Trident (Fr) Wootton Bassett {GB}), runner-up in the G1 Prix Morny for Andre Fabre and the Coolmore partners, has been sold to continue his career in Hong Kong.
Bloodstock agent Jamie Piggott, who brokered the deal, told TDN, “We bought him for a seven-figure sum for Mr Ho and he will go to Caspar Fownes. Coolmore were brilliant to deal with. The horse is now in Newmarket and starts his quarantine on 10 February.”
Bred by trainer David Smaga and Marie-Benedicte Fougy, Trident was a €140,000 yearling at the Arqana Select Sale of 2020. He won on debut at ParisLongchamp over 1,300 metres, and went straight to stakes company for his next start, finishing third in the G3 Prix Cabourg in Deauville. A fortnight later he put in his best run to date when runner-up to Perfect Power (Ire) in the Morny, with his final start of the campaign also marking his first start outside France. At Newmarket he finished second to subsequent GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Modern Games (Ire) in the G3 Tattersalls S.
Piggott continued, “It's a nice opportunity to be able to fulfil an order for the third-highest-rated 2-year-old in France. He has the size and scope to win in Hong Kong and he has a wonderful temperament. Andre Fabre has done a great job with him. Given his size, to do what he's done at two, coming second to the likes of Modern Games, is quite something.”
The agent, who also rides out regularly in Newmarket, added, “He's at Longholes in Newmarket now until he goes into quarantine for Hong Kong. I've been riding him everyday there and he's a lovely, big rangey horse.
“I have a fair few connections in Hong Kong. It's a shame we can't get over there at the moment, but I think there is a resurgence in interest in European bloodstock there, and long may it last.”
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