BOOK 1 of the three-day Tattersalls October Yearling Sale ended on Thursday with a set of figures that would have been quite satisfactory had they been compared with the trade recorded two years ago, but they fell some way short of the astonishing business done just 12 months past.

While the higher echelons of the market again produced some mouth-watering transactions, many fuelled by the spending power of behemoths such as M.V. Magnier and partners, Godolphin, Shadwell and Sumbe, there was a noticeable selectivity about trade lower down the scale, and whether this was just a feature of this week’s business only, or whether it carries into next week, remains to be seen.

The top of the market was dominated by sons and daughters of just a handful of stallions, the 21 lots that sold for 600,000gns or more being the offspring of Frankel, Dubawi, the outstanding first-season sire Blue Point, Wootton Bassett, Lope De Vega, Kingman, Sea The Stars, Dark Angel, Havana Grey and the first crop of Ghaiyyath. Five of this group were fillies.

The reality of the sale’s outcome was acknowledged by Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony in his statement on Thursday evening. He said: “Book 1 of last year’s Tattersalls October Yearling Sale produced some outlandish figures which will most likely remain in the record books for many years to come, and it is no surprise that this year’s renewal has not matched the extraordinary 2022 returns which saw a year-on-year rise in turnover of almost 40 million guineas.

“Nevertheless, Europe’s premier yearling sale has enjoyed plenty of memorable moments, very much reflecting the quality of the yearlings which have been on show throughout the past three days.

Finest yearlings

“The sale showcases the very best that Europe has to offer, and yet again we have seen so many of the world’s leading owners competing for the finest turf-bred yearlings to be found anywhere in the world. Amongst them have been a greater number of yearlings selling for one million guineas or more than all other European yearling sales combined, Europe’s highest-priced yearling yet again, and 40 yearlings selling for in excess of 500,000gns, which similarly is more than all other European yearlings sales to date this year.

“As ever Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale has attracted buyers from throughout the world, so many of them drawn by the consistent success of Book 1 horses at the highest level on the global stage. In the course of the past three days buyers from Abu Dhabi, Australia, Bahrain, China, Dubai, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the USA have all made significant contributions at all levels of the market.”

Mahony added: “Amongst the success stories and numerous pinhooking triumphs, there has nevertheless been a selectivity to the market which we must recognise. Last year’s game-changing October Book 1 was always going to be a challenging target, and so it has proved, with the sale turnover some way short of the massive 2022 total, but the median has held up well, second only to last year’s record level, the average of almost 250,000gns is an impressive figure, and the clearance rate in excess of 80% is a solid number.”

Oppenheimer’s move is totally vindicated

THE decision made by Anthony Oppenheimer and Hascombe and Valiant Stud to sell its entire draft of yearling colts this autumn was most handsomely rewarded in the ring on Wednesday when his son of Frankel and a winning daughter of Lemon Drop Kid sold for 2,000,000gns, the highest-priced yearling sold in Europe this year.

M.V. Magnier, standing in the gangway, saw off opposition from Godolphin and Juddmonte to buy the colt out of Bizzarria, an own-sister to the Grade 1 Canadian International Stakes winner Cannock Chase and the Group 2 Prix Eugene Adam winner Pisco Sour, and a half-sister to the three-time Group 1-winning filly Star Catcher. “He is lovely horse and from a very successful stud which has bred very good horses in the past,” said Magnier. “Frankel is flying, everyone liked him and he goes to Ballydoyle.”

Oppenheimer said: “There were no regrets at all when he was going around the ring. I did not think we’d get as much as that. I know he is a very nice horse; [we are] refuelling the stud’s finances and it can’t do any harm!”

Magnier was also on the mark for another by Banstead Manor’s Frankel, this time a son of the stakes-placed Oasis Dream mare Materialistic. Her first two living produce are now winners, and she is a daughter of the Group 2 Lancashire Oaks winner Pongee, who was runner-up in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks. The colt was bred and sold by Luca Cumani’s Fittocks Stud, source of this week’s two-year-old winner for Ballydoyle, Euphoric. Juddmonte Farm was the underbidder.

“It is a great family, and this colt has always been a fantastic horse,” said Cumani of the 950,000gns lot. “Right from the moment he was born, he has looked strong and has been a wonderful horse all the way through.” Materialistic is back in foal to Frankel.

Other Frankel highlights were the 900,000gns sale to Godolphin of Oakgrove Stud’s half-brother to the stakes winner Alkandora, and this lot’s grandam is also Pongee. BBA Ireland spent 650,000gns on the Frankel son of Foxtrot Liv. He is the second produce of the dual winner who was placed in the Group 1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas.

Millionaires abound for Irish farms

A BLUE Point half-brother to triple champion Battaash and Group 1 Middle Park Stakes second The Antarctic realised 1,500,000gns to the bid of Anthony Stroud, on behalf of Godolphin. Bred and sold by Paul and Marie McCartan’s Ballyphilip Stud, the colt was given the highest accolade by Paul when he reported that he thought he was the best individual that he and his wife have bred.

He told reporters: “I had always put Battaash number one, but then this colt got here and did everything right, and everything came together. I think he is an absolute belter. I am delighted that Godolphin bought him and that Charlie Appleby will train him. He is the image of his father and his grandfather [Shamardal].”

Of the decision to send the dam Anna Law to Blue Point, MacCartan said: “It was probably an act of lunacy to take such a risk with a mare who is so important to us; I probably should have sent her to a proven horse rather than a first crop horse.

“But I was there the day Blue Point beat Battaash in the King’s Stand. I thought Battaash looked great that day but I saw Blue Point come into the parade ring and I had one look at him and one look at Charlie Appleby and I said, ‘We are not going to be winning today!’”

Anthony Stroud added: “He was one that we wanted. Paul McCartan has had Tiggy Wiggy, Profitable, Harry Angel and so many more, it is a great nursery and they do a fantastic job.”

Cloney success

Clara Stud’s Wootton Bassett half-brother to the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup winner Golden Horde lit up the ring when selling for 1,250,000gns to M.V. Magnier and Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm. The son of the Pivotal mare Entreat, whose siblings also include the stakes winners Exhort and Line Of Departure, was knocked down to Magnier after a bidding duel with Mohamed Al Mansour.

Breeder James Cloney was at present to see the colt go through the ring, consigned by his family’s Co Kilkenny farm which is run by his father-in-law, Michéal Nolan. “The horse really sold himself,” said the breeder.

Ballylinch Stud’s Lope De Vega colt out of the listed-winning mare Bella Estrella was bought for 1,100,000gns by Nurlan Bizakov’s Sumbe. The colt’s grandam is the Grade 2 winner Uncharted Haven, and she is also the grandam of the classic winner Just the Judge. Sumbe’s general manager Tony Fry said that they hope to have purchased a future stallion prospect for the farm. “He is a lovely horse, a lovely model. He is by a lovely sire, he is out of a lovely mare and, if he is good enough, he is potential stallion,” said Fry.

A COLT from the first crop of the red-hot Ghaiyyath topped the opening day of Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, one of two lots at the session to sell for one million guineas or more. The colt is a half-brother to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Victoria Road.

He was knocked down to Anthony Stroud on behalf of Godolphin for 1,050,000gns seeing off a determined effort by M.V. Magnier. Breeder Trevor Stewart was all smiles as the colt’s dam, Tickled Pink, who is a daughter of the Group 2 King’s Stand Stakes winner Cassandra Go and a half-sister to the classic winner Halfway To Heaven, once again kept the family’s name in the headlines.

“I did not expect it, but he was a gorgeous horse and it is wonderful that he is going to Godolphin,” said Stewart. “I could not be more thrilled. Some of Tickled Pink’s progeny have been a little on the neat side, so we thought we need to get a bit more height and length into the foals. Ghaiyyath was obviously a great racehorse, and it is risky going to a first season sire, but time will tell.” Tickled Pink has a Saxon Warrior colt foal and is in foal to the sire.

It was somewhat fitting that the first lot to realise one million guineas at Book 1 was the last foal out of Newsells Park Stud’s remarkable Danehill mare Shastye. She is the dam of five previous millionaire lots sold at Tattersalls, three of whom fetched 3.400,000gns or more. Shastye is the dam of Group 1 winners Japan and Mogul, and the Oaks runner up Secret Gesture. Her Dubawi yearling colt was bought by Godolphin for 1,000,000gns.

Let’s hear it for the girls

THE first foal out of the champion juvenile filly Millisle became the highest-priced filly at Book 1 of this year’s Tattersalls October Yearling Sale when selling for 1,600,000gns to Shadwell Estate. This followed a prolonged bidding duel with Kieran Lalor from Al Shira’aa Stables.

A daughter of Starspangledbanner, Millisle won the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes at two, and her offspring was sold by Watership Down Stud on behalf of breeder Francis Jennings of Stonethorn Stud. Victorious bidder Angus Gold said: “A lovely first foal. I saw her on the farm and loved her. We loved her every time we saw her, as did Sheikha Hissa. We knew she’d make a lot of money, but we need some fillies for the stud, and a first foal out of a Cheveley Park Stakes winner and by a great stallion, it was fairly self-explanatory. She seemed very athletic, very well balanced and has a very good mind, so now she has got to be able to run.

“It is a period of rebuilding, and is a long-term project for Sheikha Hissa. We have been lucky this year with the older horses, and Sheikha Hissa is happy to take a different route to her father Sheikh Hamdan, who did not like to keep the older horses. She is prepared to if we think there is more to come, and she has been rewarded with a Group 1 winner. It is exciting times for the stud, but you have to keep regenerating.”

Gold added: “She loves coming to see the yearlings and we saw them all on Monday, and she has been back over the three days to see the horses again. She is picking it up very quickly, like her father, and really enjoys the business.”

Simon Marsh, general manager of the Lloyd Webber’s Watership Down Stud, commented: “She has never put a foot wrong all her life and there were a lot of people interested in her. It is extremely rare to have a filly out of a Cheveley Park winner come up for sale, and as attractive as she is. It is a lot more than we thought she would make but I am not ultimately surprised. She is very similar to the mare, and she belongs to Francis Jennings whose father Gerry Jennings was a wonderful breeder. It is just reward for Francis and his family who have put enormous trust in us to raise the horses.”

Different entities

The top five fillies were all purchased by different entities. Sumbe spent just over two and a half million guineas on four lots, and they included Grangemore Stud’s daughter of Dark Angel, just the third produce of the stakes-placed Kodiac mare Futoon. The mare’s first foal is the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes winner Wings Of War, while the second is this year’s three-year-old Charyn, also a Group 2 winner as a juvenile and placed in both the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes and Sussex Stakes. Both are sons of Dark Angel.

Two daughters of Dubawi, both consigned by Newsells Park Stud, sold for 800,000gns and 725,000gns. Godolphin spent the greater of the figures on a filly out of the dual pattern winner Luminate, and that daughter of Lawman is from the immediate family of the Breeders’ Cup Turf winner and successful sire, Kalanisi. On day one of the sale, Oliver St Lawrence signed for a daughter of the unraced Secret Gaze, and she is a Galileo full-sister to Group 1 winners Japan and Mogul.

Alex Elliott was acting on behalf of M.V. Magnier when he paid 650,000gns for a Sea The Stars own-sister to the 2023 winner and Group 3 Musidora Stakes-placed Infinite Cosmos. The filly’s dam Waila was a stakes winner at three, and her half-sister bred the Coolmore National Hunt sire and champion racehorse, Crystal Ocean.