SOURCING horses for the Goffs London Sale has reportedly become more difficult in recent years due to many Royal Ascot prospects being snapped up privately by big-spending owners before Goffs get a chance to recruit them.
Thankfully for Goffs, Amo Racing’s Kia Joorabchian and John Stewart of Resolute Racing still had money to spend at Monday’s boutique sale, where they purchased the top three lots.
Stewart drove Joorabchian to £2million for proven Group 1 performer Ghostwriter, who was offered with an entry in the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes. Clive Cox had trained and offered the Invincible Spirit colt on behalf of owner Jeff Smith, but Ghostwriter’s future residence remains undecided, according to the colt’s new owner.
Joorabchian did confirm who can be blamed if his purchase doesn’t work out, so his accompanying agent Alex Elliott is off the hook in that regard, though he’s not going anywhere soon, judging by the football agent’s comments. “To be honest, my son picked this horse out a little while ago and he said ‘We’ve got to buy this!’,” Joorabchian explained.
“Maxi isn’t here, but I’ve got my adopted son, Alex Elliott with me. Anyway, he didn’t want to buy it so he doesn’t have any pressure. This one’s on me.”
Jeff Smith Littleton Stud bought Ghostwriter for 100,000gns from Norelands Stud at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale. Three years earlier, Littleton Stud had sourced a No Nay Never filly foal from the McCalmont family’s draft at the Goffs November Foal Sale for €40,000. Subsequently named Alcohol Free, she, of course, went on to win four Group 1s before selling for 5.4million guineas.
Everyone's a winner
Reflecting on Monday’s outcome, Littleton Stud manager David Bowe commented: “It was a win-win situation really. We were sad to lose him, as Clive Cox and his team have done a wonderful job with him, and we would have been more than happy to keep him at a certain price, but we thought this was a fair amount to take for him. We wish Kia all the best of luck.”
Amo Racing later combined with Nick Bell to purchase another Ascot contender, Tycoon, for £600,000. Trained by John and Thady Gosden for owner/breeder Bjorn Nielsen, the Kingman colt is rated 97 after finishing third, beaten seven and a half lengths, in the Listed Cocked Hat Stakes at Goodwood.
The promising three-year-old was offered with entries in the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes and The Golden Gate Stakes, for which he is 50/1 and 25/1 respectively, but Bell fancies his chances in the latter contest. “I'm very keen to run him in the Golden Gates on Saturday, and I think Kia is intending on leaving him with the Gosdens for that race at least,” he said after signing the docket.
“I thought he was very impressive at Windsor when he won, and then he didn't quite stay at Goodwood. He's lightly raced and has a big pedigree, so he has the right profile to put in a big run.
“He’s going to be a single-figure price on Saturday. If he runs well in that he’d end up looking well bought at this sort of money, especially considering the different jurisdictions he could race in. I thought he was a fair price.”
FRESH from landing the Prix de Diane as part of a group race treble on Sunday, Francis-Henri Graffard supplied the second highest-priced lot on Monday, in the form of Woodshauna. Offered on behalf of Al Shaqab Racing, the Group 3 and listed winner will now carry the colours of growing force Resolute Racing, after John Stewart gave £625,000 for the progressive three-year-old.
Stewart added Graffard to his roster of trainers last year when buying into Goliath after his Group 1 win in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes, so it was unsurprising to hear that his latest recruit will remain with the French trainer.
“Francis said he would be in the sale and thought he was a good horse,” Stewart added. “I actually thought he might make a little more money but he didn’t have a Royal Ascot entry so we might have got a bit of value.
“Around 80 per cent of our programme is turf, and we’ve got a lot of sprinters, so now we’re looking for some more stayers.”
The first crop son of Prix de l’Abbaye victor Wooded holds entries in next month’s Prix Jean Prat and the Prix Maurice De Gheest.
Royal recruits
Tropical Storm, who is 33/1 for tomorrow’s King Charles III Stakes, brought £500,000 from Oliver St Lawrence, who didn’t divulge whose silks his purchase will now carry.
Colin Keane is booked to ride Andrew Balding’s offering and is currently 33/1 after notching his second stakes success at York last month. The Eqtidaar colt has form at Ascot, having finished second to Shareholder in last year’s Norfolk Stakes.
Coventry Stakes contender Super Soldier will now carry the colours of the JC Organization, the entity of Danish owners John Christensen and Alice Weiste, after selling for £390,000. The Karl Burke-trained colt was the highest-priced juvenile of the evening after stablemate Ali Shuffle was bought back at £500,000, a day after finishing second in the Group 3 Prix du Bois.
Explaining their decision to purchase Super Soldier, Christensen said: “We have Thunder Run with Karl and were looking forward to running him in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes, but he got balloted out, worst luck.”
“I’d invited some friends over so we were all dressed up and had nowhere to go! He’ll run in the Coventry Stakes tomorrow and we’ll cheer him home. My friends have taken a leg each and we have two.
“We also have War Socks, trained by Niels Pietersen in Norway, entered for the Golden Gates Stakes at Royal Ascot on Saturday. We can’t wait!”
CONSIDERING that the London Sale consists of horses with particularly bright futures ahead of them, it is little wonder that consignors often decide to retain their offering and roll the dice themselves on the track. It has worked out for some in the past, with Lazzat and the Group 1-winning examples.
Rafale Design’s Group 3-winning update gained the previous day – his second straight win at that level - saw auctioneer Nick Nugent present the three-year-old as “a live Arc contender.” Such a dream is priceless, and his owners obviously think so, as they retained the Yann Barberot-trained colt for £2million.
At the end of trade, 19 of the 28 lots offered changed hands for an average price of £406,316. All lots offered by Irish trainers sold, the most expensive of which was the Michael O’Callaghan-trained Michael Scofield at £350,000.
BBA Ireland signed the docket for the American-bred three-year-old, who won two novice events at Southwell before finished fourth in a listed race at Newcastle. BBA earlier gave £300,000 for Sheila Lavery’s recently stakes-placed Kortez Bay.
Michael O’Callaghan also sold promising two-year-old filly Fairy Oak to Sky Racing Club for £225,000. The first crop daughter of A’Ali had separated two Ballydoyle colts when finishing second on debut.
Gavin Cromwell’s Curragh maiden winner Bonus Time will switch to the Paddy Twomey stable after the trainer secured the three-year-old filly on behalf of Bond Thoroughbreds for £320,000.
Stablemate Snellen may be travelling further afield after Blandford Bloodstock and Australian owner Tim Porter gave £200,000 for the Chesham Stakes winner.
A trip Down Under is definitely on the cards for Cromwell’s Fairyhouse maiden winner Mo Chroi, who was knocked down to a fan-wielding Gai Waterhouse, Adrien Bott and McKeever Bloodstock for £160,000.
The same combination went to £250,000 for Johnny Murtagh’s progressive three-year-old Fantazy Man, spurred on by Nick Nugent’s cry “Are you a fan?! Bid on!” Nugent’s call of “Stop looking pensive, just spend the money!” when bidding stalled on another lot proved less successful.