Middle Market Holds At Guineas Sale

[Wandering Eyes]

NEWMARKET, UK–The swifts, heralds of summer, reliably arrive in Newmarket for the Guineas meeting. But any who arrived yesterday must have been tempted to turn back south, greeted as they were by icy wind and squalls. In the same way, for much of the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale it was hard to read the market barometer.

On the face of it, it was wintry stuff. Last year, there were nine six-figure lots; this time, there was just one, a 150,000gns Kodiac filly who stoked up the sale’s dying embers as lot 293 of 312 in a mixed catalogue (opened by a horses-in-training session). But those who routinely lament the fragility of the middle market will find, on closer inspection, that there were actually a few sunbeams quietly penetrating that sector.

In common with the other breeze-up sales, this catalogue had been streamlined: 144 lots entered the ring, down from 194 in a bloated affair last year. The 121 to change hands raised the clearance rate to 84% from 74%, and if the aggregate was duly down 26% to 3,489,500gns, and the average down 12% to 28,839gns, the median was maintained exactly at 24,000gns. Albeit even the top of this sale belongs in the middle market, the median is arguably the key index to a very different breeze-up scene this time round.

“An abundance of overseas buyers from throughout Europe and the Gulf region, a significantly improved clearance rate and record turnover for the horses-in-training section of the fixture are all positives to take from the year’s renewal,” declared Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony. “Buyers from Italy, Greece, Poland, Scandinavia and Spain, as well as a strong contingent of buyers from Dubai, Kuwait and Qatar, have all contributed to a clearance rate that has only been bettered once since 2012. But the sector of the market that has not matched recent renewals is the top end, and the decline in average and turnover reflects this aspect of the sale.

“As ever there have been some very pleasing pinhooking successes, but overall there has been a shortage of highlights and domestic buyers have been a little restrained in comparison with the sustained overseas demand.

“The horses-in-training section of the sale continues to be popular and turnover just shy of 1,000,000gns is a new high, as is the median, and the 90% clearance rate which again demonstrates the enduring appeal of sales of this nature at Tattersalls. We will continue to work on attracting quality lots to this fixture, both 2-year-olds and horses-in-training, and look forward to seeing plenty of racecourse success from the sale throughout 2019.”

Patience Pays Off For Highbank

On the eve of the season’s first Classic, it was good to be reminded of the lasting resonance that will be obtained by its highest achievers–the sale-topper’s third dam being none other than Detroit (Fr), the Arc winner whose son Carnegie (Ire) emulated her in the same race. This filly’s branch of the family tree has a lower profile: descending through Detroit’s unraced daughter Mennetou (Ire) (Entrepreneur {GB}) and the once-raced Peace Palace (GB) (Archipenko). But the latter’s half-sister Osaila (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) is a dual Group 3 winner who made the frame in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

In acquiring Lot 293 for John Dance, then, Daniel Creighton of Creighton Schwartz knew she had a residual value that a young dam could still enhance.

“For me, she was the nicest filly here,” he said. “Obviously she breezed very well, very professionally, she’s got the pedigree, and she’s by Kodiac, so hopefully she’ll be able to kick on pretty soon. She’s going to Richard Fahey.”

A €60,000 foal purchase from Lisieux Stud by Highbank Stud, the filly had been bought in for £48,000 at Doncaster last August.

“It sometimes happens, you have to be patient,” said Highbank’s Martin Wainwright. “We really liked her, really believed in her, and it has paid off today. She did breeze well, in a good time, so we’d have been upset if we hadn’t got a price like this today. We might have been tempted to keep and race her.”

She was prepared by Mark Dwyer of Oaks Farm Stables, who paid tribute to his client’s role. “She came to me from the yearling sales to be broken, and then went back to the Highbank,” he said. “She came back to me in January and they’d done their job really well. It’s been plain sailing ever since, she has been a pleasure to deal with throughout. She’s a natural, one who could be on target for a certain date in June.”

In The Footprints Of Dabyah

Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock has happy memories of Sepoy (Aus) fillies selling through this ring, having found Dabyah (Ire) for 100,000gns as a Book 2 yearling in 2015 before she proceeded to finish third in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac and win the G3 Fred Darling S. So he was happy to give nearly as much for lot 309, a filly by the same sire presented by Mark and Paula Flannery of Egmont Stud.

A 95,000gns docket represented 10 times the sum she reached when unsold here last October. “She’s a very strong filly, who did an exceptional breeze,” Brown said. “Not everyone is as keen as me on Sepoy, but I bought a very good filly by him here a few years ago. In fact, I went to see Dabyah’s first foal at Whatton Manor Stud the other day, an exceptional foal too, by another one I bought in Ardad (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}).”

Though unable to divulge his client, Brown revealed that the filly will be joining Richard Hughes. She is the first foal of a full-sister to Rewarding Echo (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), a Group 1 performer in Hong Kong.

Longways Maintains Donny Momentum

It was a good day for fillies with residual value–identified in lot 281 by Alex Elliott, who gave 75,000gns for a daughter of Mukhadram (GB) presented by Longways Stables. The latter were following up their record-breaking coup with a £450,000 Siyouni (Fr) at Doncaster.

The dam Mokaraba (GB) (Unfuwain) has already produced a Grade III winner in Qaraaba (GB) (Shamardal), whose daughter Californiagoldrush (Cape Blanco {Ire}) is a Grade II winner and made the podium in the GI Del Mar Oaks. And the third dam is none other than the Oaks and 1000 Guineas winner Salsabil. So this is the great Flame Of Tara family, and will one day give Elliott’s clients–the Turnbull family of Elwick Stud–a nice option for their stallion Mondialiste.

Elliott was notably enthusiastic about a filly with “a bit of magic” about her.

“I thought she breezed extremely well for a big, backward filly that’s going to be a backend 2-year-old/3-year-old,” the agent said. “I liked her physically, she has a big, gorgeous frame to fill, but what really attracted me was her pedigree. When I lived with Simon Callaghan in California I know he thought Qarababa was a Grade I filly, she’s already bred a Grade II winner and I think it’s a family that’s going to keep happening.

“And I really trust Mick Murphy, in fact we tried to get his Siyouni filly at Doncaster without getting anywhere near. So one way or another I thought there were a few angles.”

Bromley Playing Long Game

Anthony Bromley of Highflyer Bloodstock has found this to be a very fertile sale over the last five or six years and swept up half a dozen lots for trainer Alan King, who has always done well with the Flat horses in his string. The standout, for Bromley, was lot 286, a January colt by Lope De Vega (Ire) consigned by Meadowview Stables, and he was delighted to secure him for 75,000gns. That represented an impressive yield on his Book II tag of just 10,000gns, when signed for by Five Star BS.

“We’re not here looking for types that can be jumpers, just horses with a bit of scope that might get a mile and a quarter,” he explained. “So we don’t worry too much about times, it’s all about how they move and if they have the size and scope to come through later in the season. This was a big, strong horse from a good hotel, in fact the vendors have tended to bring 3-year-old types to this sale and know that we’ll be here for those.”

The modus operandi is not confined to King, as Bromley bought a 115,000gns Nathaniel (Ire) colt at the Craven Breeze-Up last year for Mick Channon from the same vendors. He won his maiden, as Severance (GB), by seven lengths at Haydock last week.

“And I’m keen on the sire,” Bromley added. “There’s a Lope De Vega I bought, Senza Limiti (Ire), going for the Dee S. for William Haggas next week.”

This colt is out of the listed-placed Myrica (GB) (Dansili {GB}), who is a granddaughter of G1 Prix de Diane runner-up Baya.

“And her 3-year-old by Camelot [Guinevere (Ire)] ran very well at Leopardstown the other day,” Bromley said. “She looks promising. I’m very relieved we got this colt, because he was the one we wanted all day. At a stronger sale, you feel you have to get in when you can.”

More Good News Via Cable

Rookie Cable Bay (Ire) appears to have a bit of a following wind this spring, between the track and the ring. One son raised £200,000 at Doncaster the other day and in the context of this sale another one, lot 263, earned his stripes too with a 72,000gns docket signed by Richard Frisby–another good transaction for Meadowview Stables. This colt’s only previous visit to a sales ring had been when sent up to Goffs as a foal by Derryluskin Stud, and unsold at €14,000.

Frisby said that the colt will stay in Newmarket to be trained but could not disclose precisely where, as his client had yet to inform the trainer in question.

“But what I can say is that he did a very nice breeze, vetted well, and that besides the sire starting off well, the mare has also done pretty well from some modest coverings,” the agent added. “It’s quite hard work to buy a horse that’s well made, does a decent time and has a reasonable pedigree.”

For the third element of that brief, suffice to say that the second dam is a half-sister to the illustrious Aviance, a Group 1 winner herself and dam of such important Niarchos performers and producers as Chimes Of Freedom and Imperfect Circle.

McDowall And Her Mare Get Deserved Break

Morna McDowall has proved unfailingly impressive with all the stock she has so far presented for sale and the full range of her talents–in this instance not just as consignor, trainer and rider, but also as breeder–achieved due dividends through lot 212, a Starspangledbanner (Aus) colt who brought 70,000gns after failing to find a buyer at Fairyhouse last year.

McDowall bred him from a young Henrythenavigator mare (out of Grade I winner Lucifer’s Stone (Horse Chestnut {SAf}) who has had dreadful luck so far, this her one surviving foal to date. But the mare evidently warrants perseverance, judging from the ability her son advertised in his breeze to a shrewd judge in Stuart Williams.

The docket was signed by Geoff Price for Happy Valley Racing. “We spent too much,” he said with a smile. “But Stuart kept saying, ‘Go one more.’ I thought we had him at 60,000gns, and we were near the top of our budget, but we are delighted to have him. He looks a real 2-year-old type and is by a good 2-year-old sire, so let’s hope he is lucky.”

“I’m delighted by where he’s going, I have a lot of respect for Stuart,” McDowall said. “And I think he’s going to be a really fun horse for them. He has trained so well at home, he’s sound, and has a very good mind. He’s just a lovely character.”

The heartbreaking fortunes of his dam are typical of this precarious business, but her education with top-class horsemen either side of the Atlantic means that McDowall is fully conversant with its variables. “Regression to the mean is my friend,” she said wryly. “You do just need a lot of luck.”

That’s always true, with Thoroughbreds. But insofar as you can also earn your luck, then McDowall–who sold a 200,000gns No Nay Never filly to Coolmore out of Book II last autumn–deserves to carry on as she has started.

More Joy For Leamore

Cormac Farrell and Anna Calder of Leamore Horses Ltd have been on a great roll, selling point-to-point winner Wide Receiver (Ire) to Tom Malone and Gordon Elliott for £410,000 at the February Tattersalls Ireland Cheltenham Sale. And they got a fine dividend on lot 206, a Zoffany (Ire) filly who graduated from Fairyhouse last year for just €6,000 and here realised 62,000gns from Tom Goff.

“She is for [trainer] George Baker,” the agent said. “She’s a lovely, racy, shapely sort who breezed well, and George shouldn’t be waiting too long for her. She has a top back pedigree too.”

Indeed she has, remarkably so given that yearling tag: she is out of a Sadler’s Wells half-sister to that wonderful racemare Alexander Goldrun (Ire) (Gold Away {Ire}), who won Group 1 races in four different countries; as well as to Classic-placed Medecis (GB) (Machiavellian).

But the pinhook of the day, and arguably of the breeze-up season to date, was Lot 300: a Holy Roman Emperor filly bought for just 1,000gns out of Book 4 here last autumn by Emerald BS. Brought here by Woodtown House Stud, here she raised 67,000gns from Pegaz Stud in Poland.

“We did not think we’d have to pay that much for her,” said the farm’s Andrzej Zielinski alongside agent Witold Miedzianowski. “But she did a good breeze in a fast time. If she is good enough, we can travel her to run in France or Germany.”

Desert-Bound Executive Tops HIT Sale

The Horses-in-Training session that opened the sale was robbed of its most luminous prospect by the late withdrawal of the promising 3-year-old New King (GB) (Frankel {GB}), leaving lot 72, Executive Force (GB) (Sepoy {Aus}) to headline the morning’s business.

He had seemed rather difficult to value. On the one hand, he is a 5-year-old gelding with plenty of miles on the clock, including 10 all-weather starts just since February. On the other, he won half a dozen of those starts in advancing his rating from 71 to 97–a real feather in the cap of trainer Michael Wigham, who bought him out of one of the town’s best yards in the same ring 18 months ago.

In the end, the man who could offer the horse a fresh challenge was Ted Durcan, who secured him for export to Saudi Arabia for 65,000gns.

“It’s basically their off season at the moment so he can get a good rest now before the autumn campaign,” the ex-jockey explained. “I’m under no illusions that he might look fairly exposed over here, but we think he’ll have plenty of options out there both in terms of distance and running style. He’s a sound, capable horse and should be fun.”

The Middle East also beckons for one or two others of those subject to purposeful bidding. Dubai trainer Helal Al Alwai, for instance, gave 50,000gns for lot 129, Space Bandit (GB) (Shamardal), who is blessed with a resonant page for his part of the world, being from the family of Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}) and Balanchine (Storm Bird). The 4-year-old made his way to a rating of 90 with a couple of good wins for Mick Appleby this winter.

“We came especially for this horse, he was our main goal,” Al Alawi said. “He will be a Carnival horse. Shamardals go well in Dubai, on the dirt, and he acted well at Southwell and that is the closest.”

A few minutes later he went to the same price for one of two young wild cards submitted by Michael O’Callaghan, lot 134, Geneticist (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}), a Limerick maiden winner just a few days previously.

O’Callaghan’s other addition to the sale, the maiden Bodhicitta (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) (lot 133), is heading west for her sunshine, having been acquired for 60,000gns by Meah Lloyd Bloodstock on behalf of Calvin Nguyen to enter training in California with Richard Baltas.

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