Grocer Jack and Hannibal Barca were the highlights on an electric second day of the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale, selling for 700,000 and 500,000 guineas respectively. The turnover for the day breached the 11 million guineas mark, a record for a session of the sale, whilst the average and median again showed significant increases and the clearance rate was above 90 percent.
Grocer Jack became the equal third highest priced horse in training sold at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale when he was knocked down to Saad bin Mishraf and Peter Doyle for 700,000 guineas.
“He is for the Saudi Cup, and with that rating he will definitely be accepted for the race,” explained Najd Stud's representative Saad bin Mishraf.
“Hopefully, he will act on the dirt, we hoped we might get him for 400,000 guineas – it was tough competition and I think it was from people with the same target!
“The prize-money fund at the Saudi Cup is driving up the market for the right horses. And it is not just the Saudi Cup, there are other valuable races on that card, too – Saudi is becoming very important on the international racing scene.”
A realistic Mishraf added: “No matter what you spend, sometimes it works, sometimes it won't work. You can spend three million on a yearling and it won't break its maiden, and that is the same everywhere.”
The 4-year-old son of Oasis Dream was owned and bred by Dr Christoph Berglar and trained by Waldemar Hickst and was a winner of the Group 3 Preis der Deutschen Einheit on his most recent start, having been second in the Group 1 Grosser Dallmayr-Preis on his previous start.
“That was, by a long margin, more than I expected! I thought he might make between 300,000 guineas and 500,000 guineas,” reasoned consignor Ronald Rauscher. “But obviously we had a situation of two people going logger heads, and that makes a big difference.”
Out of the Doyen mare Good Donna, Grocer Jack was consigned with a 'Timeform' rating of 117 and also caught the attention of underbidder Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland and local agent Armando Duarte.
Rauscher recalled the background to Grocer Jack: “I bought the mare Good Donna for Dr Christoph Berglar in-foal to Solider Hollow. That foal became a stakes winner and then we followed up with Jack. The mare has done nothing wrong, she is by Doyen but he was underrated – he had a very good average on ratings, especially for his fillies.
“Grocer Jack has not put a foot wrong for us, and I hope that continues for his new connections. He is a very fluent mover, and I think he prefers fast ground.”
Hannibal Barca, fourth in the Group 1 Vertem Futurity Trophy on Saturday on just his third start, was the second highest price on the day when selling for 500,000 guineas to the bid of BBA Ireland's Michael Donohoe.
“The horse looks very impressive. His maiden victory was very impressive and I thought it was a superb run in that ground at the weekend,” commented the agent. “I don't think he may have handled it all that well, but he was gutsy and it was his determination that got him through it.
“He is still quite green and he is a lovely big scopey horse, 16.1 hands with a lot of scope to him. We think he is very progressive.”
Of the colt's new connections, Donohoe said: “He has been bought for an existing client who has a couple of horses in England, Ireland and France, and he may stay in training here. We are not sure what the plans are with him, the first thing was to get him bought and we will make the plan after. He could obviously be a horse for the Classics next year, he could have the speed for a mile but I think in time he could stay 1m4f.
“We are very happy to get him. He is very clean, he has a lovely attitude and temperament, he did not turn a hair there the couple of times we saw him or in the pre-parade ring. He is rated 111, by next May or June today's price could be good value.”
Hannibal Barca is by Zoffany out of the Galileo mare Innocent Air and his sale price was the third highest for a 2-year-old in training at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale. He has run his three races in Sam Sangster's blue and green colors, and Sangster was at Park Paddocks to watch the horse sell. He explained his feelings as he watched the colt he had purchased for £55,000 have his market value increase nearly ten-fold.
“I am still buzzing, it was emotional really,” Sangster revealed. “Brian and I buy a lot of horses together on spec and we put them in the shop window, he was one of them. We loved him as a yearling, but with the year of COVID we struggled to get people to the yard and he was one of the horses we did not get sold.
“We have a lot of confidence in the horses we buy, so we raced him; full credit to Brian who believed in the horse to take him to the Doncaster race, Brian targeted the race for him. He has such a bright future, we are obviously gutted to see him go but it was good business all round.”
Top class 2-year-old colt Maglev, who was a last start fifth in the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes for trainer William Haggas, is set to head 'Stateside' after being purchased by California-based Tim Cohen of Red Baron's Barn for 300,000 guineas.
Cohen is at Newmarket with his son Cole, and was sat alongside his regular advisor Alastair Donald and Kern Thoroughbred's Joe Miller. Cohen signed under the regular purchasing banner of Red Baron's Barn & Rancho Temescal, and purchased the subsequent Grade 1 winner River Boyne at this sale in 2017 for 70,000 guineas.
“Towards the end of the year there are a couple of stakes races in California, but it is the 3-year-old year that we are looking forward to” reported Cohen of his purchase today. “His form is excellent, he vetted well, I thought one of the better two-year-olds in this sale. Alastair and Joe were very confident and we kept going.
“We've had good success with the horses we have taken back from here. We look for horses who can handle firm ground, that is what we are keen on.”
Maglev, a son of first-season sire Galileo Gold, is official rated 102 and raced for the Kuwaiti-based M M Stables who have also campaigned the top class Alenquer in 2021.
The Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale continues at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 27.
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