‘I Went to Coolmore From School and Didn’t Come Home’: David Bowe’s Life in Bloodstock 

“I was speechless,” says David Bowe of being presented with this year's Wild Geese Award at the ITBA's National Breeding and Racing Awards on Sunday night. 

The award recognises Irish men and women who have forged successful careers in the bloodstock industry worldwide, and its recipients to date have included those working in Australia and America. Bowe didn't fly too far afield, though he did serve a stint in the States early in his career. For more than a quarter of a century he has been based just across the water in England, with the last 22 years spent as manager of Jeff Smith's Littleton Stud in Hampshire.

“I was humbled, absolutely blown away, the fact that I was chosen, especially when you think about all the previous recipients,” he adds. “I can't understand why, but it's just wonderful to be acknowledged by the ITBA, being an Irishman. Well, it's phenomenal, absolutely, I couldn't ask for better.”

He may not be able to understand why but plenty of people who have worked with Bowe over the years can vouch for the skills and horsemanship that put him in the running for such an award. The video of tributes shown on the night included one from Bill Dwan, who said, “He's an absolute gentleman. I don't know anyone in the business who has a bad word to say about him. It's not ever about David; it's about the horses, it's about Jeff.”

Smith himself said, “Year by year he has improved the stud from what it was.”

Growing up partaking in all the usual pony endeavours during his schooldays, Bowe's real education began in a nursery famed not just for its equine graduates but for plenty of two-legged graduates as well.

“I went to Coolmore from school and didn't come home,” Bowe says. “I think my father hoped I was going to go on to academia but it was never going to happen.

“Coolmore was just the best training academy in the world. If you rose to the occasion, they let you and enabled you to do everything. So they sent me to America, and I came back from America and ended up managing Abbeyleix estate for Lord de Vesci for five years.”

Bowe eventually found himself in England, with his early time there spent working at the National Stud and at Longholes Stud in the days of the Hon. John Lambton when it still stood the stallions Komaite and Wolfhound.

“And then I came to Littleton Stud and met Jeff Smith,” he continues, “and really, I guess, all the graft and work I did previously at Coolmore and Abbeyleix and in America, I was able to put it into practice here. Jeff is a unique man. He's probably going to be the most influential person I've ever met, in that he enabled me to be able to go and do what I've been lucky enough to do. It's been brilliant.”

Smith is of an increasingly rare breed of owner-breeders running a select operation. He is loyal to his trainers, many of whom have had horses for him for decades, and he races his homebreds, which are supplemented from time to time by the odd foal purchase.

On top of his regular stud management duties, Bowe has been key to this element of the Littleton operation in selecting the foals at the sales, and with some notable success, headed by the four-time Group 1 winner Alcohol Free (Ire). The daughter of No Nay Never was bought from her breeder Churchtown House Stud for €40,000 and was resold following her four-year-old season for 5.4 million gns at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale. 

“We had land here, we had staff, and sometimes we came up short on numbers, so Jeff let me go off and buy a few. It's going back a long time ago now, but the first horse we bought as a foal was called Dream Eater. He did very well for us,” says Bowe of the son of Night Shift who was a Listed winner and was placed eight times in Group races, including finishing third in the G1 Queen Anne S. behind Goldikova (Ire) and Paco Boy (Ire).

“We've done that ever since, really. We never buy any more than maybe three or four every year. We've been lucky. We buy them from good nurseries and you know that they're in good shape when you buy them,” he adds.

“I would go out there and spend the money as if it was my own. You're looking for value. But basically, I'm lucky enough that I can go and buy an individual and I don't have to worry about the fact that the sire is not fashionable. I like the horse and I'll buy it, and Jeff and myself are on the same page. It's about the actual individual rather than what it's by or what it's out of. Equally, that's very important for the residual value afterwards if you're going to breed or resell. But primarily, the first thing is the physical specimen.”

Casting his mind back to the halcyon days of Alcohol Free, he says, “Honestly, nobody could tell me or anybody else that she was going to be as good as she was. I liked her and I hoped, like we all do every time you buy one, that she was going to be good, but for her to be as good as she was, was beyond our wildest imagination.”

The old imagination was fired up again last year thanks to another foal purchase, Ghostwriter (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), trained by Clive Cox. The colt finished his unbeaten run of three last year with victory in the G2 Royal Lodge S. to leave Smith and Bowe dreaming of the 2,000 Guineas. 

“Again, one of the important things is buying from good nurseries and we bought Alcohol Free from the Gaffneys, and they're just proper horse people. And the same with Ghostwriter. We bought him from Norelands. They always produce brilliant stock. You're ahead of the game already because you're bringing home healthy stock,” he says. 

“The lovely thing about buying foals is we can bring them home here and then we have them for the next 14 months until they go into training. We're at an advantage because we have such good relationships with everybody, and it is about the bigger picture, it is about the team. It is about the girls here on the farm, like our head girl, Kelly Stevens, and the trainers, the pre-trainers. It can't be put down to one person, but it's wonderful to be credited by it anyway.”

Ghostwriter is not alone in fuelling the Classic dreams of the Littleton Stud team this year. Of arguably greater importance to a breeding operation is to have a talented homebred filly, and Smith looks to have just that in See The Fire (GB), who won her maiden last August and was then second in the G2 May Hill S. and third in the G1 Fillies' Mile. But then again, she was bred to be good, as the Andrew Balding-trained filly is by Sea The Stars out of Smith's G1 Juddmonte International winner Arabian Queen (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), making See The Fire a fifth-generation Littleton homebred. 

“We've had a really, really good winter,” Bowe says. “We're dreaming about what we're going to do. See The Fire has done so well and we're hoping to go to the Guineas without a trial because she ran so well in the Fillies' Mile. It was a good test of stamina and she saw it out well.

“So we hope she'll do the fantasy stuff: Guineas and go to the Oaks and maybe the King George, who knows?

“Ghostwriter, he loved that hill [at Newmarket] and he was seriously impressive. So we're chuffed to bits with him also. Clive is delighted. I was speaking to him the other morning actually, and he doesn't think he'll go for a trial with him either.”

Arabian Queen, Alcohol Free, Ghostwriter and See The Fire are just the latest names on a long list of classy animals to have carried Smith's purple and blue colours over the last four decades. From the speedball Lochsong (GB) to the high-class sprinter/miler Chief Singer (Ire) and the people's favourite stayer Persian Punch (Ire), the owner has been rewarded for his investment in the sport with plenty of days in the sun. To hear Bowe describe his boss is to understand that there would be few people more deserving of such success. 

“Jeff  understands the game intrinsically,” Bowe says. “He understands that, one, it's a sport. Yes, there is a lot of money involved, but he takes bad news as well as he takes good news. 

“Jeff said to me a long time ago, 'If you don't trust your trainer, why would you have a horse in training? So why would you interfere with the training regime?

“We discuss things with the trainers but, fundamentally, the trainer makes a decision and it makes life an awful lot easier. Sometimes we might say, 'What do you think about dropping back in trip?' But the upshot is they're the trainers, we're not. So trust your trainer, let them get on with it. Let them train the horse. And then if it doesn't work out, it is not for the want of trying.”

He continues, “Jeff is in it for the sport. There's a huge aspect of enjoyment in it, and it gets you over the dark days when it doesn't go so well. 

“He is a purist and we are looking to win the Derby. We love speed and going back to Lochsong, a lot of the families were speed, speed, speed. And we weren't trying to breed the speed out of them, but daughters and what have you, have gone to proper Classic-type sires that may not fetch you a fortune in the ring if you went there, but they could breed you a Classic winner.

“We have a nice boutique stud with some lovely mares that we can breed to whoever we like. We've had some fun.”

With hopefully plenty more fun in the offing, Bowe concedes that he has enjoyed his decades in England. “Don't, whatever you do, say that I've become anglicised,” he says.

Right, so we won't say that then. But this particular wild goose admits that he may well be called home eventually to Ireland, where he has land of his own. Bowe's advice on Sunday night for younger folk wishing to become involved in the industry was, “Immerse yourself in it, get involved in it, and stick with it.”

They are words to live by, whatever your passion in life, and as he acknowledges, when you find that passion, a job becomes simply a way of life.

“I would imagine I'll retire back to Ireland,” he adds. “By retiring, I mean buying and selling a few, walking around the farm. I would love it, but I also love England so much, and my kids are here, so going back would be difficult, but it's only over the water.

“I'm here for the time being, though, and enjoying every minute of it.”

 

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Mahony Admits To Being Bowled Over After Tattersalls Sales Bonanza

Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony has admitted to being blown away by the strength of the market at Park Paddocks, not only at this week's December Mares Sale where the introduction of the Sceptre Sessions played a huge role in the sky-rocketing trade, but throughout the year.

Mahony has described 2022 as the year where every expectation was exceeded and, speaking at the end of the December Mares Sale where over 80 million gns went through the Tattersalls tills, headlined by 5.4 million gns purchase Alcohol Free (Ire) (No Nay Never), he paid tribute to all key stakeholders for playing a part in the roaring trade.

Mahony said, “Every so often we experience sales at Tattersalls which defy all expectations, but in 2022 it is probably fair to say that each successive sale here at Park Paddocks has achieved levels of trade which even the most optimistic observers would have deemed unlikely, culminating in a Tattersalls December Mares Sale which at times has been truly astonishing.”

The 80,831,200gns traded at Tattersalls this week represents a 30% rise on last year's figure. The average rose by 48% to 117,147gns, the median jumped 23% to 32,000gns and the clearance rate stayed the same at 82%.

But the major success story to emerge from the sale was the strength of the inaugural Sceptre Sessions which accounted for over half of the turnover with 71 lots selling for a combined total of 45,907,000gns.

Mahony commented, “There can be no doubt that the eagerly anticipated inaugural Sceptre Sessions have added a new dimension to what was already Europe's premier sale of breeding stock. When we launched the Sceptre Sessions back in the summer our goal was to create a format which would allow us to showcase elite fillies and mares to the global audience which defines the Tattersalls December Sale. The response from breeders and consignors to the new initiative was overwhelmingly positive, and this was widely recognised as an exceptional catalogue, but we could not have predicted the extraordinary atmosphere which enveloped Park Paddocks throughout a sale which has seen the record books completely rewritten.”

A staggering 11 fillies and mares sold for seven figures at Tattersalls in a week where BBA Ireland dominated by snapping up 39 lots for 14,567,000gns. Featuring among the haul was the overall top lot Alcohol Free while BBA Ireland also paid 1,000,000gns for Prix Marcel Boussac runner-up Gan Teorainn (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}).

Mahony reflected, “Turnover, average and median have all soared past the previous record levels and to see the packed sale ring as the succession of outstanding fillies and mares took to the stage will live long in the memories of all those present. The huge number of overseas buyers here at Park Paddocks for the duration of the December Sale reflects the incredible support we have received from the vendors who entrusted us with such an illustrious cast of race fillies and broodmares. Every one of the 11 fillies and mares who sold for one million guineas or more was special and the 5.4 million gns sale of the gorgeous Alcohol Free was not only the highest auction price in the world this year for a filly in training, but also a wonderful reward for her owner Jeff Smith, her trainer Andrew Balding and all associated with one of the great race fillies of recent years. We all look forward to seeing Alcohol Free race on in Australia and to dual Group 1 winner Saffron Beach, who sold for 3.6 million guineas, who looks set to target the $20-million [G1] Saudi Cup in February.”

He added, “While the individual highlights will leave lasting memories, we must express our deep gratitude to all who have made 2022 such an extraordinary year at Tattersalls. Sale after sale has attracted buyers from all over the world in overwhelming numbers, and we are enormously grateful for the support we receive from purchasers and vendors alike, all of whom have contributed to a year which has seen our annual turnover exceed 400 million gns, comfortably exceeding the previous high of 331 million guineas set in 2017. These remarkable figures are a massive tribute to the professionalism and commitment of all involved in the bloodstock industry in Britain, Ireland, France and further afield. It is their consistent support which makes Newmarket such a focal point of the global bloodstock industry and makes the uniquely international Tattersalls December Sale the pre-eminent sale of its type in Europe.”

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Alcohol Free Joins Waterhouse/Bott Stable with Everest the Aim

Four-time Group 1 winner Alcohol Free (Ire) (No Nay Never), who topped the Tattersalls December Mares Sale on Tuesday evening when selling for 5,400,000gns to Yuesheng Zhang's Yulong Investments, will be trained in Australia by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.

Yulong's chief operating officer Sam Fairgray confirmed to TDNAusNZ on Wednesday that the 4-year-old, formerly trained by Andrew Balding and a Group 1 winner at two, three and four, will potentially be aimed towards the A$15-million The Everest.

He said, “If everything fell into place she would definitely take her place for us in The Everest and, given her race record, I think she would be very competitive. She is going into training with Gai and Adrian so it is going to be really interesting to see how she will perform over here.

“It is fantastic. She is a very exciting mare and she is obviously high-class and it is great for the industry that she is coming down to race here against the Australian competition, but then she will have a great career as a broodmare as well. It is what Mr Zhang is about and trying to achieve and to have her race on is a bonus as well.”

Fairgray continued, “There is no limit to the options for any of the mares he buys. He has a very broad mind and he is very passionate about racing.

“It is a nice thing to be able to interchange some of these mares between hemispheres and obviously with Lucky Vega (Ire) he is going to get supported with some fantastic mares in his second year, it's really very good for him.”

Yulong Investments already own Alcohol Free's dam, the Hard Spun mare Plying, who was bought for for €825,000 at last year's Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale and is currently in foal to Irish National Stud resident Lucky Vega with a foal by the son of Lope de Vega (Ire) on the ground.

The Yulong team has been working in partnership with Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland, who purchased over 30 fillies and mares at Tattersalls this week. Another of those, the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac runner-up Gan Teorainn (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}), is also heading south to Sydney. Formerly trained in Ireland by Jim Bolger, she will join Chris Waller's stable.

Donohoe said, “She's a big 2-year-old and what she did this year is extraordinary for a big filly. Again, she vetted exceptionally well and we'll give her a little bit of time to acclimatise in Australia. She's for the same syndicate of people who bought Alcohol Free.”

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Champagne Celebration For 5.4m Alcohol Free At Tatts

By Emma Berry and Brian Sheerin

NEWMARKET, UK–Widely tipped for the top, Jeff Smith's Alcohol Free (Ire) (No Nay Never) duly shone brightest in a galaxy of stars on display at Park Paddocks, bringing the second-highest price ever recorded at a European auction when the hammer fell at 5.4 million gns.

Yuesheng Zhang of Yulong Investments, acting through BBA Ireland's Michael Donohoe, has flexed some serious fiscal muscle at the breeding stock sales this season and that reached a new high at Tattersalls on Tuesday when Donohoe outlasted Coolmore's MV Magnier in the race for the four-time Group 1 winner. The four-year-old Alcohol Free, who is set to race on in Australia, led the operation's mammoth haul.

During a frenetic three hours of the Sceptre Session plus a few illustrious wildcards, and with the Tattersalls auditorium at bursting point, 11 elite fillies and mares changed hands for seven-figure sums, with Saffron Beach (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) sold to Najd Stud for 3.6 million gns, and Godolphin picking up Tranquil Lady (Ire) (Australia {GB}) for 2.7 million gns to fill the top three.

On a day which saw the highest turnover in a single session at Tattersalls, the aggregate of 54,005,000gns was up by 29% on last year, with the average shooting up by 50% to 281,276gns, and the median by 7% to 112,500gns. A clearance rate of 83% was achieved from 192 horses sold.

The Sceptre Sessions, conducted over two consecutive evenings within the main catalogue, brought a total of 45,907,000gns for 71 sold at an average of 646,577gns. 

Donohoe, confirming that Alcohol Free would remain in training for a partnership, said, “She vetted extremely well for a filly who has plenty of miles on the clock, her reports were exemplary. The partners already have horses in training and breeding interests in Australia and obviously she'll make a fantastic broodmare at the end of her racing career. 

“I think there's 87 races in Australia next year worth a million-plus, so the prize-money on offer there is big, and she's that type of filly. She's won the July Cup over six furlongs then she stays a mile too so there'll be a lot of options for her. Fair play to Andrew Balding and the guys, they did a great job with her.”

He added, “I bought the dam last year for Yulong Investments at Goffs and she's got a lovely Lope De Vega foal at foot and she's back in foal to Lucky Vega.

“It's impossible to value those blue-chip fillies off the track, they're collectors' items because they don't come on the market very often. They're like Picassos, they're a rare commodity. I had a figure in my head though and I was bidding pretty strongly, so that might've indicated I had some petrol left in the tank.”

Bred by Churchtown House Stud, Alcohol Free was a rare non-homebred to race in the famous colours of Jeff Smith of Littleton Stud, who has campaigned such great names as Lochsong (GB), Arabian Queen (GB) and Persian Punch (Ire) during his long association with the turf. Littleton Stud manager David Bowe selected the daughter of No Nay Never and the Hard Spun mare Plying at the Goffs November Sale of 2018, signing for her at €40,000.

He said, “It's the end of a wonderful, wonderful journey that we have been on, a wonderful dream. 

“She walked in and looked beautiful. If it had been five years earlier with Jeff we might not have brought her to the sale ring. We have enough broodmares, she was not bred by us, but it is really to do with the timescale. She will make a beautiful mare in time and it is time for someone else.”

Bowe continued, “We have had so much luck. Everyone involved with her, the team at home on the farm, the Gaffneys whom we bought her from, all of her jockeys. I can't thank everyone enough.

“It has been emotional. Jeff is not here tonight, but it is all down to him: he let us buy her, let us all get involved in the whole dream. I am absolutely delighted, it is a beautiful end to our chapter, and we wish her new connections all the luck.”

Gan Teorainn (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}) was the first filly to break the million mark and, like Alcohol Free, was snapped up by the BBA Ireland to head down under.

The Prix Marcel Boussac-runner up was trained by Jim Bolger and consigned by his grand-daughter Clare Manning of Boherguy Stud who described the filly as the “highest-profile horse” she has ever sold.

The 29-year-old said, “In one sense I'm not surprised that she made what she did but, in another, for her to go in there and make 1,000,000gns, it's unbelievable. Things like this don't happen too often. Everything just fell into place and it all went to plan.”

Manning added, “I was talking to Grandad. I said 'well done,' but he told me to go and congratulate the people who foaled her and all the team at Ennistown Stud, not him. Everyone played a part and we're all delighted. How could you not be?

“I spoke to Michael Donohoe briefly as he was running back into the ring. I don't know where she will go back into training but I hope she is very lucky wherever she goes. She is a Classic prospect and we are looking forward to following her career wherever she goes. I hope she is as lucky for him as she was for us.”

Donohoe, who purchased over 30 fillies and mares this week, described the catalogue as being exceptionally strong as well as explaining why he feels Gan Teorainn is a good fit for racing in Australia.

He said, “Gan Teorainn is going to Australia as well. She's a big two-year-old and what she did this year is extraordinary for a big filly. Again, she vetted exceptionally well and we'll give her a little bit of time to acclimatise in Australia. We'll decide on a trainer after that and she's for the same syndicate of people who bought Alcohol Free.”

He added, “Saxon Warrior has the makings of becoming a top-class Classic-type sire. He had a lot of maiden winners towards the back end of the season and they are hard to win. She is going to be a lovely miler, maybe even a mile-and-a-quarter filly in time, and she has a lovely pedigree as well so she should make a broodmare. We're delighted to get her as well. It's been an exceptional catalogue. It's rare that you get a catalogue so strong.”

Saffron Beach to the Saudi Cup

An international bidding duel between Shunsuke Yoshida of Japan's Northern Farm and Saudi Arabia's Najd Stud ended with the latter prevailing at 3.6 million gns for the dual Group 1 winner Saffron Beach (Ire) (New Bay {GB}). Like top lot Alcohol Free, the four-year-old will remain in training, and she will stay in Newmarket with Jane Chapple-Hyam to be prepared for the $20 million G1 Saudi Cup in February. 

“I'm very excited for these gentlemen,” said Chapple-Hyam standing alongside Saud Al Qahtani and Saud Bin Mishref of Najd Stud. “It's a big thrill and a big honour and we've got a good winter to look forward to. She's in good order, she's tough and I believe she'll get the nine furlongs out in Saudi. You never know about the surface but we'll give it a go. 

“She'll have a little rest now and then build her up and get her ready. I'll have to do a very good racecourse gallop because when I sent her to Dubai I felt even though we ran fourth the ones who finished in front of her had all had a run.”

Originally bought as a foal by Liam Norris for 55,000gns, Saffron Beach was an intended pinhook prospect for Ben Sangster and James Wigan, but a minor foot problem as a youngster kept her from returning to the sales. Eventually she was put into training with Sangster's step-sister Chapple-Hyam, for whom she won the G3 Oh So Sharp S. as a juvenile before landing the G1 Sun Chariot and G1 Prix de Rothschild at three and four as well as finishing runner-up in the 1,000 Guineas.

Lucy Sangster, who raced Saffron Beach with her son Ollie and James Wigan, added, “We've had just the best time ever. She's amazing. We've had a journey, from a foal and keeping her, to this. It's a story that has involved all of our family. When we broke her in at home during Covid our daughter Eliza rode her hunter alongside her. Our son Ollie owned a share and Jane is a family member too so it has been a great story for all of us.”

Tranquil Lady to Godolphin

It has been quite the year for the Quiet American mare Repose, who changed hands in a private transaction from the Cantillon family's Tinnakill House to the broodmare band of Juddmonte. Her second foal State Of Rest (Ire) (Straspangledbanner {Aus}) added the G1 Prix Ganay and G1 Prince of Wales's S. to his 2021 victories in the G1 Cox Plate and GI Saratoga Derby, while his year-younger half-sister  Tranquil Lady (Ire) (Australia {GB}) won two Group 3 races and brought the curtain down on her season by selling for 2.7 million gns to Godolphin at Tattersalls on Tuesday. 

Richard Ryan bought Tranquil Lady for £160,000 at the Goffs Orby Sale on behalf of Teme Valley Racing, who also raced State Of Rest during his first two seasons. 

He said,  “It was a bittersweet situation really. It's so hard to acquire something at this level, with these credentials: that clean, that sound, and her best year is next year. But we knew there was an incredible desire at this moment and you don't know how long those windows stay open. We were pretty brave to quite a long way ourselves to make sure she wasn't going to be undersold, and Joseph had a team very keen to try to retain her, but this is a fabulous result. There's a lot more to come from her.”

Anthony Stroud, who bought the three-year-old filly on behalf of Godolphin, said, ” Joseph O'Brien really recommended her, and he's done a great job with her. Physically, she's a very nice model and you can go two ways: we could keep her in training or she could retire. The decision will be made in due course. 

“There's plenty going on in the family and it's a family that seems to improve.”

Ville De Grace In Big Money Transfer To Lordship

Less than 24 hours after her dam Archangel Gabriel (Arch) topped the opening session of the December Mares Sale, her Group 3-winning daughter Ville De Grace (GB) (Le Havre {Ire}), bred by Hunscote Stud and Chris Humber, fetched 2 million gns to join the broodmare band at Lordship Stud.

Ville De Grace was signed for under the banner of One Agency and Tom Harris, son of Lordship Stud's Trevor Harris, explained why he felt the three-time winner, who was beaten just a nose to Dreamloper (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), would make a good addition.

Harris said, “We loved her and she was our pick of the sale. She is beautiful, athletic and a good race filly and is an outcross so she can be mated to all of the top stallions. It is very difficult to buy in this market, as owner-breeders we are trying to invest in new blood for the farm and something like her to come and breed for us is a long-term plan and an investment in the future. We are over the moon.

“It was a little bit more than we were initially going to pay, but it is so competitive and you go so far selecting the ones you like. If the foals are as good-looking and as athletic as she is well then we will be happy. It was nice to see the mum sell yesterday and she is producing very nice foals, and she will help us too.”

Consignor Jenny Norris was responsible for one of the biggest transactions in Tattersalls history when selling the Oaks winner Dancing Rain for 4 million gns nine years ago and, having led the opening session with Archangel Gabriel at 800,000gns, followed up with her daughter.

She said, “It has been amazing, we had so many views, and all the right people are here. All credit to Hunscote Stud, they bred her and raced her and had the courage of their convictions, and she has rewarded their efforts.”

Hunscote's Andy Lloyd added, “Our plan was to buy [out partner Chris Humber for] her mum, and we did. We knew there was phenomenal interest in the daughter from all over the world. I never dreamt in my wildest dreams but, hey, it's the market place at the moment. We had Japanese vetting, Americans, French, English.
“I'm sure Trevor will have big mating plans, which will only help our family.”

Derby Winner's Dam Joins Coolmore

It is a rare moment that the dam of the current year's Derby winner comes up for public auction, and rarer still that she is carrying a full-sibling to the Classic hero. 

Breeder Gary Robinson of Strawberry Fields Stud decided the time was right to offer Desert Berry (GB) (Green Desert) in foal to Nathaniel (Ire), the sire of her most illustrious offspring Desert Crown (GB). It is perhaps fitting that the breeding operation which has done more than most to support the Derby in recent years stepped forward to buy the 13-year-old mare, with MV Magnier going to 1.9 million gns. 

Desert Berry is also the dam of Hong Kong Group 3 winner Archie McKellar (GB) (Archipenko), as well as his full-sister Rose Berry (GB), who has been retained by Robinson and is now also in foal to Nathaniel. 

Magnier said of the mare, “At the end of the day she has bred a Derby winner, and from my point of view, which doesn't mean it's the right point of view, the Derby is everything. It's the most important stallion-making race. It's the holy grail, the greatest race. She's bred a Derby winner and she's carrying a full-sibling to the Derby winner.”

On next year's potential mating, he added, “There are plenty of options for her: she could go to any of the sons of Galileo, to Churchill or Australia.”

In celebratory mood, Newmarket-based Robinson said, “Merry Christmas! We are going to have a good party in a minute, job done.

“Definitely it is a problem losing one like that, but we have all the family back at home. It's a bit  like losing a beautiful woman, they leave you, but she has left me with her children.”

That brood includes a two-year-old filly by Al Kazeem (GB), a yearling colt from the first crop of Study Of Man (Ire), and a weanling full-brother to Desert Crown.

Robinson said, “The full-brother is very similar to Desert Crown, spot on, same character. She is a good mare, she teaches that character, she's an individual. That's what we all want to see.”

King And Queen Snapped Up By Northern Farm 

The Platinum Queen (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}) confirmed herself one of the fastest two-year-olds to grace the turf when storming to G1 Prix de l'Abbaye glory at ParisLongchamp this term and that performance clearly earned international recognition as she was bought by Katsumi Yoshida for 1,200,000gns. 

The Tally Ho-bred filly carried the Middleham Park Racing colours with great distinction for Richard Fahey this season, winning four times, including that memorable French triumph, and while she was purchased by Northern Farm in Japan, there is a chance she could carry on racing in Europe next season. 

King's Harlequin (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), a Group 3 and Listed winner in France as a juvenile for Sam Sangster and Nicolas Clement, joins The Platinum Queen in being Japan-bound with Yoshida's Northern Farm signing for the mare at 600,000gns. 

Normandie Stud's Au Revoir 

Phillipa Cooper insisted that there were no regrets after seeing her hugely successful broodmare disbanded for over four million gns and revealed that the Normandie Stud dispersal was made easier by the fact that the majority of the mares were sold to friends. 

Godolphin went to 1,400,000gns to secure Love Is You (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), a daughter of Cooper's high-class Fallen for You (GB) (Dansili {GB}), who is in foal to St Mark's Basilica (Fr) and highlighted the Normandie Stud draft. 

All told, Cooper sold 16 mares for a total of 4,265,000, and speaking afterwards, said, “It is tinged with emotion but they have all been bought by friends which is so nice. It is bittersweet but the decision was made six months ago and it was the right decision. I have no regrets.”

Cooper added,  “I have only got two older mares left. I don't sell them beyond the age of 12. I have a few horses left to run but that's it. I don't want to breed anymore-it's too expensive.”

Twomey's Fillies Fetch A Million Apiece

Paddy Twomey's Group 1 winner La Petite Coco (Ire) (Ruler Of The World {Ire}) and Group 1-placed Rosscarbery (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) sold for 1,000,000gns apiece with the leading Irish trainer selling four fillies and mares for a total of 2,480,000gns under Athassel House Stud. 

La Petite Coco gained her Group 1 victory when landing the Pretty Polly S. at the Curragh this season while Rosscarbery, controversially demoted from third in that same race when her rider Wayne Lordan weighed in light due to a error on behalf of the Irish Horse Racing Regulatory Board, went on to finish second in the G1 Prix Jean Romanet.

Rosscarbery was snapped up by Charlie Gordon Watson Bloodstock while La Petite Coco was bought by the Wertheimer family. 

Twomey also sold Show Of Stars (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) for 300,000gns to Clarke Bloodstock/Sheralee Estate while Tally-Ho Stud bought Limit Di Greccio (Ire) (Elzaam {Aus}) for 180,000gns. 

Prosperous Business

The four-year-old Thar She Blows (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) never made it to the racecourse but she has been dealt a significant update this year by her Group 1-winning sister Prosperous Voyage, and with an early cover by No Nay Never, the young descendant of Best In Show provided an early highlight ahead of the second Sceptre Session. 

Sold to Mags O'Toole on behalf of the O'Leary family's Plantation Stud for 400,000gns, Thar She Blows, out of the Juddmonte-bred Mizzen Mast mare Seatone, is also a half-sister to the stakes-placed Romanesque (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) and to the juvenile Tenerife (Ire) (No Nay Never), who is in training with Aidan O'Brien.

Magic Result For Duffy

You would think that with all of the glitz and glamour that went with the Sceptre Session later in the evening, there would be no place for a rags-to-riches story to emerge at Tattersalls but Magic Chegaga fitted that bill when knocked down to Yeomanstown Stud for 185,000gns early in the day. 

Picked up by small-time trainer Brian Duffy for €12,500 out of Dermot Weld's stable at the Goffs February online sale last year, the Moyglare Stud-bred daughter of Teofilo (Ire) climbed through ranks for her new connections in Ireland. 

Magic Chegega was rated just 70 by the time Duffy got his hands on her but she improved 27lbs for the trainer and bagged valuable black-type when second in the Group 3 Snow Fairy S. at the Curragh in August before selling for six figures on Tuesday. 

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