The Godolphin draft proved the highlight on the opening day of the Tattersalls July Sale, providing the four highest-priced lots and including seven six-figure sales.
Ace Stud bought the day’s two top lots online, with the top spot taken by the unraced but beautifully-bred Renaissance Lady at 500,000gns.
Tally-Ho Stud underbid the three-year-old daughter of Pinatubo (Shamardal) and sister to eight stakes horses, including Group 1 winners Triple Threat and Ajman Princess. The latter is the dam of Inisherin (Shamardal), while another half-sister produced three-time Group 1 winner Rosallion (Blue Point, by Shamardal).
“Renaissance Lady really is something of a collector’s item as a sister to a stallion, and closely related to Rosallion and Inisherin, too,” Ace Stud’s Paul Curran of Ace Stud said.
“Pedigrees like this are just so hard to buy and they don't come onto the market very often. Physically she is a good stamp of a mare, too. She’s obviously out of training and so we'll bring her back to the farm, let her down, give her some grass time and will make a decision for next year.”
Of her price, he added: “We probably paid a little bit more than we thought, but that probably is just the nature of this sale, as it can be condensed quality.”
Options open
While mating plans remain fluid for Renaissance Lady, Curran did not nominate Ace Stud resident Shaquille, saying: “She probably would suit a Godolphin stallion again, but there are no plans as yet.
“She is open to many options and looking through the pedigree you could go back to Frankel obviously or stay and go closer into the Shamardal line with a stallion such as Blue Point.”
Curran outlined similar plans for Ace Stud’s 400,000gns purchase Wild Angel, a Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) sister to three-time Group 1 winner and stallion Space Blues (Dubawi).
The now four-year-old placed on all her starts in the UK before getting off the mark in France and was offered as a carrying her first cover to Pinatubo. Her siblings also include group winner Shuruq, herself the dam of Grade 1 filly Antoinette.
“A pedigree like this is hard to get into as a three-part sister to Space Blues and a half to Shuruq, and it is a very good family outside of that,” Curran later commented.
“Too Darn Hot is looking as though he could shape up as a nice broodmare sire. Physically, she's a lovely mare and she just suits exactly what we're looking for. We’ll sit down and take a look at her, she could suit one of the Godolphin stallions again, something from the Shamardal line.”
Promising
While Too Darn Hot is yet to be tried as a broodmare sire, his own sire Dubawi is the damsire of 10 individual Group 1 winners. Five of the 11 fillies to fetch six-figures on Tuesday were daughters or granddaughters of Dubawi.
That includes Clacton Thoroughbreds’s 180,000gns purchase Enchanted Queen, an 80-rated maiden who placed on all three of her career starts as a juvenile, but was offered as a three-year-old out of training.
The Ghaiyyath filly’s two-year-old half-sister Avalon Queen placed in a Newbury maiden last week and has been given a rating of 80 after two starts. The pair are out of dual group winner Morgan Le Faye, a daughter of Shamardal who placed in the Prix Royal-Oak and Prix du Cadran – a race her granddam Molly Malone won.
Fellow Godolphin offering Verse Of Love fetched the same price of 180,000gns, with Ger Morrin of Pier House Stud signing as Kelly Equine. A dual winner with a rating of 92, the daughter of Siyouni was sent off favourite for the Nell Gwynn Stakes on her three-year-old return but failed to pick up blacktype.
That was key to her appeal, Morrin explained: “I remember when she was in training, she looked very promising. She was in the betting for the Guineas actually at one stage. I like to buy those ones who show a lot of promise, and if she had got blacktype, I wouldn't have been able to afford her, but I think she had that ability.”
The four-year-old is out of a Shamardal sister to Prix du Jockey Club runner-up Saint Baudolino and Avilius, a three-time Group 1 winner in Australia.
Given the four fillies outlined above, it was no surprise to see Godolphin end the day as leading consignors with returns of 2,264,500gns, which made up 46% of the day’s total turnover of 4,956,000gns.
The opening day saw turnover rise by 12% year on year, while the median increased by 9% to 12,000gns and the average price climbed by 34% to 30,783gns. The latter to figures and the clearance rate of 85% (up from 82%) were also helped by a 16% drop in the number of horses offered.
US buyers
Leonard Green will be hoping to win blacktype with promising two-year-old Duidin after John Butler’s wildcard entry Duidin sold to the US owner’s DJ Stables for 140,000gns
The Cotai Glory colt, who commanded the highest price of the day for a horse in training, has progressed with each start, winning on his third attempt at Wolverhampton last month and followed up with a five-length win at Kempton.
Tuesday’s price was a good deal higher than the €18,000 he commanded as a foal and £22,000 he fetched as a yearling, when signed for by Stephen Hillen and Kevin Ryan.
Cotai Glory, who stood at Tally-Ho Stud before selling to Turkey, has done well in the US, represented by Grade 1 winner Excellent Truth and dual stakes winner Spirit And Glory. It’s where Jessica Harrington’s Leopardstown maiden winner Pisiffik Ginger is bound after selling to Rancho Temescal and partners for 100,000gns.
Consigned by Baroda Stud on behalf of owner/breeder Sebastian Curran, the two-year-old is the first foal out of connections’ 88-rated mare Himalayan Beauty.
Repole Stable was another American buyer to strike, giving 130,000gns for Godolphin’s Dubawi filly Morning Rose. A debut winner last October and offered out of training, the now three-year-old is out of the group-placed mare Dawn Delivers, who has a yearling filly by Lord Kanaloa and colt foal by Yoshida.
Her granddam is a full-sister to the top-class Fantastic Light and top-flight performer Hi Dubai, herself the granddam of a Grade 1 winner in Argentina.
Morning Rose’s former Charlie Appleby stablemate Carnival Queen has a shorter journey ahead of her after being knocked down to Tally-Ho Stud for 125,000gns. Sold by Ringfort Stud as a foal, the Ghaiyyath filly is a winning half-sister to Chester Vase victor Youth Spirit and listed winner Canberra Legend, while Gimcrack Stakes winner Blaine features further down the page.