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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Following some pretty roasting foal trade at Goffs last week, action returns to Park Paddocks for the Tattersalls December Sale, which, after a Monday yearling session, features four days of weanlings. Four years ago at Tattersalls, Deborah O'Brien brought a neat and strong Tasleet yearling colt to the market through Bearstone Stud, where the breeder boards her mares, and sold him for 12,000gns. The result, after a further appearance at the Goffs UK Breeze-up Sale, was Bradsell, winner of the G1 Flying Five, G1 Nunthorpe, G1 King's Stand and G2 Coventry Stakes. Many people would settle for just one Royal Ascot winner but Bradsell took his owner Victorious Racing to the winner's circle there twice before his deserved retirement to the stallion yard at the National Stud. And for O'Brien, Bradsell's career was a sustained high point after decades of breeding. “To breed a stallion is the absolute ambition any breeder would have,” she says. “And I'm sure, at the highest level, they're used to doing it, but for someone like me, it's absolutely fantastic.” O'Brien admits to “a faint sense of dread” in anticipation of selling three foals at Tattersalls on Tuesday and Wednesday, despite the fact that one of them, lot 609, is the three-quarter-brother to Bradsell, by Soldier's Call. “I've picked three out of the six foals I've got this year. The ones I think are forward and that I think people might like,” she says of her decision to sell as weanlings. “I've got a Ubettabelieveit, that's the first one through, from Bradsell's family. He's out of Sparkling Perry, who is a winning Fountain of Youth mare. He is an absolute belter, and a nice-natured one with it. And I'm selling an El Caballo colt out of a Sir Percy mare. They're both on Tuesday.” O'Brien could well then be responsible for one of the highlights of Wednesday's session. She continues, “The Soldier's Call close relative to Bradsell sells later on Wednesday. They haven't put him in on the Friday and that's probably because he's by Soldier's Call. He's been no trouble at all, just like Bradsell. “I was disappointed to see that he was on the Wednesday at first, but then I thought, well, actually, if you're fighting the Frankels and the whatever on the Friday, maybe he could get lost in that but stand out a bit on the Wednesday.” Having bred and raced Bradsell's first three dams, O'Brien is understandably keen to keep the line going and has retained the yearling half-sister by Oasis Dream, who has been named Ruby Punch and is currently in pre-training with Claire and Chris Bonner. “She's going to Andrew Balding,” O'Brien says of the filly. “We've been friends with the Baldings for almost 40 years and we just thought if we ever had one that had the pedigree to be able to go, we'd send them one.” She will doubtless be hoping that some of Bradsell's talent rubs off on him, though their dam Russian Punch (Archipenko) was no slouch either, as the winner of the Listed Radley Stakes among her three victories for James Given. “The word that always sprung to mind with Bradsell was uncomplicated,” she says. “And the foal is exactly the same. He was one of the nicest foals bred on the stud, physically, in attitude and everything, I don't know about the talent – you don't ever know until they start racing.” We have heard much, from the TBA in Britain in particular, about the plight of small breeders and their reduction in number, along with the drop in foal crop. The Yorkshire-based O'Brien says that she aims to keep going while gradually reducing her numbers. “I'm going to have to recognise that nobody else in the family wants to take it on,” she says. “It's a bit of a financial drain as well, except on occasional moments. So at some point I'm going to have to figure out how to contract it. I'm trying to prove the young mares in order to maybe sell them on with some credentials. “You can feel like you're constantly beating your head against the system, never mind everything else. I can see why the foal crop is dropping, and now the TBA has put this compulsory extra levy on the foal registrations. They have a much better system in Ireland where the contribution is geared to the cost of the stallion nominations you've used, so small breeders don't pay anywhere near as much as somebody registering a foal by an expensive stallion.” She adds of the new £60 compulsory foal levy in Britain, “That's a massive hit on the registration fees. And how they think that that is going to encourage the breeder to cover their mares, I really don't know.” O'Brien is not alone in having aired this concern, but despite this, there will be one foal she will be particularly eager to register next year, and that will be one of the earliest born by Bradsell. She says, “I have Tequila Royale in foal to him, and I sent her first because she always foals around the 20th, 23rd of January. She's always covered 18th or 19th of February, and she gets in foal straightaway. So, obviously, that's the most exciting thing of next year.” O'Brien continues, “I've got two mares to send to him next year as I bought one of the breeding rights. I do think he's got what it might take to be a good stallion. He's got the temperament and he's got the physique. So you've got to just hope that the right mares produce the right foals.” And, in a nutshell, this small breeder who has enjoyed some notable highs while accepting the lows that undoubtedly go hand in hand with the lifestyle, sums up exactly why so many of her ilk keep dreaming the dream. “I don't really wish the years away but there's always something to look forward to,” she says, with just over a month to go until Bradsell's first foals start to appear. “As difficult as it is, I've noticed that breeders live quite a long time. I think it's because they've got something to hang in there for.” Yearlings Provide the Opening Show There are around 170 last chances to buy a yearling at public auction in Britain this year, and Monday's December Yearling Sale at Tattersalls can often provide a back-up option for a horse who has had to miss an earlier sale with a small setback. It has had its fair share of success over the years, and there is no finer example of this than Via Sistina. The daughter of Fastnet Rock had initially been engaged in the October Book 3 sale of 2019 but, having been withdrawn, arrived at Tattersalls instead six weeks later. It is fair to say that her debut appearance at the December Sale was much lower key than her second. Via Sistina was plucked from the yearling sale for just 5,000gns by Stephen Hillen. Four years later she returned a Group 1 winner to be sold to Yulong for 2.7 million gns. That may have seemed steep at the time, but the seven-year-old was rated the top mare in the world last year and has now added a scarcely believable 11 more Group 1 wins to her tally in Australia, including back-to-back victories in the Cox Plate and Champion Stakes. Among this year's offerings are a full-brother to Group 3 and Listed winner Anthelia (Supremacy), who sells as lot 5 from Abbeyleix Stud just five days after his weanling half-brother by Starman sold for €225,000 at Goffs. The Castlebridge Consignment later offers a double-whammy of enticing colts by Sea The Stars in the full-brothers to Group 1 winners Emily Upjohn and Sea Of Class, catalogued as lots 75 and 76. In keeping with the rest of the Tattersalls yearling sales in 2024, the December Yearling session took a major leap forward 12 months ago when turnover exceeded 7 million gns, with an average in excess of 50,000gns for the first time. Admittedly, this boost in trade was aided somewhat by a record top lot, when the Dark Angel half-sister to subsequent Classic winner Camille Pissarro (Wootton Bassett) sold for 900,000gns, but with plenty of decent pedigrees on offer this time around, it will be no surprise to see the December Sale commence in similarly ebullient fashion. The first yearling will be in the ring on Monday at 10am. It is also worth noting that there is now no blank day between the yearlings and foals. The December Foal Sale begins at 11am on Tuesday, and Thursday is now the 'dark day' before weanling trade resumes on Friday and Saturday, at 10am both days. The post ‘There’s Always Something To Look Forward To’: Deborah O’Brien Brings Bradsell’s Brother to December Foal Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
The status quo was maintained in the race to become the local rider at next month’s Longines International Jockeys’ Championship after Vincent Ho Chak-yiu and Jerry Chau Chun-lok both struck at Sha Tin on Sunday. Heading into the meeting, Ho was one winner ahead of Chau but he wasted no time in extending the advantage when Mabubu made all the running on debut to win the Class Four BOC Cross-Border Services Handicap (1,200m). Chau managed to wrestle the lead back down to one when the impressive...View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Any doubts about Romantic Warrior not being able to return to his glorious best after injury were firmly brushed aside as he crushed Voyage Bubble to win a third Group Two BOCHK Jockey Club Cup (2,000m) at Sha Tin on Sunday. The 10-time Group One hero had been sidelined with an incomplete fracture in his left front fetlock and was returning from a 232-day absence to take on a race-fit Triple Crown hero in Voyage Bubble. Despite this, the market was firmly in his favour and Danny Shum...View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
A sublime rails-hugging ride by James McDonald helped Galaxy Patch claim his first victory in 13 months as red-hot favourite My Wish could only manage fourth in a dramatic Group Two BOCHK Private Wealth Jockey Club Mile at Sha Tin on Sunday. Winless since last year’s Group Two Sha Tin Trophy (1,600m), Pierre Ng Pang-chi’s stable star avenged his defeat in last year’s Jockey Club Mile as the $1.7 favourite with the breakthrough success. McDonald made an impact on his first race ride on Galaxy...View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
A “bigger, stronger, better” Ka Ying Rising toyed with his rivals at Sha Tin on Sunday, romping to his 15th consecutive success with victory in the Group Two BOCHK Private Banking Jockey Club Sprint (1,200m). Sent off $1.05 for his first run since muscling his way to victory in the Group One The Everest (1,200m), Ka Ying Rising stopped the clock in 1:07.33 – the second fastest Sha Tin 1,200m time ever and not far outside his track record of 1:07.20. “To the eye, I thought it was probably one of...View the full article
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