By Emma Berry
NEWMARKET, UK — A sister to Alpinista (GB)? How about one to St Mark's Basilica (Fr) or Charyn (Ire), or a brother to Hurricane Lane (Ire)? Then there are the first foals, by Dubawi (Ire) no less, of Lady Bowthorpe (GB) and Glass Slippers (GB), or the first foal from Wonderful Tonight (Fr), by Frankel (GB), with those two top stallions accounting for 10 per cent of Book 1 entries between them.
Camelot (GB) leapfrogged Dubawi on Sunday to be head of the sires' table for Europe when his daughter Bluestocking (GB) landed her third Group 1 victory of the season in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, and Camelot's yearlings on offer this week include Camas Park Stud's full-brother to the Australian Group 1 winner and stallion Russian Camelot (Ire).
We know that not all of the best-bred yearlings in Europe will ever leave their breeders but from those who have decided to sell, a glittering array of young potential has been assembled for the next three days. Sire power coupled with enticing bottom lines is on offer at Tattersalls and those names on the catalogue pages have now been made flesh. All those standing their ground for the next three days of sales action – 410 at the last count – are now present and correct at Park Paddocks.
In their wake of course come the potential buyers. Kentucky and other racing enclaves must currently be fairly depleted of horsemen and women as the biggest cohort of Americans ever to descend on Tattersalls is in town. Mike Ryan and Chad Brown, regulars at this event and borne back by success, along with Peter Brant, Elliott Walden, Andrew Rosen, David Ingordo and Cherie de Vaux were just some of those spotted on Monday's inspection rounds from a travelling party of around 50.
As Ingordo had explained on Sunday, this sale is a must, especially for those American-based owners keen to exploit an expanding turf programme across the States.
“Our racing purse money is at a record high and we have a lot of people who want horses and there is a lot of really good grass racing with good prize-money,” he said. “While we have those pedigrees at home, every box here has a lovely pedigree and a horse coming out that can run on the grass.
“We have clients that just like to race on the turf. So, while we have our dirt-based clients, if you are looking for these top pedigrees, especially fillies who could turn into broodmares in the future, there's no place else to go other than Tattersalls.”
Adam Houghton pointed out in TDN last week that the race to be champion sire of Britain and Ireland is currently too close to call, with Dubawi, Dark Angel (Ire), Frankel (GB) and Kingman (GB) all in the vanguard, and Sea The Stars (Ire), Justify, Lope De Vega (Ire) and Camelot not far behind this leading pack.
The offspring of Ballylinch's Lope De Vega are a must-see for American buyers, with his successful runners stateside including Newspaperofrecord (Ire), Aunt Pearl (Ire), Program Trading (GB) and, most recently, Carl Spackler (Ire). All four of those Grade 1 winners were offered during Book 1 in recent years. Lope De Vega is not the only son of Shamardal on the list of noteworthy stallions for Ingordo, however.
“I'm interested in Blue Point and Pinatubo,” he added. “Mehmas has done really well over there, and Wootton Bassett and Too Darn Hot also translate very well for America.”
That is not the only potential international destination for yearlings from this sale, of course. Many of the major buying teams have been inspecting yearlings since Saturday, even with some seriously good racing taking place over the Channel at Longchamp. Plenty more arrived fresh from Paris on Monday morning.
“Footfall has been as good as I've ever known it for this sale, even yesterday, and we've already had a number of French visitors around this morning,” said Manister House Stud's Luke Barry.
Joe Hartigan, manager of Croom House Stud, which sold last week's €2m Goffs Orby topper, agreed. “We've been very busy,” he said. “Footfall is very good and we were very busy yesterday. There are a number of new people I've not seen before.”
The stud's draft of four for Book 1 includes a pinhooked Pinatubo (Ire) colt, and homebred colts by Too Darn Hot (GB) and Lope De Vega, as well as a Siyouni (Fr) filly. The Too Darn Hot colt emanates from a family which has already put Croom House's name in lights as his winning dam Knocknagree (Ire) is a Galileo (Ire) half-sister to Zoffany (Ire), himself a Book 1 graduate of 2009 who went on to become a Group 1 winner and popular sire.
Down in a lovely quiet spot at the back of the Highflyer paddocks, Guy O'Callaghan exuded an air of calm as he watched the aforementioned sister of Charyn stroll back and forth outside the boxes of his Grangemore Stud draft. But then the filly is pretty calm herself and appears to have not just the fact that she is a full-sibling to a dual Group 1 winner to recommend her.
“It was a privilege to breed a horse as good as Charyn,” said O'Callaghan of the son of his family's star stallion, Dark Angel. “And it is rare to be able to offer a filly as special as this.”
A fellow stalwart of the Tattersalls consignors' list is Richard Kent's Mickley Stud. Indeed, Mickley sold the homebred Havana Grey (GB) here as a foal back in 2015. But it has been a while since the stud has brought a draft to Book 1 and the pair on offer this week includes a daughter of Frankel and the G2 Temple Stakes winner Liberty Beach (GB) (Cable Bay {Ire}), with both mother and daughter having been bred in Mickely's Shropshire paddocks. Kent's son Finn has his first Book 1 pinhook in the draft, too. The gleaming chestnut son of El Kabeir is a full-brother to the Listed winner Masekela (Ire), who was also fourth in the Derby two years ago for Andrew Balding.
“He's taken a lot of scoops of feed,” said Kent Jr of his pride and joy. “When we bought him as a foal he was a big horse but he was going through a growing phase at the foal sales and it was probably a bit too much for him at the time. But he's done nothing but thrive since he's been at Mickley and he has always had a kind of presence about him.”
A glorious final day of inspections blessed by sun throughout has helped these youngsters shine. Not all will hit their mark and, as we have seen throughout this season, there will be probably be tears of both joy and frustration as the fortnight-long sale progresses into next week. But we can expect a strong start. After all, it's not every day you get to sell a sister to an Arc winner.
For Tattersalls, Tuesday is that day, and the appearance of lot 72 in the ring is likely to be one of a decent number of highlights in this elite arena over the next few days.
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