By Emma Berry
NEWMARKET, UK—”Year after year it sets a very high bar,” said Jimmy George of Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. As marketing director of Europe's largest sales house, it is clearly George's job to say positive things about the most profitable three days of yearling trade but the sale's statistics very much back up this claim.
This year Tattersalls is coming off a hat-trick of Book 1 catalogues accruing more than 100 million gns each in turnover, reaching a record high of 106,503,000gns in 2018. While expectations of the 2020 yearling market have been adjusted downwards across the board, there was a genuine feeling of positivity at Park Paddocks on Monday from the predominantly masked vendors and potential buyers alike.
“It's very much up to standard. I just wish the lead up to it had been a bit more conventional,” George continued. “But we are not alone in that and I think we are very fortunate to have got to the stage we are at now. This is a sale that is taking place on the date it was meant to take place and in the location it was meant to take place and I never thought I'd be saying that, but that's a positive in itself.”
Goffs of course was forced to relocate its Orby Sale last week from Kildare to Doncaster and, despite its best efforts and some international participation, notably from some new American names in the European market, results fell below even moderated expectations.
A key American agent in place in Newmarket this week is Mike Ryan, whose spending at the October Sale has increased in line with an impressive degree of success for his European purchases over the last few years. In 2019, the agent signed for 24 horses in Book 1 for a range of clients including Klaravich Stables and Peter Brant's White Birch Farm for an outlay of 6.2 million gns.
On Sunday, Brant fulfilled a long-held ambition to win the Arc with the French-trained Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) but he has also done well with horses he has exported from Europe to race in America, including the regally-bred Demarchelier (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who now stands at Claiborne Farm.
Oneliner Doubles Book 1 Draft After Classy Debut
It is the transatlantic perspective which Gerard Lowry of Oneliner Stables hopes will appeal to a range of buyers when it comes to his Dark Angel (Ire) filly (lot 387), who takes to the ring on Thursday afternoon.
“She's out of black-type mare named Rakiza (Ire) who was rated 97 and she has bred two black-type horses as well,” said Lowry. “With Lady Prancealot (Ire) under the second dam as well as Almanaar (GB), who was a top horse in America for Sheikh Hamdan and Chad Brown, we just thought it was a nice page to tempt everyone, especially with the American factor coming into Book 1.”
The family-run operation in Holy Cross, Co Tipperary, involves Lowry and his father Jimmy, as well as his sister Michelle, who is married to Paul Motherway of Yellowford Farm. Oneliner Stables will offer four yearlings during Book 1, all of which were pinhooked for decent sums at the foal sales, including the Dark Angel filly from breeder Castlefarm Stud for €145,000.
Lowry says, “We're on some of the best land in the world in the Golden Vale and it has a savage record of producing high-class animals. Michelle is a massive help to me on the ground when it comes to the search for foals. Usually for the foal sales in Newmarket my father can't make it over as we have horses in at home but he is the main man in the operation and he has been in the business for 45 years.”
That business originally involved solely National Hunt horses, but a man with an eye for a horse should be equally effective under both codes, and so Lowry proved with his debut Book 1 draft last year. Oneliner Stables brought two horses to Newmarket in 2019 and went home with 905,000 gns for those two pinhooks.
“On the cards from last year we're about the same with people looking and Tattersalls have got them all here which is a great credit to them,” says Lowry. “It's running very smoothly with all the protocols and now the important thing is having the right animals for the clients. Last year we sold a Sea The Stars (Ire) colt to Godolphin and an Exceed And Excel (Aus) colt to Sir Mark Prescott, which was a very honourable moment because we mightily respect him.”
The first of the draft to go through this year, lot 194, is also a Sea The Stars colt and is in fact from the same family as the aforementioned Demarchelier as he has the outstanding producer Jude (GB) (Darshaan {GB}) as his third dam.
“He looks a forward type and is very well put together,” Lowry says. “Then we have a Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) filly (lot 262) and she's a sister to Impendor (Ire) and three-parts sister to Gravity Flow (Ire) who William Haggas had. She has a lovely page, she's from a Juddmonte family of Short Pause (GB) and Zambezi Sun (GB).”
He continues, “The crowning glory is our Lope De Vega (Ire) horse (lot 412) on Thursday. He's a really elegant mover with size and scope. He's out of black-type mare who Ed Dunlop trained and won from ages two to four, so she showed real soundness. He's out of an amazing broodmare sire in Lawman (Fr), who is the broodmare sire of Battaash. He has everything.”
Despite the challenging circumstances of 2020, Lowry is another who has adopted a positive approach to the coming days. He adds, When you buy these animals you are living with them for a year, and it's been a long year. It's one sale after another when you are trying to do both games. It's been tough on everyone but you have to admire the resilience of everyone involved.”
Just Dandy For Beechmore
A new name on the Book 1 consignors' list this year is Beechmore Bloodstock, which is run by Conall Meegan, who has previously worked in partnership with agent Hubert Guy. The consignor has rarity value in his one-lot Book 1 draft as he is offering the sole yearling by Dandy Man (Ire). Lot 287 is a full-brother to the dual Group 3 winner My Lea (Ire) and was bought from the Goffs November Foal Sale for €70,000.
Beechmore Bloodstock has another four lots to sell in Book 2, including first-crop yearlings by Aclaim (Ire) and Decorated Knight (GB).
One of the most established names at elite sales is Lady Carolyn Warren's Highclere Stud, which may well cause one of the early stirs of the first day when it brings lot 55 to the ring.
The first-crop son of Highland Reel (Ire) is a half-brother to arguably the top 3-year-old of the season in Europe, Palace Pier (GB) (Kingman {GB}). His family traces back to Jean-Luc Lagardere's Miss d'Ouilly, who was bought by John Warren as a broodmare prospect for Highclere and the Duke of Roxburghe's Floors Stud in the same ring 20 years ago.
With the final viewing day invariably a nerve-wracking affair for vendors, Jimmy George was pleased with the turnout at Park Paddocks ahead of the start of the sale. Prospective buyers included Sheikh Mohammed, who bought two yearling at the Arqana September Sale through Anthony Stroud but has not been seen in person at sales this year. The ruler of Dubai positioned himself in the Solario yard in the farthest corner of Tattersalls and a constant flow of yearlings were brought to him to be inspected.
“The right people are here and there are a lot of people who have had to jump through a lot of hoops to be here,” said George. “I think we are all full of admiration for the sacrifices people have made just to keep the wheels of the industry turning. We are enormously grateful to everybody who has put in such hard work to get to this stage.”
The back cover of the Book 1 catalogue points to the global reach of the sale, displaying Group/Grade 1 winners in America, Australia and Britain—Newspaperofrecord (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), Russian Camelot (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) and the aforementioned Palace Pier. The buyers of all three, Mike Ryan, Jeremy Brummitt and John Gosden, have been hard at work at the sale for days and Brummitt in particular is acting as an important conduit for the Australian market as the dual Group 1 winner and Cox Plate favourite Russian Camelot is trained in Melbourne by Danny O'Brien.
“People want to do business at Book 1 of the October Yearling Sale because they have been successful here in the past and they are being very resourceful about making sure they do that even if they are unable to travel themselves,” George said. “People like Danny O'Brien, John Foote, both Australian, they will be active and they will be using established contacts on the ground.”
That level of activity will become apparent as the first session of Book 1 gets underway on Tuesday at 11am.
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