Fitting Finale as Shastye’s Dubawi Colt Makes a Million

[Wandering Eyes]

A colt who could only ever have been one of the highlights of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale duly brought the hammer down at a round million guineas, drawing to a close the extraordinary association of Newsells Park Stud's great mare Shastye (Ire) (Danehill) with Book 1.

On May 1 last year, after two years without producing a foal, Shastye foaled a colt by Dubawi (Ire). Tragedy swiftly followed joy for stud owner Graham Smith-Bernal and his team at Newsells Park when the 21-year-old mare haemorrhaged just 24 hours later and could not be saved. 

A sale-ring darling for so many years at Tattersalls, Shastye has now been represented by six seven-figure yearlings at Book 1, including the Group 1-winning brothers by Galileo (Ire), Japan (GB) and Mogul (GB), while the Group 3 winner Sir Isaac Newton (GB) was the most expensive of them all at 3.6 million gns.

With the mare's final foal being the first that she has produced by champion sire Dubawi (Ire), it was perhaps no surprise that the buyer was Godolphin, with Anthony Stroud signing for the colt in the company of Sheikh Mohammed, who has been present at Park Paddocks over the last two days.

Julian Dollar, manager of Newsells Park Stud, said of the colt [Lot 96], “He's an extraordinary foal out of an older mare. He's got so much strength. I didn't think Graham [Smith-Bernal] could ever bear to part with him because when [Shastye] died when the foal was 24 hours old, he was there and he bottle-fed the foal over that first night, so he had a big emotional attachment for Graham.”

Dollar also paid tribute to Shastye, herself a stakes-placed half-sister to the Arc winner Sagamix (Fr) who was bought for Newsells Park Stud by John Warren in 2005 for 625,000gns.

“She's been a mare in a million,” he said. “She's done so much for Newsells Park Stud. She's done so much for Andreas Jacobs before and now for Graham, which is great. And she's kept me in a job for 15 years. It was a great day when Klaus Jacobs and John Warren bought her as a mare and we've been able to enjoy her ever since. This is fitting, a sort of footnote, if you like, that she has a million-guinea yearling as her last foal. And it's nice for Graham to have that with a foal that was born after he bought the stud.”

Anthony Stroud added, “He's by Dubawi, who we all have huge regard for, and is out of an incredible mare who has produced so many great horses. We all looked at him, and the boss looked at him, and we felt we had to go for him. We owned [half-sister] Secret Gesture and it's an incredible family, really. We're lucky to have him. He is a very good-looking, good-walking and correct horse. Very athletic. He fitted our criteria.”

Much is expected of the select fare on offer during the three days of Book 1, which last year posted an average price just shy of 300,000gns. It is fair to say that trade was steady rather than spectacular during the first half of the opening session, though the average was still just above 260,000gns after around 100 lots had passed through the ring. Indicating some solid trade just below the top level, however, was the fact that the median, at 220,000gns, is above the figure posted in 2022.

Dollar has presided over Book 1-leading drafts from Newsells Park Stud at the last five editions of the sale. He added, “I don't think there's anything extra on the table. You've got to have a nice horse and make sure there's lots of interest. Overall, they are making a little bit below where I thought they were going to be, so it's sticky enough, but it's always a little tricky the first day and then people get their confidence and it picks up.”

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