Starspangledbanner (Aus) | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘Incredible’ Book 2 Closes on a High

NEWMARKET, UK-The prevailing mood at Park Paddocks this week has been a mixture of relief and amazement at the level of trade which, across each of three Book 2 sessions, has come close to matching the record sale of 2019.

Whether there is enough depth to the buying bench ultimately is questionable but there has certainly been variety and a decent amount of international participation which, in this year particularly, is remarkable.

Ever since the start of the breeze-up season, the general approach from vendors has been one of pragmatism, with realistic reserves generally being set to allow horses to be bought and sold in order to move on to the next sector of yearlings. Many consignors, when questioned on the state of the market prior to Book 2, expressed satisfaction that horses were being traded, even at a reduced rate, with most sales until now being down by between 20-40% on last year. But during this week, trade bounced back to the strength that has been seen at Book 2 over the previous three years, when turnover has been consistently above the 48 million-guinea mark following a big leap from 2016.

As the final yearlings of Wednesday were added to the ledger, the overall tally for the sale stood at 48,362,500gns, just 136,500gns adrift of last year. The clearance rate remained high at 85%, with 637 horses marked as sold (17 more than in 2019) from 747 offered. The average was down just 3% at 75,922gns and the median dropped 10% to 50,000gns.

The final session was almost a carbon copy of its counterpart 12 months ago, with 15,138,500gns being spent on 208 horses at a slightly improved clearance rate of 87%.

“Book 2 has without doubt benefitted from the momentum established at Book 1 and similar to last week, the buyers have consistently remarked on the quality of the stock being offered,” said Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony at the conclusion of the sale.

“As ever the consignors from Britain, Ireland, France and Germany have presented us with a catalogue of genuine quality and the buyers have demonstrated that, even in these challenging times, there is a global appetite for quality bloodstock and the sport of horseracing. Participation from throughout the Gulf region continues to be hugely influential and the sustained involvement from American, Australian and Hong Kong interests has also been notable alongside determined domestic involvement.”

Maktoum Support

The top lot of the day came near the end of the session when Anthony Stroud went to 360,000gns for lot 1323, a colt by Starspangledbanner (Aus) consigned from James Hanly’s Ballyhimikin Stud. The half-brother to stakes-placed Kodiak West (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) is out of the winning Cadeaux Genereux (GB) mare Violet’s Gift (Ire).

Hanly, who also bred the colt, said, “We felt he was a very special horse all the way along and we love Starspangledbanner. I just want to thank Helen and Frisk [Jones] who do the daily hard work, and for minding this horse so well.”

He continued, “This is a family we have had forever, we bred every single horse on the page. They are all very fast horses so hopefully this one will continue and will add to the family. It’s lovely to be able to show horses such as this, it’s a pleasure to be around them.”

Stroud and his business partner Matt Coleman have been busy for a range of clients this week with a number of their 32 purchases being made on behalf of Godolphin. Sheikh Hamdan’s Shadwell operation bought 36 yearlings and Rabbah Bloodstock bought 17, leading to a conservative estimate that the Maktoum family and associates accounted for almost a quarter of the Book 2 turnover, following on from almost 20 million gns being spent by Sheikh Mohammed and Sheikh Hamdan during Book 1.

“We’re lucky to have the sale going on and there has been a great vibe from lots of different buyers,” said Stroud. “I think we are all grateful to the Maktoum family for everything they’ve done for the industry and it just shows their true mettle—to support the sale and to support people’s livelihoods—in times like this it gives one hope. All these breeders have to breed their mares next year.”

He added, “We can’t underestimate how much Sheikh Mohammed and Sheikh Hamdan have done. It’s quite humbling.”

Top Fillies For Coolmore

The father-and-son training team of Simon and Ed Crisford recruited the top filly of the final session in partnership with MV Magnier. Lot 1111, a daughter of Coolmore’s first-season sire Churchill (Ire), was signed for at 340,000gns and will join her half-brother, the five-time winner Roulston Scar (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), in the Crisford stable.

“She is very racy and athletic, and she showed herself off well. MV Magnier really loved her and she will be for a Coolmore partnership,” said Simon Crisford.

Bred by Denis Brosnan’s Epona Bloodstock and offered through his Croom House Stud, the filly is a daughter of GIII Miesque S. runner-up Pussycat Lips (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), who has produced two black-type performers from her three runners to date.

Churchill was the leading freshman sire at Book 2 with 16 sold for 1,468,000gns and an average of 91,750gns and, while he has it all to prove, his tried-and-tested stud mate Mastercraftsman (Ire) appeared on the leaderboard alongside the day’s second-most expensive filly (lot 1215). The sister to treble winner and listed-placed Simannka (Ire) is another who will be joining the Coolmore ranks, having been bought by Cormac McCormack on their behalf from breeder Denis McDonnell for 325,000gns.

“I bought [dam] Simkana (Ire) from the Aga Khan after she had foaled Simannka and this is a nicer filly than Simannka,” said McDonnell, who added that the mare’s Kalanisi (Ire) half-sister to Sinndar (Ire), has a Ribchester (Ire) filly foal and is in foal to Zoffany (Ire).

Breath Held In High Regard

Juddmonte makes the occasional foray into the yearling market and backed up last week’s purchase of a Frankel (GB) colt with another by Oasis Dream (GB).

Lot 1108 was brought to Book 2 by Newsells Park Stud on behalf of breeder Robert Barnett and the colt represents a family intrinsically linked with the Barnett family’s former breeding base of Fair Winter Farm. His grandam Pure Grain (GB) (Polish Precedent) won both the Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks in the Barnett colours during her champion 3-year-old season. The colt, who sold for 310,000gns, is a full-brother to the Richard Hannon-trained juvenile Pure Dreamer (GB), who has placed three times this season and was beaten a short-head at Windsor on Monday.

The team at Juddmonte will doubtless have enjoyed the week of sales results for homebred stallion Bated Breath (GB), whose excellent year on the track has been reflected in the ring. After having a yearling sell for a new high for 260,000gns on Tuesday, that was surpassed twice during the final session of Book 2.

First up was lot 1205, Redpender Stud’s colt out of Shy Audience (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}), who was sold to Matt Coleman for 280,000gns.

The dam is a daughter of Redpender’s star broodmare Danetime Out (Ire) (Danetime {Ire}), who is also the dam of former champion 2-year-old Toormore (Ire) (Arakan) and dual Group 2 winner Estidhkaar (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}). The 6-year-old mare was bred by stud owner Jimmy Murphy’s sons Brian and Eoghan Murphy.

“I bought the mare from them as a yearling,” he explained. “She has a colt foal by Expert Eye (GB) and is now in foal to Dandy Man (Ire).”

Shy Audience has already been represented by a winner with her first foal to race this year, Harold Shand (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), and her yearling will eventually be off to Hong Kong to be trained by John Size.

“He is ideal for Hong Kong,” Coleman said. “He has plenty of strength and size and a great attitude. Bated Breath is a proven horse and his stock go on fast ground. He gets fast horses, and we are trying to buy a horse with good physicality, with a good pedigree, by a proven sire that goes on fast ground. That Dansili line works very well out there.”

The Redpender colt didn’t hold the record for long as towards the end of the day, Rory Mahon’s Mountain View Stud presented one of the best pinhooks of the day in lot 1301.

The Bated Breath colt out of Tremelo Pointe (Ire) (Trempolino) brought the hammer down at 290,000gns, having been bought as a foal for 67,000gns from his breeder Lord Margadale. His full-brother Landshark topped the Goresbridge Breeze-up Sale three years ago at €210,000 and was a winner and Group 3-placed for Jessica Harrington.

The colt was one of 36 yearlings bought through Book 2 by Angus Gold for Shadwell.

“I’ve found it harder than normal to buy horses this week,” said Gold when reflecting on the bumper Book 2 trade. “Sheikh Mohammed making it so strong is fantastic for the industry but it made it harder for us, hence we’ve had to spend a little bit more than we thought we’d have to. But it has been incredible the support the whole business has had considering where we are in the world. It’s pretty incredible that we’ve had a sale at all and, as one vendor said to me, this has given people a bit of a lifeline.”

He added, “Fair play to all the people who have supported the sale. The whole business is built on wonderful optimism.”

Gold’s one issue of concern over the sale is the long sessions in Book 2, each of which this week has run for around 11 hours until at least 9 p.m. He said, “I do think these days are too long, particularly for the staff, who start very early in the morning. I think we need to do something about it, whether it is to have fewer horses or more sessions, because it’s not fair on the staff.”

Gold also noted that Sheikh Hamdan has recovered well from a recent illness. “He sounds in great form and is hopefully back to his best,” he said.

Stallion Diversity

If the buying bench was diverse, so too was the list of stallions achieving decent results in Book 2. The top 20 yearlings for the sale as a whole were by 17 different stallions, including Kingman (GB), who provided Monday’s top lot and was also represented on Wednesday by lot 1192, the Barton Stud-consigned colt which sold for 260,000gns to Shadwell.

Faisal Mishref Al Qahtani bought Secret Keeper (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) in foal to Pivotal (GB) for 45,000gns in December 2015. This was the second good result for the breeder with the offspring of Kingman at the October Sale.

Tom Blain of Barton Stud said, “My client has been incredibly loyal to the stud. We sold another Kingman colt for him in Book 1 to Mike Ryan and we love doing well for him, he is great man. The mare boards with us and she is from a great Cheveley Park Stud family. She has produced some lovely stock and this colt is by far and away her best individual.”

Barton Stud ended the sale as third-leading vendor with 18 yearlings sold for 1,834,000gns.

Just as in Book 1, Newsells Park Stud filled the top spot on the consignors’ list, selling 24 yearlings at an average price of 119,917gns, including the sale-topping Lope De Vega (Ire) colt at 675,000gns.

The continued demand for Ballylinch Stud’s Lope De Vega saw him achieve an average price of 126,938gns from 16 yearlings sold in the last three days. His young stablemate New Bay (GB) also proved extremely popular with an average of 160,143 gns from seven yearlings.

Chairman’s Gratitude

Plenty of people in attendance at Park Paddocks over the last fortnight have expressed their gratitude towards Tattersalls for being able to stage the sale in trying circumstances. Edmond Mahony, in his closing statement also issued his thanks to the who have contributed to its success.

He said, “At the conclusion of Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale last week we expressed our sincere thanks to all those who contributed to a yearling sale which, although conducted amidst a backdrop of global turmoil, performed with remarkable resilience. The message at the conclusion of Book 2 of the October Yearling Sale is very similar. We are enormously grateful to every single participant over the past three days, not only for their individual contributions to a sale which has held up remarkably well under the circumstances, but for working with us every step of the way in our efforts to stage the sale in as safe an environment as possible. The COVID pandemic continues to wreak havoc in all walks of life and to have conducted nine sales here at Park Paddocks since the last week of June is a mighty achievement by all concerned and could not have happened without a huge collective effort.”

He added, “Newmarket is very much the hub of the European racing and breeding industries and the last few weeks have demonstrated that, despite all the obstacles, business has been able to continue, albeit at lower levels than in recent years. Newmarket has an extraordinary and unique infrastructure and never more has this been apparent than at Books 1 and 2 of the 2020 Tattersalls October Yearling Sales. Tomorrow we move on to Book 3 of the October Yearling Sale which is another Tattersalls yearling sale that consistently attracts buyers at all levels of the market and we will conclude the 2020 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale on Saturday with Book 4.”

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Predictably Hesitant Start to Yearling Sales

DONCASTER, UK—Well, at least that ordeal is out of the way. It was never going to be fun, but it could have been worse. Horses were sold, some of them even sold well; and other vendors, with an 83% clearance rate, were evidently ready to cut losses. And soon everybody will at least be able to start figuring out how venturesome they can afford to be, once finally bidding good riddance to 2020.

Embarking on the European yearling circuit was always going to be extremely challenging for an industry so exposed to catastrophic loss of momentum in a global economy reeling under the pandemic. Sure enough, as an auction that had been on a tremendous roll in recent years, the opening session of the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale registered some sobering returns—and a very sobering absence, too, with no sign of Shadwell after a five-year streak as leading buyers.

An average of £36,687 was down from £49,202 on the opening session last year—but should perhaps be less randomly measured against the £46,519 average across both days. The £30,000 median compared with £38,000 on day one (and £35,000 overall) last year. Turnover was down by one-third to £6,970,500, from £10,578,500. But perhaps the most instructive index was the number of six-figure sales. In last year’s opening session, there were 19—topped by the £440,000 Kingman colt who set a new record for this auction. This time round there were nine, with the session topped at £170,000.

Certainly the most conspicuous keynote from these opening skirmishes was the fact that Shadwell appeared to have taken “social distancing” to an unwelcome extreme. Needless to say, the absence of Sheikh Hamdan’s buying team caused alarm among those consignors whose perennial and pervasive debt to the Maktoum family had been measured, at this particular auction in 2019, by 17 yearlings at an aggregate just shy of £2 million.

It would be premature for those preparing yearlings for elite sales to leap to conclusions about the broader intentions of the various Maktoum concerns. Yes, the industry finds itself in grievous need of its greatest benefactors. But if we have learned anything from the travails of 2020, it is to repent of our complacency in so much that we have always taken for granted.

But things could always be worse. As Guy O’Callaghan of Grangemore Stud wisely remarked, after selling a Dark Angel (Ire) colt well towards the end of the session, “Obviously it isn’t as strong a market as in recent years but the world’s in a different place compared with six months ago. We’re lucky to have a market at all. Isn’t it good that at least we’re able to turn up and trade?”

Speaking to TDN on the eve of the sale, Goffs Group Chief Executive Henry Beeby had said that planning for a financial year that opened with the start of the coronavirus lockdown was predicated on the firm’s lowest turnover in recent years. In the case of its British sales, that was 2013—when turnover at the Premier Sale stalled at £13,310,250 for an average of £32,464 and median of $25,000. Some breathing space, there, if day two maintains Tuesday’s levels of business.

So not only could things be worse; they have been, not so long ago. We all know that plenty of very productive racehorses will be picked up cheaply this week. And so, however painfully, the next cycle begins.

Another Banner Sale for Coulonces with £170k Star

When signing a £115,000 docket for lot 160, an Acclamation (Ire) colt, Richard Ryan found himself responsible for the top price of the day to that point. Nonetheless he promised that somebody would be spending a good deal more within the next few minutes. Sure enough, Ryan himself promptly gave £170,000 for lot 165, a January colt by Starspangledbanner (Aus) imported over the Channel by Anna Sundstrom of Coulonces Sales.

This was a happy reunion for vendor and purchaser alike, Ryan having been forced to £280,000 in last year’s buoyant market for the Wootton Bassett (GB) colt now known as Legion Of Honour (GB). Trained for Teme Valley 2 by Roger Varian, he was a promising second on his Haydock debut this summer. Both of these colts were bought in the same interest and will likewise head to Varian.

“He was the star of the show,” Ryan enthused of the session-topper. “The best in the sale in our opinion, and in the opinion of the trainer. We also bought a very nice horse here last year from the same vendor, for whom we have high hopes. Starspangledbanner gets winners out of all sorts of mares and all sorts of pages, but only very rarely will they have that kind of look at this age: that scope and quality, backed up by a top-class pedigree. It’s a beautiful family.”

It certainly is, with a distinct stamp of Classic quality for a catalogue that typically majors in speed and precocity. The colt’s Classic-placed third dam Agathe (Manila), herself a half-sister to GI Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Arcangues (Sagace {Fr}), is the dam of two elite winners in Artiste Royal (Danehill) (dual Grade I scorer in the U.S.) and Aquarelliste (Fr) (Danehill), who won the G1 Prix de Diane and chased home Sakhee (Bahri) in the Arc.

Sundstrom was ecstatic that her Doncaster migrations had once again proved so lucrative. This colt was co-bred with Charlotte Hutchinson as the first foal of a Dalakhani half-sister to G2 Grand Prix de Deauville winner Ziyad (GB) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}), cheaply culled by the Wertheimer brothers at the Arqana Autumn Sale of 2017.

“Charlotte is my head girl and was leading him up,” said an emotional Sundstrom. “She bought the mare out of training, she only cost €16,000. We love Starspangledbanner, we’ve had a lot of luck with him, so he was an obvious choice for Dalakania.

“It’s the most fantastic thing that he’s going to Roger Varian. And a fantastic result in a market like this. It just shows that there are people there for good horses. It’s difficult to know when things are like this, we knew he had a lot of people interested, but I didn’t think he could make this much. It’s incredible.

“Goffs has been very good to us. The results on the track from horses we sold here include Laurens (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) and Nickajack Cave (Ire) (Kendargent {Fr}), so it’s easy to come back.”

Laurens was the top filly of this sale in 2016, at £220,000, and went on to become one of its all-time poster girls with multiple Group 1 success; while Nickajack Cave made £65,000 the following year and last month won his first group race at The Curragh.

Equally delighted was Dermot Cantillon of Tinnakill House after selling the Acclamation colt so well—due reward for his breeders (Tinnakill Bloodstock and Ian Thompson) holding their nerve when he was bought in for 40,000gns as a foal at Tattersalls last December.

“That’s our first horse through and a really good start at a difficult time,” said Cantillon. “He just did really well, foal to yearling, and Acclamation has had a very good year—including with [G2 Prix Robert Papin winner] Ventura Tormenta (Ire), who we sold here last year.”

Ryan described this as “the best Acclamation I’ve seen in the ring in recent times: a very tidy, well presented colt.”

4,000gns Mare Proves a Hidden Bounty

The first lot to break six figures represented a splendid dividend for Ken Carroll and Tom Wallace, of Lewinstown Farm and Lemongrove Stud, respectively. Their Kodi Bear (Ire) colt (lot 30), who made £110,000 online from Phil Cunningham, was acquired in utero with his dam, an unraced Bahamian Bounty (GB) mare named Usem (GB), when she changed hands for just 4,000gns at Tattersalls December in 2018.

Two Sayif (Ire) fillies she had previously delivered both did well, one winning four times and the other listed-placed in France, and the quality of this colt had meanwhile persuaded her new owners to upgrade her coverings.

“She has a Galileo Gold (GB) filly who’s a queen, and she’s in foal to Invincible Spirit (Ire)—so what would you say we think of her?” said Carroll, who has “12 to 15” mares on his farm. “To be fair, Invincible Spirit was a Kodi Bear once upon a time.”

Carroll learned the ropes with Eddie O’Leary at Lynn Lodge, up the road from his base in Co. Westmeath, while Wallace has experience both in the United States and at another highly astute outfit in Tally Ho.

“It’s the centre of racing, is Westmeath,” Carroll said with a smile. “But he was one of the easy ones. He had six or seven vettings. Good horses sell, don’t they?”

Doyles Trust in Happy Fortunes with Redpender

One team that wasn’t missing the competition from Shadwell was Peter and Ross Doyle, always purposeful participants at this sale. They stuck to a tried-and-trusted formula when giving £105,000 for lot 49, an Acclamation (GB) colt presented by Redpender Stud—both in terms of his Co Kilkenny origins and his breeding.

“We’ve had a wonderful relationship with Redpender over the years,” Ross Doyle observed. “Jimmy [Murphy] and his family do a wonderful job and have sold us two champions in Canford Cliffs (Ire) (Tagula {Ire}) and Toormore (Ire) (Arakan), as well as Estidhkaar (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}). And last year they sold us Happy Romance (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}) here.”

That filly cost just £25,000 at this sale and won her second valuable prize in the associated Goffs UK Premier Yearling S. at York, taking her earnings past £175,000 already. She now seeks some black-type in the G3 Dick Poole S. at Salisbury on Thursday.

Doyle’s interest was further stimulated by his team’s record with the sire of this colt, who actually achieved only a marginal gain having been pinhooked for €94,000 as a foal at Goffs November. “We’ve been very lucky with him with our clients and the Hannons, with Mehmas (Ire) and Harbour Watch (Ire),” he said. “Oh This Is Us (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) is under the second dam, so they’re closely related, and this one reminded us very much of him.”

Oh This Is Us, who includes two listed prizes among his 13 wins for the Hannon stable, is out of the Group 3 winner Shamwari Lodge (Ire), herself out of a half-sister to that flying filly Pipalong (Ire) (Pips Pride {GB}).

Doyle signed another six-figure docket minutes later when giving £100,000 for lot 56, a filly by another “Donny” standing dish in Kodiac (GB). Bred and consigned by Loughtown Stud, she was acquired in utero when her stakes-placed dam Zvarkhova (Ire) (Makfi {GB}) made 125,000gns through Emerald Bloodstock at Tattersalls December in 2018. Zvarkhova’s granddam is an unraced sister to champion Mark Of Esteem (Ire) (Darshaan {GB}).

Alice’s Looking Class

For someone who speaks so modestly of an operation confined to “mornings, evenings and weekends”, Alice Fitzgerald is producing horses of which any 24/7 professional would be proud. Previous sales through this ring include Hey Jonesy (Ire) (Excelebration {Ire}), who won the Wokingham H. at Royal Ascot this summer; star hurdler My Tent Or Yours (Ire) (Desert Prince {Ire}); and Weatherbys Super Sprint winner Ginger Nut (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}).

And Jake Warren was in no doubt that the Mehmas (Ire) half-sister to Ginger Nut he bought for £100,000 as lot 78 has the potential to emulate their example. “We’re thrilled with her,” the agent said. “She has a very nice pedigree and is a real athlete, a wonderful mover, and looks a real summer 2-year-old. She’s for a private client and likely to go to Richard Fahey.”

Fitzgerald, known to many in the Co Tipperary racing and breeding fraternity through her day job in advertising, has three yearlings in this sale; two in the Orby; and one in Book III at Tattersalls. “We thought this was a very nice filly, but couldn’t have hoped that she would do quite so well,” she said. “But the sire is flying, of course, and she’s a half-sister to a very fast filly.”

Fitzgerald emphasized the role of partner Michael Doyle; and also deserving a mention is Royal Applause, who is not only sire of this filly’s unraced dam but also grandsire of Mehmas.

Warren, meanwhile, was acting for the same client when giving £140,000 late in the session for a Dark Angel (Ire) colt (lot 219) bred and presented by Guy O’Callaghan of Grangemore Stud in Co Kildare.

“Cracker of a horse,” Warren said. “A terrific mover with a lot of substance who should make a cracking 2-year-old. I would think he’ll stay in the U.K.”

He is the first foal of Futoon (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), purchased by O’Callaghan for 100,000gns at Tattersalls December in 2017 after she had achieved serial stakes placings for Kevin Ryan. With 19 yearlings spread across a variety of sales, O’Callaghan has his biggest draft of yearlings to date—a tough year to be growing your business, but we have already cited his admirable breadth of perspective and he saluted this as “a champion of a horse.” Here, plainly, is another young talent worthy of a remarkable dynasty of horsemen.

Sackville Shows Faith in Fast Families

Tom Dascombe is to welcome a couple of brisk-looking colts picked out by SackvilleDonald: one by Dark Angel (Ire) for £105,000, offered as lot 162 by Yeomanstown Stud; and one by Acclamation (GB) for £120,000, presented by Eugene Daly of Longview Stud as lot 186. Both are related to star sprinters. The Acclamation colt’s dam is a full-sister to Slade Power (Ire) (Dutch Art {GB}); and the Dark Angel is out of a Verglas (Ire) half-sister to champion Pipalong (Ire) (Pips Pride {GB}).

He is also a full brother to G2 Robert Papin runner-up Frozen Angel (Ire). “He was a very good horse for us and was sold on to Hong Kong for 335,000gns,” Ed Sackville said. “We thought this one was a very similar type. So it’s not only a stallion we’ve been lucky with, but also a family.

“Acclamation is another sire we’ve been very lucky with, including with a nice 2-year-old called Lauded (GB), who runs in the G3 Unibet Sirenia S. this weekend. This looked a similar model: strong and precocious-looking. He’s from a very good farm that we know well, just down the road in Chasire, and we hope to have a lot of luck with him.”

As for trading conditions, Sackville gave a shrug. “It’s a typical Donny catalogue and there are nice horses here,” he said. “We just haven’t been as strong as in recent years—for the obvious reasons.”

Undaunted, most people will be back for another go when the sale concludes on Wednesday. Selling opens at 10 a.m.

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