JOHN O’Connor of Ballylinch Stud in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny spent €1.4 million on Sunday to acquire the only Dubawi colt in the Arqana August Yearling Sale at Deauville.

The colt was jointly bred by the China Racing Club and Qatar Racing, and it was the latter’s David Redvers who proved the toughest opponent for Ballylinch Stud.

Winner of the Irish 1000 Guineas for Qatar Racing, Just The Judge was valued at 4.5 million guineas at Tattersalls after her racing career. She is jointly owned by Qatar Racing and the China Racing Club.

Ballylinch Stud is owned by the American billionaire businessman John Malone. Of Irish heritage, Malone is chairman of Liberty Global whose portfolio includes Virgin Media. Malone also owns Castlemartin Stud in Kildare, former home of Tony O’Reilly.

After signing for the Dubawi colt, O’Connor said: “We were very keen to have him. He is a beautiful individual by an exceptional stallion and from a family we know extremely well. We actually bred and sold the dam of Just The Judge, Faraday Light, and the family goes back to the days of the McCalmonts. The colt will go into training for Ballylinch Stud and obviously we are hoping to make a stallion.”

Ballylinch Stud has 16 horses in training at the moment, exactly half in Ireland spread among Dermot Weld, Jim Bolger, Willie Mullins, Eddie Lynam and Patrick Prendergast. The stud also supports Andre Fabre, Hugo Palmer, Jamie Osborne, Mark Johnston, Pia Brandt and Charlie Hills, who trained Just The Judge.

A diversified, international buying bench ensured for a second night of strong trade at the August Yearling Sale and brought results for the two-day Part I very close to matching last year’s figures. With the average showing a 10% jump on day two, the cumulated figure for Part I settled at €234,635, just 1.6% down from 2017, while turnover for the weekend reached €28,074,000. The clearance rate for the first two days of selling was 74%.

There was also a Ballylinch connection to the second highest priced lot on Sunday as Coolmore Stud paid €900,000 for a colt by Ballylinch stallion Lope De Vega. The colt is a half-brother to Dark Vision, winner of the Group 2 Vintage Stakes at Goodwood for trainer Mark Johnston and now owned by Godolphin.

Also fetching €900,000 and bound for Godolphin is the Invincible Spirit filly out of French Group 3 winner Mayhem. She was bought by agent Anthony Stroud from breeder Brendan Hayes.

The second and last American Pharoah to sell at a European yearling sale this season will race for an all American partnership after falling to Deuce Greathouse for €850,000. The ahtletic filly is the first foal out of the Grade 3 winner Marbre Rose, which Ecurie des Monceaux raced with Christophe Clément in partnership with Haras de Saint-Pair.

Hot on the heels of the €900,000 sale of Dark Vision’s sibling, Lope De Vega’s star continued to shine bright with China Horse Club paying €600,000 for a full-brother to Dewhurst Stakes winner Belardo, owned by Ballylinch Stud.

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