Bobby McGee could head to Royal Ascot or Goffs London Sale

Bobby McGee was the kind of horse that forces a hard conversation at the sales ring: keep the colt and chase black type, or cash out before the market cools. Tony O’Gorman chose the first path at the Goffs London Sale, convinced the Noel Meade-trained three-year-old is worth more than ordinary money and that only a serious offer should pry him away.

That stance was backed by the formbook. Bobby McGee had won all three starts in 2026, including the Royal Ascot Trials at Naas on May 17, when he took a seven-runner, 1-mile race worth €15,000 by 1¼ lengths in 1m 44.23s under C. T. Keane at an industry SP of 3/1. Goffs’ own race-day assessment marked him down as a highly progressive winner, and Total Performance Data said he had been the fastest horse to get to 20 mph in each of those three victories.

The market still had its shot. Bobby McGee was catalogued as lot 3 at the London Sale, held on Monday, June 15, 2026, on the eve of Royal Ascot at Kensington Palace Gardens in association with ULYSSIA and Fitzwilliam Sports. Goffs had also added five supplementary entries before the auction, underlining how much quality was being pushed into a sale that sat right in the middle of Ascot week’s traffic, with buyers looking for a runner to lift into the biggest meeting of the summer.

Bobby McGee fit that profile too neatly to be treated like a simple trade piece. He is a Mayson gelding out of Marilyn by Sixties Icon, and his next target was already hovering in the background, with the Britannia Handicap at Royal Ascot still a possibility later in the week. That combination of improving form, proven speed, and a live Ascot entry is exactly why O’Gorman was entitled to ask for Group-horse money.

The sale result settled the argument for now. Bobby McGee went through as lot 3 and was listed as not sold, which told the story plainly enough: the colt’s owners were prepared to let the market decide, but not on a figure that undervalued what he might yet become. In a week when a single run can change a horse’s price overnight, O’Gorman’s read was simple, and it still looks the right one.