Book 1 Debutants Living The Dream as Tattersalls October Gets Ready to Roll

[Wandering Eyes]

NEWMARKET, UK — After a weekend of brutally cold winds and rain at Park Paddocks, summer decided to reappear to bless the final yearling viewing day at Tattersalls with warm sunshine. An omen of bright days ahead, perhaps? Or if you're not a fan of symbolism, a more concrete guide to what could be in store over the next three days of Book 1 of the October Sale may have been gleaned from a car park full to the brim by early morning on Monday as the crowd rolled in from a weekend in Paris.

Some people are yet to recover from the shock of last year's Book 1, when more than 129 million gns was spent on 345 fledgling racehorses in the space of three heady sessions. It's a hard act to follow, for sure, but unlike last year, this season's yearling sales have been far more ebullient up to this stage already, with gains posted at pretty much all levels of the market and that robust top end seemingly as impervious to outside events as ever. 

Last year, it was the Frankel filly out of Aljazzi who ensured that Newsells Park Stud was once again in pole position on the vendors' list, and this time around the same team will present a full-brother to the sale-topper early in the proceedings as lot 15, just two lots after a first-crop daughter of Blackbeard from the same draft who was delivered the best possible update on Sunday when her half-sister Barnavara (Calyx) won the G1 Prix de l'Opera. 

Newsells Park again has strength and depth in its draft, as do the likes of the established names of the Castlebridge Consignment, Watership Down Stud and Highclere Stud among others. But for every behemoth there's a boutique draft, and this year's Book 1 includes a few first-time entrants.

One of those is Rigsdale Stud, run by Barry Kennedy and Anna Murphy, who started the year well when winning the Next Generation Award at the prestigious ITBA Awards, and have a good end in store with the arrival of their first baby next month. While Murphy concentrates on that important job for the meantime, Kennedy is at Tattersalls demonstrating the hands-on approach which has already stood the couple in good stead. Rigsdale Stud's first Book 1 offering is lot 342, a Starspangledbanner half-sister to the Listed winner and G2 Queen Mary Stakes-placed Maria Branwell (James Garfield).

“We bought the mare here at the July Sale some years ago for 6,000gns,” said Kennedy of the filly's unraced dam Princess Pearl (Teofilo) in between showing the yearling to a stream of viewers. “We always said to ourselves that the dream would be one day to sell a yearling at Book 1 so it is great to be here.”

Kennedy and Murphy work full-time for Coolmore's Castlehyde Stud and Kennedy said that he is grateful for the support and encouragement of his colleagues. Last year, they sold a Footstepsinthesand colt out of Princess Pearl for 68,000gns at the Tattersalls Somerville Sale and, now named Ballybunion, he has already finished runner-up on just his second start for Michael Bell. 

 

Starspangledbanner

-filly-300x218.jpg" alt="" width="578" height="420" /> Barry Kennedy with his Starspangledbanner filly | Emma Berry

 

Rigsdale Stud's other select one-horse drafts at the sales this year have included selling a Sioux Nation colt at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale for £100,000 and a Harry Angel colt at the Goffs Orby Sale for €55,000.

Another Book 1 debutant is Peter Nolan Bloodstock, the consigning name of husband-and-wife team Peter and Katy Nolan, who had a top-three finish at the recent Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale when selling a €165,000 Blackbeard colt to Ted Durcan.

Blackbeard features among the Nolans' draft of three for Book 1, this time with a filly, along with a sleek, dark brown son of Ghaiyyath and a daughter of leading first-season sire Starman.

“We've been involved more with Flat horses in the last four or five years,” said Peter Nolan, who also has a solid National Hunt background, while his wife Katy was well known in Britain as a point-to-point rider. 

“Katy was mad for doing more of this and I always liked the Flat and have bought horses for Noel Meade, but since herself came on board, we've concentrated a lot more on this. National Hunt is grand, but you have to keep them for longer, and you only have these boys for ten months.

“We try to keep the numbers small. Two of these are pinhooks and one belongs to a client. The Ghaiyyath colt [lot 12] we bought as a foal from Dermot Weld, who also bred the stallion, and he's an absolute beauty.”

Nolan added, “Katy used to work for Jenny Norris [of Norris Bloodstock] at the sales over the years and she always dreamt of having her own draft, so I'm delighted for her that she's here now.”

Many of the world's leading owners and breeders have already gathered in Newmarket, with more big names expected for the start of the sale on Tuesday at 11am. If the pattern of trade follows that already witnessed in Saratoga, Deauville, Lexington, Ireland and elsewhere in Britain so far this year – and there is no reason to suppose that it won't – then vendors and buyers alike, and even bloodstock journalists, will be in for a frenetic week.

 

The post Book 1 Debutants Living The Dream as Tattersalls October Gets Ready to Roll  appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article