THE final crop of two-year-olds by the much lamented Scat Daddy stole the show at the 2018 edition of the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale and his six lots sold averaged a staggering 525,000gns. It took until the final hour of selling to see the best of them emerge.

This was Mayfield Stables’ April-born colt out of a daughter of Rahy who failed to even place on the racecourse. Tracing back to the family of Linngari, the colt realised the second-best price in the sale’s history when he was knocked down to Stephen Hillen for 900,000gns, some way clear of his $200,000 yearling price tag. John Gosden was the underbidder.

“He is for a client who wishes to stay anonymous,” said Hillen, “but the colt will be staying in the UK. I saw this horse at Mayfield Stables twice this winter - the first time I thought he was a bit small, but he developed and developed and when I saw him the second time, I loved him. He will be a two-year-old and should not be too long to get to a racecourse. Scat Daddy is a great sire and Mayfield does a great job producing its horses.” Mayfield Stables is run by Ronaldo de Souza and Tanya Browne.

Browne’s father Willie sold the next two high-priced sons of Scat Daddy. He topped the first day of the sale with an 800,000gns half-brother to three winners, from the family of Together and Jan Vermeer. An intense bidding battle to secure the colt ensued between Charlie Gordon-Watson and Jeremy Noseda, the latter standing with Amer Abdulaziz and the Phoenix Thoroughbred team, but it was Gordon-Watson who won the battle.

PINHOOKING

The sale represented a pinhooking windfall for his owners who had purchased him for $270,000 as a yearling. “The horse has been bought for Dr Johnny Hon and his Global Group,” said Gordon-Watson, who laughed: “I didn’t think he would cost that much! But this is a beautiful horse and a very fast horse. He is also by a fabulous stallion and he really does tick all the boxes - let’s hope he is a headline horse.”

On Wednesday Browne struck again when he sold a colt from the family of Fusaichi Pegasus to Jamie McCalmont, acting for MV Magnier, for 775,000gns. Browne was delighted. “As a yearling he did not sell in the ring and we bought him for $220,000 privately,” he recalled. “He is a lovely horse and they are not making them by Scat Daddy anymore.”

McCalmont added: “The late Scat Daddy was a stallion that was just getting better and better. He can produce anything and he has two of the world’s best three-year-olds this year.”

SackvilleDonald spent almost 1.6 million guineas on four lots and their most expensive buy was Gaybrook Lodge Stud’s Street Sense colt, the first foal of a Tiznow mare whose dam was a full-sister to Grade 1 winner Bluegrass Cat. Unsold as a yearling for $70,000, Jim McCartan worked the oracle with him and netted 575,000gns this time. The colt’s is to race in Hong Kong.

Godolphin purchased a single colt, Powerstown Stud’s Sea The Stars son of 10-time winner and Group 1 runner-up Lily’s Angel, for 425,000gns. This left Tom Whitehead with a tidy profit on the colt’s yearling price of 230,000gns. Whitehead’s Powerstown Stud sold three lots and all made in excess of 200,000gns. In addition to the Sea The Stars, he sold a colt by Dabirsim to Blandford Bloodstock for 250,000gns and a son of Pivotal for 230,000gns, the latter doubling his yearling price.

INVESTMENT

Tally-Ho Stud invested $200,000 in a yearling son of Animal Kingdom last September at Keeneland and it paid off when Alex Elliott secured him for 420,000gns on behalf of Kaleen Shah. The colt will head to the USA to be trained by Simon Callaghan who was present at the sale.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club bid £260,000 last year for a son of Kodiac offered by Roger Marley and John Cullinan. The sale was subsequently rescinded but the duo had the last laugh when he sold this time for 420,000gns to SackvilleDonald.

The first highlight of the sale came early on when the fourth lot to enter the ring sold for 375,000gns to the Hong Kong Jockey Club. He will be the first son of Scat Daddy to race there and was consigned by Michael Fitzpatrick’s Kilminfoyle House Stud. The SackvilleDonald spending spree saw the agency give 240,000gns for a son of Stormy Atlantic from Brendan Holland’s Grove Stud (a $72,000 yearling), while Charlie Gordon-Watson bought a second yearling from Mocklershill when he paid 240,000gns for a son of Kodiac out of a full-sister to Soviet Song.