Alex Elliott Lauds Tattersalls For “Hold My Beer” Flex During Bountiful Book 2 Sale

Alex Elliott lauded Tattersalls for its “hold my beer” flex during Book 1 and 2 of the October Yearling Sale after the leading bloodstock agent signed for the 600,000gns Too Darn Hot (GB) joint-top lot on Tuesday for Amo Racing and Al Shaqab from Appletree Stud. 

One of the stories to emerge from Park Paddocks throughout Book 1 and 2 has been the strength of Amo and Al Shaqab while Elliott, who has now become something of a super agent, revealed that the figures floating around the ring over the past 10 days or so have even exceeded his loftiest expectations for the sales.

“These horses, I've never seen anything like it,” he said. “It's a bit like being back in the States. I thought Saratoga was the strongest yearling sale that I have ever been to but step aside. Tatts has almost gone, 'hold my beer.' I never thought it would be this strong.”

The knock-on effect of such trade means that not every one of Elliott's buyers are enjoying as much luck. Valmont, for example, who up until these past couple of weeks would have been viewed as Elliott's biggest-spending ownership vehicle, has struggled at times. 

He continued, “It's great when you've got a team of super powers teaming up together. That's great. But I also have a lot of clients who are very frustrated because they've had to put a bit of a lid on. For example, Valmont has to value them correctly. But isn't it [the market] great?”

The Too Darn Hot homebred of Paul Dunkley's Appletree Stud hails from Galileo (Ire) mare Lola Paige (Ire) and Elliott had to see off some serious opposition to secure the joint sale-topper. Interestingly, the agent revealed that there may be some repercussions if the newly-formed partnership between Amo and Al Shaqab don't come up with a good one on the racetrack following the record amount spent in the sales ring.

“Beautiful filly by Too Darn Hot, who is doing it all over the world and is out of a Galileo mare,” Elliott continued. “She's for Amo and Al Shaqab–we're buying a lot of horses. Some heads could roll next year if these don't work out! I don't know who is going to train her but Kia [Joorabchian] and the Al Shaqab guys were very strong. It was a very strong price but we had to bid against David Ingordo, Newtown Anner, Ger Lyons, Lady Bamford and more.”

Appletree Stud is the Cheltenham-based farm managed by former National Hunt jockey Robert 'Choc' Thornton, who enjoyed his fair share of success at the Festival and will forever be associated with brilliant Champion Chaser Voy Por Ustedes and Stayers' Hurdle hero My Way De Solzen. 

You would think a man who has had the Cheltenham Festival crowd in the palm of his hand and experienced that roar that comes with guiding a short-priced favourite to victory at the meeting wouldn't be reduced to tears after a horse makes a pretty penny in the ring. Well, you'd have thought wrong as Thornton struggled to fight back the tears when searching for the right words to sum up the achievements of the stud.

“She's been a queen the whole way through,” he said of the Too Darn Hot filly. Asked how the feeling compared to winning big races on the track, he added, “It doesn't. It's completely different. There's way more emotion involved, as you can see!”

At 600,000gns, the @AlShaqabRacing & @amoracingltd team buy Appletree Stud's homebred Too Darn Hot filly out of the Galileo mare Lola Paige, herself an own sister to the Group placed Ivy League and Ontario.#TattsOctober | @Choc_Thornton pic.twitter.com/9SDEfqTEJA

— Tattersalls (@Tattersalls1766) October 15, 2024

There proved to be some high drama late in the session as Jane Mangan, bidding on behalf of The Thoroughbred Racing Corporation, landed the joint-top lot, a 600,000gns Sea The Stars (Ire) filly, who was offered by Philipp Stauffenberg.

Mangan commented, “The stallion is alright isn't he? We have been trying to buy the right type of filly for the last two weeks and we got two last week. This filly stood out. I thought she is the best filly in this book. She comes from a great farm, she is just very easy on the eye, there is no mystery here. She is the first foal out of a Siyouni (Fr) mare and we are very happy to get her.”

All of the key figures were up again at Tattersalls on day two of Book 2. Despite a marginally smaller offering [1%], turnover climbed 36% to 24,639,000gns while the clearance rate stood at a massive 91% with 214 lots sold of 234 offered. The median was up 14% to 75,000gns while the average was up 31% to 115,136gns.

The last lot into the ring on day two at #TattsOctober Book 2 makes 600,000gns, with @jane_mangan landing the winning bid on behalf of The Thoroughbred Racing Corporation for @StauffenbergBS's Sea The Stars filly. pic.twitter.com/5Y6z7DhVX0

— Tattersalls (@Tattersalls1766) October 15, 2024

Godolphin Going Big On Sea The Stars 

The 550,000gns that Anthony Stroud spent on Folland-Bowen Bloodstock's Sea The Stars (Ire) colt elevated the agent's total spend on the progeny of the stallion on behalf of Godolphin to 3.5 million gns throughout Book 1 and 2. 

That result represented the best in the ring for couple Natalie Folland and Matt Bowen while Fiona Marner, who bred the colt alongside the Kitcarina Partnership and Sunderland Holdings, was in attendance at Tattersalls for the big result.

“I bought her in training from Andre Fabre and then sent her to Andrew Balding and she did win a race,” reported Marner of Windmill Stud. “We sent her to Sea The Stars for her first cover, a foal share kindly arranged by the late John Clarke, and went back to the sire again and produced this colt.”

She added, “He foaled with me and spent his time with us until going to Natalie and Matt to prep. They are based at Fonthill Stud and it is such a lovely farm–beautiful land. This colt has always been just such a lovely individual and I am so pleased for Natalie and Matt. It is so nice to see young people getting on.”

Stroud has been by far the busiest buyer at Book 1 and 2 and, by close of play on Tuesday, had spent over 7 million gns. Speaking about lot 859, he said, “Sea The Stars speaks for himself and this is a powerful, strong horse. He's a very good mover, comes from a very good farm and the pedigree goes back very well. It's so important to try and get these horses that can stay a mile and a half. We've bought a number of horses but we could do with more of that type, and he fitted that criteria. Sea The Stars was a top-class racehorse and is a top-class stallion.”

550,000gns from @godolphin buys the @FollandBowen consigned Sea The Stars colt from the family of Al Aasy and Karavel. #TattsOctober pic.twitter.com/ANuSfiIKNQ

— Tattersalls (@Tattersalls1766) October 15, 2024

Expensive Sea The Stars Filly On Her Way To Paddy Twomey

They weren't the only big results for Sea The Stars on the day as Jason Kelly signed for a filly by the stallion on behalf of Paddy Twomey for 525,000gns. Consigned by Harry Dutfield, lot 927 is out of Group 2-placed Farhh (GB) mare Makawee (Ire) and from the family of Prince Of Arran (GB) (Shirocco {Ger}).

Kelly said, “Sea The Stars speaks for himself and this filly was bred by the Turnbull family, who I have history with myself. I know the broodmare and she was a tough mare–hopefully Farhh will be a good broodmare stallion. She's just a stunning filly and has a lot of class about her. She will go to Paddy Twomey for an existing client of his.”

Talking Points

It really has been a week to remember for John Foley of Ballyvolane Stud. Just 24 hours after turning his €28,000 pinhook by Gleneagles (Ire) into 280,000gns, Foley watched on as his homebred Acclamation (GB) filly was knocked down to Henry Lascelles. “It is unbelievable,” Foley said. “I have to give my sister Adelaide and her husband Padraig Doran all the credit as they bought the mare. This filly is a beauty and we were hoping she might make 80,000gns to 100,000gns, but she has been so popular. This is a result that doesn't happen very often. The mare has a very nice Blue Point foal on the ground, and he is a fine foal, he will be kept to sell as a yearling. The mare lives at Knocktartan House and when we wean the foal it comes to me.”

It was a remarkable day for Acclamation. Following on from Foley's big result, Billy Jackson-Stops and George Scott went to 500,000gns to secure a colt by the stallion from Rathbarry Stud.

Just one horse surpassed the 500,000gns mark during Book 2 last year, a supplemented Dubawi (Ire) filly who ended up being the only horse that Godolphin bought throughout the entire week at 725,000gns. At the end of Tuesday's trade, there had been eight yearlings to make half a million or more, while Godolphin has spent 2,350,000gns on four yearlings so far this week. That tells quite the story of how strong Book 2 has been.

One of the six horses to make 500,000gns or more was Ballylinch Stud's Camelot (GB) filly out of multiple Listed winner Fort Del Oro to MV Magnier at exactly that figure. The sale sugar-coated what has been a memorable time at Park Paddocks for Ballylinch Stud, and the outfit's John O'Connor commented, “We were pretty confident she would sell well. She is a beautiful filly with the best combination of Camelot and Lope De Vega. The mare was very quick–she has already bred a good one, so the pedigree is stacking up for everyone. Then her physique, her temperament and her ability to show is just exceptional. Most of the big operations were interested in her.”

It has been a good sales season for Deerpark Stud who, following on from a strong Orby Book 1, sold a Dark Angel (Ire) filly for 450,000gns to Oliver St Lawrence. The sale justified Deerpark's initial outlay of 230,000gns on the dam, Listed winner Havre De Paix (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}), at the Tattersalls December Sale in 2018. Deerpark's Peter Fagan said, “It is great for the farm. Dark Angel is a wonderful sire and a great broodmare sire, too. The filly has not put a foot wrong here and behaved so well all week. I just breeze into Tattersalls for the sale so all the credit goes to the farm, to my father and mother, farm manager Patrick Kirwan, and Rachel Harvey who has done a fantastic job this year.”

Pinhooking Fortunes On Tuesday

Of the 257 horses catalogued during Tuesday's session, 65 were pinhooks, and after one withdrawal, 64 horses visited the ring. Six lots did not meet their reserves and were buy-backs, leaving 58 yearlings marked as sold. Of the latter group, 45 made a profit ranging from 1,426gns to 225,788gns.

Lot 773, a son of Teofilo (Ire) and the Toccet mare Gearanai, was the biggest pinhook of the day, with a profit of 225,788gns. The full-brother to G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud hero Gear Up (Ire) and G3 Eyrefield Stakes victor Guaranteed (Ire) was offered by Lynn Lodge Stud. Stroud Coleman Bloodstock purchased the bay for 325,000gns on Tuesday. As a foal, the Jim Bolger-bred yearling cost €100,000gns at Goffs November.

One lot broke even and 12 lots lost money. The 58 pinhooks marked as sold were acquired for 3,811,777gns as foals and made 6,245,000gns on Tuesday representing a 63.8% return.

We have multiplied the price of the foal by 1.1 and added a running cost of 12,000gns (for foals bought in guineas) or €15,000 (for foals bought in euros) for keep, feed, veterinary, shoeing, sales prep and sales entry fees. Depending on whether someone has their own farm, or where they choose to board a horse, will obviously mean that costs for each individual can vary significantly.

It is worth noting that sometimes a horse can appear to be bought and sold by different names but have actually not changed ownership at all.

Buy of the Day 

Breeze-up consignors have largely found it hard to get in on the action at Tattersalls these past couple of weeks but you'd have to think that Mark Grant managed to add a particularly decent arrow to his bow for next year in the shape of lot 714, a 135,000gns Too Darn Hot (GB) colt consigned by Watership Down Stud. Out of black-type Dansili (GB) mare Earring, the Too Darn Hot colt is just the type that could rock into big money at the Craven Breeze-Up Sale in the spring. You'd imagine that Grant, the man who breezed multiple Group 1-winning sprinter Bradsell (GB), would also have the option of Arqana for his new recruit. He looks well bought and is by the stallion who can seemingly do no wrong right now.

Golden Touch

James Daly's €25,000 purchase of the Camelot (GB) colt foal out of the 1,000 Guineas runner-up Lightning Thunder (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) at the Goffs November Sale was looking like a decent bit of business by Tuesday afternoon. The half-brother to maiden winner Hippodrome (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) from the family of G3 Sagaro Stakes winner Sweet Selection (GB) (Stimulation {GB}) walked out of the Tattersalls ring with a 110,000gns price tag on his head having been sold to Flyingbolt Bloodstock.

Thought of the Day

It seems as though every breeze-up handler either side of the Irish Sea is down on numbers this year. And that's not from a want of trying. Five or six handlers revealed how they have been blown out of the water at Tattersalls over the past 10 days or so. Those who did some shopping at the earlier sales and in America will be quite smug with themselves right now.