Siyouni Filly Sets Goffs UK Record

[Wandering Eyes]

DONCASTER, UK—Well, pick that one out of the net. Yes, there were still grumbles about an uneven market, and everyone knows that a headline pinhook or two can cover a multitude of sins. But it would be churlish not to grant a due ovation to the historic price achieved by a Siyouni (Fr) (Pivotal {GB}) filly at the Breeze-Up Sale staged by Goffs UK at Doncaster on Thursday.

Presented by Mick Murphy and Sarah O’Connell of Longways Stables, lot 112 became the most expensive Flat horse ever sold by the hosts at £450,000.

It was her second visit to this ring, having been bought out of the Premier Yearling Sale here last year for £95,000. On the face of it, that was a bold enough investment for a pretty little filly after the tribulations endured by the breeze-up sector last year, not least at this sale. But Longways have been with Siyouni every step of the way, having launched one of his first big stars when selling a colt to Ted Voute for €105,000 at Arqana in 2016. Le Brivido (Fr) went on to be denied a Classic only by a short head in the Poulains before winning the G3 Jersey S. at Royal Ascot—a meeting that will doubtless now be in the mind of this filly’s new owner, Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad al Khalifa.

The sheikh was represented here by Anthony Stroud, who eventually saw off ardent opposition from inside the Blandford Bloodstock office above the ring. Stroud was standing with Simon Crisford, who will train the filly after a timely success for the same patron at Kempton a few days ago with El Gumryah (Ire) (No Nay Never), likewise a breeze-up graduate after being picked up for €135,000 from Malcolm Bastard at Arqana last year.

At the same Arqana sale Murphy and O’Connell had kept up their happy record with Siyouni, selling one of his sons for €385,000—again to Stroud—but this was something else again.

“I’m shell-shocked,” Murphy admitted. “We knew the vibes were good. We knew all the good judges were on her, the last couple of days. And we knew she’d done the fastest gallop-out. But we didn’t see that coming!”

Just as certain sires have a reputation for producing stock that somehow doesn’t shine in the breeze-up environment, conversely Murphy finds Siyouni produces exceptionally amenable animals.

“We’re massive fans of the sire,” he said. “We’ve just been lucky with him all the way through, really. We find they’ve great minds, great temperaments, so laid-back. And he puts a bit of speed into them too. This filly is a little princess. I remember when she was here last year she looked very racy, albeit small. But then it’s a small family: small, and fast. At the time it looked a brave shout, and it would have been but for the sire, but she’s grown since and vetted very clean.”

This touch was especially welcome to a couple who have a wedding to pay for in July, besides having celebrated the birth of their second child 16 weeks ago. “Plus we’ve sold my place and built a brand new yard, so we’ve spent a lot the last year,” Murphy said. “But we’ve a great set-up now down at Ardmore in Co Waterford, just half a mile from the sea. This filly was down at the beach last week, it’s a great place to take young horses.”

The couple divide their business between the breezers and breaking and pre-training National Hunt stores for such elite clients as Willie Mullins and Henry De Bromhead.

Stroud noted that eight weeks is a precarious window before Royal Ascot but hoped that the investment will pay off sooner rather than later. “She looks ready to roll,” he said. “It’s a lot of money but hopefully she’ll prove worth it. She’s by a wonderful stallion and has a good pedigree.”

Bred by Ed’s Stud, she is the second foal of Listed winner Fig Roll (GB) (Bahamian Bounty {GB})—whose dam Cake (Ire) helped to put her sire Acclamation on the map as a listed winner.

This stunning transaction contributed to a day that started very slowly—six of the first nine lots through the ring initially failed to find a buyer, pending several private sales—but rallied to achieve a comprehensive improvement on last year’s indices.

At the end of proceedings, the decision to streamline the catalogue and postpone the date of the sale by a couple of weeks appeared to have paid off. First and foremost, 111 of the 130 offered (from a catalogue trimmed to 160 from 207) found a new home, representing a healthy 85.4%. Aggregate turnover of £5,078,250 was understandably down from the £5,528,000 achieved by 138 sales in 2018 (of 182 lots into the ring) but the average advanced to a new high of £45,750 from £40,058 last year; and the median inched up to £26,000 from £25,500.

The latter figure perhaps corroborated anxieties about a porous middle market, where a dearth of trainers and some conspicuous past investors in the sector remains keenly felt. At the same time, Goffs UK definitely deserve plaudits for their incentives to Scandinavian horsemen, in particular, achieving two six-figure sales among others.

“We came into today’s sale confident we had a good catalogue, following our decision to reduce the numbers and focus on quality,” reflected Goffs UK managing director Tony Williams. “So to achieve a new record average and top price is very pleasing. We have been well supported by our consignors, who sent us a superb line-up of horses, and demand from buyers from around the world meant we have been able to achieve some outstanding prices.

“Longways Stables’ £450,000 Siyouni filly will stand out as a highlight for some time as not only being a new record for this sale, but the joint second-highest priced horse ever sold at Doncaster [including National Hunt sales] and the highest-priced Flat horse sold in the company’s 57-year history.

“This is the world’s leading breeze-up sale for Royal Ascot winners since 2010, with five, and we look forward to June’s Royal meeting where we hope to see a number of graduates extend that wonderful record.”

Kingman Follows Through Craven Hit

A couple of their earlier purchases had indicated that Blandford Bloodstock’s timing apparatus was fully functional, but lot 79 was a refreshingly old-fashioned punt on the whole package: a Kingman (GB) colt with a proper pedigree and every right to be given time and even, whisper it, a little distance.

The dam is an unraced daughter of Dalakhani (Ire) (Darshaan {GB}) out of a stakes-winning half-sister to that wonderful Ballymacoll campaigner Pilsudski (Ire) (Polish Precedent)—one of whose sisters is the second dam of Youmzain (Ire). So that’s a deep well of class and staying power from which the dashing Kingman can draw some class.

Not, perhaps, the most obvious page to have found its way into the same ring as a yearling last August, but that’s where he was found by McKeever BS for £62,000. Consigned here by Brendan Holland’s Grove Stud, he brought £230,000 to add to the laurels earned by Kingman with his 850,000gns filly at the Craven Sale.

“I bought a couple earlier that went a lot faster,” said Blandford’s Richard Brown, whose client wished to remain anonymous. “But they were bred to be five-furlong horses—and this, to me, is a mile-and-a-quarter horse. And he showed enough speed, particularly at the end of his breeze, to suggest he has some gears. So he’s very much one that’ll be given time, he’ll probably be an autumn horse.

“He comes from a very good vendor, one we’ve been trying to buy a horse from for a while; somehow it just hasn’t really happened. But the sire obviously looks as though he could potentially be very special.”

One of the zippier types mentioned by Brown was lot 55, who gave Michael Murray of Hardwood Stud a wonderful touch. Murray found this Acclamation (GB) colt for just 4,500gns in Book III last autumn—even though he is out of a half-sister to multiple Listed winner Dunelight (Ire) (Desert Sun {GB})—and here watched delighted as Brown was forced to £130,000 by opposition from Stroud.

“He looks very typical of his sire,” Brown remarked. “And we bought a very good Acclamation (GB) off Michael at the Guineas Sale a couple of years ago, Stone Of Destiny (GB) [for 70,000gns] and he went on to be fourth in the [G1] Commonwealth Cup last year. This horse also came highly recommended, and obviously did a very good breeze. Sheikh Juma [Dalmook al Maktoum] will be in Newmarket for the Guineas, he’ll have a look at all the horses then and decide where he’ll go to be trained.

“He’s a beautiful horse and has shown me ability all the way along,” Murray said. “I was never too hard on him, it was all raw talent. He showed that out on the track yesterday and I’ve had huge footfall since, so I knew he’d make 50 or 60 grand—and anything after that I was happy with. I’m thrilled how far it kept going. I had to withdraw the other horse I had here, but this definitely helps get over that!”

The Co Galway-based consignor added: “I’ve been doing the breezers about 15 years and they’ve been good to me. I was informed today that I’m 10% stakes winners to horses sold, which is very high.”

Reflected Glory Favours Malibu Moon Colt

After highlighting the breeze and pedigree of lot 100 in yesterday’s TDN, it was good to see him go to a yard where he is certain to fulfil his potential. Karl Burke’s many achievements with cheaper horses includes two Group 1 wins with a £44,000 graduate of this sale in Quiet Reflection (GB) (Showcasing {GB}), but he needed exactly five times that amount to secure this Malibu Moon colt—likewise consigned by Tom Whitehead of Powerstown Stud.

“Let’s hope lightning can strike twice,” Burke said after signing at $220,000. “Tom prepares them very well and always puts me right. Luckily Carl Waters, who used have horses with us a few years back, rang up a month or so ago to say he wanted to come back and had a few quid to spend.”

Whitehead picked up this colt for just $50,000 at Keeneland last September, a few days before his half-sister’s son Kessaar (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) won the G2 Mill Reef S. He is inbred 3 x 3 to Mr Prospector and his third dam is none other than Inside Information (Private Account).

“He’s a lovely colt with tremendous resale value,” Burke remarked. “Even if he doesn’t turn out as good as we hope he can be. If he wins a maiden, there’s another market for him with the dirt element. Having said that, he looked to go over the grass well yesterday. And there’s the Dubai angle too.”

Kentucky To Scandinavia Via Doncaster

Powerstown had achieved another good return on a U.S. import a few minutes earlier through lot 95, an Elusive Quality colt likewise discovered at Keeneland last September for $55,000. He was secured for £110,000 by Filip Zwicky.

“This horse will go to Francisco Castro, multiple champion trainer in Sweden,” Zwicky explained. “He’s for some new people on the racing scene, from Denmark, whose dream is to have a few horses to send to Dubai. They bought some regally bred yearlings last year, international pedigrees that you can really hope to take abroad.”

Zwicky was also responding to Goffs UK’s Scandinavian incentives-this time on behalf of Denmark’s Bent Olsen-when giving £130,000 for lot 62, a son of The Factor consigned by Willie Browne of Mocklershill, who had picked him out for just $13,000 at Keeneland.

“He’s a lovely horse and I know he made the shortlist for a lot of other Scandinavian clients,” Zwicky observed. “But Bent bought a nice Hard Spun colt here last year that went on to finish third in the UAE 2,000 Guineas, so the owner was easier to persuade to go a little bit further. He’s a lovely mover out of a stakes-winning mare, and Bent has had a lot of success buying from Mocklershill in the past. Hopefully he too can have a Dubai campaign next winter.”

“I quite liked the horse at Keeneland and couldn’t understand why he didn’t make more money,” Browne said. “But he’s never had any issues. In fact, he’s been a joy to train.”

The Mocklershill wizard was medium of another excellent pinhook when Ross Doyle gave £200,000 for lot 77, a Cable Bay colt found here last August for just £38,000. He’ll be trained by Richard Hannon.

“We thought he was the stand-out colt of the sale,” Doyle said. “He did a very nice breeze, showing a good action and a good attitude, and obviously comes from an extremely good home. Willie has been in this business for a very long time, and has sold us the likes of Ventura Storm (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) and Emerald Commander (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}). So the stars aligned, really, and the client was happy to push the boat out a bit to buy a nice horse.”

Cable Bay has made a quick start at stud and Doyle added: “Richard’s very happy with the couple that he’s got, including one that finished second in what looked a good maiden at Newbury the other day. He thinks she’s well above average.”

Browne’s regular partner Mark Dwyer of Oaks Farm Stables sealed another good pinhook when Peter Swann of the Cool Silk Partnership–back at the sale where he found G2 Norfolk S. winner Prince Of Lir (Ire) (Kodiac {GB})–gave £130,000 for a filly by the same sire. She made just £30,000 here at the Premier Sale.

“Sometimes you have to look for something a bit different with a Kodiac, as he stamps them so well, and this one just had a bit more scope than some,” Swann explained. “She obviously did a decent time and ran through the line, so hopefully she’s one that we can crack on with. She’ll go to Richard Fahey.”

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