Group Performer Gladius Bought By Wathan Racing For 950k At Tattersalls H-I-T Sale

[Wandering Eyes]

NEWMARKET, ENGLAND – Be it at public auction or the private market, Wathnan Racing has ripped up the playbook in a short space of time and signaled yet another statement of intent at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses-In-Training Sale by adding recent Group 3 runner-up Gladius (Night Of Thunder) to its squad at 950,000gns.

It was Blandford Bloodstock's top agent Richard Brown who landed a colt the Wathnan team knows well given he chased home the Qatari-based owner's Damysus (Frankel) in the G3 Darley Stakes at Newmarket when last seen.

According to Brown, who held off fellow bloodstock agent Johnny McKeever as underbidder, Damysus will stay in training with Andrew Balding and be aimed at targets abroad.

Brown said, “He was bought for Wathnan Racing. We followed him throughout the year with interest and obviously we've got Damysus, who won the Darley Stakes and we hope he can continue to progress. It's a form line we know plenty about and we hold Damysus in high regard. The plan is for Gladius to go back to Andrew Balding and he will be aimed at the Qatar Derby. He's what we're looking for. He's a progressive – and still pretty unexposed – and one who will hopefully go to Qatar and be an international horse for us as well.”

He added, “This is exactly the type of horse that fits the brief for Olly Tait and the powers that be at Wathnan. He's had only six starts and he can climb again so the plan will be for him to go back to Andrew and hopefully he can give Wathnan a big day.”

Gladius was consigned by Jamie Railton, who went on to sell Grade I scorer New Century (Kameko) on behalf of Qatar Racing, to Blandford Bloodstock's Stuart Boman for 390,000gns.

The agent said, “It is rare you get to buy a Grade I winner at auction – he has run very well in that company since and, at one point, he was a horse talked about as a Classic prospect. We are happy to get him. He is for an existing client and he will be going to Dubai for the Carnival.”

Gladius is the headline act at the sale thus far and is unlikely to be toppled. He was one of eight horses to sell for 300,000gns or more on Tuesday, however, the figures on the whole were down for the second day in succession. 

Turnover dropped by 12% on day two to 12,170,000gns while the median fell by 6% to 22,000gns and the average by 5% to 49,472gns. The clearance rate was down by 7% to 87%. 

'He Made Sense' – Osborne Swoops For White Birch At 300k

It is fair to say Group 1 scorer White Birch (Ulysses) generated plenty of chat in the build-up to the sale and it was trainer Jamie Osborne who landed the high-class middle-distance performer who brought the father-and-son team of John and George Murphy on a journey of a lifetime.

Who could forget White Birch thwarting Auguste Rodin in the Tattersalls Gold Cup to provide the Murphys with their greatest day on a racecourse last year?

What the five-year-old meant to the family was pretty evident on George's face when the hammer went down as, holding back a tear or two, he admitted, “it's emotional.”

He added, “We've had some great days with this horse and I am under no illusions as to how hard it is to find a Group 1 winner so we owe him a lot. It's just been an incredible journey and it's definitely sad to see him go. 

“All of the people at home in the yard have done an incredible job with him and I must say, we owe a massive thank you to his owner [Mrs Regalado-Gonzalez], who has been a massive supporter of our yard for a long time now. Jamie is a top fella and showed a lot of interest in him all week so I wish his new connections the very best of luck with him.”

Osborne held off the attention of Harold Kirk, bidding on behalf of Willie Mullins, and confirmed that ownership plans were still to be decided on White Birch. 

He said, “It is very rare to be able to buy a horse of his calibre – he is five but he has got plenty of life in him. He can go anywhere – he could be at Royal Ascot next year and run in something like the Wolferton, and would be one of the better horses in that race, or can go around the world for the next couple of years and give his new owners a lot of sport.”

Osborne added, “How do you value him? It entirely depended on someone's appetite for almost guaranteeing themselves a really good, strong-travelling horse for the next couple of years. How do you value that? You are just buying a bit of certainty – and I think he made sense at that.”

Group 2 Winner Geography Set For Middle Eastern Campaign 

Group 2 winner Geography bolstered his profile further when running fifth behind Maranoa Charlie in the G1 Prix de la Foret at ParisLongchamp and the wildcard entry to the sale didn't disappoint when selling to BBA Ireland's Mick Donohoe for 570,000gns on behalf of Middle Eastern clients.

Trained by Peter Schiergen in Germany, the Holy Roman Emperor gelding boasts a rating of 110 and, according to Donohoe, made a lot of sense at 570,000gns given he can race for similar purses abroad.

He commented, “He is the one that we identified when the wildcards came out. He is a horse we had been following and has extremely consistent form – his run in the Prix de la Foret was good and he's very good-looking as well. He vetted very well and he is versatile.”

Donohoe added, “He is for a client in the Middle East and we will make a plan now. He will probably ship and be based there. He will suit the mile races in the region and, with his pedigree, he might be a horse who could go on the dirt in Saudi, too. We gave a bit more than we thought we would but we are very happy to get him. If he can win a valuable race in the Middle East, it makes good sense from an investment viewpoint.”

Aidan O'Brien's St Leger Third Sold To Continue Career In Australia 

St Leger third Stay True (Galileo) and Group 3 scorer Thrice (Wootton Bassett) were sold to powerhouse Australian connections to continue their careers Down Under as Coolmore brought its total turnover to 2,713,000gns on 39 horses sold this week.

Stay True was the pick of the 39 at 360,000gns to Blandford Bloodstock agent Stuart Boman on behalf of Annabel Neasham and Robert Archibald while Thrice was snapped up for 320,000gns by Johnny McKeever on behalf of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.

Speaking about Stay True, Boman said, “He is a perfect Cup horse – he is already Melbourne Cup qualified and he has got the rating to get in. He finished third in the St Leger and he is from Galileo's final crop. He ran a top race in the Great Voltigeur when fourth and he has a great pedigree.”

Neasham was in attendance at Tattersalls and added, “He is ultimately for a Melbourne Cup / Caulfield Cup campaign although we have not got definite plans as of yet. We might fly him out in March and run him off the plane in something like the Tancred Stakes. He is on spec at the moment but I have few owners who want a Cup horse. He will be easy enough to sell as he has just run third in the St Leger. He is just the horse you come to buy. It is difficult to land on them.”

Thrice was purchased to fulfill a similar brief by McKeever, who also sourced the fellow Aidan O'Brien-trained Swagman (Wootton Bassett) for 260,000gns on behalf of Waterhouse and Bott.

“We will take them straight to Australia,” said Claudia Fitzgerald, the bloodstock manager for that training partnership.

She added, “We will let them acclimatise – they are young horses, lightly-raced and have the exact profile of a horse that we come here to target. They are incredibly sound – they are lovely and fresh and we love progeny by Wootton Bassett. When the catalogue comes out we start making plans and we then have a couple of days here to get around them all. These two horses in particular really stuck with us as physically – big, strong types who will suit Australia. We have ownership plans in place.”

Jackson-Stops Continues To Make Waves With Victorious Forever 

Billy Jackson-Stops and George Scott secured the progressive 94-rated Wave Rider (Belardo) on behalf of Victorious Forever at 420,000gns. An impressive winner over 1m2f at Pontefract when last seen, Wave Rider will be targeted at races in Bahrain, a jurisdiction that Scott has done so well in before with horses like Isle Of Jura. 

Jackson-Stops said, “Sheikh Nasser has won his own Cup a couple of times and it would be great to try and win it again. He has the form and the profile to be successful there. Harry [Charlton] is someone we know and trust and the horse has been looked after to the very best. Bahrain as a racecourse is on the up and we want to support that and send the right horses and ensure the quality of ability and competition remains high. Horses like this will do that.”

Buy[s] of the day

It is fair to say that the National Hunt trainers have really struggled to get a look in at these horses-in-training sales in recent times due to the dominance of the Australians when it comes to the good middle-distance prospects. But Immediate Effect, a fine big stamp of a horse by Study Of Man, looks well-bought by Mouse O'Ryan and Gordon Elliott at just 45,000gns. Compared to horses with similar profiles, the 88-rated Immediate Effect, who has won twice on the level for Sir Mark Prescott, would appear to be a value buy. But there was one result that left plenty of people scratching their heads and that was recent runaway Listed scorer Deepone (Study Of Man) – who won the Beresford Stakes as a two-year-old – selling for just 30,000gns. Without being privy to Deepone's vet report, Willem H Ackerman would appear to have landed himself a high-class horse for a fraction than what most would have estimated. 

Thought for the day

The major theme to develop from the opening two days of this sale has been just how unpredictable the horses-in-training market has become. Lest we forget a number of trainers voiced concerns about the lack of private trade being done this year for form horses. Perhaps what has played out over the past 48 hours is just indicative of the wider market for horses-in-training at present. While the Middle Eastern presence has been typically strong at Tattersalls this week, the Saudi Arabian involvement has been muted while there has been a distinct lack of American interest as well. It has shown thus far, with a number of cracks appearing in the middle market.

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