The results of the Bavarian farm speak for themselves but let us offer a reminder here. At one stage Ammerland was home to around 50 mares, but generally the average number has been closer to 30: not quite boutique but also not behemoth. 

Over the last 30 years or so, 60 group race wins have come their way, including 17 at Group 1 level, and not just any old Group 1s either. First Hurricane Run (Ire) and then Waldgeist (GB) won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Hurricane Run had won the Irish Derby in his breeder's colours before being sold to Michael Tabor, who had also raced his sire and fellow Arc winner Montjeu (Ire). And though von Boetticher must have been smarting when Hurricane Run had been beaten a neck in the Prix du Jockey Club, his conqueror Shamardal would later do the breeder a huge favour as the sire of Ammerland's dual French Classic winner Lope De Vega (Ire), who is now one of the most important stallions in the world. 

Crispin de Moubray, who has been helping Ammerland as a consultant for the last 25 years, says of von Boetticher, “He's been passionate about winning big races. His passion has always been for top racehorses and his policy has been to use them as stallions, even if they're not particularly fashionable, and to set up a breeding operation where everything is carefully worked out using the same trainers, the same staff.”

With the breeder now in his 80s, the decision has been taken to wind down the Thoroughbred breeding activities at Ammerland. It has been a gradual process over recent years and now comes the first part of the official dispersal at the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale, where 12 fillies and mares and one colt foal will be offered for sale on Saturday. 

He adds, “There have only been three stud managers in the 25 years since I've been involved. Daniela Nowara, Nicolas Schenke, who arrived when Bernried was bought, and then the last 10 years there's been Steffi Fuchs. 

“Steffi is staying until the end of August next year when we'll sell the eight yearlings in Arqana in August. There is one Almanzor [foal] in the sales because he's big and he's strong and we're selling the mare, and we just thought it made sense to sell them next to each other. The other eight foals are being raised at Ammerland and the plan is for them to be sold in the August sale next year.”

Gestut Ammerland was founded in 1989 on Lake Starnberg, outside Munich, the year after von Boetticher won the Deutsches Derby with Luigi (Ger), the first racehorse he bought. He later purchased Gestut Bernreid on the other side of the lake, which for a time was home to the stallions Hurricane Run (after his return from Coolmore), his homebred G1 Coronation Cup winner Boreal (Ger), Ito (Ger), and most recently Iquitos (Ger), who subsequently moved to Gestut Graditz and has now been transferred to Rottgen ahead of the 2024 season. Iquitos has made an eye-catching start from his first crop of only five foals. Two of them are stakes winners, both out of Hurricane Run mares and both bred by Ammerland. His son Mr Hollywood (Ire) is a Group 3 winner who was second in the G1 Deutsches Derby and G1 Grosser Preis von Baden, while daughter Drawn To Dream (Ger), a Listed winner and Group 3 runner-up, will be sold in training as Lot 208. Her half-sister, the GI Beverly D S. winner Dalika (Ger) (Pastorius {Ger}), was recently sold in foal to Flightline at Keeneland for $1.65 million.

Most of their horses, they breed to top racehorses, and a horse that doesn't stay a mile is basically of no interest whatsoever

“If you look at Ammerland over the last 25 years, they have averaged 20% black-type horses to foals,” says de Moubray. “If you take this year's three-year-old crop, for example, there were 18 and 16 of them have run, which is astonishing. Fourteen have won and four are stakes winners: Mr Hollywood, Drawn To Dream, Chesspiece and Sevenna's Knight.

“If you don't breed for the market, but you breed for the racecourse, in my opinion, you have a much better chance of producing racehorses. They're raised in the same paddocks in Ammerland. It's great land, they have great staff, everything about it is carefully managed. They all go through the same regime. They didn't go to the sales as foals, yearlings. They have gone to be pre-trained and then they go to Peter Schiergen or John Gosden or Andre Fabre. They were never sold until recently. It's been a well-run small operation based around the idea of producing top horses.”

From such good foundations, the mares and fillies offered this weekend should clearly be coveted by other breeders. It is hard to look past Lady Frankel (GB) as the potential star of the draft. The Group 3-winning daughter of Frankel (GB) is a half-sister to Lope De Vega and is offered as Lot 172 with an April 9 cover by New Bay (GB). Her second and third foals  by Shamardal and Camelot (GB) have sold for €1.6 million and €850,000 respectively. 

Similarly, the five-year-old Wildfeder (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), the full-sister to Waldgeist (GB) and half-sibling to Group 3 winners Waldkonig (GB) (Kingman {GB}) and Waldlied (GB) (New Approach {Ire}), will be presented with a Siyouni (Fr) cover as Lot 202. Form an orderly queue.

Borgia's Best (Ire), whose parents are both Ammerland-bred Classic winners, Lope De Vega and the Deutsches Derby-winning filly Borgia (Ger) (Acatenango {Ger}), is another to be sold in foal to New Bay (Lot 98). The eventual product of that mating will be a full-sibling to the dual winner and 94-rated three-year-old  Liftoff (Fr).

Despite these mares being sold and the prospect of a batch of yearlings appearing next August, the distinctive red-and-green silks will still be seen on racecourses for a while at least.

“What's in the sale, apart from the eight foals, that's it,” says de Moubray. “We have put three yearlings into training with Andre Fabre because they were always going to be kept for various reasons, so we haven't changed our mind. There's still a couple of two-year-olds with Fabre and the three yearlings that have just arrived.

“Dietrich is going to be 82 in March and Annabel does like racing, and they will carry on. They've got a dressage stable at Ammerland, which will also carry on.”

He continues, “If we'd had this dispersal three years ago, it would've been really big. But it has been winding down for the last five years.”

Of the rare purchases made by Ammerland, the most recent, Sea The Sky (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), a sister to Sea The Moon (Ger) from an outstanding family of multiple German Classic winners, is also catalogued for Arqana as Lot 171. Now four, the Listed winner and Group 3-placed filly topped the BBAG September Yearling Sale at €820,000.

“Sevenna was a mare that I bought for €50,000 as a yearling in Baden-Baden, and now Dietrich has a whole lot of that S-line, which before he didn't have,” de Moubray says.

“Then there's the Lope De Vega family and there's the Waldgeist family and the Borgia family. That is an advantage, if you're breeding and you know the grandmothers, you know what to look out for, so when you're doing your matings, you're thinking, 'This family tend to do this. So let's see if we can balance it out by doing that.' And also managing them to race, not to sell, makes such a difference.”

De Moubray also signed for the Monsun (Ger) filly who would become known as Waldlerche (GB) when agreeing a private sale for her with breeder Newsells Park Stud as a yearling. The two operations formed a partnership which would result in the G3 Prix Penelope winner breeding Waldgeist among her six winners, along with his aforementioned sister. 

He says, “Waldlerche went through the August Sale and no-one liked her apart from me and she didn't sell. So I called Dietrich afterwards and said, 'You should buy her.' Andreas [Jacobs] took my phone and walked off and came back half an hour later and said, 'We've agreed that Dietrich pays €50,000 for half and we'll race her together'.”

Another significant association for Ammerland was formed with Ballylinch Stud, which is now home to Lope De Vega and Waldgeist.

“Ballylinch has been a great partner,” says de Moubray, “And Andre Fabre, obviously, over the years, as has Peter Schiergen, who won the Coronation Cup with Boreal. There are some headline horses really.”

He continues, “It's one of those rare operations in the last 35 years that has been set up by someone new, and those Ammerland colours, they've won races in America, Hong Kong, England, Ireland, and particularly in France. Lope De Vega won the Guineas and the Derby and the following year, Golden Lilac won the Guineas and the Oaks in France. That was in successive years, they won those four Classic races.

“Ammerland don't go for fashionable stallions and they don't go for typical German stallions. They're not really interested in precocious speed at all. Most of their horses, they breed to top racehorses, and a horse that doesn't stay a mile is basically of no interest whatsoever. It's a Classic breeding operation looking to produce Classic winners.”

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A multiple Group 1 winner, the son of Irika (Ger) (Areion {Ger}) has already been represented by Group 3 winner Mr Hollywood (Ire), who was second in the G1 Deutsches Derby, and listed winner and group-placed Drawn To Race (Ger) from his first crop of just five foals who are 3-year-olds.

A three-time top-level winner from 2000-2400 metres, Iquitos raced for four seasons internationally in France and Japan and was given a rating of 122 in his 26th and final start when winning the G1 Grosser Preis von Bayern. He began his stallion career at Gestut Ammerland and moved to Gestut Graditz in 2021.

“We are thrilled to be able to offer a tough, consistent and high-class racehorse who has made such a good start as a stallion,” said Gestut Rottgen's manager Frank Dorff. “Adlerflug proved to be one of the best middle-distance sires in the world and we look forward to giving Iquitos every chance to follow his sire's path and establish himself as a top sire in Germany and Europe.”

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Positioned off the clear leader in fifth until turning for home in this 10-furlong contest, the 2-1 joint-favourite powered forward in the straight to lead approaching the final furlong and, despite rolling around in front, kept on strongly in the closing stages to account for G3 Herzog von Ratibor-Rennen victor and market rival Alpenjager (Ger) (Nutan {Ire}) by three lengths in taking fashion. Last year's G3 Preis des Winterfavoriten hero Fantastic Moon (Ger) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), hitherto undefeated, finished 4 1/2 lengths adrift in third.

“It is usually a very difficult race to win, but not with him as he is such a fast horse on this ground,” winning rider Lukas Delozier told GallopOnline. “He was very green today, in every way, but he coped well with the softened ground. This is a good track, he is sure to improve for his next start and I think he is good enough for the [Deutsches] Derby.” Trainer Henk Grewe added, “He had worked very well at home [in Cologne] and we were expecting him to run well under the given circumstances, but working and racing can differ a great deal. He is sure to have learned a lot and will improve.” Connections indicated Germany's premier Derby trial, the [June 11] G2 Union-Rennen [at Cologne], is next on the agenda.

Pedigree Notes
Mr Hollywood (Ger) (Iquitos {Ger}), who becomes the first stakes scorer from only four first-crop foals for his sire (by Adlerflug {Ger}), is the second of three foals out of Listed Escada Cup runner-up Margie's Music (Fr) (Hurricane Run {Ire}). The February-foaled bay's stakes-placed second dam Margie's World (Ger) (Spinning World) is a half-sister to G2 Gerling-Preis third Margosto (Ger) (Acatenango {Ger}) and Listed Fruhjahrs-Stutenpreis placegetter Masai Mara (Ger) (Shaadi). His fourth dam Our Little Margie (Majestic Light) finished second in the GI Spinaway S. and her descendants include GIII Miesque S. victrix Paddy's Daisy (King Of Kings {Ire}). Margie's Music has also produced last year's G3 Derby-Trial runner-up Magical Beat (Ger) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) and the hitherto unraced 2-year-old filly Moosbeere (Ger) (Waldgeist {GB}).

Monday, Munich, Germany
WETTSTAR.DE – BAVARIAN CLASSIC-G3, €55,000, Munich, 5-1, 3yo, 10fT, 2:15.81, hy.
1–MR HOLLYWOOD (IRE), 128, c, 3, by Iquitos (Ger)
1st Dam: Margie's Music (Fr) (SP-Ger), by Hurricane Run (Ire)
2nd Dam: Margie's World (Ger), by Spinning World
3rd Dam: Margie's Darling, by Alydar
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN; 1ST GROUP WIN. (€15,000 Ylg '21 BBAGS). O-Wanja Soren Oberhof & Sebastian Weiss; B-Gestut Ammerland (GER); T-Henk Grewe; J-Lukas Delozier. €32,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, €38,000. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Alpenjager (Ger), 128, c, 3, Nutan (Ire)–Amora (Ire), by High Chaparral (Ire). O-Stall Nizza; B-Ursula & Jurgen Imm (GER); T-Peter Schiergen. €12,000.
3–Fantastic Moon (Ger), 128, c, 3, Sea The Moon (Ger)–Frangipani (Ger), by Jukebox Jury (Ire). (€49,000 Ylg '21 BBAGS). O-Liberty Racing 2021; B-Graf & Grafin von Stauffenberg (GER); T-Sarah Steinberg. €6,000.
Margins: 3, 4HF, 13. Odds: 2.00, 2.00, 3.80.
Also Ran: Skylo (Ger), Romina Power (Fr), Snow Late (Fr), Merkur (Fr). Scratched: Quality Road (Ger), Straight (Ger).

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Thursday, ParisLongchamp, France
PRIX JOUBERT-Listed, €55,000, ParisLongchamp, 9-8, 3yo, f, 14fT, 3:01.50, sf.
1–SEA THE SKY (GER), 125, f, 3, by Sea The Stars (Ire)
1st Dam: Sanwa (Ger), by Monsun (Ger)
2nd Dam: Sacarina (GB), by Old Vic (GB)
3rd Dam: Brave Lass (GB), by Ridan
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. (€820,000 Ylg '20 BBAGS). O-Gestut Ammerland; B-Gestut Gorlsdorf (GER); T-Andre Fabre; J-Maxime Guyon. €27,500. Lifetime Record: GSP-Fr, 5-2-0-2, €58,040. *Full to Sea The Moon (Ger), G1SW-Ger; and 1/2 to Sansiwa (Ire) (Dansili {GB}), SP-Ger.
2–Divine Jewel (GB), 125, f, 3, Frankel (GB)–Agnes Stewart (Ire), by Lawman (Fr). 1ST BLACK TYPE. (300,000gns Ylg '20 TATOCT). O-Koji Maeda; B-Branton Court Stud (GB); T-Roger Varian. €11,000.
3–Avenue Niel (Ire), 125, f, 3, Helmet (Aus)–Andalouserie (Fr), by Poet's Voice (GB). 1ST BLACK TYPE. (€17,000 Ylg '20 ARQOCT). O-Ecurie X; B-SC Ecurie de Meautry (IRE); T-Mikel Delzangles. €8,250.
Margins: SHD, 1 1/4, HD. Odds: 5.60, 6.60, 21.00.
Also Ran: Alpenblume (GB), Queen Trezy (Fr), Caius Chorister (Fr), Aude (Fr), Derida (Ger), She's Cosmic (GB). Scratched: Simply Glorious. Video, sponsored by TVG.

Sea The Sky had failed to get in front since snagging her Nov. 2 debut at Chantilly and went postward for this marathon coming back off a third in Deauville's Aug. 14 G3 Prix Minerve. Settled off the pace in sixth for the most part, she made continued headway under pressure in the home straight to gain a narrow advantage entering the final furlong and was ridden out late to deny Divine Jewel in a bobbing finish for a career high.

Sea The Sky, the seventh of nine foals, is one of three scorers produced by an unraced full-sister to G1 Deutsches Derby-winning sires Samum (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) and Schiaparelli (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) and G1 Preis der Diana  (German Oaks) heroine Salve Regina (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}). The €820,000 BBAG September yearling is a full-sister to runaway G1 Deutsches Derby-winning sire Sea The Moon (Ger) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) and to the dam of this term's Listed Abingdon S. runner-up Golden Lyra (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}). She is also a half-sister to Listed Dallmayr Coupe Lukull runner-up Sansiwa (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) and a yearling filly by Frankel (GB). Sea The Sky's weanling full-brother is slated to sell at this year's Goffs November Foal sale, according to Gestut Gorlsdorf's Niko Lafrentz.

Tight! Sea The Moon's sister Sea The Sky lands Listed honours as she holds off Roger Varian's raider at @paris_longchamp for Fabre and Guyon… pic.twitter.com/3amBY0yyo3

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) September 8, 2022

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Baden-Baden's 'Grosse Woche', which includes four days of racing action in Iffezheim, is in full swing again and culminates on Sunday with a repeat appearance from Torquator Tasso in the meeting's big race, in which he will take on this year's G1 German Derby winner Sammarco (Ire) (Camelot {GB}). The week is going well for Paul Vandeberg, who bred not only Torquator Tasso but his half-brother Tünnes (Ger) (Guiliani {Ger}), the one-time 2022 German Derby favourite who missed the early part of his Classic season through injury but bounced back in style with his easy victory in the Preis der BBAG Auktionsrennen on Wednesday afternoon.

Vandeberg has decided to keep hold of the yearling full-brother to the Arc winner, a colt made that bit more precious by the sad demise of his sire Adlerflug (Ger) in April 2021, but this year's Derby-winning breeder Helmut von Finck is offering the half-brother to Sammarco on Friday. The colt by the veteran of the German stallion ranks, Areion (Ger), features as lot 157. His dam Saloon Sold (Ger), by von Finck's hugely successful stallion Soldier Hollow (GB), won at two and three and earned listed black type before hitting the bullseye in producing a Classic winner as her first foal. Sammarco has also gone on to win the G1 Grosser Dallmayr-Preis over 10 furlongs against his elders since his Derby triumph.

“Winning the Derby with Sammarco was very special,” said von Finck at BBAG on Wednesday. “The auction company wanted to have his brother here but he is a late foal, born in May, and Areion is not such a commercial stallion so we do not expect a big price. If we cannot sell him we will keep him to race. We will see how the market is. Sammarco came here two years ago and people thought he was small but he wasn't too small to win the Derby.”

Gestut Park Wiedingen's draft of four homebreds also includes lot 39, a colt by Sea The Moon (Ger) who is a grandson of von Finck's Preis der Diana (German Oaks) winner Flamingo Road (Ger) (Acatenango {Ger}), as well as the first foal of champion 2-year-old Whispering Angel (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}). The filly is by the late Mastercraftsman (Ire) and is catalogued as lot 70.

“We have four very good horses,” von Finck continued. “A Sea The Moon from one of my favourite families of Flamingo Road, then we have a Soldier Hollow filly from Elvira (Ger), who is from a very good Rottgen family, and of course Soldier Hollow fillies are very interesting at the moment.”

He added, “I would like to think about involving partners or a syndicate in the future but no-one has spoken to me about this project. That's maybe the way we will go. I love my horses and I stand behind them.”

With Sammarco aiming for a third consecutive Group 1 victory on Sunday in the Grosser Preis, von Finck said he remains calm despite the big occasion.

“Obviously everything has to go well but he is in good shape and he is supposed to run, that”s what he was bred to do,” he said. “Of course Torquator Tasso will be hard to beat but I would be happy with second or third.”

Von Finck is also the breeder of Group 3 winner and Derby runner-up Destino (Ger)  (Soldier Hollow {GB}), who recently started his stud career at Gestut Westerberg and has his first yearlings for sale this year. His duo in the BBAG catalogue are both consigned by Peter and Aline Rodde's Gestut Westerberg, a pair of athletic colts who will sell at each end of the sale as lots 12 and 213.

Peter Rodde, overseeing his draft as the early viewers got to work, divulged that Destino, who is the only son of the 22-year-old Soldier Hollow at stud in Germany, had covered 27 mares in his first crop.

Another first-crop stallion very much aligned with Germany but with connections in Britain and Ireland is the Ballylinch Stud resident Waldgeist (GB), who is well-represented at BBAG, not least in the drafts of his co-breeders Gestut Ammerland and Gestut Fahrhof, the latter under the Jacobs family's former ownership of Newsells Park Stud, where the Arc winner was bred.

Waldgeist's nine yearlings in Baden-Baden include four of a five-strong draft from Ammerland, which recently enjoyed a terrific sale at Arqana in Deauville, selling six yearlings for a total of €2,375,000. Among its offerings here, lot 133 is a Waldgeist half-brother to the aforementioned Dalika, whose Grade I strike almost three weeks ago provided an important late update for the colt. There could yet be more to come from the Albert Stall-trained mare, who is now being primed for the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

A welcome burst of rain appeared overnight in Baden-Baden, bringing the temperature down to a reasonable working level as agents from overseas started to drift into the sales ground on Wednesday morning. Action abated for a while as racing got underway next door, with an update for lot 151, Haras de l'Hotellerie's filly by Bated Breath (GB), provided by her half-sister Noble Heidi (Fr) (Intello {Ger}), who was the easy winner of the Coolmore-sponsored Listed Baden-Baden Cup. Now four, the daughter of the Orpen mare Noble Pensee (Fr), already had bold black type to her name as the winner of the G3 Preis der Winterkonigin as a 2-year-old.

Germany's largest commercial stud, Gestut Fahrhof, perhaps understandably boasts the most international list of sires when it comes to the yearlings offered. Among its draft of 17 is the only colt by Frankel (GB) in the sale, lot 58 being a three-parts-brother to the G1 Premio Roma winner Potemkin (Ger) (New Approach {GB}). The Fahrhof consignment also contains first-crop fillies by Too Darn Hot (GB) and Study Of Man (Ire), as well as a colt by Kingman (GB) out of the listed winner Sarandia (Ger) (Dansili {GB}). Kingman has already done the Fahrhof team quite a favour in providing 'TDN Rising Star' Habana (Ger), who was another facile winner on the rain-softened ground at Baden-Baden as the 2-year-old filly posted a Group 3 victory in the stud's distinctive black and yellow silks in Wednesday's feature race, the Renate und Ulbrecht Woeste Zukunfts-Rennen.

For breeders and consignors at BBAG, it was important to keep an eye on both the racecourse and the sales grounds during the initial day of showing, but for the next two days the focus will be solely on selling this year's crop of yearlings, with the sale set to start at 10 a.m. on Friday. We've seen some vibrant trade at BBAG in recent years, including a record-breaking top lot of €820,000 in 2019, which was equalled 12 months later even in the midst of a pandemic. It seems reasonable to expect another strong session on Friday, especially while German-breds continue to advertise the strength of the brand on a worldwide stage.

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DEAUVILLE, France–A Shamardal colt with rarity value to add to his illustrious family ties was the sole millionaire yearling during the opening session of the Arqana August Sale when selling for €1.6 million from Gestut Ammerland to Godolphin.

Bred by one of the most respected studs in Europe, the close relation to dual Classic winner and leading sire Lope De Vega (Ire) was the stand-out on a day which had a strong clearance rate for an elite sale of 84%, with the 112 yearlings sold from 133 offered during an elongated first day of France's premier auction bringing turnover of €19,862,000. The reworked format for 2022 means that direct comparisons at this stage could be misleading, but the first-day average of €177,339 and median of €120,000 were both up on the equivalent overall figures in those sectors for last year's sale.

Lot 21 sells for €1.6 million to Anthony Stroud, a Shamardal colt ex Lady Frankel. pic.twitter.com/OSRtnlY0il

— TDN (@theTDN) August 13, 2022

Ammerland in Wonderland

There was a moment when the only yearling son of Shamardal for sale this year looked as though he could be bound for Japan, with trainer Yoshito Yahagi pushing Anthony Stroud all the way to €1.6 million to secure the colt on behalf of Godolphin.

Shamardal, a shining light at Kildangan Stud for over a decade, died in March 2020 and the scarcity of young stock by the champion racehorse added to Stroud's desire to secure the colt.

Not least because lot 21, the final yearling by Shamardal to be offered at public auction, is a close relation to one of the legendary sire's best sons, Lope De Vega (Ire), who is now a leading stallion in his own right.

“They aren't making any more Shamardals.” Anthony Stroud on his €1.6 million purchase of Lot 21 @InfoArqana pic.twitter.com/StpvvQvXkm

— TDN (@theTDN) August 13, 2022

“They're not making any more Shamardals so it's not like we can wait,” he quipped shortly after singing the docket.

“He's been a fantastic stallion for Godolphin and we're very pleased to get this horse. He's from a fantastic family from an excellent breeding farm. It's a stallion's pedigree as well.”

Bred in southern Germany by Gestut Ammerland, the Shamardal colt is out of Lope De Vega's half-sister Lady Frankel (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who carried the stud's famous red and green silks to Group 3 success when winning the Prix de Lieurey just a stone's throw from the Arqana sales complex at Deauville back in 2017.

Stroud added, “We all thought that he had excellent conformation, and was a very good mover.

“He is a fine horse and is bred by an eminent breeder. Normally a horse like this wouldn't come on the market but we've been able to acquire him.”

Crispin de Moubray, bloodstock advisor to Dietrich von Boetticher's Gestut Ammerland explained the decision to sell the well-related colt.

“He's the sort of horse that we wouldn't normally put on the market, but we have decided to reduce the number of horses in training and the easiest way to do that was to put all the yearlings through a sale with a reasonable reserve on them,” he said.

“He was very busy–I think he was shown 150 times in two and a half days. He has never had a problem, he's obviously out of a half-sister to Lope De Vega who was a group horse herself, and he's a second foal, so she's a young mare.

“Our Shamardal is the only one on the market this year, I believe, so that makes him a rarity, and I think certainly for both the principal bidders that was a big part of it.”

De Moubray continued, “He'd been 14 hours on a horsebox from Germany and did all those shows here in scorching heat but he obviously has a great character and took it all in his stride.

“It's not in our nature to try to make money–we try to breed racehorses–but when you bring a horse to the market and you get that price it's a vindication of what you've been doing all these years. The families develop, and once you get a good horse in the family other people want to buy into it. I think Gestut Ammerland is internationally recognised and admired. It's very rare that we have 17  yearlings and 15 of them are going to a sale–eight here, five in Baden-Baden and two in partnership with Newsells Park Stud are going through in Newmarket. We just wanted to bring it down to a more manageable level, so that's what we've done.”

He also praised the work of long-term yearling manager Stefanie Fuchs, adding, “Steffi has been at Ammerland for 10 years and is in charge of the yearlings. We have had so many compliments on them at the sale and we are very lucky to have Steffi, she's done a great job.”

No Guess Work for Desmontils

The second highest-priced yearling through the ring was lot 133, a Sea The Stars (Ire) colt out of Shamtee (Ire) (Shamardal), with Sebastien Desmontils paying €675,000 to secure him on behalf of Hisaaki Saito.

Operating under the banner of Chauvigny Global Equine, Desmontils has secured some smart horses for Saito, including dual juvenile scorer Good Guess (GB) (Kodiac {GB}), bought for 420,000gns at Book 1 at Tattersalls last year.

Desmontils had to fight off a strong challenge by William Haggas for the Sea The Stars colt but was visibly delighted to secure him after a long and drawn-out battle.

He said, “The sire is really good, the broodmare sire Shamardal is very nice as well and the pedigree is exceptional. We're delighted and he has been bought for Hisaaki Saito.

“He is a great mover and will be trained in Chantilly, like all of Mr. Saito's horses, and will go to either Fabrice Chappet or Henri Devin.

“It's a big price to pay for a horse and now he needs to be good–he has everything going for him to be good.”

Castillon Begins in Style

Only a handful of lots into the sale there was a strong indication of what was to follow when Haras de Castillon's Wootton Bassett (GB) colt out of Just With You (Ire) (Sunday Beak {Jpn}) was the first to pass the half-million mark. The half-brother to black-type winners Taos (Fr) (Toronado {Ire}) and Penja (Fr) (Camelot {GB}) was sold at €550,000 to MV Magnier.

The colt represents an equine family that has been kind to the Jeffroy family, with the most recent highflyer to have emanated from its fold being this year's G1 Poule d'Essais des Poulains runner-up Texas (Fr), who is also a son of Wootton Bassett and is out of Just With You's half-sister Texalova (Fr) (Dream Ahead).

“She has been really popular all week,” said Benoit Jeffroy of lot 5. “It's a family that we have had for a long time now and it's good that she has made a lot of money. It's good for connections. Let's hope we see her at a high level on the racetrack. We still have the mare. She has a lovely Siyouni (Fr) colt foal at foot but we didn't cover her this year because she foaled late.”

Haspel In The Spotlight Again

William Haggas, trainer of the majority of the horses owned by the Tsui family's Sunderland Holdings, went to €380,000 for a filly by Sea The Stars (Ire) out of a Kodiac (GB) half-sister to Classic winners St Mark's Basilica (Fr) and Magna Grecia (Ire).

As he conducted the bidding Haggas was standing with Jean Lesbordes, who trained the great Urban Sea, dam of Sea The Stars and Galileo (Ire), for Ling Tsui, and he said after signing for lot 17, “She is a very nice filly and is by a sensational stallion. Very nice horses by the stallion deserve to make a lot of money.”

The filly was bred by Jose Delmotte's increasingly prominent Haras d'Haspel, whose name has been in lights plenty in recent seasons thanks to another of the stud's graduates, the champion 2-year-old and Irish 1000 Guineas winner Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}). Last year that colt's half-sister by Kingman (GB) was one of the top lots of the August Sale when sold to €950,000 to Godolphin. Though that high wasn't reached on Saturday by the latest member of the family to walk the ring, the Siyouni yearling filly (lot 62) out of Needleleaf (GB) (Observatory) still made the day's top five when sold for €550,000.

Kieran Lalor did the bidding on behalf of Sheikha Fatima Bint Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan's Al Shira'aa Farm, which has been compiling an illustrious broodmare band of its own at its Irish base of Meadow Court Stud on The Curragh.

“She will stay here in France probably,” Lalor said. “It's very exciting to have her. It's a young, very active family with black-type littered all over the page. Siyouni is a very good stallion and the mare is obviously doing her part. It's a young family with lots more to come and hopefully plenty of updates, and hopefully she is one of them in a few years to come.”

Lot 62, a full-sister to Classic winner Native Trail, sells for €560,000 to Kieran Lalor on behalf of Al Shira'aa @InfoArqana pic.twitter.com/pErBDOABci

— TDN (@theTDN) August 13, 2022

As well as finding fame as the dam of Native Trail, the Juddmonte-bred Needleleaf is predictably well-related. Her full-sisters African Rose (GB) and Helleborine (GB) are both group winners, the former having won the G1 Haydock Sprint Cup, and they are both now stakes producers. African Rose achieved extra notoriety by producing the first stakes winner by Frankel (GB) in the G3 Princess Margaret S. winner Fair Eva (GB), while Helleborine is the dam of G2 Coventry S. winner and young Coolmore sire Calyx (GB), who has his first yearlings for sale at Arqana this weekend.

Lalor later signed up a filly who is very closely related to a star performer for the Al Shira'aa team, the Group 2 winner Rumi (Fr) (Frankel {GB}), who is entered for next Sunday's G1 Prix Jean Romanet here in Deauville. Her yearling three-parts-sister by Galileo (Ire) was bought for €580,000 from her breeder Ecurie des Monceaux to become the session's most expensive filly.

“Obviously we own Rumi and we feel like she is very much a Group 1 quality filly, and hopefully by next weekend this looks like a cheap purchase,” Lalor said of lot 128. “All of the siblings are closely related to this one, it's a very good family with Group 1 winners all over the family.

“Also she's by Galileo, who in my lifetime is the best stallion ever to exist, and he's a very good broodmare sire, which is also important. She's a lovely individual, very elegant and a good size.”

Brant and Magnier Combine in Illustrious Duo

Another Juddmonte family was to the fore near the top of the leaderboard with the sale of the three-parts-sister to the Fabrice Chappet-trained Onesto (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) for €460,000 to the partnership of Peter Brant and MV Magnier.

The combined might of Camas Park and Glenvale Studs consigned the daughter of Gleneagles (Ire) on behalf of breeder Adam Bowden of American-based Diamond Creek, who celebrated his first European Group 1 winner when Onesto win the Grand Prix de Paris last month. He could be seen next in the G1 Irish Champion S. before a bid for the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

Michel Zerolo of Oceanic Bloodstock was in the hotseat to bid on the filly (lot 75) and when asked what he liked about the daughter of Onshore (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), he said simply, “Everything.”

Zerolo added, “The pedigree is there, she is a half-sister to a really good horse. He could be an Arc winner and she might look very cheap by October.”

Lot 75, a three-parts sister to Onesto, brings €460,000 from Oceanic Bloodstock @InfoArqana pic.twitter.com/dan19ZqGXZ

— TDN (@theTDN) August 13, 2022

Onshore, who was bought by Bowden from Juddmonte in 2016 and boards at Coolmore Stud in Ireland, is out of a half-sister to one of the all-time great Juddmonte mares, Hasili (GB), thus boasting a page which includes the names of Group/Grade 1 winners Banks Hill (GB), Intercontinental (GB), Champs Elysees (GB), Heat Haze (GB) and Cacique (GB).

Later, Brant and Magnier returned to a cross that has worked well for them in the recent past when buying a colt by Siyouni (Fr) out of the Galileo (Ire) mare Sapa Inca (Ire). Sold by Ecurie des Monceaux, who also bred arguably the most famous representative of that cross in Sottsass (Fr), lot 122 was secured for €580,000. His dam is a listed-winning full-sister to the group winners Johannes Vermeer (Ire) and Elizabeth Browning (Ire).

Henri Bozo of Ecuroe des Monceaux, the perennial leading vendor at this sale, said, “Coolmore have been great supporters of us from the beginning so it's very nice for us that they bought this horse. It hasn't been an easy day. We have sold nearly everything but so far we have been suffering from first-day syndrome a little bit. The good horses are coming so the sale is not over.”

Lot 122 from @EcurieMonceaux and representing the sought-after Siyouni-Galileo cross, sells for €580,000 to Oceanic Bloodstock for a @coolmorestud -Peter Brant partnership @InfoArqana pic.twitter.com/QVumZmoCH9

— TDN (@theTDN) August 13, 2022

Sea, Sun and Deckchairs

Like all bloodstock agents in town this week, Oliver St Lawrence has been pounding the sale yards in intense heat, so he took a more laidback approach to bidding by waving his catalogue for lot 89 from the comfort of a deckchair on the Arqana lawn.

The daughter of Sea The Moon (Ger) he bought for €350,000 is from a family which he clearly appreciates as he bought the filly's half-brother, the 104-rated Naamoos (Fr) ((Wootton Bassett {GB}), at this same sale three years ago.

The siblings, which include listed winner Padovana (Fr), who is also by Sea The Moon, were bred locally at Haras de Bourgeauville, which is run by the Lybeck family and celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

“We loved the filly,” St Lawrence said. “For the last three years I have bought from this farm. She is a lovely-moving filly and seems very sensible. She's for Fawzi Nass and partners and we'll have to think about a trainer.”

Philip Lybeck of Haras de Bourgeauville was on hand to thank the agent and commented, “We only had one horse to sell today and she has sold well so we cannot complain.

“We brought her full-sister to the sale and she didn't sell but she got black type. We bought the mare here as a yearling and she had some issues with her fetlocks which meant we couldn't race her, but she produces well so it was worthwhile.”

In Sunday's session, Bourgeauville will offer the final member of its select August draft as lot 210. The Wootton Bassett filly is a daughter of the dual listed winner Artistic Jewel (Ire) (Excellent Art {GB}).

Good Day For McStay

Mark McStay admitted to being surprised about being able to pick up Blue Diamond's Decorated Knight (GB) half-sister (lot 93) to Classic-winning Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) for €260,000 on a day where he also bagged colts by Sea The Stars and Dubawi (Ire) on behalf of Bon Ho, the owner of smart stayer Deauville Legend (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who is G1 Melbourne Cup bound.

Nashwa, one of the best fillies in Europe, landed the French Oaks before running out an ultra-impressive winner of the Nassau S. at Goodwood, and McStay confirmed that her little sister would be trained in England for an existing client.

He said, “Lovely filly. Her sister speaks for herself–she's done it all this year. She has a proper pedigree and is a nice model. I was surprised to get her at such a nice price but she's for an existing client. She'll go to one of the top trainers in England and hopefully she can emulate her sister for all that it will be a hard thing to do.”

The half-sister to Champion Nashwa sells for €260,000 as Lot 93 @InfoArqana pic.twitter.com/YrRy70koHA

— TDN (@theTDN) August 13, 2022

Mark McStay applied a certain amount of thinking on his feet with the purchase of lot 16, initially led out of the ring unsold by Ecurie des Monceaux.

After a private sale was agreed at €300,000 for the colt by Dubawi, McStay went on to pick up lot 53, a son of Sea The Stars, consigned by Baroda Stud.

McStay said, “He [lot 53] was bought for Mr. Ho, who owns Deauville Legend, and he also has a nice horse in Australia by Sea The Stars called Irish Legend (Ire) and a promising horse called Sea Legend (Fr) by the stallion with Fozzy Stack. He likes Sea The Stars and was keen to buy one.

“This horse came well recommended by David Cox of Baroda Stud and it's an interesting family because a lot of the good horses in it are fillies. There was one stakes winner in the family by Cape Cross (Ire), the sire of Sea The Stars. We'll decide on a trainer at a later date but we've been lucky at Arqana before so hopefully he's the next Deauville Legend.”

McStay added, “The Dubawi was also for Mr Ho. He's been keen to buy a Dubawi over the past few years but they're always very well contested for. When he didn't sell, I went up to Henri Bozo and shook hands with him on a private sale.

“He has a lovely pedigree and is out of a Montjeu (Ire) mare. The sire gets 27% stakes winners to runners and I hope he's well bought. Any day you buy a Dubawi and a Sea The Stars from proven families is a good day.”

Kenny McPeek Brings Support from America

American trainer Kenny McPeek has become a regular figure at the Arqana sales, taking home four from last year's August sale, and he got off to an active start on Day 1 of the 2022 renewal, buying four yearlings for €550,000.

He picked up lot 49, a Kingman (GB) colt out of the Group 3-placed Johannesburg mare Militant (Ire), and a half-sister to the graded stakes-winning and Group 1-placed Wind Chimes (GB) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) for €160,000; lot 74, a filly by Wootton Bassett (GB) out of the dual winner One Last Night (Ire) (Elusive Quality) for €200,000; a colt by Almanzor (Fr), lot 115, out of the winning Shamardal mare Sagariya (Fr) for €115,000; and lot 120, a filly by the champion first-crop sire in France, Zarak (Fr), out of Sans Appel (Fr) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), for €80,000.

American trainer Ken McPeek with his daughter Jenna at Arqana on Saturday | Sue Finley

“The Kingman colt is for Evan and Kathy Trommer, a longtime client,” said McPeek, who is in France with his 21-year-old daughter, Jenna, an Equine Sciences university student. “And then we bought hip number 74 working with MyRacehorse. That's our first collaboration with MyRacehorse, and we worked with their agent, Robert Wachman, and that will work really well. We bought the Almanzor colt for Greg Back's Back Racing, from Houston, and hip 120 for Susan Moulton Sellers.”

McPeek's haul this year already equals last year's total, with two days of the 2022 sale remaining.

“I bought four last year, so we've been here before,” he said. “It's a great market. Fantastic horses. I just believe a good horse can be found anywhere and everywhere, and the history of the French horse is long and full of class. I have clients that are interested, so we decided to come. It's going to be a regular trip for us.”

Sunday and Monday's sessions will begin at 5:30 p.m. each day.

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“It's very much an official reduction, he is not stopping breeding,” said an Ammerland representative. “He's been selling more yearlings and reducing the stock over a number of years. The idea is to bring the operation down from around 50 to about a dozen mares.”

For more than 30 years, von Boetticher has been one of Germany's elite breeders and has enjoyed significant success on the international stage. His Bavarian farm has produced such great names as dual French Classic winner and leading sire Lope De Vega (Ire) (Shamardal), Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Hurricane Run (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), and German Derby and Coronation Cup winner Boreal (Ger) (Java Gold). He was also the co-breeder of another Arc winner, Waldgeist (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), with Newsells Park Stud and Coolmore.

Now 80, von Boetticher bought the picturesque Gestut Ammerland in southern Germany in 1989, the year after winning the German Derby with Luigi (Ger) (Home Guard), the first racehorse he bought. That same season von Boetticher also celebrated a one-two in the Preis der Diana (German Oaks) with Alte Zeit (Ger) (Surumu {Ger}) and Britannia (Ger) (Tarim {GB}). The latter went on to become a cornerstone of his breeding programme, producing the aforementioned Boreal and the filly Borgia (Ger) (Acatenango {Ger}), winner of both the German Derby and Grosser Preis von Baden in her homeland as well as the Hong Kong Vase. 

Two of Borgia's daughters remain among the 17 mares currently listed as comprising the Ammerland broodmare band. The group also includes three half-sisters to Lope De Vega, the G1 Prix de Diane winner Golden Lilac (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), and 4-year-old Wildfeder (GB), a full-sister to Walgdeist. 

The owner/breeder has a number of horses in training in Germany with Peter Schiergen, and in France with Andre Fabre, including the Classic entrants Sea The Sky (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), a full-sister to Sea The Moon (Ger), Safni (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Waldstar (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who is owned in partnership with Newsells Park Stud. The Gestut Ammerland homebred Baltic Bird (GB) (Frankel {GB}), a great-grandson of Borgia, was set to make his debut for John and Thady Gosden at Leicester on Friday.

The eventual cessation of breeding at Bernried, which has stood stallions including Boreal, Ito (Ger) and Iquitos (Ger), has prompted a move to Ireland by Ronald Rauscher. The agent and consignor kept 35 of his own and clients' mares on the farm, including those owned by Dr Christoph Berglar, breeder of international Group 1 winners Protectionist (Ger) and Novellist (Ger).

“The yearlings will move in the first week in April, and then the mares and foals will move at the beginning of June,” said Rauscher, who will be based in Mallow, Co Cork. “All my clients will move out of Bernried to Ireland.”

He added, “I lived in Ireland for 12 years until 1997, so after a 25-year sabbatical I am returning.”

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The post Gestut Ammerland Prevails At €2.05-Million For Wildfeder appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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14.25 Chantilly, Mdn, €27,000, 2yo, f, 8f (AWT)
Gestut Ammerland's SEA THE SKY (GER) (Sea the Stars {Ire}), who hit the heights when knocked down for a record-equalling €820,000 at last year's BBAG September fixture, is a full-sister to runaway G1 Deutsches Derby-winning sire Sea The Moon (Ger). The Andre Fabre nominee encounters nine rivals in this debut, including Noir et Or Elevage's La Mehana (Fr) (Al Wukair {Ire}), who is a homebred half-sister to G3 Preis der Winterkonigin victrix Ocean Fantasy (Fr) (Make Believe {GB}), from the Alex Pantall stable.

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the first lot into the ring today at #TattsOctober Book 1 sells for 1,250,000gns. Lot 336 is a filly by Dubawi (@DarleyEurope) half-sister to Arc winner Waldgeist. She was consigned by @newsellspark and bought by Al Shira'aa Farm (@kieran_lalor). pic.twitter.com/Bt4EpXfw2s

— TDN (@theTDN) October 7, 2021

The post Al Shira’aa Buys Waldgeist’s Sister For 1.25-Million Gns appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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