HANNIBAL Barca, fourth in the Group 1 Vertem Futurity Trophy on Saturday on just his third start, sold for 500,000gns to the winning bid of BBA Ireland’s Michael Donohoe.

“The horse looks very impressive. His maiden victory was very impressive and I thought it was a superb run in that ground at the weekend,” commented the agent. “I don’t think he may have handled it all that well, but he was gutsy and it was his determination that got him through it.”

Donohoe added: “He has been bought for an existing client who has a couple of horses in England, Ireland and France, and he may stay in training here. We are not sure what the plans are with him; the first thing was to get him bought and we will make the plan after. He could obviously be a horse for the classics next year; he could have the speed for a mile but I think in time he could stay a mile and a half.”

A son of Zoffany and the listed-winning Galileo mare Innocent Air, Hannibal Barca’s sale price was the third highest for a two-year-old in training at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale. He has run his three races in Sam Sangster’s blue and green colours, and Sangster was at Park Paddocks to watch the horse sell. He explained his feelings as he watched the colt he had purchased for £55,000 have his market value increase nearly tenfold.

Emotional

“I am still buzzing, it was emotional really,” Sangster revealed. “Brian [Meehan] and I buy a lot of horses together on spec and we put them in the shop window; he was one of them. We loved him as a yearling, but with the year of Covid we struggled to get people to the yard and he was one of the horses we did not get sold. He has such a bright future. We are obviously gutted to see him go but it was good business all round.”

Although the bidding for Horoscope opened up 100,000gns, Michael Donohoe’s sole bid of 325,000gns successfully bought this stakes-winning son of No Nay Never, sold by Coolmore. “He is goes to the Middle East,” said Donohoe. “With a rating of 110 he can run in all those top races in the Emirates. He goes on quick ground and he is versatile, he is a good-looking horse and he has a pedigree to be a stallion.”

Four-time winner Wink Of An Eye, by Dubawi and out of the stakes-winning Nayef mare Momentary, was another purchase by Donohoe of BBA Ireland. The agent had to go to 230,000gns for the three-year-old gelding, owned and bred by Queen Elizabeth and trained by William Haggas.

Sunny climate

“The Dubawis seem to improve a few pounds for training in the sunny climate. He will go on any surface. He is a very good looking horse, and he fitted the bill. The market has been the same all the way through this season, it has been strong, and you need to pay for the good ones,” said Donohoe.

I Am Magic has increased his valuation from 14,000gns as a yearling to a 95,000gns breeze-up two-year-old, to a 200,000gns two-year-old in training, bought by Michael Donohoe from Michael O’Callaghan Racing. The son of Magician has won one race, a seven-furlong maiden at Galway, and finished third in the Group 3 Killavullan Stakes over the same trip. “He has been bought for a Middle Eastern client to run in the Saudi Derby run on Saudi Cup day,” said Donohoe.