A STUNNING renewal of the Tattersalls October Book 2 Sale fell tantalisingly short of the record turnover achieved 12 months earlier. An increase in the numbers sold, resulting in a clearance rate of 85%, meant that the average and median declined by 3% and 10% respectively, but could not take from what was an extraordinary result in an extraordinary time.
Book 1 of the October Sale had seen a fall of 20% in aggregate, while both the average and median were back by 13%. If vendors and purchasers were heading into last week with similar declines in mind, they were left awestruck by the final returns. When Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony referred to the outcome as a “mighty achievement”, including from a logistical point of view, his sentiments were generally echoed by all who participated.
The contribution made from the buying benches by Sheikhs Mohammed and Hamdan cannot be emphasised enough, with the latter making 36 purchases for 5,327,000gns, equating to an average just shy of 150,000gns. Breeders and pinhookers alike benefited from his spending spree. This intense activity over three days no doubt contributed to the call by Angus Gold for speedier selling. Shadwell’s highest-priced purchase was the 300,000gns sale of Mountarmstrong Stud’s Kodiac colt out of the Group 3 winning Dark Angel two-year-old Nations Alexander.
It was a week of mixed fortunes for pinhookers. While the numbers who broke even or profited in Book 1 was in favour of the brave men and women who splashed out large sums for foals, the pendulum was marginally the other way in Book 2. Some 48% made breakeven or better, while 52% suffered a loss or failed to sell. Of the 80 or so who fit in the latter category, 31 remain with their consignors.
Mahony, as always, issues a comprehensive comment post sale. This time he was keen to extend his thanks for all the patience of participants. He said: “We are enormously grateful to every single participant over the past three days, not only for their individual contributions to a sale which has held up remarkably well under the circumstances, but for working with us every step of the way in our efforts to stage the sale in as safe an environment as possible. The Covid pandemic continues to wreak havoc in all walks of life and to have conducted nine sales here at Park Paddocks since the last week of June is a mighty achievement by all concerned and could not have happened without a huge collective effort.”
He added: “As ever the consignors from Britain, Ireland, France and Germany have presented us with a catalogue of genuine quality and the buyers have demonstrated that, even in these challenging times, there is a global appetite for quality bloodstock and the sport of horseracing. Participation from throughout the Gulf region continues to be hugely influential and the sustained involvement from American, Australian and Hong Kong interests has also been notable alongside determined domestic involvement.”
Lope De Vega colt seduces Godolphin team
THE top price over the three days emerged at the middle session on Wednesday and proved to be the star too of a draft that propelled Newsells Park Stud to the head of the consignor’s table. The highlight of the week was a son of Ballylinch Stud’s Lope De Vega and he cost Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin 675,000gns. The half-brother to two winners out of a winning Galileo mare was bred by St Albans Bloodstock.
“He is bred on a successful cross, Lope De Vega and Galileo; he is an attractive horse and beautifully bred and Lope De Vega has done incredibly well,” said Anthony Stroud acting for Godolphin.
“The team did a great job prepping him but we have only had him for eight or nine weeks; credit must go to Andrew Stone of St Albans Bloodstock that bred him and the farm that raised him,” said Julian Dollar of Newsells Park Stud. He added: “In this climate we did not think it would be at all easy, but the sale seems to have taken off something incredible this week. I keep thinking there was value last week, but I am not complaining. It is fantastic. Thanks to all the people prepared to take their hands out of their pockets and spend big money on racehorses. Long may it continue.”
Godolphin made a second high-priced purchase from the Newsells Park when paying 300,000gns for a son of Siyouni out of the Group 3 winner Havant, a daughter of Halling. “He belonged to James and Anita Wigan, and they are delighted with that and he is a really lovely little horse; he had a great temperament,” said Dollar.
Contributing significantly to the Newsells Park coffers at the opening session was the top-priced lot of the week from Galileo’s four-time winning son Churchill, a daughter of Date With Destiny, the only offspring by George Washington. She was bought by Stroud Coleman for 350,000gns.
Dollar said afterwards: “When we bought Date With Destiny some people asked us if it was because of that rarity value, but it really wasn’t. We’d had some luck with the family before, and Flawly [a half-sister to Date With Destiny] was one of the first mares we bought and she produced Best Name. She was one of the best mares we had early on in terms of sales and as a producer. We were very fond of the family so when the opportunity came to buy a bit more of it, we came in with her.
“We mated [Date With Destiny] to Galileo and she produced a lovely filly in Beautiful Morning, so we went to the son.”
Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte are always judicious purchasers and their sole purchase of the week was a son of Oasis Dream, their own multiple Group 1 sire based at Banstead Manor Stud.
“He is the spitting image of Oasis Dream at this stage. This is an incredible horse, a great walker. He is bred on the same lines as Kingman, he was an obvious horse for us,” said Simon Mockridge of Juddmonte after going to 310,000gns for the colt who was bred by W. & R. Barnett Ltd and consigned by Newsells Park. Mockridge added: “Once he is broken then we will let everyone know about his trainer. We are hoping he is going to be a good horse.” The colt’s grandam is the Irish and Yorkshire Oaks winner Pure Grain.
Frankel filly heads to Stack
Could she be the next Winx? The Norelands Stud-consigned daughter of Frankel and the Sir Percy mare Love Is Blindness was the best filly of the week and sold for 460,000gns to de Burgh Equine and Glen Hill Farm. She was bred by John Camilleri, breeder of the wonder mare Winx, and there was poignancy in the fact that the sale occurred on the day news broke that Winx had lost her first foal, a filly by I Am Invincible.
“She has been bought for Craig Bernick of Glen Hill Farms to go into training with Fozzy Stack,” said Hubie de Burgh. “We tried all week through Book 1 and could not get anything. This filly is by one of the great sires of the modern era and there are classic winners in her page; she could be Guineas or Oaks filly. On top of that she is a beautiful looking filly from a top farm where I keep a lot of stock, and I’ve known her since she was foaled.
“I watched her and every time I have seen her she gets better and better and better. As you can see she is a queen. Craig is a great lover of the horse industry and going to be a great breeder; he has got some wonderful stock in Europe already. He wants to collect this quality of bloodstock because he is thinking 20 years ahead. Hopefully she will be one of the foundation mares in the broodmare band. Craig is developing an Australian operation, European and American, it is very exciting.”
De Burgh ended by saying; “You just don’t get your hands on fillies like this. She has a bit of Frankel about her, she really walks, has a really good hind-quarter. She is just all quality.” De Burgh Equine purchased Love Is Blindness on behalf of Camilleri for €380,000 in 2016.
Kingman rules
Harry McCalmont’s Norelands Stud provided the first highlight of Book 2 with the sale of a Kingman colt for 400,000gns. The bidding opened at 100,000gns and Joseph O’Brien provided a strong challenge but was beaten by Anthony Stroud acting for Godolphin.
“He is from Norelands who do a fantastic job. He is a well-balanced horse, moved well and we have had a lot of luck with Kingman – Palace Pier and Persian King. He will go to be trained by André Fabre,” reported Stroud.
McCalmont added: “The dam Allez Y is going to Australia. She belongs to John Camilleri, who bred Winx, and is in foal to Lope De Vega on southern hemisphere time. I am delighted I have sold a good horse for him, very happy.”
O’Brien’s interest will have stemmed from the act that Allez Y is a half-sister to Master Of Reality whom he trains, and is a likely challenger for next month’s Melbourne Cup.
Norelands ranked sixth among all consignors in Book 2 by aggregate and making a major contribution too was a daughter of Ribchester who sold for 300,000gns, one of five purchases this week by Demi O’Byrne for Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm. Norelands bred the filly in partnership with Patrick Robinson. The filly is out of the unraced Teofilo mare Hint Of Pink and her two-year-old Parchemin, by Lope De Vega and in training with André Fabre, became her first runner and winner on his sole start to date.
McCalmont said: “We liked [Ribchester] a lot. We use quite a lot of first-season horses and he was a very good racehorse and is a good-looking horse. We got a beautiful filly.”
New Bay delights John O’Connor
THE splendid start at stud made by Ballylinch Stud’s New Bay was reflected in the sale ring and his seven yearlings in Book 2 averaged over 160,000gns and placed him second behind Kingman on average for sires with three or more lots sold.
The best of his sons and daughters was Ballylinch’s colt out of the stakes winner Need You Know and he sold to Stroud Coleman Bloodstock for 400,000gns. Anthony Stroud said: “He is by New Bay who is a son of Dubawi and has been going well. He is an athletic, well-balanced horse. He is for Godolphin.”
“We bought the mare at Tattersalls here five years ago,” Ballylinch managing director John O’Connor reported. “We sold a very nice Kodiac filly out of her a couple of years ago, and she was trained by Saeed bin Suroor. She looked very promising. She was beaten a short head first time out and then was second twice, I think she had a little set back since then, but she’s a talented filly.”
O’Connor reflected on the popularity of the Ballylinch stallions at the sales. “The stallions are going well, we are delighted with the way the market is receiving them. But the reason they are selling well is that they are getting winners in the right places and the right types of tracks and the right stakes races. That is what it is all about in the end – sales should be about racing.”
Dark Angel well represented
ONE of the most represented sires in Book 2 was Yeomanstown Stud’s Dark Angel and he had 21 sons and daughters sell for an average of just over 105,000gns. Two of his daughters were among the best eight lots of the week.
Heading the list was the filly out of the winning Exceed And Excel mare Extricate and she was sold to David Redvers Bloodstock by Yeomanstown Stud for 390,000gns. She is a full-sister to a stakes winner, while the pedigree was boosted when their three-year-old Kingman half-sister Queen Of Love won the Listed Prix Coronation after the catalogue was published. “I thought she was lovely,” said Redvers. “She joins Qatar Racing and is one for the long term for our breeding plans. She looked all speed, she is a little cracker.”
David O’Callaghan of Yeomanstown said: “She is a beautiful filly, very fast looking. The best thing though – Guy [O’Callaghan] bought Extricate back from Sweden and entered her to sell and Gay [O’Callaghan] bought her. Guy says that he didn’t charge him half enough!”
The Dark Angel filly sold by Highclere Stud realised 350,000gns and was bought by Alastair Donald of Sackville Donald. The filly is a first foal out of Delevigne, an unraced Redoute’s Choice half-sister to Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup and Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest winner Regal Parade. This is the family of Zafonic.
“I loved her, she is my favourite filly in the sale,” said Donald. “We stretched a bit to get her, everyone was on her. She walks for fun, it is a lovely family to be involved with and there is probably more happening in it as well. She is for King Power Racing.”
It’s a late late show for Ballyhimikin
THE final day of Book 2 was topped by a colt who was offered in the latter stages of the day. This was a son of Starspangledbanner from James Hanly’s Ballyhimikin Stud, and the colt sold for 360,000gns to Anthony Stroud. This was a case of patience yielding a just reward.
“We felt he was a very special horse all the way along; he has been special always and we love Starspangledbanner,” said Hanly. “I just want to thank Helen and Frisk [Jones] who do the daily hard work and minded this horse so well. This is a family we have had for ever, we bred every single horse on the page. They are all very fast horses so hopefully this one will continue and will add to the family. It is lovely to be able to show horses such as this, it is a pleasure to be around them. Please god he is a good runner.” The family traces back to the Prix de l’Abbaye winner Balidar in the fifth generation.
Referencing the colt’s winning Cadeaux Genereux dam Violet’s Gift, Hanly said: “She has a Kodiac colt foal and she is in foal to Night Of Thunder.” He added: “I’d just like to thank Sheikh Mohammed for his support and Tattersalls for putting on the show in such difficult times.”
Stroud said: “He is a very good-looking horse who looks fast and he is by a sire who has done really well. He’s just a good specimen.” He described the week’s sale as having “a good vibe, with lots of different buyers,” and added, “All of us connected to the bloodstock industry should be grateful to the Maktoum family. They have really shown their true mettle in times that none of us have experienced before. For them to come and support the sales and people’s livelihoods has been amazing.”
Hanly was also celebrating on day one with a magnificent pinhook. Last year he bought a son of Holy Roman Emperor with Johnny and Susie McKeever for €30,000 from Rossenarra Stud and sold him for 235,000gns to Sackville Donald. Hanly said: “We had a lot of interest in him and we’ve always liked Holy Roman Emperor and he has been a great sire to us. We have always bred to him and will continue to do so. The McKeevers and I picked him out together, Johnny and Susie are in Australia and they were watching on. They are thrilled.”
Noonan’s success is story of the week
ONE of the stories of the week was the first and last day sale ring successes for the Noonan family from Cregg Stud. On Monday they sold a son of first season sire sensation Mehmas to Blandford Bloodstock for 320,000gns, and on Wednesday Stroud Coleman Bloodstock gave 300,000gns for their Kodiac colt.
“I think you can describe Mehmas as a revelation!” said Tom Goff of Blandford Bloodstock. The bloodstock agent stood next to football agent Kia Joorabchian of Amo Racing in the bidders’ area as he bought the son of Mehmas out of a half-sister to Hot Streak. He added: “This is a lovely, lovely colt and I had a brief to buy a horse to hopefully make up into a sharp two-year-old and he fits the bill. He is out of an Exceed And Excel mare, he is a beautifully topped colt, he has a great action and looks rapid. John Gosden will train.” The colt is the most expensive yearling by Mehmas to sell at public auction and was bred by Barry Noonan.
John Noonan of Cregg Stud, said: “I’m delighted for the O’Callaghans. He’s been the busiest horse at the sale. The mare has been very lucky for us, I didn’t sell her as a yearling but she’s been good to us since. She’s in foal to Ribchester at the moment. I bought her dam here at the December Sale and I bred her. I have 10 flat mares and five National Hunt – I’m a National Hunt man through and through really.”
Celebrating
John and Denis Noonan were celebrating when their second colt also made headlines, Denis leading both up at the sale. “I am gobsmacked at the minute,” said John on Wednesday evening as he checked his mobile to see all the congratulatory messages, including from a son who is based in Dubai and had watched online. “I always knew they were a pair of lovely colts and that is why they have come here. This is better than winning the Lotto!
“The mare is good servant to me, she is young mare, and the grandam has been a good servant to me, too.”
The pedigree has done the Noonans proud over the years. This colt’s grandam dam Pirie was bought for 11,500gns at the December Mares Sale in 2004. The colt’s dam Supreme Occasion was leased to Hambleton Racing, won her first two starts, was fourth in the Group 2 May Hill Stakes and third in the £100,000 Tattersalls Millions Fillies’ Stakes. Noonan concluded: “I wish Godolphin the best, he is a lovely colt.”
Gainsborough strike on the double
CHURCHILL’S first crop were well received all week and one of his best was the daughter of the group-placed Holy Roman Emperor mare Pussycat Lips. She was bought for 340,000gns by Simon Crisford’s Gainsborough Thoroughbreds for MV Magnier, and was sold from Croom House Stud where she was bred by Denis Brosnan’s Epona Bloodstock Ltd.
“She is a lovely filly, very racy and athletic, and she showed herself off well,” said Crisford. “MV Magnier really loved her. She will be for a Coolmore partnership.” The filly is a half-sister to three winners, two of which are blacktype-placed.
Gainsborough made a second purchase for 340,000gns, this time a daughter of Camelot and the Group 2 runner-up Matorio from David Cox’s Baroda Stud. The filly was bred by Frank Antonacci and David Reid who own a share in the stallion No Nay Never. Matorio was bought by Mick Flanagan at the Tattersalls December Sale in 2017 for 125,000gns.
“The mare is at Baroda and she went to No Nay Never but didn’t take and transferred to Camelot,” said Cox, who added: “Luckily it has all worked out well. She had a No Nay Never colt foal this year and is in foal to No Nay Never.”
Having used Gainsborough for a purchase, and Avenue Bloodstock for another, MV Magnier used the services of Cormac McCormack for the acquisition of Parkway Farm’s Mastercraftsman filly out of a Kalanisi half-sister to Sinndar for 325,000gns. The yearling’s own-sister Simannka was stakes-placed. Breeder Denis McDonnell said: “I bought Simkana out of the Aga Khan’s after she had foaled Simannka. This is a nicer filly than Simannka. She was a grey filly, she was bought by Paul Makin for €200,000 and was shipped to Australia. She was supposed to be a group filly, but Paul Makin died and she never ran.”
Foal buyers see some great returns
IT was not all a bed of roses for pinhookers, but there were still many great tales of rewards. The highest price of the week for a pinhooked foal was achieved with the sale of Kenilworth House Stud’s son of Showcasing (Lot 840).
White Birch Farm and Demi O’Byrne spent 310,000gns on this son of an unraced Acclamation mare. Gerry Ross, manager of Kenilworth, pinhooked the colt with some friends, giving 70,000gns for him last year when he was sold by Whitsbury Manor Stud. Ross said: “He had a good walk. As auctioneer Alastair Pim said he was one of the best-looking walkers he had seen through the two weeks. A foal will never lose its walk. Hopefully, he will go on to fulfil his potential.”
Bred by Ballylinch Stud and bought as a foal for 125,000gns by Yeomanstown Stud, the Acclamation half-brother to Group 3 winners Burnt Sugar and Brown Sugar sold to Anthony Stroud for 300,000gns (Lot 916). The dam Lady Livius has had five winners from seven runners.
Mountain View Stud had a couple of outstanding pinhooks. Their Wootton Bassett first foal out of an unraced Mastercraftsman mare (Lot 837) went from being a €43,000 Arqana foal to a 200,000gns Richard Hughes yearling purchase. Just as spectacular was the sale to Shadwell of a son of Bated Breath (Lot 1301) for 290,000gns. This own-brother to the group-placed Landshark cost 67,000gns last year.
Kilminfoyle House Stud hit three notable bullseyes during the week. Their Profitable colt (Lot 861) sold to Shadwell for 160,000gns having cost €65,000, Federico Barberini bought a colt by Caravaggio (Lot 1046), whose first crop in Book 2 averaged over 105,000gns, for 160,000gns – up from his 72,000gns foal price, and they struck oil when the €42,000 Sea The Moon colt (Lot 1116) rose in value from €42,000 to 200,000gns, selling to Stroud Coleman.
Other pinhooks of note concerned lots 590 (24,000gns to 150,000gns), 630 (90,000gns to 185,000gns), 729 (€90,000 to 260,000gns), 828 (€95,000 to 260,000gns), 915 (90,000gns to 250,000gns), 931 (€62,000 to 210,000gns), 952 (€38,000 to 205,000gns), 989 (52,000gns to 200,000gns) and 1271 (52,000gns to 250,000gns).