UPDATED 6:06PM, APR 7 2021
Around 12 months ago the unfolding Covid-19 pandemic had thrown the breeze-up season into a state of unprecedented disarray. Sales dates and locations moved to and fro as auction houses did their utmost to host the key dates in as efficient a format as possible.
The Tattersalls Craven Sale eventually brought the curtain up on a heavily disrupted season two months later than scheduled, while the Goffs UK auction was pushed back a similar amount of time and staged alongside Arqana s sale, which transferred from Deauville to Doncaster.
Despite all the challenges, trade, for the most part, proved far more satisfactory than many would have dared imagine when the disruption began, while a stream of stakes-winning graduates - horses such as Bahrain Pride, Steel Bull and Umm Kulthum - duly emerged from the salvaged sales.