By Brian Sheerin
Wednesday provided a taste of what might be to come at the Tattersalls Guineas Sale when a Kingman (GB) filly from the John Dance dispersal sold for 130,000gns to Alex Elliott and Billy Jackson-Stops on behalf of powerful owners Valmont and Michael Blencowe.
Over 50 horses connected to Dance's Coverdale Stud and Titanium Racing Club will be auctioned at this week's Guineas Sale and, while Elliott admitted that the condition with which some of the horses were presented was less than ideal, the Kingman filly's quality shone through.
Dance, the well-known owner whose finest days in the sport came courtesy of six-time Group 1 winner Laurens (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), was arrested almost a year ago and is involved in an ongoing Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) investigation into allegations of fraud and money laundering involving his company WealthTek LLP.
The Kingman filly is a homebred of the former owner's Coverdale Stud and boasts strong residual value being a half-sister to Listed winner Bahrain Pride (GB) (Kodiac {GB}).
Elliott said of lot 89, “She has been bought for Valmont and Michael Blencowe. Billy Jackson-Stops bought her with me–he looks after Michael. We bought six yearlings in partnership last year–two went to George Scott, two to Andrew Balding and two to Ralph Beckett.
“Unfortunately, one of them got hurt, so we were keen to replace that horse. I didn't really know what to expect when I went to look at them [the dispersal horses] but this filly had standout quality. The horses were hard to value because we didn't know who was here. We were happy to get her for what we paid for her.”
He added, “The stallion is standing for £125,000 and she is a half-sister to a Listed winner by Kodiac. It's a deep pedigree. I'd love to have bought her six months ago as we could have been dreaming of June. We'll give her all the time in the world now. She has good residual value and all she can do is improve. She vetted perfectly but these horses haven't had a great preparation due to the circumstances around the sale. But this filly's quality still shone through.”
Of the 29 horses sold by The Castlebridge Consignment on Wednesday, 24 were connected to Dance, and amassed 535,500gns in the ring. Other lots of note included an unraced Lope De Vega (Ire) colt (lot 91) knocked down to BBA Ireland for 52,000gns and an unraced New Bay (GB) filly to JS Bloodstock and Hasmonean Racing for 39,000gns.
Of the 72 horses offered, 66 were sold, representing a 92% clearance rate. The turnover sat at 968,500gns while the median was 12,000gns and the average 14,674gns.
Pompey Ventures On The Up
Owning racehorses is an expensive game. For all the fun that comes with having some skin in this great game, the reality is that the majority of horses don't cover their costs, regardless of whether they win a race or not.
The exploits of Media Shooter (GB) (Advertise {GB}) and Oliver Show (Ire) (No Nay Never), two of the poster boys for the burgeoning Pompey Ventures syndicate, have gone some way to driving further investment for the group that struck at 36,000gns through Sam Haggas's Hurworth Bloodstock for the unraced Disco Spirit (Acclamation {GB}) (lot 49) from the Dance dispersal.
Like Oliver Show, the syndicate's new purchase will be trained by George Boughey, who has sent out Oliver Show to win two races for the syndicate on the all-weather in Britain in recent months.
Pompey Ventures is headed by Owen Haly, who explained that the group has 10 horses in training and that its ultimate aim is to attract young people to the sport.
Haly said, “Pompey Ventures is a syndicate started up by myself with Ned Sangster. Our first purchases were made at the Autumn-Horses-In-Training Sale where we picked up Media Shooter and Oliver Show. Both have been great servants over the winter and Media Shooter has won back what we paid for him in prize-money already.”
He added, “This horse is going to George Boughey, who has been training Oliver Show. We liked this horse's physique, I think we are getting a bit of value with the unknown aspect through the John Dance dispersal. We had a look at the horse and George liked him. He will go straight to George now and we will let him work his magic and see what happens.
“The vast majority of our shareholders are under the age of 35, they invest from two per cent up to 50 per cent in each horse with training fees included to a certain level. When you buy yearlings and breeze-up horses, there are a lot of unknowns. We like the angle of buying form horses who we think we can improve.”
The horses-in-training session of the Guineas sale continues at 9.30am on Thursday with the breeze-up horses expected to start selling from 12.25pm.
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