of fears.
"With the plane crash in Italy, the Taliban situation and the awful events in the US, we thought things could really go against us but in fact it's much better than we thought it would be," said Osborne.
"The political situation was bound to have an effect but the horse business is funny in that it is usually the last to experience economic collapse," he added.
Certainly there was no evidence of a collapse yesterday. In fact the only nerves around seemed to come from us rubber-neckers whose bowels began bubbling at some of the mind-boggling money being splashed out for these equine toddlers.
There may have been no danger to last year's £2 million top lot but not surprisingly it was the Coolmore supremo John Magnier who again dominated the top prices, paying out a cool £620,000 for a Danehill colt and £600,000 for a colt by another Coolmore-based stallion, Peintre Celebre.
"There is a trade," confirmed the legendary horse master. "We saw that last week (at Newmarket), too. The world goes on."
Both horses will go into training with Aidan O'Brien at the Ballydoyle stables. O'Brien has produced such a vintage year on the racetrack, with 18 Group One successes already, that anyone taking on Magnier at the sales ring was invariably fighting a losing battle.
Sheikh Hamdan gave it a go but had to give best for the two top-priced lots. Still there was the not inconsequential pickings of a colt by In The Wings, picked up for £320,000, a Sadler's Wells filly that cost £280,000 and an attractive colt by Dixieland Band that set the Sheikh back £200,000.
Anthony Stroud paid £500,000 for a Sadlers Wells filly but no one can have gone home more happy than local man David Fenlon, whose £11,000 investment in the half sister to the Group One winner Queens Logic as a foal reaped a £380,000 windfall.
It was again Sheikh Hamdan who paid the price and the top owner commented: "She is a good individual and looks early enough."
The healthy first day average of close on £85,000 led the Goffs managing director Matt Mitchell to comment: "There is relief that the market has continued despite a year of foot-and-mouth, economic uncertainty and the American situation."
