Tag: Park Paddocks

Kodiac Filly Anchors Wednesday’s Craven Session

NEWMARKET, UK—The excellence of the Tattersalls marketing team is familiar, but nobody realised they had friends in quite such high places. For the racing gods, as a rule so notoriously uncooperative, have this week followed a script that could scarcely have promoted the Craven Breeze-Up Sale more lavishly—with graduates of last year's auction winning Classic trials, just up the road on the Rowley Mile, shortly before each of its two sessions.

On Wednesday it was the turn of champion juvenile Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), who extended his unbeaten record barely two hours before the resumption of the auction where he was bought last year for 210,000gns. And the market responded with due fervour.

True, the sale hasn't quite retrieved the peak of the bull run that climaxed in 2017 and 2018, when the average exceeded 140,000gns. But it has emphatically put the travails of the past two years behind it.

A breeze-up catalogue that majors in quality rather than quantity can be rather volatile in the distribution of its fastest times. That was certainly the case last year, when the second session average basically dipped to 70,000gns from 100,000gns on the first day. This time round, a very consistent yield meant that even Tuesday's 22% gains were wildly surpassed, catapulting the session average a staggering 58% to 110,363gns; and the median 50% from 60,00gns to 90,000gns

For a more even read, the sale in the round achieved a rock-solid advance even on the commendably resilient performance of a sector that was brutally exposed to the advent of the pandemic. Over the two days, 103 head of horse were traded for 11,939,500gns, yielding an average and median of 115,917gns and 90,000gns, respectively. That amounted to gains of 15%, 35% and 32% on 2021 (10,408,500gns turnover for 121 lots sold, for an average of 86,021gns and median of 68,000gns).

The one slippage came in unsold lots, up to 31 from 16. But while the wider economic climate does not necessarily feel more secure than over the past two years, and a very different stamp of horse will as usual be offered at Doncaster next week, the sector as a whole can only derive huge encouragement from the business done here.

Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony did not neglect his cue. “The fact that this auction has produced the winners of both of this week's principal Classic trials is a powerful endorsement of our premier breeze-up sale,” he said. “And the competition over the past two evenings has reflected the sale's reputation for consistently delivering 2-year-olds of the very highest calibre.

“The array of lucrative Tattersalls bonuses on offer for all Craven Breeze-Up purchases continues to attract owners and trainers in all sectors of the market, and the domestic buyers have faced stiff opposition from a diverse crowd of overseas buyers—all of whom have contributed to gains in the key metrics of average, median and turnover, albeit with a clearance rate which has not matched last year's record level. In addition to the strong overseas contingent, from America, Bahrain, Dubai, France, Italy, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, we have had live internet bidders registered from Hong Kong and Japan and the global profile of the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up continues to rise.

“As ever, there have been some outstanding pinhooking triumphs, all of which reflect the professionalism of the consignors whose support of the Craven Breeze-Up is key to its success. As an unbeaten European champion, Native Trail may be a hard act to follow, but we look forward to rewarding even more owners with lucrative £15,000 Craven Breeze-Up Bonuses and hopefully to another winner of either of the substantial Royal Ascot and Group 1 bonuses. In the meantime, there are plenty more quality 2-years-olds on offer at the forthcoming Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up and Horses-in-Training Sale, and we look forward to sustaining the momentum.”

 

Tally-Ho Double Top With Kodiac

Even by their own remarkable standards, Tally-Ho Stud had thrived in Tuesday's opening session and it did not take long to renew that momentum. Having topped the sale with a 525,000gns Kodiac (GB) colt, they moved a daughter of their game-changing stallion onto the silver step of the podium when lot 96 realized 460,000gns.

This filly, a half-sister to dual Italian stakes winner Evil Spell (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) from the family of the sizzling Mind Games (GB) (Puissance {GB}), was said to have melted the stopwatches in her breeze on Monday and there was corresponding interest from Jake Warren, Richard Brown and David Redvers before they yielded to one of the most committed supporters of the breeze-ups in Michael O'Callaghan.

The Curragh trainer is among Tally-Ho's many satisfied repeat customers, and only last year co-topped the Goffs UK sale at Doncaster when giving £210,000 for their Twilight Son (GB) colt since familiar as Twilight Jet (Ire)—who proceeded to win the G3 Cornwallis S. on the 10th of 11 starts at two. Previous graduates of the farm include the Classic-placed pair Now Or Later (Ire) (Bushranger {GB}), acquired at Doncaster for £45,000, and Blue De Vega (Ger) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), who came through Goresbridge for €75,000.

“I have bought a lot of good horses off Tally-Ho,” said O'Callaghan. “And this is a lovely filly who did a very fast breeze. She's a lovely physical with a great pedigree, so she ticks all the boxes and hopefully she will make up into a Royal Ascot filly.”

She is a sixth recruit for the stable from new client Amo Racing.

Tally-Ho duly ended the sale as leading consignor, processing eight horses for 1,787,000gns (average 223,375gns).

 

 

Sioux Nation's Gleaming Start

The early bird might catch the worm but it's a different story as evening draws on and there was fierce competition for only the third lot into the ring, thanks partly to the presence of GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner Twilight Gleaming (Ire) (National Defense {GB}) front and centre on his page.

That filly had already finished second as the favourite for the G2 Queen Mary S., besides winning a listed race at Deauville, by the time her half-brother (lot 84) by rookie Sioux Nation entered the ring at the Orby Sale last year. Somehow he slipped through the cracks, knocked down to JB Bloodstock for just €50,000 but apparently returned to his breeders at Pier House Stud. They tried again with a winter at Mocklershill and, now that Willie Browne had worked his magic, nobody was missing him here. Eventually Anthony Stroud was forced to 380,000gns to see off Richard Brown and, seated with representatives of Najd Stud, Peter Doyle.

Stroud was acting for KHK Racing in Bahrain, who will keep him in England to be trained.

“He looked a real 2-year-old,” Stroud said. “I thought he moved very well in his breeze and he's from a very good consignor. Richard is a very good judge and he was underbidder and, while it sounds a bit repetitive, he ticked all the boxes. Personally, though it's always easy to say, he was the horse we wanted to get to tonight.”

The dam, an unraced daughter of Dansili (GB), was culled by the Royal Studs despite being out of a dual stakes-winning daughter of that treasured G2 Ribblesdale S. winner, Phantom Gold (GB) (Machiavellian). The Morrin family at Pier House will be hoping for further updates for their mare, Twilight Gleaming having set herself up for a return to Royal Ascot when second on her recent reappearance at Keeneland.

 


 

Najd Stud Follows the Trail

Having co-signed for the sale's poster boy Native Trail (GB) as a 67,000gns yearling, Mags O'Toole reiterated her eye for a diamond in the rough when picking up an American Pharoah colt at Keeneland last September for just $57,000—barely half the cover fee.

Brought here by Lynn Lodge Stud as lot 114, he proved in rather greater demand and will now resume his travels after Peter Doyle signed a 260,000gns docket on behalf of Najd Stud.

It turned out that the pinhooking of Native Trail had been instrumental in getting Saud Al Qahtani, seated alongside the agent, onto the plane. “This is a good sale and has produced the 2-year-old champion,” he said. “That encouraged us to come over. This horse will be aimed for the Saudi Derby.”

“That's the hope, anyway!” Doyle said. “He's a lovely horse, and very sound. They were bidding on him for Hong Kong, and he would have had to pass everything for them to be interested. And obviously with the dirt the American-breds do well out there.”

The colt is out of an Oasis Dream (GB) half-sister to the multiple Group 1 winner Twice Over (GB) (Observatory), culled by Juddmonte for 140,000gns at the December Sale here in 2017. She changed hands again at Keeneland last November, for $95,000, and her new owners will doubtless be monitoring this colt's progress with interest.

The Middle East is also the destination, incidentally, for another Keeneland September graduate in the War Front colt offered as lot 125. He made 220,000gns from Satish Seemar, getting a $170,000 play by Grove Stud over the line. She will have residual value, after all, as the daughter of GI Alcibiades S. winner Dancing Rags (Union Rags).

An even giddier pinhook held together when a Kingman colt  (lot 145) bought here in Book 1 for 210,00gns—he's out of group winner Fate (Fr) (Teofilo {Ire}), herself half-sister to that marvellous mare Pride (Fr) (Peintre Celebre)—was cashed out for 300,000gns by Longways Stables to Ross Doyle.

“A real good physical,” the agent said. “Very straightforward, a good mover, he's probably a seven-furlong/miler type—and we've been lucky buying off Sarah and Mick from Longways.”

Doyle signed in association with Omni Horse. “It's a new syndicate,” he explained. “Kia [Joorabchian] from Amo Racing is involved, hopefully it will be exciting. I'm not sure of training plans for this horse.”

Longways, incidentally, had earlier achieved a handsome yield on an Adaay colt found in Book 2 for 57,000gns, processed here as lot 103 to Opulence Thoroughbreds for 150,000gns.

And O'Toole and her colleague Norman Williamson meanwhile kept up their momentum—Oak Tree Farm had sold a War Front colt for 425,000gns in the opening session—when Avenue Bloodstock gave 165,000gns for the Camelot colt lot 126 O'Toole had acquired for €80,000 at Arqana last August.

 

Gredley Cuts a Dash for Zoustar Filly

One big personality recognised another when veteran owner-breeder Bill Gredley, looking exceptionally dapper, stretched to 270,000gns for the Zoustar (Aus) filly presented by Gaybrook Lodge Stud as lot 121. He was determined not to yield after missing out minutes earlier on Yeomanstown's 150,000gns Dark Angel (Ire) filly lot 116.

“I liked the grey filly, but was underbidder,” Gredley said. “I like this filly, but so did a lot of people—so she was a lot of money. But if you want something good, you have to pay for it. I don't often buy at the breezes, but we took a look at her and she has a nice personality. I like nice people, and I like personalities! I don't know who will train her yet, I'll have a chat with my son [Tim] who's away show-jumping in Spain.”

Having signed in the name of Stetchworth and Middle Park Studs, Gredley naturally has the option of tapping into this filly's Juddmonte roots. Her dam is an Oasis Dream (GB) half-sister to Monarchs Glen (GB) (Frankel {GB}), that pair in turn out of the G1 Prix de la Foret third Mirabilis (Lear Fan)—whose brilliant half-sister Nebraska Tornado (Storm Cat) won the G1 Prix de Diane in 2003. As such she was well bought here at the Somerville Tattersall Sale here last year, for 70,000gns from Galloway Stud by MC Bloodstock.

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On The Trail of the Next Breeze-Up Star

NEWMARKET, UK–His photo, needless to say, adorns the front of the catalogue. But those seeking another one at the first European breeze-up auction of the year will scarcely require that prompt when the horse himself will be surfacing halfway through the sale, just up the road on the Rowley Mile, as an unbeaten champion juvenile and favourite for the G1 Qipco 2,000 Guineas. Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) was found here last year as Lot 56 in the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale. On Wednesday afternoon, before the second of two post-racing sessions at Park Paddocks, Charlie Appleby will saddle the dual Group 1 winner at long odds-on for the G3 Bet 365 Craven S., the historic Classic trial that shares its name with this sale.

Whatever he can do at three, Native Trail has already catapulted his stud value way beyond the 210,000gns paid by Godolphin to secure him from the Oak Tree consignment of Norman Williamson. In turn, however, he had already been brilliantly found by Williamson and colleague Mags O'Toole for just 67,000gns from Kildaragh Stud in the same ring the previous October. That was less than a third of the average transaction in Book 1 that year. Certainly, Williamson and O'Toole were expecting him to make a lot more as a yearling. They didn't even get him vetted. But you never know in this game, and Williamson followed the colt into the ring–just in case.

And, sure enough, suddenly the horse was stalling at 50,000gns, 55,000gns. It looked like he might slip through the cracks. Williamson had already made a bid before he spotted Roderic Kavanagh, whose father Peter had perceived the colt's potential at an even earlier stage, pinhooking him (through Sam Sangster) as a foal for €50,000 at the Arqana December Sale, where he had been offered by breeders Haras d'Haspel.

Williamson, after breezing three colts here on Monday morning, reiterated his gratitude to the vendors. “I saw Roderic standing in front of me and I went over and said, 'Is this horse okay?'” he recalled. “And when he said, '100%, in every way,' I bid again–and next thing I knew, I had bought him. You do need that bit of luck. But then I suppose that's why we go through all the sales, why we walk round and work so hard. I bought one horse out of Book 1, and that was him. It just shows that everyone has a chance.”

But they do say that you make your own luck. And, quite apart from showing the necessary diligence in a prohibitive catalogue for pinhookers, Williamson had already been prepared to see past the obvious. This was not a model that would necessarily have appealed to everyone, for this particular job, whatever his price.

“I suppose he was very big and looked like he might take time,” Williamson said. “But I thought he had a great hip on him–and that he wouldn't. I suppose the other thing that swayed me was the pedigree. [Juddmonte family of Distant Music (Distant View), Calyx (GB) (Kingman {GB}) etc.]. But looking at him, you'd have to say he didn't look like a breezer; he didn't look a fast, sharp horse–which he probably isn't. But he's a very, very good one.”

While he acknowledges that Native Trail's success since can only be good for Oak Tree, Williamson stresses that the colt has also contributed to a wider awareness.

“It does a lot for the business but it does a lot for breeze-ups, too–and that's the 'brand' we're all trying to sell,” he said.    “We're not selling two-furlong horses. We're trying to sell racehorses. It's gone more and more professional, all the vendors are doing a fantastic job, and the results are amazing.”

Other graduates from last year's sale duly include Asymmetric (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}), brought here by Greenhills Farm and subsequently winner of the G2 Richmond S.; and Go Bears Go (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}), sold by Aguair Bloodstock before winning the G2 Railway S. Both were knocked down for 150,000gns (respectively in the names of Stephen Hillen Bloodstock and A.C. Elliott, Agent/Amo Racing).

But then the standard of breeze-up stock has been progressing for several years now–along, it must be said, with its value. For the vogue to be sustainable, however, it's been essential for the horses to show that they are not merely precocious. A lot of people claim that the stopwatch is only one factor in their investment, but that's not always apparent in their spending. It's worth stressing, then, that Native Trail himself would have caught the eye of any horseman doing things the old-fashioned way.

“He changed his legs a lot,” Williamson recalled. “But the best part of his breeze was when he passed the line. When others are slowing down, he met the rising ground like he'd have gone on to the clock tower. He wasn't stopping. And it was the same in the [G1] Dewhurst, and the same in the Curragh. When he gets to that last furlong, he's starting to motor. He was still probably in top 30, I supposed, time-wise. But a lot of judges saw beyond the clock, and of course you have people reading the gallop-out, too. Anyway, thankfully there's no point going back through the top 10 times now. He was the best horse here, and he's proved it.”

Happily, Williamson feels that the European market has matured in such a way as to resist the exorbitant value sometimes placed on the “bullet” breeze at 2-year-old sales in the U.S., where times are official.

“Here there's people reading two furlongs, there's people reading the second furlong, there's people reading the gallop-out,” he explained. “So you've three or four chances of selling your horse. Whereas in America you have that one time, and that's it. But then racing on dirt is different. They're flat out from the start and it's the horse that goes the fastest for the longest. Here they have to settle. If you see a horse at the breezes here jumping off and running away, well, bar he's a sprinter, he's going to be no good. They need to start off half-relaxed and to keep quickening. So you have to train them that way, to end up with a good horse.”

The breadth of the available spectrum explains why Alan King and Anthony Bromley of Highflyer, for instance, have long enjoyed dredging the breeze-ups for staying pedigrees, most notably finding star stayer Trueshan (Fr) (Planteur {Ire}) at the Guineas Sale here in 2018 for just 31,000gns. Before that, Federico Barberini bought subsequent G1 Ascot Gold Cup winner Trip To Paris (Ire) (Champs Elysees (GB) for 20,000gns at the equivalent auction; while Williamson himself once sold another smart stayer, Nearly Caught (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}), to Hughie Morrison.

“He was a beautiful ride and I was thinking that I'd love to keep him as a bumper horse,” Williamson recalled. “But I'd have had to wait two years to run him, so when Hughie showed an interest I said, 'Listen, take the horse home for two weeks and see what you think.' And a couple of weeks later he rang me, said he liked him, and we did a deal, for not a lot of money. And the horse went on to be a Group 2 winner and was placed in the [G1 Prix du] Cadran. But everyone had walked past the door, because he'd be 'too slow'. So it's fantastic that everyone has a chance, if they're prepared to go beyond the clocks.”

That said, this particular sale obviously showcases elite prospects and there was corresponding tension as they showed their wares on the Rowley Mile. While spectators could enjoy the spring sunshine, there was a challenging headwind and due credit should go to those youngsters that saw out the climb towards that distant horizon with enthusiasm.

Williamson was delighted with all three of his charges, stabled in boxes adjacent to the one that housed Native Trail last year.

He sounds especially excited by the War Front colt offered as Lot 39. Out of a graded stakes-placed Giant's Causeway mare, he's another to be sieved out of a Book 1–this time at Keeneland. Perhaps it will prove worth reminding ourselves that Williamson fished another son of the same stallion from the front of the same sale in 2017, and he became GI Preakness S. winner War Of Will before joining his sire at Claiborne. Just like with Native Trail, that was a case of putting in your groundwork: he was a half-brother to Pathfork (Distorted Humor), who'd done so well in Europe, and Williamson was quick to do a deal once he had failed to meet expectations in the ring.

“But I can't take any credit for this one,” Williamson said. “My brother-in-law Tim Hyde [Jr.] rang me said that there was this beautiful War Front that wasn't sold, he sent me a video and I said, 'Jesus yes, see if you can get him.' He breezed beautiful, and I heard he did a very good time. He's a big horse, 16.1, but I wasn't worried about the [drying] ground, he's got such a lot of ability I knew he'd handle it. I do think a lot of him.”

But the pair selling on Wednesday also stepped right up to the plate. “The Camelot [126] is going be a mile-and-a-quarter horse,” Williamson said. “He's a really good-looking horse, a great mover, with a lot of strength. The Oasis Dream [128] is another beautiful, great-moving horse, he was good on the clock too. He's out of a sister to Mecca's Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), so he needs to be quite sharp–but he looks it.”

Despite an exotic preliminary leg in Dubai this year, this auction marks the start of the regular European breeze-up calendar. And for all the remarkable resilience of the bloodstock market during and after the pandemic, it's plainly a relief to get back onto an even keel. This sector, after all, was not only the first to be broadsided by Covid, in 2020, but was also first to test the water last year.

“Absolutely,” Williamson said. “For the last two years you've had sales moving, you've been at home with horses ready to roll, and the next thing it's another two weeks; or horses going to France had to go to Doncaster; all that kind of thing. So it has been a bit of a nightmare. Going into the yearling sales last year was very uncertain, and the market was remarkable. It was very hard to buy, horses were making triple what you thought they were worth.

“Remember the breeze-up vendors are now buying better-class horses, better pedigrees, and they're really putting their necks on the line. If you go out there and your horse doesn't do respectably–if it doesn't face the headwind, or it ducks across the track–it's over, bar you love him so much that you put him into training. But it's all telling in the results on the track.”

Native Trail, moreover, is also a poster boy for a bonus scheme introduced by Tattersalls last year. He received £125,000 (split 4:1 between buyer and vendor) as the first 2021 Craven Breeze-Up graduate to win any of the 15 European Group 1 prizes open to 2-year-olds. The same sum will also be offered, again, to the first to win any of the juvenile prizes at Royal Ascot this summer. Along with the standard bonus of £15,000 for winners of qualifying Bonus Scheme races, many of these “breezers” are going to benefit from a following wind.

Whether our industry can remain immune to fresh turbulence in the wider world remains to be seen. But there's certainly a helpful slipstream from Native Trail.

“Listen, it's what we do it for,” Williamson concluded. “You obviously have to make a living: you have to make the money that pays for everything else. But at the end of the day, it's fantastic to have gone to Book 1 and found a champion.”

The first session begins at 5.30 p.m. on Tuesday. By then, who knows, this sale may have enjoyed yet another boost. Cachet (Ire) is disputing favouritism in the G3 Lanwades Stud Nell Gwyn S. after her Group 1 podium on the same track last autumn, and then going down by just a length at the Breeders' Cup. This time last year, she was in town as an Aclaim (Ire) filly from Hyde Park Stud, listed as Lot 68. She was bought by Highclere Agency for 60,000gns.

One way or another, the breeze-up Trail remains hot.

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Trio of Wildcards Join Tattersalls February Sale

Three more wildcards have been added to the Tattersalls February Sale catalogue after the addition of White Marlin (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}). Rated 93, the Michael Bell-trained Dairerin (GB) (Spill The Beans {Aus}) (lot 375B) will be offered by Bell's Fitzroy House. The 3-year-old was a dual winner last year and also ran in the G3 Prix de Cabourg in Deauville, although he did not hit the board. From the family of the Classic-placed G2 Geoffrey Freer S. hero Mr Combustible (Ire) (Hernando {Fr}) and the G2 Ribblesdale S. winner and influential producer Miletrian (Ire) (Marju {Ire}), he was third in his sophomore bow at Newcastle on Jan. 13.

Also joining the Feb. 3-4 catalogue is the winning Acrion (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}) (lot 375D). A full-brother to Group 3 scorer Extortionist (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}) who also placed in the G1 Nunthorpe S., the Brian Meehan runner is rated 70p. Rounding out the trio is another hailing from Meehan's Manton Lodge Stables-lot 375C, City Runner (Ire). Rated 84, the son of Caravaggio has made three starts and graduated going seven furlongs over the Southwell all-weather on Jan. 9.

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White Marlin Added to Tattersalls February Sale

The two-for-two White Marlin (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) has been added to the upcoming Tattersalls February Sale on Feb. 3-4. Consigned as lot 375A by Ronald Rauscher, the 4-year-old colt is rated 93p by Timeform after winning a Dec. 15 Dundalk maiden and a Jan. 14 handicap there, both over 1 ½ miles on the all-weather for trainer Joseph O'Brien in the colours of Ms. M. McDowall.

In addition, the grey is a half-brother to G1 Flying Five S. heroine Romantic Proposal (Ire) (Raven's Pass). The duo are out of the winner Playwithmyheart (GB) (Diktat {GB}), herself a half-sister to G1 Prix de la Foret hero Toylsome (GB) (Cadeaux Genereux {GB}), the G3 winner Coral Mist (GB) (Bahamian Bounty {GB}) and the dam of stakes winner and G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy S. third Western Australia (Ire) (Australia {GB}).

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