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Althania Tops The Tattersalls Online October Sale

Black-type producer Althania (Street Cry {Ire}) (lot 13) topped Tattersalls Online's October Sale on Friday. Sold for 80,000gns to Kevin Blake Bloodstock, the chestnut is carrying a foal by Australia (GB). Offered by Gary Duffy's Irish Emerald Stud, Althania has already foaled Listed August S.-placed Maksud (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}) and she is also a half-sister to two-time Grade I winner Gabby's Golden Gal (Medaglia d'Oro), as well as Grade II winner Always A Princess (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}). The trio are out of the listed-winning Gabriellina Giof (GB) (Ashkalani {Ire}).

Kevin Blake, who bought the mare on behalf of Golden Farm Bloodstock, said, “Althania jumped off the page when the catalogue for the sale came out. It isn't easy to buy proven mares that have produced big results on the racecourse as well as in the sales ring, so I thought she ticked all the right boxes. I have also been following the progress of her son Maksud all year. He's a horse I like a lot and think will do even better next year.

“She was bought for an investment fund I manage called Golden Farm Bloodstock. We're looking forward to seeing what she produces by Australia in the spring and to picking her next mate. She is a real outcross, so we will have plenty of options. There is plenty of action in the family, so hopefully she will prove to have been a good investment in the fullness of time.”

Cavalier Bloodstock snapped up Irish Emerald's Hope Lake (Ire) (Shamardal) (lot 21) for 38,000gns later in the sale. It was the second highest of the day, and the 8-year-old is in foal to Acclamation (GB). Her dam, the Nashwan mare Nadia (GB), won the G1 Prix Saint-Alary and was second in the G1 Prix de Diane.

Malbay Madness (Ire) (Wings Of Eagles {Fr}) (lot 37) was the third dearest lot of the day, making 30,000gns to Madness In Mind Partnership. Consigned by Lackendarra Stables, the juvenile horse-in-training has one win and count's Moon Search (GB) (Rainbow Quest) as his second dam. Eva Luna (Alleged), progenitress of G1 St Leger S. hero Brian Boru (GB) (Sadler's Wells) et. al, is Malbay Madness's third dam.

At the end of the day's trade, 24 lots grossed 269,100gns. The average was 11,178gns and the median was 4,000gns.

The post Althania Tops The Tattersalls Online October Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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John O’Connor Q&A: ‘He Could Be A Dominant Horse Next Year’

Rare are the days that John O'Connor of Ballylinch Stud enjoyed at Ascot on Champions Day last Saturday. No sooner had the G1 QEII celebrations died down after Bayside Boy (Ire) (New Bay {GB})'s victory, a horse the stud bred and co-owns with Teme Valley, when another runner that the stud owns jointly, Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}), lowered the colours of Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the G1 Champion S.

It was an afternoon that propelled Ballylinch resident New Bay into the spotlight and continued the excellent momentum that the stud has enjoyed in recent weeks after homebred Place Du Carrousel (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) bagged the G1 Prix de l'Opera.

From discussing plans for Bayside Boy, Bay Bridge and Place Du Carrousel to describing New Bay as an elite stallion, Ballylinch Stud's John O'Connor makes for an excellent interview in this week's Q&A.

Brian Sheerin: Now that the dust has settled on British Champions Day, have you had the time to think further about the Breeders' Cup for Bayside Boy and Bay Bridge?

John O'Connor: The Breeders' Cup is under consideration for both horses. We'll let the horses tell us if they are ready to go or not. It's a short run in from British Champions Weekend to the Breeders' Cup, so everything needs to go right and the horses will need to have bounced out of Ascot well. We'll play it by ear.

BS: You hinted earlier in the week that one of the two could go to stud next year. Has that conversation moved on at all?

JO'C: Those are ongoing conversations. These are good horses and deserve plenty of thought put into their future plans and that's what we will do.

BS: It could be viewed as an afternoon that propelled New Bay into elite stallion status if he wasn't already considered to be in that bracket already. How proud are you of the stallion?

JO'C: He was already on his way to elite status and Saturday really pushed him over the threshold. That confirmed that he is an elite stallion. He's managed to do it with relatively smaller numbers. He didn't have huge numbers but the really good horses, I have found down through the years, always have high percentages of elite runners. When you have that, you know they are going to make it.

As the numbers increased, he has confirmed that as he went on and he has been one of those horses whose stats have always told us that he is a really high quality stallion. He's confirming that now with his runners reaching a high level. He has bigger and better crops to come–he covered a very good book this year–so there's been an incremental increase in the quality of mares that were sent to him. The really top breeders want to use him so he is in a good position.

BS: Alex Elliott commented at one of the yearling sales recently that he was on a mission to buy up as many New Bays as possible because, sooner rather than later, they were going to be out of his price-range. It must give you huge pleasure to see that so many in the industry have cottoned onto the horse from an early stage.

JO'C: It does, yes. Some very good judges like Alex cottoned onto him early and he actually bought Batemans Bay (Fr) who we race in partnership with one of his clients. He's a pretty good horse as well, and a progressive one, so yes, Alex has been one of those who identified New Bay at an early stage and he will be the beneficiary of that.

BS: Bay Bridge has only run 10 times so, if he was to stay in training next year, you'd imagine there could be a lot more to come from him given he's trained by Sir Michael Stoute.

JO'C: I would hope so. That's obviously a conversation that we will have with his owner-breeder James Wigan who is a very astute man in the business. James has experience with horses at the highest level so we will take on board his views on that. I think he could be quite interesting if he does stay in training. He could be a very dominant horse next year. He had an injury-curtailed season this year and he's a lightly-raced horse who has a very good win to run strike-rate. He has an awful lot that you would like in a top-class horse in the sense that he has an ability to quicken and a fantastic will to win. When you tackle him, he fights really hard and is hard to beat in a finish so he is an admirable racehorse and one I am looking forward to seeing on his next run, wherever that may be.

BS: It wasn't all about the boys last weekend, either. Fact Or Folklore (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) has had a brilliant time of it with her first two foals, Statement (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}) and Self Belief (Ire) (Make Believe GB}), winning a series of listed races. Perhaps the broodmare band at Ballylinch sometimes doesn't get the recognition it deserves with the stallions flying the flag so well.

JO'C: That's the nature of the business, that the stallions get the most publicity because that's the way the industry is set up. But I have always taken the view that broodmares are extremely important to any stud farm and we have invested and had good support from owners with funding the purchase of some really nice mares.

We've been lucky to have raced some very nice mares as well and Fact Or Folklore is one example. We raced her in partnership with David Hyland and we were happy to buy her to continue her stud career here. She's made an exceptional start to her new career as a broodmare. Statement is her first foal and Self Belief is her second foal. Her third foal, a colt by New Bay, sold extremely well at Tattersalls Book 2 last week for 425,000gns to Stroud Coleman. She looks like she's an elite broodmare and it shows you that they don't have to start off being outstanding to turn out to be really good. She's one of those who is going to work her way up through the ranks, I think. It would appear that Lope De Vega passes on some very good traits and he's a very promising broodmare sire.

BS: We should probably credit Place Du Carrousel (Ire) (Lope De Vega) for kick-starting this golden run.

JO'C: That's absolutely true. Place Du Carrousel is a filly we bred and we retained half of her as a yearling. She's out of a mare [Traffic Jam (Ire) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire})] that we bought with a good race record. Her racing owner Alexis Adamian owns her in partnership with us and she boards at Ballylinch. This is her first foal, it's an extraordinary start for a broodmare to breed a Group 1 winner with their first foal. Place Du Carrousel will probably stay in training next season, so we could see her in the top fillies' races next year, for sure.

BS: And it turned out to be a timely win for Place Du Carrousel in the Prix de l'Opera as her half-sister by Kingman (GB) sold for 1,050,000gns at Book 1 to Shadwell.

JO'C: It's lovely to see that Shadwell are back buying top-class stock and a pleasure to see Sheikha Hissa so involved. She takes a personal interest in looking at the horses and that's wonderful to see. It's a great legacy that her father left her that interest and knowledge of the business. We would look forward to Sheikha Hissa having great success in the future. She has two very nice horses to go to stud next year in Baeed (GB) and Minzaal (Ire), so that could set Shadwell up for the next number of years in their stallion operation. If it is self-sustaining, that would be wonderful.

BS: And on the market at Tattersalls and beyond, I suppose we are running out of superlatives to sum up the demand for yearlings.

JO'C: You could say that it defies gravity when you think about what's happening in the world. The bloodstock market has always had its own internal mechanism and sometimes it is affected by greater world events but quite often it is not. It seems to have its own momentum. There aren't many horses at the top level and there are enough players at that level who want to participate. It can defy what's happening in the international monetary markets. Sometimes the top end of the bloodstock market is a bit of a special commodity in its own right.

BS: It could be another exciting weekend for Ballylinch with Lone Eagle (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and promising juvenile Lord Of Biscay (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) running at Newbury.

JO'C: Lord Of Biscay is an interesting horse who won his maiden very well on good ground. It remains to be seen if he will be equally as effective on soft ground. He seems to have plenty of speed and he's a half-brother to Bayside Boy, so Alava (Ire) (Anabaa) is a mare who has been doing very well. Roger [Varian] likes him a lot and he's a horse who didn't go into training early in the year and we took our time with him. Roger has always said he's a real natural runner and he showed that first time out. It's a big step up and a change in surface conditions so it will be a big learning curve for him and us on Saturday. There's another horse we bred and part-own running in the race called Oviedo (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) and he has legitimate aspirations of running well in that race as well. Lone Eagle had a little setback earlier in the year so we are looking forward to getting him back on the track.

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Doncaster Test For Auguste Rodin

Heavy rain hit Doncaster's Town Moor track on Thursday and refused to relent during the following afternoon, so the Saturday feature G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy is certain to be a thorough examination for its protagonists. It will ask a question of Ballydoyle's latest hot favourite for the juvenile endgame, the TDN Rising Star Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) who would have preferred the ground was in the other direction and now has to prove his mental resolve as well as his physical prowess.

While the son of the high-class Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) got away with soft as he idled when in front too far out in the G2 Champions Juvenile S. at Leopardstown Sept. 10, this could be a different proposition with Ryan Moore having to judge when to unleash him on a tacky, holding surface. Nevertheless, Aidan O'Brien's number one for this race is always the first to look at, with six winning favourites from his last seven saddled and one more would see him usurp the late Sir Henry Cecil with whom he is currently tied on 10.

Speaking on Saturday evening, Aidan O'Brien revealed that he is not a certain runner with the weather turning so drastically on Friday. “He's really fit, but whether we want to bottom him in that ground is up to the lads to decide,” he said. “We're very happy with how he is and it's a case of whether we let him run for experience or whether we don't and keep him for next year. He's done enough this year and it all depends on what that ground is like tomorrow.”

These races are the most exciting for the unknown element they carry and Moore was adding fuel to the fire as he pondered his ride on Auguste Rodin on his betfair blog on Friday. “He is a horse I have rated highly since day one,” he said. I was impressed by him at Leopardstown last time. That may not have been the strongest of Group 2s, but I think he is a Group 1 horse and hopefully he will show that here.”

Unsurprisingly, history tells us that wide-margin maiden winners from Ballydoyle are more often than not class acts and so Auguste Rodin's stablemate Salt Lake City (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) looms large here, with the potential of getting away on the front end as he did at Navan last time Oct. 5. Whether he is the High Chaparral (Ire) or Aristotle (Ire) in this renewal remains to be seen and he will relish the heavy ground.

That could also apply to the impressive Nottingham maiden winner King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who took the same race won by Eldar Eldarov (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in soft ground with some authority 10 days ago. Trainer David Loughnane is hoping to provide Kia Joorabchian's Amo Racing with the Group 1 winner they have been seeking all year. “We don't know what we beat, but Nottingham was nice, both visually and on the clock,” he said. “He's come out of it absolutely fine and he's got an exceptional mind.”

“He's a monster,” Lougnane added. “He's just over 17 hands and he weighs nearly 600 kilos. Everything about him since he first came into the yard has been a bit abnormal and Adam [Kirby] commented he'd never ridden a bigger juvenile, but for such a big horse he's very agile and well-balanced.”

All was relatively quiet where John and Thady Gosden's 2-year-olds were concerned throughout the summer months, but in the last month things have started to hot up and George Strawbridge's TDN Rising Star Epictetus (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) is perfectly poised. After winning that Newmarket maiden July 8, the son of Thistle Bird (GB) (Selkirk) took the Kingston Hill (GB) and Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) route of the G3 Autumn S. Like the latter, he was a narrow second in that Newmarket staging post a fortnight ago and adds intrigue along with Jeff Smith's impressive Sept. 16 Haynes, Hanson & Clark Conditions S. winner Stormbuster (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}).

A Case Of Espionage At Saint-Cloud

While fellow Ballydoyle representatives Auguste Rodin and Salt Lake City are sent to Doncaster, TDN Rising Star Espionage (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) takes in the G1 Criterium International for the stable which leads the honour roll with five previous winners. Ioritz Mendizabal is called upon and the yard's go-to French rider who steered St Mark's Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), Joan Of Arc (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Blackbeard (Ire) (No Nay Never) to high-profile success for them has an enviable ride on the son of the G2 Ribblesdale S. winner Even Song (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) who had such poise when breaking his maiden at The Curragh last time Sept. 25.

This is just as tough as the Doncaster feature, with the July 21 G3 Tyros S. scorer and G1 Vincent O'Brien National S. runner-up Proud And Regal (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and White Birch Farm's Sept. 8 G3 Prix des Chenes winner Kubrick (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in attendance along with another TDN Rising Star in Breizh Sky (Fr) (Pedro The Great), while Valmont's Salt Bay (Ger) (Farhh {GB}) adds another later. Impressive on his sole start at Haydock Sept. 24, the Ralph Beckett-trained relative of some useful German middle-distance performers looks tailor-made for this kind of test on deep autumn ground.

An Arresting Presence

As always, abundant stamina really will be a prerequisite in the 10-furlong G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud which occupies a curious space on the 2-year-old Group 1 roster. Few of those who fit the bill in this go on to anything of major note at three, with the 2016 winner Waldgeist (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) the exception of late. There is the trio of Gan Teorainn (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}), Dubai Mile (Ire) (Roaring Lion) and Adelaide River (Ire) (Australia {GB}) bringing European Group 1 and Group 2 form to the race, but if there is one to go forward to the 2023 Classics it could be Juddmonte's Arrest (GB) (Frankel {GB}). One of the operation's successful purchases in 2020 and 2021, the co-topper at the Goffs November Foal Sale gave Friday's winner Sea Of Roses (GB) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) 11 pounds and a 5 1/2-length beating at the unlikely venue of Wales's Ffos Las Sept. 26. He also hails from the Gosdens' academy and Thady said, “It's a big switch up from Ffos Las, but he won't mind the easy ground as he has a nice round action on him. He should appreciate the mile and a quarter and he's a horse we've always liked.”

The Dirty Dozen

All 12 of Saturday's black-type events staged at Doncaster, Newbury, Saint-Cloud and Leopardstown will demand grit and determination as well as class from their winners with the stormy conditions making for gruelling ground everywhere. Key players in the remaining prizes are The King's Reach For The Moon (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), whose 2011 G2 Champagne S. second to Bayside Boy (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) suddenly looks a lot better as he heads to Saint-Cloud's G3 Prix Perth over a mile; KHK Racing's TDN Rising Star Knight (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), who is put to the test in a fascinating and deep renewal of Newbury's seven-furlong G3 Virgin Bet Horris Hill S. by Simon and Ed Crisford following his Sept. 25 Yarmouth maiden success; Ballylinch Stud and Aquis Farm's “forgotten horse” Lone Eagle (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) prepping for a potential Hong Kong date in that track's G3 Virgin Bet St Simon S.; and Ballydoyle's TDN Rising Star Aesop's Fables (Ire) (No Nay Never) who accompanies Auguste Rodin to England and bids to give upwards of five pounds to his peers as a result of his Aug. 20 G2 Futurity S. success in the six-furlong Listed Carlsberg Marstons Doncaster S.

The King's racing manager John Warren said of Reach For The Moon, “We think the ground and trip should be just what we have been looking for. He needs to get back racing again and it's a shame we are nearly at the end of the season as John Gosden is very happy with him.

“We are hopeful of showing his best form, especially as his form with Bayside Boy (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) looks very solid.”

Click here for the group fields.

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Half-Sister To Harzand On Deck At Leopardstown

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Saturday's Observations features a half-sister to Harzand (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}).

13.25 Leopardstown, Mdn, €16,000, 2yo, f, 7fT
Aidan O'Brien trainee WEDDING BOUQUET (IRE) (Galileo {Ire}) is a half-sister to G1 Derby and G1 Irish Derby hero Harzand (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) out of G3 Athasi S. victrix Hazariya (Ire) (Xaar {GB}), herself a 2-million guineas Tattersalls December Mares purchase in 2016. She is accompanied by once-raced stablemates High Chieftess (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a daughter of G1 Cheveley Park S. winner Tiggy Wiggy (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), and Lambada (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who is a half-sister to GI Belmont Oaks International and G1 Matron S. placegetter Just Wonderful (Dansili {GB}).

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