Top Stronger Than Ever As 16 Millionaires Star At Tattersalls Book 1

[Wandering Eyes]

By Brian Sheerin and Emma Berry

NEWMARKET, UK — The millionaire lots kept coming almost to the end and, after a fairly flat start to the day, trade picked up significantly by mid-afternoon to the degree that, by the time the curtain fell on Book 1, a total of 16 seven-figure lots had passed through the ring. That equalled the number sold last year, while 70 in total sold for at least 500,000gns. 

What was different this time around, however, was a larger catalogue and vendors pointing to some frailty in the market beyond the top tier where the major buyers ensured fierce competition. The clearance rate picked up through the sale to settle at 85%, compared to last year's impressive 90%. Turnover of 128,580,000gns – from 50 more yearlings sold this year compared to 12 months ago – was down by just 1%, while the median was 210,000gns (-16%) and the average was 322,091gns (-13%). 

It is worth considering this in comparison to the figures from 2023 as well as last year. From a similar-sized book to this year, the aggregate then had been 96,887,500gns, the median 180,000gns and the average 243,977gns. It was always going to be hard to match last season's phenomenal trade but this year's Book 1 still rang plenty of bells. 

Tuesday's boom start, when Amo Racing gave 3,600,000gns for a Frankel colt from Newsells Park Stud and Godolphin's riposte was to go to 3,700,000gns for Longview Stud's Sea The Stars colt, meant that Tattersalls has been responsible for the two most expensive yearlings sold anywhere in the world this year. 

“It has been gratifying to return figures that are second only to last year's record renewal,” said Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony. 

Fittocks Stud Caps Sensational Week

Luca and Sara Cumani sugar-coated what has been one of the sweetest success stories of the week at Tattersalls when their Fittocks Stud-consigned Wootton Bassett colt sold to Godolphin for 1,900,000gns on the third and final day of Book 1 of the October Yearling Sale. 

The colt became Fittocks Stud's third seven-figure sale this week and followed on from the 2,200,000gns and 1,300,000gns achieved with colts by Frankel and Dubawi respectively. 

All told, Fittocks Stud has sold four yearlings at Book 1 for a combined sum of 5,900,000gns. 

Luca Cumani commented, “It has been an absolutely fantastic week and I have to thank the people who have been bidding on our horses. It has been emotional, really. I especially need to thank my staff who have worked so hard with these horses and presented them beautifully. And obviously my wife, Sara – you always have to thank your wife!

“We have been very blessed to have three very beautiful horses this week. This was one and obviously the two yesterday. It is a blessing to get horses as good looking as that. They also happened to be by the right sire and from good families with good female lines as well.”

He added, “People tell me the market has been patchy. I obviously can't comment on that because it hasn't been patchy for me. Obviously, it is probably not as buoyant as it was last year and we are probably returning to the 2023 levels but, as far as I am concerned, it has been a wonderful market.”

Agent Anthony Stroud, who buys on behalf of a number of clients and is a key member of the Godolphin buying team, paid tribute to Sheikh Mohammed, who has been present at Park Paddocks throughout the sale and bought 23 yearlings for 19,625,000gns, which accounted for around 20 per cent of the market.

Stroud said,  “You cannot believe how we couldn't do it without him. Words can't really express how remarkable all of us who work for him feel about it.

“And it should be everyone in this industry, whoever you are. I mean, every year he keeps coming here. I think he really enjoys it and we depend on him for his eye. It's very important.”

Stroud, who has also been buying this week for KHK Racing and Peter Harris among others, said of the week's trade, “I think that the figures stack up very well, but I think it's very polarised. When you go to America there are so many people. We're a very small market. It's us, the Coolmore team, MV (Magnier), at the top end, and obviously Amo (Racing), and it's very important to have competition, whether it's in sales or on the racecourse, it's vital to have that.”

Love At First Sight No Fluke For Lordship

Tom Harris of Lordship Stud will never forget the day he first laid eyes on the Le Havre mare Ville De Grace, nor will he forget the sale of her first foal after the filly by Frankel went the way of Juddmonte for 1,500,000gns .

Winner of the G3 Pride Stakes for owner-breeders Hunscote Stud and Chris Humber when  trained by Sir Michael Stoute, Ville De Grace is now based at Lordship Stud after being bought for 2,000,000gns at the 2022 Tattersalls December Mares Sale.

Recounting the story of his first encounter with the mare, Harris, who was celebrating the moment with assistant stud groom Rebecca Martland who foaled the filly, said, “She was very expensive, but my father [Trevor] and I were coming from the Solario Yard, and she was down nearby with Jenny Norris. As we crossed the bridge, we saw this black filly just walking. She's a very pretty mare and we both looked at each other and said, 'Wow, what is that?' It was literally love at first sight. She's a fantastic-looking mare, an unbelievable mover, and she has had a beautiful first foal.”

Lot 498 was consigned on behalf of Lordship Stud by Watership Down Stud, with Harris adding, “From day one, we thought she was a star, and she continued to develop in that way. We came up here, we were looking at fillies each day, and each evening we'd say to each other, 'Have you seen anything better?' And the answer was always no. It's so incredibly exciting to have one so good-looking as the first foal.”

Juddmonte's Simon Mockridge said of this third seven-figure lot for their home stallion, “We went in there with a figure in mind and we'd reached that limit, but the family were happy to have one more go. It's an outcross family, which is very important to Frankel. She's a beautiful filly, with a great action to her. Let's hope she's lucky.”

'He's a Sire on the Rise': Juddmonte Sign Up Night Of Thunder Colt

Just a handful of lots into the final day of Book 1 saw the twelfth seven-figure lot of the week when Juddmonte went to 1,050,000gns for the Night Of Thunder colt out of Quschi (Encosta De Lago).

Bred by Andrew Stone of St Albans Bloodstock – who was also the co-breeder of the day's top lot – the Newsells Park Stud-consigned colt (lot 364) is a half-brother to GII Glens Falls Stakes winner Mrs Sippy (Blame) and to Listed winner Phantom Flight (Siyouni). The family, which was cultivated for many years by Lord Howard de Walden, includes his homebred champion Grand Lodge. 

Earlier in the week, Juddmonte also went to 1,000,000gns Lodge Park Stud's Night Of Thunder colt from the family of Park Express. 

Simon Mockridge, general manager for Juddmonte in the UK, said, “I think it's probably coincidence that they're both by Night Of Thunder but he's had a fantastic season, as we all know. The quality of mares that he's been covering over these last few years has got better and better. He's a sire on the rise, and a sire that we need to pay attention to.

“He has a proper pedigree, and this was an incredibly good-looking horse, very well presented by Newsells Park Stud.

“Over the last few years we've bought a handful of horses at auction. And it depends what we're doing – sometimes it's yearlings, sometimes it's foals. We're very specialised in what we're looking for. These two horses have got to come back and fit into what I would call the top 10 per cent of the yearlings at home. And if they can't do that, there's no point in buying them.”

One of those previous purchases was Field Of Gold (Kingman), one of the outstanding three-year-olds of the season. The winner of the Irish 2,000 Guineas and St James's Palace Stakes has been off the track since finishing fourth in the Sussex Stakes in late July but Juddmonte's racing manager Barry Mahon reported that he remains on course for a reappearance in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Qipco British Champions Day a week on Saturday. 

Burke Rallies For Millionaire Number 16 

Night Of Thunder was responsible for the 16th and final seven-figure sale at Book 1 through lot 525, a colt consigned by James Hanly's Ballyhimikin Stud that went the way of trainer Karl Burke on behalf of an existing client. 

The colt – which hailed from the same farm as Night Of Thunder's top-class runners Ombudsman and Estrange – completed what has been another excellent Book 1 for Hanly with two individual millionaire lots featuring among the 3,605,000gns for seven sold at Park Paddocks this week. 

It also cemented a good week of shopping for Burke, who has done well with the progeny of Night Of Thunder, notably through recent Group 2 winner Zeus Olympios.

He said, “It is a lot more than I thought we'd have to go for him but he was a beautiful colt by a fantastic sire. We've started to get a few Night Of Thunders and they have done well for us. Hopefully he will as well. This fella could be anything.”

Reflecting on the business carried out this week, Burke added, “We only got one horse the first day and I thought it was going to be a bad week. I only got one horse yesterday but I got sent a couple and then today everything fell into place. To be honest, I went past the budget on this horse but then I got an instruction to keep going. That was great. He's been bought on behalf of an existing owner in the yard and thankfully I checked my phone and saw the message to keep going.”

The Night Of Thunder colt also claimed the accolade for being the 'Golden Touch' from Thursday's trade, given that Johnny McKeever had pinhooked the colt alongside Hanly. The pair turned an initial outlay of 175,000gns at the December Foal Sale from Barton Stud into seven figures. Some shooting. 

Subplots

The case could be made for MV Magnier sniffing out a bit of value in lot 393, a sister to Middle Park winners Wise Approach (Mehmas) and Perfect Power (Ardad) for 480,000gns. Consigned by Tally-Ho Stud, the Mehmas filly is out of Sagely (Frozen Power), who is fast becoming one of the most talked-about broodmares in the business given her recent achievements. Tally-Ho also sold a Starman colt out of Visions, who is the dam of Group 1-winning juvenile Power Blue (Space Blues), to Anthony Stroud for 280,000gns.

“Yes! Get in there, Brummitt!” Only one man can liven up a sale ring like Clive Washbourn, and the excitable owner-breeder was back with a bang after Jeremy Brummitt secured lot 507 on his behalf for 550,000gns. The Wootton Bassett filly hails from a strong German family which traces back to champion racemare and producer Wurftaube and includes the Arc winner Waldgeist and St Leger winner Masked Marvel. The latter had also been bought by Brummitt for Bjorn Nielsen. Washbourn exited the ring shouting “I love Wootton Bassett” before giving MV Magnier a bear hug.

Redpender Stud's Jimmy Murphy enjoyed a great result with lot 460, a Minzaal half-sister to talented sprinters Mill Stream (Gleneagles) and Asymmetric (Showcasing), who sold to Amo Racing for 550,000gns. Shadwell underbid the filly who was described by many shrewd judges as one of the outstanding horses in the sale. 

Murphy commented, “She's a very good looker and she's by Minzaal. In my opinion, they seem to have great minds. He trained on well as a racehorse and he surely has potential as a stallion. The mare has been outstanding; it's all there on the page. We wish Amo the best of luck, not just with her but all their purchases.  I bought her off David Brown. She's an outstanding mare. I'd tried for years to buy into the family but I could never get into it. Ended up being smart by mistake!”

Angus Gold had been underbidder on the Minzaal filly but struck later on with the purchase of lot 484, a colt by another of Shadwell's first-season stallions, Baaeed, from Corduff Stud. The son of G2 May Hill Stakes winner Turret Rocks (Fastnet Rock) was sold for 625,000gns, making him the most expensive by his sire, who had 12 yearlings sold for an average of 237,917gns.

He said,  “Obviously, we are keen to support the stallion wherever possible. We've got some very nice homebreds and, interestingly, most of them are fillies, so we were keen to try and buy a colt from this book. I think we saw all of them, and we rated him very highly. He's a big, powerful horse and seemed to have the temperament of his father, and the same back end. Let's hope that he's got the engine of  his father. 

Shadwell's principal, Sheikha Hissa Al Maktoum, has been at Park Paddocks this week, and Gold added, “She's really enjoying seeing them all. It's exciting. These are the first stallions she's had under her watch, as you might say. 

“At the moment, she doesn't want to be spending too much money when we've got 30 homebred yearlings to put into training. We're trying to concentrate on quality, rather than quantity. But I think she just loves sitting up at the ring, coming around the grounds, to look at them all.”

The Chairman Concludes…

At the close of Book 1 and ahead of next week's Books 2 and 3, which begin a five-day run on Monday, Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony commented, “Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale consistently showcases the finest British, Irish, French and German-bred yearlings to a global audience and this year's renewal has been no exception. Longview Stud's Sea The Stars colt out of Crystal Zvezda and Newsells Park Stud's Frankel colt out of Aljazzi, which realised 3,700,000gns and 3,600,000gns respectively are the two highest-priced yearlings in the world this year. 

“A remarkable 70 lots have sold for 500,000gns or more as we have welcomed buyers from throughout the world to Park Paddocks. As ever, the support from the Gulf region has been a feature as has the large number of American buyers who have purchased more than 40 yearlings.

“Last year's renewal of Europe's premier yearling sale was widely regarded as one of the more remarkable sales of recent years, bucking the trend of earlier yearling sales that autumn with wide margin increases in all the key metrics. Those results saw the bloodstock market take a significant upturn over the last twelve months and whilst a drop in average and median were to be expected with the larger catalogue, it has been gratifying to return figures that are second only to last year's record renewal.”

Buy of the Day

Alex Elliott played a major role at the top end of the market this week but he also uncovered a bit of value through Philipp Stauffenberg's Sottsass filly [512] at just 35,000gns. One of the cheapest horses in the whole sale, she boasted plenty of quality and looks well bought at that price.

Thought for the Day

Who knew Anthony Stroud could move so fast? The super agent was taking a moment to himself out at the back cafe when his phone rang while lot 503 was making 80,000gns in the ring. The deceptively-quick Stroud showed a Group-class turn of foot to make it out to the ring in time to purchase the Kingman filly on behalf of Godolphin for 450,000gns. 

 

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