Tag: Night of Thunder

Fahrhof’s Day as BBAG Ring is Litt Bright

BADEN-BADEN, Germany–A German breeder, a British stallion, an American buyer. In a fully reopened world, the international participation that had been anticipated ahead of BBAG's major yearling sale was played out as Jason Litt made a splash on his first visit to Baden-Baden when signing for the sole Kingman (GB) yearling in the sale, offered by the day's leading vendor Gestut Fahrhof and commanding the top price of €450,000.

Along with Litt, buyers from Britain, China, Ireland, France, Italy, Dubai, Hong Kong, the Czech Republic, and of course Germany underlined a diverse and vibrant market which led to gains of 24% for both aggregate and average. Of the 204 horses offered through the one-day sale, 157 (77%) found a buyer, with the clearance rate dropping just slightly from 80% last year, but the average up to €53,258 with the overall turnover at €8,361,500.

 

Fahrhof to the Fore

It has been quite the week for the partnership of Gestut Fahrhof and Kingman, with the stallion reaching a new high of 50 stakes winners and 30 group winners courtesy of the stud's homebred Habana (Ger), a 'TDN Rising Star' who went on the land the G3 Zukunfts-Rennen at Baden-Baden on Wednesday.

In the sale ring two days later, Kingman's son (lot 62) from the family of this year's G1 Deutsches Derby winner Sammarco (Ire) was the draft's leading light when topping the sale, selected by a first-time visitor to the auction.

“I'm really happy right now,” said American agent Jason Litt. “We got the one we wanted. We came here trying to buy what we thought was the best horse in the sale, and we thought he was the best horse in the sale.

“He's likely to stay in Europe but it is all to be determined. He has a great attitude and great balance.”

Litt added with a laugh, “He checked all the boxes, as everyone hates to hear.”

The colt's relative Sammarco, who is now a dual Group 1 winner, returns to the track on Sunday to take on Torquator Tasso (Ger) in the G1 Grosser Preis von Baden, and plenty of other members of the close family have won stakes races in Britain, Ireland, France, and Australia. His dam Sarandia (Ger) (Dansili {GB}) was herself narrowly denied a Classic win when second in the G1 Preis der Diana, and three of her five wins came in listed races.

The Fahrhof draft was also represented among the top lots by a Frankel (GB) half-brother to Group 1 winner Potemkin (Ger) (New Approach {GB}), who will race in Germany for Eckhard Sauren, the President of the Cologne Race Club who bought lot 58 for €210,000. The colt's dam Praia (Ger) (Big Shuffle) was herself a winner and listed-placed and is a half-sister to Paita (GB) (Intikhab), a former champion 2-year-old filly in Germany.

An international bidding skirmish was in play later in the day for another Fahrhof consignee, the first foal of Listed Diana Trial winner Realeza (Ger) (Maxios {GB}) by Darley's Night Of Thunder (Ire). Anthony Stroud was involved for a while, but it was Andreas Suborics who had the last word at €325,000, with Michael Donohoe the unlucky underbidder from outside the ring. Suborics confirmed that he will train the chestnut colt (lot 156) for owner Jurgen Sartori.

The mixing of Dubawi and Monsun bloodlines has worked well in this family already, with Realeza's three-parts sister Rumh (Ger), a listed-winning daughter of Monsun, having produced the multiple Group 1 winners Yibir (GB) and Wild Illusion (GB), both of whom are by Dubawi.

Gestut Fahrhof, which has also consigned yearlings at the Tattersalls October Sale in the past, offered all its yearlings for sale at BBAG this year, and was the sale's leading vendor with 12 sold for €1,420,000 at an average price of €118,333.

Reflecting on a good day for his team, Fahrhof's owner Andreas Jacobs said, “It is a fantastic sale, a boutique sale at a wonderful location. It's wonderful because of great food, great restaurants, great hotels, but also a great sales crowd. This year we had some good genuine prices, so expectations from the vendors were reasonable, and I think the catalogue was better than last year.”

He continued, “On the Farhrhof side we had better horses in the sale because we didn't send any to Tattersalls, so that helped our sale. I'm very proud to have sold the most expensive Kingman. I've loved Kingman since he was a racehorse and I think he was one of those that has everything you want to have–good character, a good scope, and he improved with the work every minute.

“The Night Of Thunder we sold was equally smart and everyone was on him which was why he generated an exceptional price. We're very happy with the day's results, and also with the Baden-Baden race results. To have a Kingman filly; there's nothing better than to have a 2-year-old group-winning filly. I'm very excited about her and very proud.”

 

Prize Fillies for Owner-Breeders

Out of luck with bidding on Fahrhof's Night Of Thunder colt, Michael Donohoe was successful only a short while later when buying the only Frankel filly in the catalogue for €250,000 for Yuesheng Zhang of Yulong Investments. Lot 161, who was offered by Ronald Rauscher, is the third foal of the Acclamation (GB) mare Vagabonde (Ire), a dual winner in France and a half-sister to a pair of Group 3 winners in Kalahara (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Sasparella (Fr) (Shamardal).

“Mr. Zhang has had plenty of luck with the sire and I thought she was lovely,” said Dononhoe. The Yulong Investements silks have been carried to Group 1 glory in Australia by a homebred daughter of Frankel in the Chris Waller-trained Hungry Heart (Aus), winner of the Australian Oaks and Vinery Stud S.

He continued, “There's a nice bit of Acclamation about her and she looks like she might be quite a forward Frankel. We loved the pedigree and thought she represented good value. I was underbidder for different clients on the Kingman and the Night Of Thunder. It's a really strong market.”

A bidding tussle between Tina Rau and Ronald Rauscher saw the latter come out on top for Haras de l'Hotellerie's filly by Sea The Stars (Ire) out of the listed winner Imagery (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) (lot 44) at €250,000.

A pedigree with roots in Gestut Schlenderhan, which includes three black-type half-siblings for the yearling, and another four of the same for her dam, was enough to persuade Rauscher's client, one of Germany's leading breeders, to purchase the filly with her future broodmare career in mind.

“She's been bought for my main partner, Christoph Berglar,” Rauscher confirmed. “He loves Sea The Stars and he loves that Schlenderhan family, and there's Monsun in there. She's very nice, I liked her a lot.”

Guillaume Garcon of Haras de l'Hotellerie offered the filly on behalf of her breeder Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals of Yeguada Centurion, who bought Imagery at Tattersalls four years ago for 95,000gns. The mare also has a colt foal by Sea The Stars.

A good day continued for the Hotellerie team when the Bated Breath (GB) half-sister to Group 3 winner Noble Heidi (Fr) (Intello {Ger}) sold for €130,000 to Stall Salzburg. Extra black type has been provided for their dam Noble Pensee (Fr) (Orpen) by her 3-year-old listed-placed daughter Noble Star (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}), while Noble Heidi, now four, added the Listed Baden-Baden Cup to her tally of victories on Wednesday. The granddam of lot 151, Turning Leaf (Ire) (Last Tycoon) was placed in the G2 German 1,000 Guineas.

 

Franco-Irish Alliance for Le Havre Filly

One of the 'talking horses' of the sale was the sole yearling by the late Le Havre (Ire), who, catalogued as lot 61, was offered by Stauffenberg Bloodstock on behalf of her breeder Gestut Honyhof. The flashy chestnut is a granddaughter of the G1 Preis der Diana winner Salve Regina (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}), who was also runner up in the Deutsches Derby, a race also won by her full-brothers Samum (Ger) and Schiaparelli (Ger). More recently, the family has been boosted by the yearling's Group 3-winning half-brother Sea Of Sands (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who triumphed in the Derby-Trial and is one of five winners for their dam Salve Haya (Ire) (Peintre Celebre).

The well-established partnership of Ireland's Ballylinch Stud and France's Ecurie des Charmes had the final say for the filly at €205,000, with Ghislain Bozo signing the docket in the company of John O'Connor.

“She was a really nice filly, we think Le Havre is a plus as well and it's a very nice staying family, a very strong German family,” Bozo said. “She's a lovely mover and well-balanced, the type of physique we like, and should be a lovely broodmare in the future. She may go to Ballylinch first, they have a really lovely pre-training facility.”

Bozo had earlier signed for Gestut Hof Ittlingen's colt by the late Lord Of England (Ger) at €180,000. Bought for an undisclosed client, lot 47 is a half-brother to Loft (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}), winner of the GII Belmont Gold Cup S. in America as well as the G2 Oleander-Rennen is his home country. The pair emanate from Hof Ittlingen's signature family of the homebred champion Lando (Ger), whose seven Group 1 wins included the Japan Cup, and who is a brother to the colt's granddam Laurella (Ger) (Acatenango {Ger}).

 

Waldgeist Filly to Wohler

Gestut Ammerland's half-sister to Blue De Vega (Ger) (Lope De Vega {Ger}) from the first crop of Arc winner Waldgeist (GB) (lot 79) is to be trained by Andreas Wohler for a “well-established French owner-breeder” after being signed for at €160,000 by Alexandra Saint Martin of ASM Bloodstock.

Unable to divulge the name of her client, the agent added, “She is a lovely filly with a great page and she has been bought as a broodmare prospect. She will be trained in Germany.”

The filly was the most expensive yearling of the day by Waldgeist, who was well represented at BBAG with eight of his yearlings sold for an average of €63,750.

Another of this year's freshman sires, Darley's Too Darn Hot (GB), featured just once in the catalogue but his yearling colt, who is a half-brother to the German champion 3-year-old sprinter Namos (GB) (Medicean {GB}), found favour with breeze-up pinhooker Tom Whitehead of Powerstown Stud.

“He's a good, racy colt and I like the sire. I think he has a good chance,” said Whitehead, who has done well buying breezers from this sale in the past and paid €150,000 for lot 54 from breeder Gestut Brummerhof.

 

New Bay an Old Friend for Elliott

Alex Elliott is another regular visitor to BBAG and secured two six-figure lots on Friday, the first being lot 53, bought for the Chelsea Thoroughbreds syndicate  at €120,000.

The colt by New Bay (GB) is to be trained by Ralph Beckett, a stallion with whom Elliott and Beckett have enjoyed previous success courtesy of his first-crop son New Mandate (Ire), winner of the G2 Juddmonte Royal Lodge S. as well as a pair of listed races.

There was plenty to recommend the Ronald Rauscher- consigned colt beyond his sire, however, as he is out of Nightlight Angel (Manduro {Ger}), a winning three-parts-sister to Dr. Christoph Berglar's champion colt Novellist (Ire) (Monsun {Ger}), a Group 1 winner in three different countries who is now at stud in Japan. The family has been given another major boost this season by the Irish Oaks victory of Novellist's half-sister Magical Lagoon (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

Elliott also went to €165,000 for Haras de Grandcamp's Wootton Bassett (GB) half-brother to G3 Prix des Chenes winner Evasive's First (Fr) (Evasive), who was appropriately, consigned as lot 165.

Holger Faust of the HFTB Agency was the sale's busiest buyer, signing for 11 yearlings for a total of €568,000. The group included Intisar (Ger) (Isfahan {Ger}), who will race in the same Darius Racing colours as her sister, the G1 Preis der Diana runner-up Isfahani (Ger), and was bought from Gestut Karlshof for €120,000.

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McStay Strikes For £230k Night Of Thunder Colt At Doncaster

The opening day of the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale followed a familiar theme with Mark McStay, who was busy at the first European yearling Sale of the year at Arqana just over a week ago, once again opening his shoulders back to secure the top lot at Goffs UK-170, a colt by Night Of Thunder (Ire).

The sire of last Friday's breathtakingly-good G1 Nunthorpe S. winner Highfield Princess (Fr), Night Of Thunder was labelled a rock solid stallion by McStay, who felt lot 170-for all that he looked like a son of Dubawi-was the standout colt on day one.

So much so, the leading agent, who would not disclose who the Mountarmstrong-consigned colt was bought for, went to £230,000 to secure him.

“Lovely colt by a proven sire at this stage in his career, Night Of Thunder,” McStay said. “He actually looked like a Dubawi (Ire) to me. He was well-produced and comes from a very good nursery in Mountarmstrong. Noel O'Callaghan breeds and sells good horses and I thought he was the standout colt on offer here today.”

He added, “We had to stretch to buy him. I thought we'd get him for quite a bit less but my client is brave and encouraged me to keep going and to secure him.

“Look, we're seeing what Night Of Thunders are doing on the track and I don't think that they are going to get any cheaper. I can't say who he has been bought for but he's been bought for an existing client. He'll be broken in Ireland and plans are fluid.”

 

The Night Of Thunder colt hails from a cracking family. He is out of Pious Alexander (Ire), a winner by Acclamation (GB), who is out of dual Group 3 winner Lady Alexander (Ire) (Night Shift). She is the dam of 10 winners, including Dandy Man (Ire) and Anthem Alexander (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}).

McStay also signed for WH Bloodstock's inspired Kuroshio {Aus} pinhook [lot171] for £120,000, Baroda Stud's Zoustar {Aus} colt [lot 19, for £72,000] out of black-type performer Golden Spell (GB) (Al Kazeem {GB}), a US Navy Flag colt consigned by Monksland Stables for £38,000 and the first horse through the ring, Grove Stud's grey filly by Starspangledbanner (Aus) for £35,000.

It proved a bountiful day for consignors, with many buyers-be they agents, trainers and breeze-up operators-relaying that there was stiff competition for the nicest horses, which was evident in the figures.
Of the 218 lots offered, 199 were sold, representing a clearance rate of 91%. The aggregate, average and median were all up as well. An aggregate of £8,954,500 represented a 28% rise on last year while the average was up 15% to £44,997 and a median of £38,000 cemented a 27% rise on 2021.

Renowned bloodstock agent Ross Doyle reflected on an encouraging day's trade after purchasing lot 211, a Baroda Stud-consigned colt by New Bay (GB), late in the day for £200,000. That brought Doyle's total spend on day one to £642,000 across nine yearlings and he was quick to praise Goffs for assembling a fantastic bunch.

Doyle said, “It's been very good, very strong, which is great to see. I've never seen so many people here than over the past few days, which is a testimony to Goffs and all their team. You only have to look around the pictures on the walls, some very good horses have come out of this sale so they deserve people to turn up and get stuck in. We'd a very good shortlist and we're the same tomorrow.”

On lot 211, he added, “I thought he was outstanding. I thought he was the best-moving horse here today. He's obviously by a sire doing extremely well and he seems to upgrade everything. “He's out of a black-type mare [Rubira {Aus} Lope De Vega {Ire})] and comes from a good home. We put him down as the best individual that we've seen, as far as movement goes, for a long time. He covers serious ground and it's all very natural and relaxed, which is a good sign. “He's been bought for an existing client who has plenty of horses with Richard [Hannon] and has been a very good supporter of this sale in particular.”

Hesketh and Wadham in Clover With Cracking Kuroshio

Violet Hesketh and Mimi Wadham, who run WH Bloodstock, have rightly earned a reputation for being one of the shrewdest young operators in the business. The pinhook of lot 171, purchased by the pair as a foal at Goffs for €38,000 before selling on Tuesday to Avenue Bloodstock for £120,000, confirmed that reputation to be bang on the money.

Some of the top buyers were on to the son of Starfield Stud's Kuroshio. In the end, it was Mark McStay, flanked by trainer Fozzy Stack, who secured him.

Hesketh said, “I am delighted. We knew we had a nice colt but you never expect to get that sort of a price. We bought him in the February Sale at Goffs for €38,000 and he has just improved and improved.

“He was an absolute pro and didn't miss a beat in every show. Some of the top judges were on him. We'll be sad to see him go but very happy with the price we got. We'll look forward to seeing him racing.”

 

A lovely colt, lot 171 was out of the Pivotal (GB) mare Pivotal Era (GB), herself a full-sister to Humouresque (GB), who carried the Cheveley Park silks to Group 3 glory at Saint-Cloud in 2003.

Hesketh added, “He was a gorgeous foal and is out of a good Pivotal mare, which obviously everyone loves. He had such a good attitude. We're very happy.”

Jamie Railton's pinhook with lot 21, a filly by Ten Sovereigns (Ire), was another shrewd piece of business. Bought by Railton for €26,000 at Goffs last November, the filly was knocked down to Richard Hughes for £110,000.

Hughes, who is operating at a 25% strike-rate with his 2-year-olds this season and has nine winners on the board in that sphere, bought four yearlings all told for a combined sum of £224,000.

Kinane on the Hunt for Hong Kong

In his role of sourcing European horses on behalf of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Mick Kinane has already come up trumps with this year's Hong Kong Derby winner Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), and the legendary jockey revealed that lot 57, a £200,000 colt by the same sire, will chart a similar path.

The Trinity Park Stud-consigned son of Acclamation is from the family of Puncher Clynch (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}), who did well in Hong Kong, and Kinane is hopeful that his latest acquisition can forge out a career for himself in that jurisdiction in time.

Kinane said, “He has a champion in Hong Kong [Puncher Clynch] and is a similar type. He's a nice horse. I was here the past two years but I didn't find them [good horses]. There's nicer horses here this year.

“He'll be broken and will go into pre-training and then we'll see what he can do. Hopefully he'll do well in Hong Kong.”

 

The Acclamation colt was consigned by Trinity Park Stud on behalf of Peter Gleeson, who bought and raced the dam Isole Canarie (Ire) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}), a dual listed winner in Italy. From the family of Puncher Clynch (Ire), who did well in Hong Kong, lot 57 was fancied by those closest to him to go down well with the buyers, but the £200,000 fetched in the ring exceeded all expectations.

Becky Marsh, of Trinity Park Stud, said, “I thought we had a very nice horse but I wasn't expecting that. I said to Henry Beeby this morning when he came to look at the horse before he auctioned him that I would be delighted if he made £100,000. Obviously I'm overwhelmed.”

She added, “We foaled and raised this yearling-he's been with us since day one and he's always shown a lot of class. Since he came here he's not put a foot wrong. He's walked out perfectly every day and he had the right people on him.

“Isole Canarie was bought by Peter Gleeson, who raced her in Italy and then France, then brought her back here to breed. He's been lucky with Italian mares before and it's worked really well for him. The mare has an Oasis Dream (GB) colt at foot, but was not bred back this year.”

Warren Tips Land Force For First-Season Sire Honours

Jake Warren of Highclere Stud, who stands Land Force (Ire), is confident that the young stallion has what it takes to be champion first-season sire in 2023. A total of 17 yearlings by the son of No Nay Never were catalogued in the sale, eight of which found new homes on day one, averaging at a highly-respectable £34,500 for a stallion who stands for just £5,000 [stood at £6,500 in his first season].

However, what was most notable were the hotels that the Land Force yearlings have joined as multiple Group 1-winning trainer Clive Cox and renowned breeze-up consignors Katie Walsh and Con Marnane featured among the list of buyers.

Warren said, “It's always a nervous time when you bring a new stallion to the market but, the thing with Land Force is, and one of the main reasons why we've had the confidence to keep breeding to him over the past three years, is he throws these powerful, strong, good-shouldered, big physicals that are just what breeders are looking to produce. It's also what 2-year-old buyers are trying to secure. He's just ticking those boxes.”

He added, “There's no first-season sires with more offerings at this sale so he has the numbers to back him up. No Nay Never has had an amazing year with his 2-year-olds and there's no reason why Land Force can't be the champion first-season sire next year. It's exciting.”

It was lot 71 who shot the lights out for Land Force at £85,000. On the eve of the sale, Natalie Folland and her partner Matt Bowen told TDN about how they wanted to make their clients proud with the first yearlings they offered under the Folland-Bowen Bloodstock banner this week.

Well, the couple could hardly have done a better job with their Land Force colt, the first yearling they sent through the ring together, who walked around like a pro en route to commanding that impressive price tag.

Fighting back the tears in Barn J shortly after the sale, Folland said, “I'm going to cry. The owner has just been on the phone, she's bawling crying telling us how delighted she is. He's gone to Clive Cox, who has the half-brother Ascot Adventure (GB) (Mayson {GB}) and Joe Foley was the underbidder. He was vetted four or five times so it's great to have received such support.”

She added, “I knew he was busy but we would have been happy with £50,000 so, to get £80,000, we're over the moon. His owner, Fiona Trenchard, is delighted. She's such a pedigree fanatic and has tried really hard with this mare as she's been very hard to keep in foal. It hasn't been easy so, to have a result like that, I'm more emotional for her really.”

Marnane went to £30,000 to secure lot 26, a Mickley Stud-consigned filly by Land Force, while Walsh bought a colt by the stallion, lot 63, off Anna Sundstrom's Coulonces for £40,000.

Soldier Answers Foley's Call

Land Force was not the only young sire making waves. Joe Foley expressed his confidence behind the progeny of his own Ballyhane Stallion Soldier's Call in Monday's TDN and, less than 24 hours later, he put his money where his mouth was in securing Tinnakill's chestnut colt by the classy sprinter for £105,000.

Lot 212 is a half-brother to Marygate S. winner Sardinia Sunset (Ire) (Guitafan) and was sold by Tinnakill House Stud on behalf of Kevin Blake's Golden Farm Thoroughbreds.

 

Seven of the eight yearlings by Soldier's Call were sold on day one with Mick Easterby forking out £65,000 to bag Trickledown Stud's colt by the sire [48] and Oliver St Lawrence going to £50,000 for Manister House Stud's offering [190].

Andrew Balding also picked up two by the sire, Ballyhane's lot 59 for £30,000 and 109 for £22,000. Of the seven yearlings sold by Soldier's Call, they averaged at just under £50,000 apiece.

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Night Of Thunder Colt Steals The Show

KILDARE, Ireland–“A good, good day,” said Goffs group managing director Henry Beeby as he cogitated the results from another solid session of the Goffs February Sale. The all-weanling cast put on a show which resulted in €2,161,800 being added to turnover which has now surpassed that reaped by the previous two-day sale of 2020, while the median remained at a respectable €10,000 and the average was €15,665 for 138 horses sold (76%).

In that transitional stage from being overgrown foals to becoming the nascent racehorses that many will appear to be come autumn, the youngsters passing through the ring on Wednesday represented the class of 2021 and, for many of them, it will have been good practice for their return to official yearling sales later in the year.

That is the intention for the session's top lot (285), bred by a man who was always an extremely welcome presence at the Orby Sale and whose loss will continue to be keenly felt in the years to come. Sheikh Hamdan's legacy of 40 years of breeding through his Shadwell Stud includes many star names throughout those years, and as the operation has downsized significantly since the sheikh's death almost a year ago, many of those bloodlines nurtured over the decades will go on to be influential in the hands of other breeders.

The Night Of Thunder (Ire) weanling that led the day was selected by the husband-and-wife team of Frannie and Niamh Woods, whose sound judgement has been validated on more than once occasion. Signing under their Abbeylands Farm banner, they bought the colt out of Afdhaad (GB) (Nayef) for €125,000. Both his dam and his grand-dam Albaraah (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}) passed through the same ring in the Shadwell draft last November, the former selling for €25,000 to Charles Shanahan and the latter to Barronstown Stud for €230,000. It's fair to assume that it is not the last we will hear of this family.

That will certainly be the hope of Frannie Woods, who plans to reoffer the Night Of Thunder colt in the autumn. He said “He's by one of the best sires in Europe and he's a lovely colt. I'm delighted to buy one from Shadwell who have been such great supporters of ours over the year. He'll come back later in the year and we'll be hoping for a bit of luck with the pedigree. The Invincible Spirit [2-year-old half-brother] has gone into training.”

Woods could enjoy an update sooner than that as the mare's first foal Alafdhal (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) holds an entry for a novice stakes at Lingfield on Saturday and is now in the hands of Newmarket trainer Phil McEntee, whose talents remain woefully under-rated and who is currently operating at a 31% strike-rate with his team of all-weather runners.

Another shrewd trainer will eventually mastermind the career of lot 275, a colt inbred 2×3 to Danehill, by the dependable veteran Exceed And Excel (Aus). Finn Kent of Mickley Stud signed for the Ballinafad Stud-bred youngster in partnership with Dave Evans, who enjoyed a memorable 2021 season, notably through the G2 Sandy Lane S. winner Rohaan (Ire) (Mayson {GB}). Evans, who is based in Monmouthshire, already trains the colt's 3-year-old brother Bastogne (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) for Kent's father Richard, the owner of Mickley Stud. 

“We have the 3-year-old with Dave and he's rated 88, so we've been watching the family,” said Finn Kent. “It's a family Dave loves and we were keen to buy this colt. He'll go back to Mickley Stud for a while and will then go into training with Dave when the time comes.”

The colt's second strand of Danehill comes through Tiger Hill (Ire), sire of his unraced dam Wavebreak (GB) whose first two runners are both winners. She is in turn a daughter of Group 3 winner Neptune's Bride (Bering) and her half-sister Salacia (Ire) (Echo Of Light {GB}) has given the family a major boost as the dam of group winners King Of Change (GB) (Farhh {GB}) and Century Dream (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}).

The sole representative of Le Havre (Ire) in the catalogue (lot 372), out of the Group 3-placed Endless Light (GB), joined the team of pinhooks by Jamie Railton, who went to €60,000 to secure the colt from the family of dual Grade I winner Megahertz (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) from the Baroda Stud draft. 

The top filly of the day was lot 395, the Irish National Stud's daughter of two Group 1 winners in Decorated Knight (GB) and Gilt Edge Girl (GB) (Monsieur Bond {Ire}).

The latter, winner of the Prix de l'Abbaye for Clive Cox, is the dam of Listed winner Time's Arrow (Ire) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}). Her current 2-year-old from the first crop of Saxon Warrior (Jpn) was bought for €270,000 at the Orby Sale by MV Magnier and is in training at Ballydoyle. Her yearling filly was signed for by Hugo Merry for €62,000.

Another of the leading fillies of the day was consigned by Davey Stack's Coolagown Stud and represented the family of last season's dual Group 1-winning juvenile Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}). Lot 221 is from the first crop of Ballyhane Stud's Soldier's Call (GB) and was bought by Mags O'Toole for €45,000. Offered by Stack on behalf of breeder Joli Racing, she is a half-sister to Perfect Power's dam Sagely (Ire) (Frozen Power {Ire}), while the further family includes Arc winner Sagamix (Fr) (Linamix {Fr}) and two new stallions on the scene for 2022, the Galileo (Ire) brothers Japan (GB) and Mogul (GB).

The final day of the Goffs February Sale, featuring breeding stock, gets underway on Thursday at 10am.

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Dubawi At Twenty

Strip away the brass name plates, parade the Darley stallions in front of seasoned horsemen and ask them to pick the horse who last year sired three Breeders' Cup victors among 38 stakes winners and was the broodmare sire of the Derby winner. Of those who haven't seen him before, it is unlikely that many would choose Dubawi (Ire).

Unlike his sire, the brilliant but ill-fated Dubai Millennium (GB), he is not a horse who 'fills the eye' with those long classic lines and fluent stride. On the short side and fairly close-coupled, with a habit of growing a coat as thick as a native pony in midwinter, Dubawi is not your archetypal elegant Thoroughbred. But those same seasoned horsemen will doubtless have seen enough in their time to know that when it comes to racing and breeding, handsome is as handsome does. And Dubawi does it all.

That started on the racecourse. An unbeaten juvenile who became his sire's first stakes winner in the G3 Superlative S. and went on to land the G1 National S., Dubawi then graduated to his Classic season with a warm-up fifth in the 2000 Guineas before winning the Irish equivalent. The Derby distance proved too much for him, but he was not disgraced when third to Motivator (GB) and Walk In The Park (Ire). Dubawi then emulated his sire by winning the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois, and signed off by finishing second to Starcraft (NZ) in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S.

Since then, he has spent all bar one of the Northern Hemisphere seasons at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket, while he also made three visits to Darley Australia in the early years of his second career. As his 20th birthday approaches on Feb. 7, Dubawi is rightly revered as an outstanding stallion, a burgeoning sire of sires and broodmare sire, and the main conduit of the Mr Prospector line in Europe, making him a more-than-useful mate for mares from the dominant Northern Dancer lines. For four years, he was accompanied on the Darley roster by another son of Dubai Millennium, the €1.2 million yearling purchase Echo Of Light (GB), who died in 2012.

“With one of his two stallion sons, the great Dubai Millennium has delivered for us, and that means everything,” says Sam Bullard, Darley's director of stallions.

“Now we want sons of Dubawi to be successful. Night of Thunder has got off to such an incredible start, and Time Test, Zarak and others doing so well is testimony to the horse. We are very fortunate that we've got horses like Ghaiyyath, Space Blues and Too Darn Hot all coming through on the roster.”

The first foal of his dam, the Italian Oaks winner Zomaradah (GB) (Deploy {GB}), Dubawi was born at Kildangan Stud, where he later stood one season, and he hails from the same family as a sire who was already ensconced in the Kildangan stallion unit at that time, the Breeders' Cup Turf and Coronation Cup winner In The Wings (GB). More pertinently, though, he was also one of a small number of foals expected that year by Dubai Millennium.

Sheikh Mohammed's pride in his homebred so prophetically named to win the Dubai World Cup of 2000 was renowned. Dubai Millennium's racing record was hugely impressive. He was beaten only once in ten starts when finishing ninth behind Oath in the Derby, and on what would transpire to be his final performance in the G1 Prince of Wales's S. at Royal Ascot, the applause started ringing out when he was only halfway up the straight, so emphatic was the manner of his victory. But a little over six weeks later his racing career was over when he suffered a hind-leg fracture on the gallops. Brutally, Dubai Millennium's stud career was even more brief when, during his first covering season, he was struck down with grass sickness and died on Apr. 29, 2001.

“The whole stallion operation at Darley was set up on the back of Dubai Millennium really,” recalls Bullard. “We had this wonderful racehorse, the greatest horse that Godolphin had ever had, and when he retired to stud that was the catalyst really for the stallion operation that is here now, and always the number one goal was to get the top stallions of tomorrow.”

Clearly, those mares to have visited Dubai Millennium before his untimely death were of a decent calibre, but the odds were stacked against him making a meaningful impression on the breed when the foaling season of 2002 was complete and his sole crop numbered just 56. Sheikh Mohammed set about buying up a number outside those bred by his operation, but ultimately it was a homebred who would become not only Dubai Millennium's best son, but one of the best stallions in the world.

Most importantly, Dubawi's influence is now growing through his sons. He stands alongside five of them on the Darley roster: Ghaiyyath (Ire), Too Darn Hot (GB), Night Of Thunder (Ire), Postponed (Ire) and the recently retired Space Blues (Ire). And up to 20 sons of Dubawi are at stud around the world, including in America, Japan and India. 

Night Of Thunder, his second 2000 Guineas winner, was the champion first-season sire in Europe in 2019, while the Aga Khan Studs' Zarak (Fr) led the French freshmen last year, and the National Stud's Time Test (GB) was another young son to make a favourable impression with his first runners in 2021.

A top-five finisher in the stallion table in each of the last nine years, and on four occasions runner-up to Galileo (Ire), Dubawi had to settle for third in 2021 when Frankel (GB) nudged his own sire down a slot to second. But Dubawi's 54% winners-to-runners strike-rate was higher than both Frankel and Galileo, and was a figure that only his son New Bay (GB) could match in the top 50 stallions in Britain and Ireland. On worldwide earnings for last year he was at the top of the table, those lucrative Breeders' Cup victories no doubt helping in this regard.

In his 39 years with Darley, head stallion man Ken Crozier has worked with both Dubai Millennium and Dubawi and describes the horse now regarded as the king of the stallion yard as “straightforward, uncomplicated, a hard, gutsy horse”.

He continues, “When Dubawi first arrived here, he's obviously physically a very different animal to his father, but he was coming in as a Classic winner with a high profile and I guess we had high expectations given that, sadly, Sheikh Mohammed and Darley had lost Dubai Millennium so young.”

While Dubai Millennium's short stud career was beset with illness from an early stage, the only concerns Dubawi ever gives those looking after him is how to keep him trim. 

Crozier adds, “We have him on shavings. He would eat everything in sight. He gets fed a little and often. He will get fed hay three times a day because he would eat a bale of hay in a half an hour. So that's the only problem we have with Dubawi, keeping the weight off him.”

Even within the sons of Dubawi just on the Darley roster, it is easy to see that he is not a horse who stamps his stock in the manner of his old friend and rival Shamardal.

“They come in all shapes and sizes,” agrees Bullard. “You can't look at them and say, 'I can see Dubawi in that'. But what you can't see is what's between their ears, and that is consistent with all of them. They just have these extraordinary temperaments, he really does pass that on.”

Darley's head of nominations Dawn Laidlaw has, like Crozier and Bullard, worked with Dubawi throughout his stallion career and has witnessed the change in attitude towards him. 

“I think every breeder, agent and ourselves would be honest enough to say that we probably didn't see the success of Dubawi coming in those early days,” she says. “Obviously he was a great racehorse by a fantastic stallion, so he had a special place in our hearts from the beginning. But I think it would be fair to say that people didn't necessarily take to his early progeny. I mean, everybody's seen him and he's a little bit on the short side, a little bit dumpy, not the greatest walker. I think initially that's what people thought about his yearlings. I think right until they started running, and it was when they started winning that people very quickly realised he was a special stallion.”

Dubawi's first crop included the 2000 Guineas winner Makfi (GB), who, in an example of the blossoming of the line, sired the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Make Believe (GB) in his first crop, who in turn is the sire of G1 Prix du Jockey Club winner Mishriff (Ire) from his first crop. Along with Makfi in the class of 2007 were the Group 1 winners Lucky Nine (GB), Poet's Voice (GB), Dubawi Heights (GB), Monterosso (GB) and Prince Bishop (GB), as well as the Group 3 winner and Irish 1000 Guineas runner-up Anna Salai (GB), who would later become the dam of Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}).

Among his 142 Group winners, Dubawi is now the sire of 48 Group/Grade 1 winners–six of those having come from his three stints down under–with the group including the 2020 Horse of the Year Ghaiyyath. From an opening fee of £25,000, he stood his fourth season at £15,000 before gradually climbing to his fee of £250,000 for the last six years, making him the most expensive stallion in Europe.

“It's very typical in a stallion, and his third and fourth years were a little bit more difficult to sell,” recalls Laidlaw. “Even the best of stallions usually go through that dip. Then as soon as he had his winners, he just absolutely took off. One of the most difficult things since then has been selecting the mares. There's always an upper limit on the numbers he'll cover, so unfortunately every year there have been mares that we would have loved to have that haven't always been able to come to him. The quality of mare that comes to him every year is fantastic. It's like a who's who of the broodmare band in Europe and beyond. We're lucky to have him and I say that every day.”

The sense of pride in their star stallion is quite clear at Dalham Hall Stud, where they have now had many years to bask in the reflected glory of Dubawi. Now entering his third decade and about to embark on his 17th stud season, he fortunately shows no waning in enthusiasm for his main task.

“When covering season comes, he will go down to that barn roaring and shouting, whether it's at the 8am covering session or the fourth session at midnight,” says Crozier. “You'll hear him coming. You know, if he was a human, he would have his neighbours round knocking on his door.”

With a reputation so hard earned, Dubawi has every right to shout about it.

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