Scat Daddy Colt Seals Record Craven Sale

The jungle drums had been beating pretty loudly that the late Scat Daddy would provide the top lot for this year's Craven Sale and thus it proved, with Jim McCartan's Gaybrook Lodge Stud once again playing a starring role when lot 141 was eventually bought for 675,000gns by Sheikh Fahad Al Thani.

There's a relatively small pool of breeze-up buyers at this level, but they have plenty of money to spend on juveniles who've shown enough flair over the two-furlong test, and seemingly every major player got involved in the hunt for the half-brother to former Craven-topper and Group 3 winner Great White Eagle (Elusive Quality).

Chris Richardson, who has signed for six breezers this week for Cheveley Park Stud, made the opening play and was swiftly followed in by Richard Knight, Stephen Hillen and Justin Casse.

David Redvers, acting on the sheikh's behalf, expressed surprise that they were able to buy the colt, whom he said he believed to be the best in the sale.

“Clearly he had a few issues as a yearling,” said Redvers of the colt, who was led out unsold at $65,000 at Keeneland September and later purchased privately by McCartan for $67,000. “But he went out there and proved that he can gallop. This is a sale that we love to buy at––we've had tremendous success here––and it's great to be able to buy a colt like this. I'm pretty sure he will go into training here in Newmarket but I haven't had a chance to talk to the trainer in question yet.”

McCartan, one of the most consistently successful breeze-up consignors, has had noted success with Keeneland graduates and only last week sold a son of More Than Ready for £200,000 at Doncaster after buying him for just $5,000 in Kentucky. The Scat Daddy colt was a little pricier and was added to his breeze-up team after he struck a private deal for him with yearling consignor Tom Evans.

“Tom's an old friend of mine and I went to him after this horse didn't sell at Keeneland,” McCartan recalled. “He had one or two issues and just fell through the cracks but he's been so easy all the way through and I was so lucky to get him.”

Pushing past Tuesday's top price of 575,000gns, the Scat Daddy colt's sale late on the second day sealed an extraordinary 48 hours of activity at Tattersalls. Record returns in every quarter included a 63% rise in turnover to 14,120,000gns––more than 2 million gns in excess of the previous 2008 high when 18 more horses were sold. The average of 144,082gns was up by 30% on last year and again way clear of the 2014 record of 112,785gns, while the median crept into six figures for the first time and, at 110,000gns, rose by 42%. With 98 of the 124 lots sold, the clearance rate also rose, from 73% to 79%.

Taken in isolation, the second-session median of 100,000gns was on a par with 2016, while the average was up by 18% at 146, 224gns and the aggregate of 7,165,000gns improved by 41%.

In recent years, the French stallion market has been improving markedly and the offspring of two Normandy-based sires played leading parts in the final session at Park Paddocks.

A Siyouni (Fr) colt bought from Arqana's V2 Yearling Sale for €62,000 was the first of two stand-out pinhooks for John Cullinane and Roger Marley, who consign in tandem under Church Farm and Horse Park Stud. The son of the Shirocco (Ger) mare Acentela (Ire) (lot 88) became the subject of a duel between Stephen Hillen and Stuart Boman, with Hillen prevailing as the bidding reached 400,000gns.

“I didn't think I'd have to pay quite this much but the market is savage and if you want horses you have to get involved,” acknowledged Hillen, whose undisclosed client plans to send the half-brother to dual French winner Blue Hills (Fr) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) to trainer Kevin Ryan.

“I saw him at Roger's a month ago and was impressed then. He wasn't top of the pops on the clock but he strides out really well,” he continued. “We've had some luck with horses we have bought from them, including Brando (GB), who runs in the sprint [G3 Abernant S.] tomorrow.”

Reflecting on the extraordinary strength of the market, Hillen added, “All the rumours ahead of this sale were correct and it has proved to be strong with lots of new people getting involved. I enjoy buying at the breeze up sales. The guys buying and consigning these horses could be trainers and the statistics from these sales are really good.”

John Cullinane, who with Roger Marley consigned three juveniles to the sale and sold the trio for 890,000gns, said, “We're big fans of the sire and have had some luck with him but his offspring are getting more difficult to get hold of. He did a great breeze this week and is a gorgeous, sound horse. He started with me and then went to Roger in January and survived both of us.”

The duo also sold lot 116, a colt by Acclamation (GB) whose daughter Daban (Ire), a graduate of the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-up in 2016, had won the G3 Nell Gwyn S. at Newmarket just a few hours earlier. This son of Clever Millie (Cape Canavarel) went to the Al Shaqab Racing team for 300,000gns having been bought by Marley for €80,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland September Sale.

Another French-sired colt to find favour was lot 102, a strong son of Youmzain (Ire), who was one of another batch of breezers bought by Kerri Radcliffe, for 350,000gns.

The agent, who has been busy in America and Britain in recent weeks buying horses to be trained by her husband Jeremy Noseda and Bob Baffert, confirmed that the recent purchases are for the Luxembourg-based Phoenix Thoroughbreds.

“This colt will be trained by Jeremy Noseda. I think there will be divorce in the camp if he doesn't go to Jeremy, “ she said. “He's for Phoenix Thoroughbreds and the horses bought in the US were for them too. The Scat Daddy and More Than Ready [from OBS] land tomorrow morning, the remainder are with Bob Baffert.”

She added of the Youmzain colt, the first foal of the unraced Anabaa mare Atarfe who was consigned by Tally-Ho Stud, “He's a lovely well-balanced horse, a cracking 2-year-old and hopefully one for the Chesham.”

Radcliffe ended the sale with three new recruits for Phoenix Thoroughbreds, including Mocklershill's Dark Angel (Ire) half-brother to G1 Grand Criterium winner Zafisio (Ire) (Efisio {GB}) (lot 146) and a Lonhro (Aus) colt from Lynn Lodge Stud (lot 138) for 300,000gns apiece.

Charlie Gordon-Watson was the sale's leading buyer with eight bought for 1,115,000gns, while Angus Gold bought four on behalf of Shadwell, including a pair of second-session colts by Sepoy (Aus) (lot 112) and Dark Angel (Ire) (lot 101) for 270,000gns each.

Fforest Farm Stables' Declaration Of War colt (lot 135) took his freshman sire's average into six figures when selling for 250,000gns to Alastair Donald. The half-brother to Irish Derby winner Frozen Fire (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) is another to be joining the stable of Andrew Balding at Kingsclere and provided a decent result for the new venture of Welsh-based trainer Rebecca Curtis and her partner Gearoid Costelloe.

In total, four members of Declaration Of War's first crop sold for an average of 120,500gns, but Scat Daddy ruled the roost, also with four sold, at an average of 277,500gns.

Thanking buyers and consignors alike for their contribution to a memorably strong sale, Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony said, “Yet again they have brought an outstanding collection of 2-year-olds to Europe's premier breeze-up sale, the breeze on Monday was supremely professional and the buyers have consistently commented on the quality of the individuals throughout the two days. Those comments have been reflected in record figures across the board and to see the average and median increase by such wide margins is a clear indication of the extraordinary strength of demand at the top of the market and the equally extraordinary growth in this sector of the European bloodstock market. At the turn of the century the average price at the Craven Breeze Up Sale was less than 25,000gns and the median was 20,000gns. In 2017, the average has exceeded 140,000gns and the median has broken the 100,000gns mark for the first time.”

He concluded, “In addition to new records for average and median, there have been an unprecedented number of six-figure transactions and some spectacular pinhooking triumphs which demonstrate not only the professionalism of the consignors, but also the diversity of international buyers. Owners, trainers and agents from all over the world target the Craven Breeze Up Sale because it consistently produces top class racehorses and the combination of regular buyers competing with new faces has produced a sale of sustained strength from start to finish. The global demand this week is not only a source of encouragement for the forthcoming Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-up and Horses-in-Training Sale, but also for the rest of the year.”