International Buyers Dominate On Day One Of The Autumn H-I-T Sale At Tattersalls

[Wandering Eyes]

The bulk of the 271 horses offered on day one of the Autumn Horses-In-Training Sale at Tattersalls were sold to continue their careers abroad, including the 375,000gns August George (Night Of Thunder), who was snapped up by Qatari-based trainer Gassim Ghazali. 

Runner-up to subsequent Group 3 scorer Dorset (Wootton Bassett) in the Goffs Million, the Ivan Furtado-trained juvenile boasted one of the most attractive profiles on Monday and the market responded suitably with Ghazali – a regular visitor to Park Paddocks – outlasting a number of leading buyers on the 97-rated gelding. 

“For me, he is the best horse in the auction today – and [is] only two years old,”  Ghazali said. “Expensive, but I need him. I hoped to pay between 250,000gns and 300,000gns but I did not give him a chance to go.”

He added, “One hundred percent, he will go for the Qatar Derby for two-year-olds and, after that, we can aim for the Amir Sword Festival. I have had many Night Of Thunders before and have had good results with him back in Qatar. He is a son of Dubawi, who does so well in Qatar.”

August George was sourced by Finbar Kent at the Goffs Orby Sale on behalf of Stephen and Wendy Burdett, who also own Furtado's yard. Monday's sale represented a massive upswing on that initial €90,000 outlay and Kent, who consigned the gelding on behalf of connections, commented, “It is a brilliant result and great for owners Stephen and Wendy Burdett. They put a lot into the game and buy 10 to 15 yearlings every year and it is nice to get one who gets a result on the track and then get a return today. It helps keep all the wheels turning.”

While the clearance rate was up by 5% to 84% on the day, turnover fell by 18% to 7,559,000gns, the median by 16% to 16,000 and the average by 18% to 32,166. It may have been a muted start but some better horses are expected to liven things up on Tuesday. 

Coolmore Sells 22 Horses For Over 1 Million

Coolmore was one of the busiest consignors on Monday and sold 22 horses for the not-so-insignificant sum of 1,153,000gns. 

Mount Kilimanjaro (Siyouni), who Coolmore originally sourced for €420,000 at the October Yearling Sale at Arqana in 2023, was the most expensive of the 22 horses sold by the powerful owners when knocked down to Edgar Byrne on behalf of Scandinavian-based trainer Niels Pietersen.

Mount Kilimanjaro, winner of the Dee Stakes at Chester earlier in the year and second in last year's G1 Criterium International at Saint-Could, reached a rating of 110 for Aidan O'Brien.

Pietersen commented, “He will go from here to Dubai for the winter and will run there for [owner] Wibecke Nagell-Erichsen. He will then go to Scandinavia for the best races and I hope he will be a head above the rest.”

The trainer added, “He is a nicely-balanced horse – he is a galloping horse and they tend to race a little differently in Scandinavia than they do here. He has plenty of ability and that will take him a long way in Scandinavia. He is a striking-looking horse and the minute Wilbecke saw him she loved him.”

Ciaron Maher Lands Progressive Sea The Stars Gelding

It was no surprise to see a number of leading Australian-based buyers flexing their muscles on some of the top middle-distance prospects and Ciaron Maher added a potentially smart Sea The Stars gelding to his team Down Under in the shape of Shadwell's 89-rated Mukhtalif.

Will Bourne, who was assisted by Billy Jackson-Stops, landed the William Haggas-trained dual winner for 325,000gns. 

He said, “Mukhtalif is progressive and, having inspected the horse, you can see he's a beautiful animal. We really like the fact that the stallion works in Australia. David Hayes had the Australian Cup winner Fifty Stars and Johnny McKeever bought the Metropolitan winner Just Fine out of this sale, and they're both by Sea The Stars. This horse is a progressive stayer so he profiles perfectly for us and we're happy to be taking him down there.”

Bourne added, “When you look at Ciaron's results in the last two months, Royal Supremacy won a Metropolitan and our runners in the Melbourne Cup this week are from Europe, so we've just got to keep sourcing these horses out of here. We have a number that we try to hit, but buying this year has been very hard. We're probably 10 horses down on where we'd like to be – that's privately and through the sale ring. It's been extremely difficult to buy the horses that you want at the right price, which hasn't been helped by the Australian dollar. All these marginal factors, and more competition on tried horses, means it's been really hard. That can affect our bloodstock portfolio so we're keen to get a few here.” 

Maher also struck for the 83-rated Zain Blue (Blue Point) at 150,000gns, taking his opening day spend at Tattersalls to 475,000gns.

Waller Can't Ignore Hard Evidence At 200k

Another leading Australian trainer, Chris Waller, took home one of the smartest prospects offered under the hammer on Monday through 200,000gns purchase Hard Evidence, consigned by Imperium Sales. 

A smooth winner at Bath for trainer Ed Walker and owners Valmont, the Zarak colt was knocked down to Guy Mulcaster on behalf of Waller.

“He was impressive when he won and the second horse had been second before and the third horse had been third before, too, so the form is pretty strong,” Mulcaster said. 

“He paraded really well – he looked beautiful in the back ring and we think he has got a lot more to come. He looks like he wants to be three and he wants to be four, so we will take him along quietly and see where we end up. He is a beautiful horse. They are better horses [the progeny of Zarak] with a bit of time.”

Channon Fights To Keep Star In His Stable

The majority of the highly-rated horses offered on Monday were sold to continue their careers abroad, however, trainer Jack Channon rallied the troops to keep dual winner Sarab Star (Zoustar) on the roster at 200,000gns. 

A cosy winner of a 7f novice at Kempton in the colours of Jaber Abdullah when last seen, Sarab Star was purchased on behalf of a newly-formed partnership to stay in Channon's yard.

Channon explained, “Jaber has bought a lot of new horses this year and he wanted to monetise some of his more valuable stock and this horse was one of them. I think he is too good to let go – there are very few very talented horses who come through my hands and I was not leaving without him. He will be syndicated for some existing owners in the yard. He is a very talented horse.”

Buy[s] of the day

There were a fair few guesses flying around at Tattersalls as to the identity of the person who signed under the guise of Paddle Champ for the Jessica Harrington-trained Nancy J at 22,000gns. The Ten Sovereigns filly showed good form for Harrington and reached a rating of 95. Best case scenario, her new connections could have a filly that could rock up to something like the Kensington Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, a meeting in which she wasn't disgraced at when running eighth – beaten just over six lengths in the Sandringham – earlier this year. At worst, she has a good enough pedigree to go straight to the covering shed. At 22,000gns, the Paddle Champ team can't go too far wrong. At the more expensive end of things, Ian Williams and Jamie Piggott appeared to get a bit of value with Aqua Bear at 85,000gns. A scopey two-year-old colt by Kodi Bear who has twice been placed in maidens and achieved a good rating of 81 for Ado McGuinness in Ireland, he should be an absolute certainty to win a maiden in England and progress from there. Aqua Bear was probably entitled to make 100,000gns or more on form and looks. He was well bought.

Thought for the day

A leading bloodstock agent summed up Monday's state of affairs by simply saying, 'this is what they're really worth,' and he wasn't far wrong. Yes, the yearling sales have been incredibly strong in Europe this year but Monday served as yet another reminder that it can be easier to sell the dream of an unraced horse rather than the rating.

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