For those with the long-term ambition of establishing a breeding operation, the elite tier of yearling sales in particular presents the opportunity to buy not just a racehorse but a potential foundation mare. We gave five breeders and agents a fantasy unlimited budget to select one filly from this year's Book 1 of the Goffs Orby Sale. Here are our judges' verdicts. CATHY GRASSICKLot 330 Lope De Vega – Witches Brew Consigned by Ballylinch Stud“My selection would be this daughter of Lope De Vega for a number of reasons. Firstly, Lope De Vega is an incredible sire of fillies – one only has to conjure up images of his daughters Consent, Dreamloper, Place Du Carrousel, Newspaperofrecord, and not forgetting this filly's full-sister Expensive Date, winning Group/Grade 1 races worldwide. Then you move to his stellar year as a proven broodmare sire of Group winners such as Item (Frankel), Benvenuto Cellini (Frankel) and Persica (New Bay). Already there is a strong case in place.“Then take a closer look at this filly's own page – a full-sister to a Group 1 winner (Expensive Queen), not to mention three other stakes horses, and no fewer than six of her siblings are full-sisters who are either breeding already or future broodmares. This is combined with the fact that, along with Expensive Queen, the first three dams include Group 1 winners Al Wukair (Dream Ahead) and Caerlina (Caerleon) and Group 1-placed Hikaru Amaranthus (Agnes Tachyon) and Curren Mirotic (Heart's Cry).“Lastly, she is bred on the highly successful Lope de Vega/Danehill-line nick which has given us the likes of Belardo, Newspaperofrecord, Arapaho, Santa Ana Lane and again Place Du Carrousel, who is bred on the exact same cross of Lope de Vega/Duke of Marmalade as this filly.“To be fair, I am also a little biased as I was very lucky to purchase a beautiful unraced full-sister to this filly, named Addaperle (Arqana December 2025) on behalf of my client Clodagh McStay, and she is carrying her first cover to the champion Sea The Stars.” JOHN HAYESLot 154: Justify – Multilingual (Dansili) Consigned by Camas Park Stud“Now, look, of course she'll be extremely fashionable but, for me, the big factor is that her great granddam is Hope (Dancing Brave), the dam of Oasis Dream (Green Desert) and Zenda (Zamindar). So I have to say I loved that. “For me it's all about the family and of course she is a half-sister to the great Minnie Hauk (Frankel) but there is so much on the page, including Kingman (Invincible Spirit), but I also like the element of the American speed and toughness. “Hope herself doesn't even fit on the bottom of the page, she's just in the family tree at the top – that shows you how strong the family is, doesn't it?“If I was allowed a second pick it would be Lot 328 (Chaldean -White Daffodil) because I'm a big fan of Barbara Banke, who always said that your mares have to have tremendous speed. There plenty of speed in that family. But ultimately I went for the Juddmonte family, with the Justify speed and toughness.” John Hayes, right, with Kieran Lalor | Emma Berry GARY HADDENLot 391: Lope De Vega ex Bella EstrellaConsigned by Ballylinch Stud“I would be interested to see this Lope De Vega filly out of Bella Estrella. She is a full-sister to the Group-winning two-year-old Iberian from one of Ballylinch's best families. “The pedigree continues to throw up high-class fillies like Uncharted Haven (Turtle Island), High Heeled (High Chaparral), Cinderella's Dream (Shamardal, Just the Judge (Lawman), etc. Her dam was talented herself and she is still young enough to produce more stakes winners. “The direct cross has already produced her full-brother Iberian and the Group 1 winner Look De Vega. Lope De Vega looks an exciting broodmare sire and there would be plenty of exciting mating options for her when the time comes to breed her.”NANCY SEXTONLot 135: No Nay Never – Miss Balooshi (Pride Of Dubai)Consigned by Baroda Stud“There are some more obvious fillies in there but I would take a chance on Lot 135. No Nay Never looks like he's quite a good broodmare sire already – he's certainly an emerging broodmare sire, with Darkness Falls (Camelot) and Big Mojo (Mohaather). I'd say he probably puts quite a good shape into his daughters – they'll be strong and fast, there's a bit of speed there.“You're taking a chance on the first dam but it's a family I've got a lot of time for, one of Prince Faisal's which has done exceptionally well. And it's a stallion's family as well, if you wanted to go that way. “This filly's dam is inbred to Eljazzi (Artaius), which I think is interesting. She should be relatively easy to mate in the future and that whole female line is very international – it can go anywhere. You've got a bit of Riverman in there and I know Bahri wasn't everybody's taste but it hasn't stopped that particular line.“[Miss Balooshi's half-sister] Contradict (Raven's Pass) has got a lot coming through. She's got a Not This Time filly foal and a Justify, and she's back in England now. I liked the Mishriff yearlings at Arqana, I thought he stamped them. I know he's under the second dam but there's a fair bit going on with the family.“You're banking on this filly's dam really, who was unraced, but she has already produced a winner by Night Of Thunder.” Barry Lynch, left | Goffs BARRY LYNCHLot 66: Sea The Stars – Jumooh (Monsun)Consigned by Norelands“It just goes back to a great fillies' family, with Ghanaati (Giant's Causeway) there under the third dam, and right back to Height Of Fashion. It's a terrific family.“Basically what I'm thinking here is that Sea Of Stars, Monsun and Storm Cat have all been good broodmare sires, so it's a good family to start from even without [the dam] having been a good race mare. It goes back to a great family and she basically suits most commercial stallions. “Sea Of Gold, this filly's full-sister, has started well as a good broodmare – she's the dam of Saxon Street (Saxon Warrior) and there are three other fillies to breed from, all by Sea The Stars. “If you were looking for a foundation mare, this would be a good place to start. The mare has also thrown a good Born To Sea [Born With Pride], as well as mostly being married to Sea The Stars, which is a great help. Her three-year-old Defiant Star is set to make his debut at Southwell on Saturday for Charlie Johnston.“It's quite encouraging to see two of her sisters producing black-type horses, and they're both young mares – one is ten and the other is eight.“There's some quality under the second dam with Queen Mary Stakes winner Maqaasid (Green Desert) and then you've got some Classic winners in the third dam. It's a family that is pretty good the whole way through, and includes Baaeed, who is also by Sea The Stars.“The Sea The Stars angle is a big one for me here because he's been broodmare sire of the year, really, and has so many good horses in that role, like Christmas Day, Onesto, Erdenali, Big Rock, Eldar Eldarov, and Makarova.” The post Take Five: Building Foundations at the Goffs Orby Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.