By Emma Berry & Alayna Cullen
NEWMARKET, UK—When the G1 Moyglare Stud S. winner Intricately (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) appeared in the December Mares' Sale of 2017, she was one of the leading lights at 1.7- million gns, and her first foal went a long way to recouping some of that investment on Wednesday. The colt by Dubawi (Ire) was one of seven yearlings by the sire bought by Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin operation through the first two days and the most expensive yearling of the second session at 1.1- million gns.
Lot 225 was presented for sale by Highclere Stud, where Intricately is a permanent boarder for her owners Mike and Michelle Morris. The colt has obvious stallion potential if his race record lives up to his pedigree as his grandam Inner Realm (Ire) is a Galileo (Ire) half-sister to the dependable sire and former brilliant miler Rock Of Gibraltar (Ire) (Danehill).
“He really has been very straightforward since the day he was born,” said Lady Carolyn Warren of Highclere Stud. “It's a wonderful result for the Morrises. Michelle is a really good horsewoman herself and Mike really knows racing. My son Jake selected the mare for them and this is a great start for her.”
She added that Intricately has a colt foal by Dubawi back at the stud and is now in foal to Kingman (GB).
Sheikh Mohammed's support of Book 1 showed no sign of waning throughout the second day. Godolphin's expenditure so far is 12.7 million gns—approximately one quarter of the total turnover with one day of trade left.
Stroud signed for a second Dubawi colt from Highclere Stud (lot 195) who was another first foal, this one out of the Lingfield Oaks Trial winner Hertford Dancer (GB) (Foxwedge {Aus}). Bred in partnership by the Morrises and Highclere, the relation of Invincible Spirit (Ire) and Mishriff (GB) sold for 300,000gns.
Also on Stroud's list was lot 229, the brother to listed winner Onassis (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and half-brother to GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Line Of Duty (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). He was bred by Christopher Hanbury and sold through his nephew Peter Stanley's New England Stud for 525,000gns.
Unsurprisingly, the sale's figures continue to be adrift of those posted in 2020. Another 119 yearlings were sold on Wednesday from the 154 offered at a rate of 77%. The average was down by 26% at 179,639gns and the median dropped by 17 % to 125,000gns, Turnover for the day was 21,377,000gns, a reduction of 33% from the corresponding session last year.
Great Return For Small Breeder
Coln Valley Stud enjoyed a fantastic result at last year's Book 1 when selling a Kingman (GB) colt out of Grace And Favour (GB) (Montjeu {Ire}) for 2.3 millions gns to Godolphin, and it was Sheikh Mohammed's agent Anthony Stroud who stepped in for another offering from the same family on Wednesday. This time around the colt (lot 186) was by the operation's own leading stallion Dubawi and out of another daughter of Gryada (GB) (Shirley Heights {GB}) in Great And Small (GB), a Galileo (Ire) half-sister to the five-time Group 1 winner Fame And Glory (GB) (Montjeu {Ire}) and herself a listed-placed winner. The bidding went Stroud's way at 800,000gns.
Coln Valley Stud owner Nicholas Jones said, “It's a nerve-wracking game. In that three minutes is the only revenue for the stud in 365 days, that's the one time we only have cash in rather than cash out. We have three daughters of Gryada at home and they have all produced lovely colts that have sold well here as a yearlings over the last three years. Their mother was from a very good family herself, which was nurtured first in Germany and then by Lord Howard de Walden. All the females produce attractive, balanced offspring with good temperaments so they are a pleasure to have at home.”
He continued, “There's an old proverb that says reduce expectations and increase happiness, so I never come here with huge expectations. It's a difficult market in the bloodstock world and elsewhere, so we never know what's going to happen. But Great And Small has a full-brother to this colt on the ground so I have already told Mr Stroud I hope to see him here next year.”
Jones bought Gryada in foal to Sadler's Wells for 180,000gns in December 2006, the same year that she foaled the colt who become known as Fame And Glory. He went on to win the G1 Criterium de Saint Cloud at two, and was runner-up to Sea The Stars (Ire) in the Derby before winning the Irish Derby and later claiming another three Group 1 victories, including the Gold Cup at Ascot. The stud has retained two of his full-sisters, including Grace And Glory (GB), the dam of G3 Musidora S winner Give And Take (GB) (Cityscape {GB}). Another full-sister, Yummy Mummy (GB), is the dam of 1000 Guineas winner Legatissimo (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}).
Jones added, “The foals out of Grace And Favour and Grace And Glory have sold very well. The family is doing exceptionally well. It's nice that all three daughters have produced lovely colts to bring up here. I like to keep the fillies and I can afford to keep them now.”
King Vega's Brother Shines
Lope De Vega (Ire) is behind only the big-hitters of Dubawi (Ire), Kingman (GB) and Frankel (GB) on the list of leading sires at Book 1 and three of his colts were among the bestsellers on Wednesday, including lot 320, the brother to G1 Vertem Futurity entrant King Vega (GB), who is trained by Andrew Balding.
Bought at 900,000gns by Anthony Stroud for Godolphin, the Hillwood Stud-consigned colt is out of the French listed winner Moi Meme (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}), who was herself purchased for the Fortescue Bloodstock breeding syndicate five years ago for €440,000.
“The mare's been married to Lope De Vega,” said Hillwood's Charlie Vigors. “She has a lovely Lope De Vega colt foal on the ground and she's back on foal to him. We sold a Lope De Vega filly yesterday for 220,000gns so we've had a good week with him so far.”
He continued, “That's beyond our wildest dreams really. This has been a lovely horse all along and he was bred at home. Fortescue Bloodstock is a syndicate of mainly London-based investors who have three mares with us.”
The colt could yet have a decent update to come as his brother, who was himself a 350,000gns yearling at Book 1 last year, was runner-up in the G3 Solario S. on his last start and has his Group 1 engagement on Oct. 24.
“I know Andrew [Balding] thinks very highly of him,” Vigors added.
Normandy-based Haras d'Ombreville, which is offering its first draft at Book 1 this week, was another consignor to fare well with a son of Lope De Vega. Matthieu and Solenn Gouesnard's operation sold lot 301, a colt out of Listed Preis Dusseldorf winner Megera (Fr) (Motivator {GB}) for 380,000gns to Chantilly trainer Henri Devin.
“He wasn't that easy to prep as he is a bit cheeky, but he has a brilliant mind and is a very good walker. We were very happy because he had lots of shows and he was a little bit stressed on the first shows, but then he was perfect. We are very happy,” said Solenn Gouesnard, who offered the colt on behalf of his breeder Raschit Shaykhutdinov.
Newtown Anner Stud was also to the fore with a son of Lope De Vega. Maurice Regan consigned the first foal of his homebred G1 Premio Lydia Tesio winner Laganore (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) as lot 260 through Castlebridge Consignment and was rewarded with the top bid of 430,000gns from Blandford Bloodstock.
Regan has been lucky with Coolmore's Fastnet Rock as he also bred and raced his son Fascinating Rock (Ire), who now stands alongside Lope De Vega at Ballylinch Stud. The latter has himself done well with Fastnet Rock mares, as his Australian Group 1 winners Santa Ana Lane (Aus) and Gytrash (Aus) are both bred on this cross.
Saint Pair Stars Late
As darkness settled on Park Paddocks, lot 350, the Frankel (GB) filly from Haras de Saint Pair's Pearly Shells (GB) family became the final purchase of the day for Godolphin and Anthony Stroud when added to the sizeable haul of Book 1 yearlings for 700,000gns.
The filly represents the fourth generation of the family nurtured at Saint Pair in Normandy by breeder Andreas Putsch.
He said of the daughter of listed winner Pearly Steph (Fr) (Oasis Dream {GB}), “She's a lovely filly and we have plenty of the family. It's a family that has been with me all the way since 2002 when Pearly Shells won the Prix Vermeille. We bought Pearly Shells as a yearling from Goffs and we basically built the farm around her. This shows that breeding is a long-term business.”
Wootton Bassett Worth The Stretch
Philipp Stauffenberg is no stranger to bold pinhooks and, days after Wooded (Fr) became the third Group 1 winner for Wootton Bassett (GB), a daughter of the same stallion provided a huge upturn on her foal price for his draft when sold for 600,000gns to Charlie Gordon-Watson.
Stauffenberg has bought lot 189, the half-sister to listed winner Lady Galore (Ire) Raven's Pass), from her breeder Haras du Mont Dit Mont for €190,000 at the Arqana December Sale. Her grandam Spain (Thunder Gulch) won nine races in America, including the GI La Brea S.
“I can't name her new owner but she will go into training in France with Andre Fabre,” said Gordon-Watson. “She's a beautiful filly and was worth stretching for.”
Another Westerberg Recruit
The Siyouni (Fr) half-sister to G2 Lancashire Oaks winner Horseplay (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) is another who will race in the colours of Georg Von Opel's Westerberg operation after being bought on the owner's behalf by Tom Goff for 680,000gns.
“She's a lovely filly with a fabulous outcross pedigree and John Gosden is going to train her,” said the agent.
That pedigree is one which has been associated with the Freedman family's Cliveden Stud for several generations. Her great grandam Francfurter (GB) (Legend Of France) was bred and raced by the stud and in turn produced the GI EP Taylor S. winner Fraulein (GB) (Acatenengo {Ger}), whose daughter Mischief Making (Lemon Drop Kid) was also a stakes winner. Her five foals to race are all winners and they include Horseplay and Listed Hoppings S. winner More Mischief (GB) (Azamour {Ire}).
The filly (lot 309) contributed to a good day for her consignor Highclere Stud, which is leading the consignors' list with 11 sold for 3,962,000gns.
Kodiac for Coolmore
Last year Tally-Ho Stud sold the subsequently unbeaten G1 Prix Morny winner Campanelle (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) in Book 1 to Ben McElroy for 190,000gns, and offers five yearlings by their resident stallion in Book 1 for 2020. Among them was lot 248, a son of Khaimah (GB), an unraced half-sister to listed winner and Classic-placed Motamarris (Ire) (Le Havre {Ire}) and to Wadyhatta (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}), the dam of this season's Irish Derby winner Santiago (Ire) (Authorized {Ire}).
The O'Callaghan family bought the Shadwell-bred dam as a 2-year-old at Goffs for €19,000 and she has already produced a winner by Kodiac as her first foal. Her yearling will likely join Ballydoyle after being bought by MV Magnier for 350,000gns.
Blond Moment For Wardstown
The Clarke family's Wardstown Stud brought just one yearling to Book 1 from Ireland but, as a full-sister to the GI EP Taylor S. winner Blond Me (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}), she was a special one, and she duly caught the attention of Angus Gold, who bought her on behalf of Sheikh Hamdan for 170,000gns.
Breeder Mark Clarke, who led the filly (lot 201) through the ring, was interviewed afterwards and said, “The mare is from a wonderful Ballymacoll family, and to be able to buy a mare like that in the first place, she's a collector's piece. We are fortunate enough to be able to keep another daughter of hers on the farm and it was so rewarding to get a price like that today. It's great for an operation like ours. We're not big breeders and there are so many hurdles to get over.”
Clarke, who keeps “12 or 13 broodmares,” bought the filly's winning dam Holda (Ire) (Docksider) from Balllymacoll in 2006 for 30,000gns and she has since bred four winners, including Red Larkspur (Ire) (Red Clubs {Ire}), who is the dam of California Oaks winner Consolida (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}).
Clarke continued, “What I liked about her was that she's from a good, solid Group 1 taproot. She is a foundation mare for myself and I look forward to being able to keep another of her daughters if I can.”
Blond Me, trained by Andrew Balding, won six races for Barbara Keller in Britain, Canada and Turkey, including the G2 Middleton S. Her breeder added, “This filly is very similar to Blond Me–possibly a slightly bigger filly and perhaps a better mover, but I am very happy she has gone to Shadwell first and foremost. They'll give her plenty of time, and she may need that.
“[Wardstown] is a commercial farm but I get a lot of satisfaction breeding a racehorse, it's not just about the sales. The satisfaction you get from breeding a horse like Blond Me is so rewarding.”
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
