Recent Listed Winner La Bellota Highlights Trade At Tattersalls 

Juveniles with form as good as La Bellota (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), a fine winner of a Listed contest at Doncaster less than a week ago, don't come around very often and it was Blandford Bloodstock agent Tom Biggs who landed the gelding for a session-topping 425,000gns on Wednesday at Tattersalls. 

Biggs was bidding on behalf of fellow Blandford agent Richard Brown, who, by the time La Bellota went through the ring on Wednesday evening, was halfway across the Atlantic Ocean en route to the Breeders' Cup. 

Of course, La Bellota is a horse that Brown knows well, given the John Ryan-trained runner accounted for Wathnan Racing's Diego Ventura (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) at Doncaster. Like Diego Ventura, La Bellota was brought through the ranks by Tally-Ho Stud, with Ryan sourcing the horse at the Guineas Breeze-Up Sale earlier in the season for 52,000gns.

“He is the best freelance two-year-old on the market at the moment and is 105 rated,” the trainer said. “He has performed better than most out there. To be honest, it is bitter-sweet to lose him. But, at the end of the day, we bought him well and have sold him well.”

Ryan added, “He is a superstar-a lovely horse to train and anyone would love to have this horse in their yard. But he will carry the name La Bellota and we can follow him. I think he is a very special horse. I hope he goes on to be what I think he could be.”

Overall, the Wednesday session failed to live up to what has been otherwise another very strong sale at Park Paddocks. Wildcard Square d'Alboni (Fr) Zarak {Fr}), a recent Listed scorer offered by Alex Elliott's Imperium Sales, failed to find a suitor at 950,000gns on a day when some of the key figures took a hit. 

Despite a slightly bigger catalogue, turnover dipped by 16% to 9,935,000gns while the average dropped by 22% to 37,633gns and the median dropped by 6% to 22,000gns. The clearance rate dropped by 1% to 90%. 

Boman Bags Hawk Power For Annabel Neasham 

One of the more interesting bidding wars of the day took place between Ryan McElligott and Stuart Boman over Hawk Power (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}), who went the way of the Blandford Bloodstock agent for 300,000gns. Like a lot of the bigger lots this week, Hawk Power was purchased by Boman to continue his career Down Under, with Annabel Neasham set to take charge of the Listed-placed Godolphin runner. 

Boman said, “Lovely horse. When buying off Godolphin, obviously there is no reserve and that attracts quite a lot of people initially. Very consistent horse and was the one horse I wanted to buy when I went through everything. He's been bought for Annabel Neasham and we bought a couple of others along the way. I think he's going to be better on top of the ground.”

The agent continued, “He has been running on soft ground and ran in a bog when third to Fast Tracker, who was sent off favourite for the French Derby, on his last start in the Listed race at Chantilly. It was bottomless ground that day and he had had a long year. He is a very well-bred horse from a pedigree that has worked in Australia. And he is out of a Street Cry mare, which was attractive, too.”

Najd Stud Corners Juddmonte Draft

Whether it's the December Mares Sale or horses-in-training, the Juddmonte drafts always attract huge attention. It was no different on Wednesday when Najd Stud and bloodstock agent Nico Archdale spent 640,000gns on highly-rated performers Amphius (GB) (Kingman {GB}) and Task Force (GB) (Frankel {GB}). 

A brother to three black-type runners, including Group 3 scorer Sangarius (GB) (Kingman {GB}), the 95-rated Amphius landed a Beverley maiden on his penultimate start and was last seen finishing second in a Newmbury handicap. 

He fetched 380,000gns while Task Force, who boasts a rating of 109, was knocked down for 260,000gns.

“They are lovely horses,” said Saud Al Qahtani. “It was more than we expected to pay, but when you buy quality you have to stretch. They have both been bought with the King's Cup in mind.”

Mullins Big On Golden Horn

Dominant National Hunt trainer Willie Mullins doubled down on Golden Horn's progeny when snapping up his second son of the dual Derby winner in as many days for a six-figure sum. 

Poniros (GB), who won over an extended mile on debut as a two-year-old and boasts rock solid handicap form at three, was sold for 200,000gns. Mullins had already added Too Bossy For Us (Ire) (Golden Horn {GB}) to the stable 24 hours previously for 330,000gns through his right hand man Harold Kirk. 

“I am collecting them now,” Kirk joked. “This lad has a bit more class than yesterday's horse and he could even be a sort to drop back in trip. He is very light on his feet, a good mover and he has again been bought as a dual-purpose type.” 

Mullins and Kirk also went to 200,000gns to secure Pappano (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), bringing the total spend this week to 730,000gns.

Buy of the day

In his role buying for Lady Bamford and Tony Elliott of the Rogue's Gallery, bloodstock agent Henry Lascelles has been making waves at some of the major sales in recent times. But Lascelles may have sniffed out a bit of a bargain on Wednesday in the shape of 1,000gns buy Nartaji (GB). The daughter of Iffraaj (GB) has not shown much ability in two starts for Roger Varian, but she is a half-sister to impressive maiden scorer Waardah (Ire) (Postponed {Ire}), who does not look out of place in Saturday's Montrose Stakes at Newmarket. If that 1,000gns entrant can get black-type, the 1,000gns Lascelles parted with for Nartaji will look very shrewd indeed. 

Thought for the day

A quick scan through the list of horses that made around 200,000gns or more this week, and some trends stick out a mile. For starters, there's no law to it at times, with some obscure sires well able to get a good one. But most interestingly, it seemed to be the mile-plus horses who made the most money in the ring. The reality is, at any yearling sale in Britain and Ireland, it's the earlier, sharper types that prove most popular around that 200,000gns marker compared to the horses that take a bit of time. This week's results could provide food for thought for buyers—and even breeders—that have a bit of patience. 

Quote of the day

“Who is Mohammad?” 

On a much lighter note, there was reportedly some comedy in the Tattersalls office on Wednesday when one of the buyers simply signed the docket as Mohammad. Given the huge amount of Middle Eastern buyers who shop the horses-in-training sales, you can imagine the confusion that ensued at Tattersalls when the clipboard landed back at the office.