BLOODSTOCK DESK: Goffs to introduce age limit on mares at sales.

Byline: Rachel Pagones & Amy Bennett

GOFFS Bloodstock Sales Ltd has introduced a new policy regarding the sale of older mares. The company will no longer accept for sale any barren mare over the age of 18, or any in-foal mare over the age of 20, write Rachel Pagones and Amy Bennett.

The policy, introduced following a meeting of the board of Goffs Bloodstock Sales last week, has been put into immediate effect, leading to the withdrawal of two mares from Goffs' February Mixed sale, which begins tomorrow.

The mares were 25-year-old Bellinzona and 19-year-old Highness Lady. Bellinzona is the dam of Listed winner Bellefan and Group 3-placed Maralinga and is the grand-dam of Listed scorer Scarteen Fox. She is carrying her 13th foal, by Quws. Highness Lady, a German Classic winner and the dam of ten foals and seven winners, is barren.

Matt Mitchell, managing director of Goffs, said: "We looked at the ages of mares sold here, and decided what was appropriate in terms of animal welfare.

"We felt that 18 for a barren mare and 20 for a pregnant mare were realistic ages for cut-off."

A spokesman for Tattersalls, which conducts sales in Britain and Ireland, said that the auction house had no plans to introduce a similar policy.

"We're always reviewing what we do, but we see no reason to have a hard-and-fast rule," said bloodstock director Martin Mitchell.

He added: "But we do reserve the right to refuse a horse if we feel it is not in the horse's best interest."

There are very few old mares sold at Goffs or Tattersalls. Of the hundreds of mares offered through both sales companies in the past 12 months, just seven (six at Goffs and one at Tattersalls) were aged 18 or older, and only one would not have met Goffs' new criteria: 22-year-old Sin Lucha, carrying her 17th foal, who was bought back by her vendor for e2,800 at Goffs' December Flat Sale last year.