More Records Broken At Tattersalls Ireland With Night Of Thunder Colt Leading The Way

[Wandering Eyes]

Tattersalls Ireland, RATOATH – In a year where records tumbled at the major breeze-up sales in Europe, Tattersalls Ireland was not to be outdone with all of the key metrics soaring through the roof, including the highest-price ever paid for a horse at this breeze-up sale when Anthony Stroud went to €580,000 on behalf of KHK Racing to secure Yeomanstown Stud's Night Of Thunder colt.

That result eclipsed the €520,000 that Katie Walsh netted with a Saxon Warrior filly in 2022 and Stroud was forced to see off the attention of Richard Brown, Alex Elliott and Hubie de Burgh en route to landing the record-breaker. 

And it topped off another memorable sale where the aggregate of €11,658,300 was a record [up 21% on last year] while the €32,000 median represented a 14% rise and the €54,992 average was up by 26%. Even last year's 90% clearance rate, which seemed insurmountable coming into the sale this week, was oh-so-close to being matched at 88%. 

The sale-topper represented an astute piece of business for Yeomanstown given the O'Callaghan family paid 100,000gns for the Night Of Thunder colt less than six months previously at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale. 

Yeomanstown's David O'Callaghan commented, “We are very fortunate that we had a very nice horse, the main buyers received him well and we are very thankful to Anthony Stroud for buying him and the underbidders for their involvement. He is a beautiful horse by a very good stallion and he breezed well. We are very privileged to be here – it is a nice touch.”

He added, “We went in and gave 100,000gns for him as a yearling but, to be honest, we thought that we were going to have to give more for him. We were delighted to get him at that price. It was a big throw but he is a special horse and he has not let us down.”

Not for the first time this breeze-up season, Stroud felt that the bidding process was too long and protracted, with the finger of blame this time being pointed towards auctioneer Alastair Pim.

Speaking after signing for the top lot, Stroud said, “That was difficult I have to say. And [it] was far more money than I anticipated. He is a very good individual, of course he is by Night Of Thunder, and in time he will be a nice horse. He comes from a farm that produces lots of good horses and he has a very good way about him. He is for KHK Racing but there is no trainer in mind yet.”

He added, “That was a very long and protracted sale. I don't know how many minutes it was but it seemed to be a very long time.”

Not only was Stroud and KHK Racing responsible for the most expensive lot ever sold at this sale, but the leading bloodstock agent signed for the second-most expensive horse sold on the day earlier in the session, a Starspangledbanner colt that fetched €475,000. Lot 94 was consigned by Cristiano Martins of CAJ Stables and it represented the best ever result in the ring for the consignor. 

He said, “It is a fabulous result. He was bought at Tattersalls in December for 37,000gns, and he has always shown himself to be very smart. He has never put a foot wrong. Every day here he has pulled out well and showed himself off. We were expecting him to sell well but not to that level.”

Martins added, “He is a lovely and strong horse. I don't think he is fully developed yet and the buyers could see that as well. He is a horse for next year. He was just a lovely horse to have in the yard. I sold the good sprinter, Clarendon House, for 130,000gns, but this is a big difference!”

Brown Bags 'Standout' Street Sense Filly For 340k

It is fair to say that the majority of Richard Brown's shopping at the breeze-up sales this year has been done with the view towards unearthing Royal Ascot winners on behalf of his principal client Wathnan Racing. However, the recruitment drive has not been carried out to the complete exclusion of later-maturing types, as evidenced by the €340,000 spent on a Street Sense filly from Michael Fitzpatrick's Kilminfoyle House Stud. 

Brown said, “Physically, I thought she was a standout today. Gorgeous, big scopey filly. She did a lovely breeze – not lightning quick in any way but the style of the breeze and the way that she galloped out would make you think that she's a backend filly. She will be turned out to a field for three weeks and we will bring her back in late summer. She's a big filly and the stallion is doing very well. It's a very good hotel – 'Fitz' sold Believing and we bought a very nice horse off him last year called Electrolyte and we bought a nice filly off him in Donny who is hopefully pretty smart. It all added up.”

Brown was speaking less than 24 hours after 270,000gns yearling purchase Postmodern earned a TDN Rising Star when brushing aside a field of highly-touted runners in a Yarmouth maiden. Bookmakers reacted to that performance by slashing the Too Darn Hot colt's Coventry Stakes odds to just 8-1 while Goffs Breeze-Up graduate Underwriter looked similarly impressive in the Wathnan silks when landing an Ayr maiden in good style on Wednesday. 

Brown continued, “I'm not saying that this [the Street Sense filly] is for Wathnan but yesterday was exciting. We're keeping our feet on the ground but Jamie [Spencer] is a very experienced jockey who has ridden thousands of winners and lots of Group 1s but he said that it was very rare in his career where he needed to take a pull at the furlong marker. It's exciting. He looks a smart colt and, having spoken with Hamad [Al Jehani], he says Postmodern has bounced out of the race so he will go straight to the Coventry now.”

Talking Points

Former champion apprentice jockey Conor King made his debut as a consignor at this sale 12 months ago by selling a Make Believe colt for €50,000 and returned to what is becoming a happy hunting ground for the young handler by selling a Havana Grey filly [11] to Paddy Twomey for €105,000. The first six-figure lot into the ring on Friday had been sourced by King at the December Yearling Sale at Tattersalls for 35,000gns.

Twomey, who is understood to have been the man who caused havoc when bidding in increments of €10,000 on a Sioux Nation filly that eventually went the way of Anthony Stroud on behalf of KHK Racing for €1 million at Arqana, went on to bag Katie Walsh's Sioux Nation filly for €185,000. Both purchases were done online and, in the case of the Sioux Nation filly, it represented return business given the trainer sourced last year's sale-topping Irish 1,000 Guineas contender City Of Memphis for €370,000. 

Few trainers have latched onto a stallion quite like Michael O'Callaghan has done with Sands Of Mali this year. And it's easy to see why. His recent Owenstown Stud Stakes winner Copacabana Sands is by the Ballyhane-based stallion and, after improving 24lbs since arriving at his stable earlier this year, there could still be further progression to come from that three-year-old following her Naas victory. Not only did O'Callaghan part with 72,000gns for a belter of a colt by Sands Of Mali at the Guineas Breeze-Up Sale, but he continued his support of the young sire on Wednesday by securing a nice colt consigned by Brian O'Connell of Chasefield Stables for €48,000. 

Katie McGivern's Wootton Bassett colt became the fourth horse to fetch €300,000 or more when Ger Morin, bidding on behalf of Sean and Bernadine Mulryan, signed the docket under the banner of Grandeville Racing at €320,000. Lot 226 is reported to be joining Richard Hughes, who trained high-class breeze-up graduate Bracken's Laugh on behalf of the owners. 

Golden Touch

Many times Johnny Collins has been the man with the Midas Touch but transforming his €1,200 yearling purchase by Cotai Glory into a €165,000 breezer must beat all. Collins sourced the filly for that paltry sum at last year's Autumn Yearling Sale at Goffs and, after posting one of the most impressive breezes on Thursday, she was snapped up by Stroud on behalf of Arabian Dusk's owner Sheikh Daij Al Khalifa. 

“I guess I was just in the right place at the right time when I bought her,” Collins joked afterwards. “But she was a good-looking sort that came from a very good farm in Oghill House Stud. She has always been so straightforward and, although we were hopeful of her breezing well coming here, this is still a nice surprise.”

'Security In Numbers' Pays Rich Dividends For Horan 

If it wasn't for Collins' stroke of genius with the Cotai Glory filly, Jerry Horan would have been nailed on for the Golden Touch, given his inspired 1,800gns purchase of an Code Of Honour filly in an online sale blossomed into a €75,000 breezer. It was top agent Stephen Hillen who signed for the filly who was bred by Yulong. For Horan, the result represented another major pinhooking profit in his debut season as a breeze-up consignor following on from the 100,000gns he fetched for a Havana Grey filly at the Guineas Breeze-Up Sale. 

He said, “To be fair to Alan Hannigan, he flagged her up to me. He had spotted her in an online sale and liked her. I said I'd take a chance. I just like having security in numbers and it has worked well for me down through the years. Having smaller numbers just does not excite me. Yes, it's probably madness what I am doing, dealing with such a large volume of horses, but the more bullets you have to fire, the more chance you have of getting a result like this. The wheel is always turning. At the same time, you are always struggling. The key is to keep on tricking away and hopefully you can get the big break.”

Horan also sold a Sea The Stars filly he sourced for 25,000gns to Gary Moore for €48,000 while his €16,000 foal purchase by his own first-season sire Alkumait sold to William Muir for €40,000.

Speaking on his debut season, Horan added, “I am delighted with how it has gone. But there's no big secret, you need good riders and good facilities, and without the team at Capital Stud it wouldn't have been possible. Honestly, I haven't been there every single day. I do two or three days a week and obviously bring them away to work and things like that. But it's the team at Capital Stud that deserve all of the credit and they have helped me out a lot. Jack Foley, Stephen Cahill and Sinead Madden have done a wonderful job while Jody Townend came in to ride out and was also a massive help in the whole thing. I didn't actually set out to breeze horses under my own name this year. It almost happened by accident because we had a couple of homebred Alkumaits that we wanted to break in and get going. I had bought a few yearlings to go breezing myself so we said we would combine them all together and thankfully it has all worked out.”

Thought for the Day

There is a lot to be said for shopping the yearling sales right through to the bitter end. A number of eye-watering pinhooks, including the top lot, came from the later yearling sales. Maybe there's truth to that old saying, the harder you work, the luckier you get. 

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