Hazelwood Top Again As Dubawi Colt Heads Final Yearling Sale

[Wandering Eyes]

NEWMARKET, UK—It has already been a banner year for Hazelwood Bloodstock, which sold the 3.6 million gns top lot at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, and Adrian and Philippa O’Brien’s consigning business was out in front again on Monday, topping the December Yearling Sale for the second time in three years.

The Dubawi half-brother to Group 1-winning miler Barney Roy (Ire) (Excelebration {Ire}) led the way in October and it was a colt by the same stallion out of the G1 Irish St Leger winner Voleuse De Coeurs (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) which landed the top spot as the fortnight-long December Sale got underway in Newmarket. Sold as lot 35, he had been withdrawn from Book 1 to be given a little extra time, and at 200,000gns he was knocked down to David O’Callaghan on behalf of co-breeders Sun Bloodstock.

O’Callaghan said, “We’ve bought out the partnership. She was a very good mare and he is quite similar to her in looks—he had just been held up a bit and so had not sold earlier this autumn. He looks as though he will need some time and that’s fine, we can give him time.”

He added that the colt will go into training with David Simcock in Newmarket.

A catalogue containing some decent pedigrees saw a number of vendor buy-backs throughout the session but turnover was almost exactly on par with last year’s sale, with the 131 sold bringing a tally of 4,149,500gns. The average was down by 11% at 31,676gns but the median rose by 16% to 25,000gns, while the clearance rate was also up at 78%.

Leading Lights
The top filly of the day was a Sunderland Holdings-bred daughter of Sea The Stars (Ire) out of a Tertulllian half-sister to the enigmatic Hong Kong-based Group 1 winner Pakistan Star (Ger) (Shamardal). Lot 181 was offered by the Castlebridge Consignment and will go into training in Britain after being bought by agent Alex Elliott for an undisclosed client.

He said, “It’s been a frustrating day as we’ve missed on a couple, but this filly was a standout. She has a lovely page [and] her full-sister Fashion’s Star had a lot of ability and was bought as a yearling by Brendan Holland for €100,000 and sold as a breeze-up for €400,000.”

Anthony Stroud also went to 100,000gns for a Golden Horn (GB) half-brother to Le Don De Vie (GB) (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}). The yearling offered by Staffordstown Stud as lot 146 was bred by Kirsten Rausing from the Selkirk mare Leaderene (GB), a half-sister to G1 Prix de l’Opera winner Lady Marian (Ger) (Nayef).

Invincible Spirit (Ire) was another leading stallion with a sole representative in the December yearling catalogue—the Kilcarn Stud-bred full-sister to listed winner Emmaus (Ire)—and the filly from the family of top-class distaffers Cassandra Go (Ire), Halfway To Heaven (Ire) and Magical (Ire) was signed for by Patrick Cooper of BBA Ireland at 95,000gns.

Off To Breeze
A Sea The Stars (Ire) filly with a top-drawer pedigree has joined the Tally-Ho Stud breezing team for next year after being sold through Ballylinch Stud for 95,000gns.

Lot 52, bred by Dayton Investments, is a half-sister to G3 Prix Allez France winner Aquamarine (Jpn )Deep Impact {Jpn}) from a Wildenstein family which traces back to Albertine (Fr) (Irish River {Fr}), the dam of champion miler Arcangues (Sagace {Fr}).

Also heading to the breeze-up sales will be lot 133, the first foal of the listed-winning Iromea (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) by Lope De Vega (Ire) and sold by his breeder Newsells Park Stud. Out of In The Mist (GB), a Pivotal (GB) half-sister to the G1 Prix du Moulin winner Grey Lilas (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Iromea was bought as a foal for 150,000gns from breeders James Wigan and George Strawbridge and won the listed Prix Madame Jean Couturie for Haras de Saint Pair before being sold for €320,000 as a 4-year-old. Her mating with Lope De Vega represents a cross which has already produced top-level success via GI Natalma S. winner Capla Temptress (Ire), as well as this season’s Group 3-winning juvenile Lope Y Fernandez (Ire).

Willie Browne signed for the filly at 92,000gns.

Top-Drawer Pedigrees
A Le Havre (Ire) colt out of a sister to promising young stallion Sea The Moon (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) was one of the early picks of the session and will join Jim Boyle’s team in Epsom after being bought at 80,000gns through agent Ross Doyle. Offered as lot 3 through the Castlebridge Consignment, the first foal of the unraced Sea The Sun (Ger) was another bred by the Tsui family’s Sunderland Holdings and his list of German Classic-winning relations doesn’t end with Sea The Moon as his grandam Sanwa (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) is a sister to the Deutsches Derby winners Samum (Ger) and Schiaparelli (Ger) and Preis der Diana winner Salve Regina (Ger).

Following the colt into the ring as lot 4 from New England Stud was another with plenty to recommend him on paper. The Galileo (Ire) colt is out of the G3 Prestige S. winner Sent From Heaven (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) and was bought at 80,000gns by Mark Johnston, who has always had an eye for a pedigree and also boasts a notable record of success with relatively inexpensive yearlings.

Last But Not Least
The final lot through the ring (200) and the sole yearling by St Leger winner Sixties Icon (GB) brought a decent return for small breeders Chris and Claire Bonner who run a successful breaking and pre-training operation in Wiltshire.

The couple bought the colt’s dam, Royal Warranty (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}), bred by the late Sir Gordon Brunton, while she was carrying him last year and they have enjoyed a decent update this season through his juvenile half-brother Hariboux (GB) (Havana Gold {GB}), who has now won four races in Britain and America.

“We only have two mares and we bought them both together last year from Sir Gordon Brunton’s North Munstead Stud,” said Claire Bonner after watching the chesnut colt sell for 70,000gns to Ed Dunlop on behalf of Paul Roy, who also raced his sire.

She added, “We had him at home and Matt Coleman came to look at some horses and he liked the colt and said we should try to get him into the December Sale. We started his prep and he then went to Liam and Jenny Norris and it’s all thanks to them for doing a great job.”

As well as consigning the Sixties Icon colt, Norris Bloodstock also sold Hariboux for Lady Gillian Brunton in February last year. Royal Warranty has a colt foal by Cityscape (GB) and is back in foal to the Overbury Stud stallion.

The Six Musketeers
There’s nothing quite like ditching your vanity in the name of a good cause and that is exactly what six Newmarket friends have done this month for the Movember campaign, which raises funds for prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health and suicide prevention charities.

The hirsute sextet of Jason Singh, Jono Mills, Ollie Pynn, Tom Pritchard-Gordon, and brothers Simon and Charlie Mitchell has now passed the £5,000 mark and will be shaking the collection tins at Tattersalls this week. Thankfully, by the start of the December Mares’ Sale on Monday, they will all be clean-shaven once more.

“We were at a dinner party at Charlie’s at the end of October and we hatched the idea that we should do Movember together,” said Tattersalls’ marketing manager Jason Singh. “We’re raising money as a team but that doesn’t mean we’re not ridiculously competitive with each other about which of us has raised the most individually.”

Anyone wishing to make a donation can do so via this link to Charlie’s Moustached Musketeers.

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