Wootton Bassett Colt Joins Wednesday’s Toppers at Book 1 with 2.2m Gns Sale to Amo Racing

[Wandering Eyes]

Having endured bad luck with Crypto Force (Time Test) after his G2 Beresford Stakes victory as a juvenile, Kia Joorabchian will be praying that things pan out more smoothly for the Wootton Bassett half-brother who cost the Amo Racing founder 2,200,000gns during the second session at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

Matching the sum fetched by the Fittocks Stud-consigned Frankel colt earlier in the day, lot 247 is the fourth foal out of the winning Galileo mare Luna Mare, from the family of Lord Weinstock's globetrotting champion Pilsudski. Her first foal was the aforementioned Crypto Force, who won two of his three starts as a juvenile and later finished third in the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup after missing his entire three-year-old campaign.

Luna Mare was bought by Marlhill House Stud for 500,000gns at the 2022 Tattersalls December Mares Sale, just a couple of months after Crypto Force's win in the Beresford. She has a filly foal, also by Wootton Bassett, but is not in foal this year, according to Marlhill House manager Brian McConnon, who was understandably delighted with the result.

He said, “The plan always was, when we bought the mare here three years ago, that we'd send her to Wootton Bassett. She was a young Galileo mare, and Crypto Force was one of the flagbearers for her, so she had a great profile.

“This is the first Wootton Bassett we got out of the mare, so the plan came to fruition. It's fantastic. We were hopeful that he'd sell well, but you obviously don't know until you get here. Then all the right people vetted him and you just need them to step up. We were obviously delighted that Coolmore and Amo Racing locked horns again.”

Having been pushed all the way by the Coolmore team, Joorabchian admitted that the colt had proved harder to get his hands on than he had originally hoped.

“To be honest with you, I was hoping it would be half of that [fee],” he conceded. “Unfortunately, when you're bidding against the other big guys, you have to really go for it. You don't have a choice.

“We own the half-brother, Crypto Force, and he won a Group 2 for us in Ireland. So, we know the mare and we know she can produce a good horse. We love Crypto, really. He's been a bit fragile for us. He had a couple of bad injuries at the end of his two-year-old career and never really managed to pick up that velocity that he had as a two-year-old.

“But we know what happened to him and and this is a big upgrade with Wootton Bassett who is now gone. It's a family that we know and we thought we had to have him.”

On future plans for the colt, Joorabchain added, “He'll go to Freemason [Lodge]. He'll go to our own yard here and we'll see how he goes. Hopefully, he'll be an earlier type of Wootton Bassett.”

Amo Racing's total spend at Book 1 now stands at 8,145,000gns from seven yearlings, including one bought in partnership with Valmont. Earlier on Wednesday, lot 231, a St Mark's Basilica colt from Galbertstown Stables, was added to the team at a cost of 800,000gns. He previously sold to Fearghal Hogan for €120,000 at the Goffs November Foal Sale.

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