‘We Love Her’ – Sea The Stars Filly Heads BBAG Sale At 750k To Godolphin

[Wandering Eyes]

BADEN-BADEN, GERMANY – Gestüt Brümmerhof stole the show at the BBAG Yearling Sale for the second year running when Godolphin swooped in to land a Sea The Stars filly out of German 1,000 Guineas heroine Novemba (Gleneagles) for €750,000. 

That sale represented continued support by Godolphin for the best stock that Germany has to offer given Anthony Stroud and his buying team bought Del Maro (Camelot) from Brummerhof for a record-breaking €850,000 here 12 months ago. 

Bidding through BBAG boss Klaus Eulenberger, Godolphin held off the attention of Alex Elliott and Kieran Lalor of Al Shira'aa Racing on the sale-topping Sea The Stars filly who is out of a champion in this country and from the family of Old Vic. 

Brümmerhof boss Gregor Baum said, “Last year we had the great Camelot and this year [we have topped the sale] again. We are pleased that Godolphin have trust in our stud and in German breeding. She is a special individual. A really tough filly, she is not too big and has a lot of character. We love her.”

Asked if it was a difficult decision to sell the Sea The Stars filly, he replied, “It's a foal share so Madame Tsui should be happy as well. We'd have loved to keep her because she is a special horse for our family. But we are happy that she has gone to such a good buyer and such a good home. Novemba has a filly foal by Siyouni but she was not covered this year.”

Eulenberger confirmed that he was bidding on behalf of Stroud, who was reported to have inspected the stock here on Tuesday before flying to America for the upcoming September Yearling Sale in Keeneland. 

“We are very thankful for the support of Anthony Stroud, David Loder and Sheikh Mohammed,” Eulenberger said. “They were here on Tuesday and liked the filly a lot. We are very happy that they bought her.”

Brümmerhof produced a dominant performance, ending the sale as by far the leading vendor with nine horses sold for a combined sum of €1,545,000. The stud was also responsible for the second-most expensive horse sold on the day, a Camelot colt that was purchased by Philip von Ullmann for €340,000. Out of proven producer Mill Marin (Pivotal), who is the dam of three black-type horses including Group 1 scorer Mendocino (Adlerflug), the Camelot colt will join trainer Joseph O'Brien in Ireland. 

Von Ullmann said, “[He is] the best-looking colt in the sale for me. He is a star. He is going to go to Joseph and Joseph knows Camelot quite well. I think he was a good buy and also good value. I compared him a little bit to the Camelot [the once-raced Del Maro] from last year. I hope that he will be a horse for the Classics. Obviously it's very early to be saying that but that's what we will hope. He will probably head straight to Ireland now so we'll take it from there.”

Of the 198 lots offered, 153 were sold at a clearance rate of 77%, which was up 4% on last year's figures. The €54,929 average was up by 14%, the €55,120 median by the same while turnover climbed by 13% to €8,404,100.

Brummitt Goes Big In BBAG

Jeremy Brummitt has farmed this sale better than most people in recent times with Group 1 winner Tamfana and leading St Leger hope Lazy Griff notable purchases. The latter was only beaten a little over three lengths in the Derby and, in lot 73, a colt by the bloodstock agent's beloved Stradivarius, Brummitt joked that he may have found Middleham Park Racing a horse who can go one place better at Epsom.

Brummitt spent €593,000 on six yearlings, headed by a filly by the red-hot young stallion Palace Pier for €160,000. Meanwhile, the Stradivarius colt cost €140,000 and both of those yearlings were consigned by Gestüt Fährhof.

“I thought he [73] was a very nice individual and embodied Strad's good points, which I think are not his coat colour and white socks, but his calm temperament and fluent movement,” Brummitt explained. “A lot of people are looking for a horse who looks like Strad but I'm looking for one who acts like him. I thought this horse acted like him. He's a bigger horse, he's a darker horse but he has effortless grace. He was bought for Middleham Park Racing in the hope that he will be three-and-a-half lengths faster than Lazy Griff!”

He added, “I bought a very nice Palace Pier filly. I bought the individual, actually, and, while I am sure there will be Palace Pier fillies with bigger pedigrees at the upcoming sales, I am not sure there will be many with the same athleticism that she has. I think she is a very composed filly. I also bought a Sea The Stars colt [for €130,000] out of a mare that is inbred two by three to Lando. He was half the cost of the stallion fee and I don't know why more people didn't want to buy him. He was bought on spec for Mr [William] Haggas so anyone who wants a certain Group winner should ring up Mr Haggas!”

No buyer left BBAG with more individual purchases than Brummitt and, while a number of people expressed difficulty in getting involved in what proved to be yet another bustling yearling sale in Europe, Brummitt maintains that there was a lot of value on offer. 

He concluded, “I am shocked that the horses here are not making more when you compare it to Doncaster and the Somerville. I think there are some nice horses here and I actually don't think they require as much imagination as people suggest. You've got to be very short-sighted if you need an early two-year-old.”

Talking points

• Leading owner and syndicate manager Lars-Wilhelm Baumgarten predictably played a major role. One of the most expensive lots on the day, Gestüt Westerberg's Gleneagles colt [132], was sourced by Baumgarten on behalf of Liberty Racing for €210,000. Westerberg's front of house, Annelie Rodde, said, “For the last two months I've been saying this colt has Hamburg Horn written all over him! He's a lovely horse with a great mind and didn't lose his fantastic walk even though he was flat out showing for the last three days. We are delighted that Liberty Racing has bought him and the Derby dream for 2027 is very much alive.” Baumgarten labelled trade at BBAG to be extremely strong and revealed that, along with purchasing on behalf of Liberty Racing, he sourced various other horses on for new syndicates and ownership groups.  He said, “It has been a strong market for the good horses. We are very happy with what we have bought today. The Soldier Hollow filly [67] we bought earlier was on behalf of a new syndicate and she is out of an old Aga Khan family that I love. It's very exciting to buy her on behalf of the new syndicate. It consists of some people who met through Liberty Racing and decided to go and buy something together. I have connected the guys together and they are interested in fillies only.”
• Blandford Bloodstock agent Stuart Boman has hit the ground running in his new role for the Hong Kong Jockey Club and, after signing for a handful of yearlings at Arqana, he supported the BBAG Yearling Sale when going to €160,000 for a Soldier Hollow colt from Gestüt Park Wiedingen. Boman said, “He has been bought for the Hong Kong Jockey Club and Danny Rolston has been over here with us this week. Soldier Hollow was an outstanding stallion and is a great loss. This is a lovely horse by him – great-mover who vetted very well, which is obviously important for the Jockey Club. This is a sale that the Hong Kong Jockey Club wanted to be active at and to support the German bloodstock industry.”
• Joseph O'Brien and Kevin Blake have honed in on the progeny of Counterattack and left Baden-Baden with a colt by the Group 1-placed sprinter for €55,000. He was consigned by Gestüt Karlshof. Blake said, “The stallion is under-appreciated and only covered very small crops in recent years, but the percentage of his runners that hit a rating of 100 or greater is very strong. I have been calling him the Chad Bradford of the European stallion scene for a few years now! Joseph felt this colt was one of the better individuals in the sale and he's a full-brother to the highest-rated Counterattack in See Hector, so we feel he was very good value. Joseph and I went on a similar mission to buy the best one by the sire at this sale last year and bought a filly that is getting close to making her debut.”
• On what was another memorable day for the leading German outfit, Gestüt Brümmerhof was also responsible for lot 56, a Saxon Warrior colt out of outstanding producer Wildfahrte (Mark Of Esteem), the dam of three individual black-type horses – Wildpark (Shamaradal), Wild Approach (New Approach) and Wild Max (Maxios) – and from the family of Waldgeist. It was trainer Marian Weissmeier who went to €200,000 to secure the colt. “He's a very nice colt,” said Weissmeier. “Andreas Suborics inspected him first, and said he liked him, and then I looked at him and liked him too. All the lights were green, so we tried our hardest to get him and thankfully we did. He's for a nice new owner in the stable, Gerd Lutters, who is based in Düsseldorf. We started working together this year.
• Hetty Spencer has carved out a bit of a niche in Germany and taking the leap in consigning her biggest-ever draft at BBAG paid off with eight lots selling for €258,000. The highlight of which came through lot 127, an Australia colt that went the way of Federico Barberini at €110,000. 
• A quick scan through the results would suggest that there was only one horse bought to go breezing. That was lot 147, a Palace Pier colt purchased for €120,000 by Roderic Kavanagh of Glending Stables. 

Golden touch

It was a rather select offering of pinhooked yearlings on Friday but debut consignor Bartek Radzikowski enjoyed a 'dream' result when the share price in his Intello colt [lot 25] rose from €13,000 to €61,000. It was Baumgarten's Liberty Racing who landed the colt from Radzikowski who, on the eve of the sale, told TDN Europe of how he rears his horses back home in Poland.

Speaking after the sale, the young consignor said, “It's an absolute dream. Never did I think that he would make that kind of money. To be completely honest with you, I was expecting only half that much coming here this morning. It's amazing – a day I will not forget.”

Thought for the day

There is a lot riding on Torquator Tasso being a success at stud and one would have to take encouragement by how his yearlings sold on Friday. All told, 13 of the 15 horses offered by the high-class son of Adlerflug sold for an average of €50,231 and a highest-price of €160,000.

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