Déjà Vu As Galileo Filly Leads Orby at €2.2m

[Wandering Eyes]

KILDARE, Ireland—The price and name of the buyer may have changed but the star player for the opening session of the Goffs Orby Sale was, as last year, a sister to the treble Group 1 winner Alice Springs (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), consigned by Glenvale Stud and one of three seven-figure yearlings of the day.

The filly (lot 127) has already exceeded her year-older sister—who is now named Luck On Sunday (Ire)—in one respect in that she fetched an extra €200,000, bringing the hammer down at €2.2 million after Jamie McCalmont exchanged bids with Justin Casse and eventually came out on top. McCalmont was joined at the sale by the filly’s new owner Georg von Opel, who races under the name of his German-based family farm Westerberg and currently has horses in training with Aidan O’Brien, John Gosden and Ralph Beckett.

Speaking after securing his latest acquisition, von Opel said his plan is to establish a “significant band of broodmares” in England. Already in training in that country is the promising Miss Yoda (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), the top lot at last year’s BBAG Yearling Sale and now a dual winner in her only two starts for Gosden. The owner also has Mythic (Ire) (Australia {Ire}) in training at Ballydoyle and his latest purchase, bred by Lynch-Bages and Longfield Stud, may well also end up with O’Brien, who has trained five of her siblings.

Von Opel continued, “She will stay mostly in this country. She has a wonderful pedigree and we hope that she will be a good racehorse but for us the key thing is to breed from her in the future.”

The owner-breeder, whose niece Aline Rodde and her husband Peter run Gestut Westerberg near Frankfurt, plans to start his own breeding operation in Britain, where he now lives.

Solid Clearance Rate
The range of buyers at Goffs stretched well beyond those based in Europe. The brothers Sheikh Hamdan and Sheikh Mohammed, both with vast racing and breeding empires in Britain and Ireland, were there in person with their respective teams, while American buyers during the first day included Jon Kelly, Craig Bernick, Deuce Greathouse, Shawn Dugan, Ben McElroy and Justin Casse. Australian-based Aquis Farm also appeared on the buyers’ list, partnering with Phoenix Thoroughbreds for the second-top lot of the sale, and other international participants included Yulong Investments, China Horse Club, South Africa’s Form Bloodstock and Hong Kong Jockey Club.

That diverse buying bench helped to record a decent clearance rate for a select sale of 85%, with 187 of the 213 yearlings offered selling for a total of €23,119,500. That figure was down slightly on last year’s first-day tally by 4%, while the median of €75,000 was down by 12% and the average dropped by 14% at €123,634.

Phoenix and Aquis Team Up
Phoenix Thoroughbreds played a major role at last year’s Orby Sale, spending €5.2 million on the top two fillies of the sale, and they left it until late in the day to make a mark on this year’s trade, with Tom Ludt going to €1.1 million for another Galileo sister to a Group 1 winner. In the case of lot 213, offered by breeder David and Diane Nagle’s Barronstown Stud, the filly is a sibling to this year’s Irish Derby winner Sovereign (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

She will not, however, race solely for the Phoenix team, as Ludt outlined. He said, “We loved her and so did Aquis Farm so we decided to set up a partnership to buy her. The plan is for her to be trained up here rather than in Australia.”

Phoenix Thoroughbreds’ principal Amer Abdulaziz added, “It’s Galileo again but potential broodmares by him don’t come on to the market that easily.”

Another Angel To Fly For Godolphin
China Horse Club has been a regular name on the list of buyers but it also featured prominently as breeder on Tuesday in the sale of the sister to crack sprinter Harry Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) for €1 million. The club’s founder Teo Ah Khing was there to watch the lot 156 sell and the identity of the buyer was no surprise, as Anthony Stroud saw off attempts from Alastair Donald, David Redvers and Dermot Farrington to secure her on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed.

“She’s a really smooth, lovely filly—very athletic and Sheikh Mohammed really liked her,” said Stroud. “Obviously, with Harry Angel standing at Dalham Hall Stud, the filly was already pretty close to our heart.”

Harry Angel won the Darley July Cup and Haydock Sprint Cup on his way to being the world’s leading sprinter of 2017, but he is not the only draw in the filly’s immediate pedigree. The sheikh’s cousin, Sheikh Mohammed Obaid, races her half—brother Pierre Lapin (Ire), who recently became the first stakes winner for his freshman sire Cappella Sansevero (GB) when landing the G2 Dubai Mill Reef S., while the family also includes the Group 1-winning miler and stallion Xtension (Ire) (Xaar {GB}), who is a half-brother to the filly’s dam Beatrix Potter (Ire) (Cadeaux Genereux {GB}).

China Horse Club bought the mare privately from her breeder Paul and Marie McCartan of Ballyphilip Stud, who were also responsible for breeding Harry Angel and Pierre Lapin, as well as another top-class sprinter by Dark Angel, Battaash (Ire).

Another of Godolphin’s three purchases of the day was lot 122, a colt by Invincible Spirit (Ire), at €460,000. Bred and consigned by the Irish National Stud, he is the first foal of his dam Aimhirgin Lass (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}), a dual winner herself and a sister to listed winner Seeharn (Ire) as well as being a half-sister to dual Group 3 winner Yellow Rosebud (Ire) (Jeremy).

Shadwell’s Staunch Support
Sheikh Hamdan has long been a solid supporter of the Orby Sale and he participated in several of the early highlights of the opening session. They included the purchase of lot 55, a Frankel (GB) half-sister to dual Group 3 winner and G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere runner-up Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}) offered by her breeder Croom House Stud.

Earlier in the day the sheikh’s Derrinstown Stud manager Stephen Collins had signed for lot 28, a Sea The Stars (Ire) half-brother to listed winner Mind of Madness (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}), for €400,000. Bred by Jacqueline Norris and consigned by her Jockey Hall Stud at last year’s foal sale, the son of Sioduil (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}) was bought then by Camas Park Stud for €290,000. The mare, herself a winner at three and rated 92, had been bought by Norris as a 4-year-old for €21,000 and she hails from a family with which Sheikh Hamdan is very familiar as the breeder of her grandam Abyat (Shadeed), a half-sister to the dam of dual Group 1 winner and first-season sire Shalaa (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}).

King Power Investment Continues
On a day when plenty of pinhookers struggled, there was a decent return for Willie Browne and Mark Dwyer with a son of Street Sense bought at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale for $70,000 and sent back through the ring to sell for €380,000. Alastair Donald was the successful bidder, outlasting Mick Kinane on Hong Kong Jockey Club duty.

Consigned through Dwyer’s Oaks Farm Stables, the first foal of the unraced mare Snap Dragon, a Super Saver half-sister to minor stakes winners Scholastic Giant (Giant’s Causeway) and Smokin Forest (Forestry), was bred by Crosshaven Bloodstock.

Donald confirmed that the colt was for King Power Racing, which has already enjoyed success with a WinStar-bred son of Street Sense, the listed winner and Group 3 runner-up Bye Bye Hong Kong.

“King Power have had a great season on the track with 12 or 13 stakes winners and they are currently lying fifth in the owners’ table, so there’s great enthusiasm,” said the agent.

Donald later outbid the team from China Horse Club in pursuit of lot 67, signing for the daughter of Dark Angel (Ire) at €440,000.

“We were underbidder on her sister so hopefully we will have more luck this time,” he added.

That sister is the G3 Princess Margaret Keeneland S. winner and multiple group-placed Angel’s Hideaway, while another full sibling is the G2 Mill Reef S. runner-up Perfect Angel (Ire). All three were bred by Yeomanstown Stud and Doc Bloodstock from the stakes-placed juvenile winner The Hermitage (Ire) (Kheleyf).

International Boost For Orby
Mick Kinane has been kept almost as busy as in his riding days since the start of this yearling sales season as the principal buyer for the Hong Kong Jockey Club team, aided by daughter and son-in-law Aisling and Mark Gittins as well as Ric Wylie.

The team recruited another five yearlings for next year’s breeze-up sale in Hong Kong for a total of €1,505,000, led by a Showcasing (GB) colt from Grove Stud (lot 179) at €420,000.

A brave foal purchase by Brendan Holland at €160,000 from the Goffs November Sale, the first foal of Casila (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}), a daughter of the G2 Ribblesdale S. winner Miletrian (Ire) (Marju {Ire}) was bred by Grenane House Stud.

Kinane also selected lot 80, Killourney Mor Farm’s Kodiac (GB) colt out of Vee Gita (Ire) (Vettori {Ire}) for €375,000. The 15-year-old mare—an unraced half-sister to GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Vale Of York (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire})—has been good to the colt’s breeder Pat Grogan, with two other siblings to the colt having been sold at Goffs for €140,000 each, while half-sister Responsibleforlove (Ire) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}) won an Italian listed race.

There was a Hong Kong connection behind the sale of lot 59, an Exceed And Excel (Aus) colt from Croom House Stud. Demi O’Byrne did the bidding for the son of Symposia (Ire), a Galileo (Ire) half-sister to the Group/Graded winning Dansili (GB) brothers Early March (GB) and Aviate (GB), and the hammer finally fell in his favour at €430,000. But the name alongside the purchase is Aquis Farm, based in Australia and owned by Hong Kong businessman Tony Fung.

Shane McGrath, CEO of Aquis Farm, explained, “After our lunch with Tom Taaffe in Saratoga we agreed it was a good idea to attend Goffs. We shortlisted a bunch of colts and Dr O’Byrne, as our international bloodstock consultant, said that this was the one we couldn’t leave without.”

Denis Brosnan’s Croom House Stud bought Symposia from the Juddmonte draft at the 2016 Tattersalls December Mares’ Sale for 68,000gns when carrying to Bated Breath (GB).

Another Classy Filly For Harrington
Jessica Harrington added another Group 1 to her laurels on Saturday with the victory of Millisle (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) in the Cheveley Park S. at Newmarket and her roster for next season will include a smart Iffraaj (GB) filly for owner Jon Kelly.

Bred by Deerpark Stud, she is the second foal of the unraced Abend (Ire), a Sea The Stars (Ire) half-sister to five black-type earners produced by the Alzao mare Frond (GB) at the County Meath farm. Conducting the bidding on the American owner’s behalf was Philippa Mains, who had to stretch to €280,000.

“We absolutely loved her and the whole team agreed,” said Mains.

“We are just delighted that she will be going to such a good trainer,” added Deerpark’s Peter Fagan. “She’s a lovely filly with a really good temperament. She was one of those who just blossomed when she arrived at the sale and she took all the shows in her stride. We still have Frond, who is now 24 and retired, and she has been so good to us over the years.”

 

 

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