By Emma Berry
NEWMARKET, UK—It's no more than a ten-minute walk from Tattersalls to the heart of Newmarket's training grounds where the fillies who ran each other so close in the Arc, Enable (GB) and Sea Of Class (Ire), go about their daily exercise.
They are just two of some 3,000 racehorses in the small Suffolk town and the thoroughbred numbers have been temporarily boosted by the arrival of around 500 yearlings for Book 1 of the October Yearling Sale, followed in the coming week by another 1,600 for Books 2, 3 and 4.
For the next three days the focus of the bloodstock industry will be on the most important—and certainly the most lucrative, horse per horse—sale of the year in Europe. As we saw at Goffs last week, being a full-sister to one of this season's Classic winners provides a smart entrée to the most elite of circles. Among the plethora of well-credentialed youngsters already in temporary residence at Park Paddocks is a sister to the St Leger winner Kew Gardens (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) (lot 298) consigned by the farm that produced the winners of both the English and Irish St Leger winners in the same weekend, David Nagle's Barronstown Stud. There's also a chance, come Thursday, to buy an Oasis Dream (GB) half-brother to Sea Of Class (404), one of five Group winners and seven black-type performers for her dam Holy Moon (Ire) (Hernando {Fr}).
Then there's the Galileo colt from Alluring Park (Ire) (Green Desert) (217), the Lodge Park Stud matriarch who has already produced both an Oaks winner, Was (Ire), by the same stallion and the sister, Al Namaah (Ire), who still holds the record for the most expensive yearling at Book 1, having sold to Al Shaqab Racing for 5 millions gns in 2013.
Five years on, with the bloodlines assembled and a host of updates to keep them fresh in the mind, it seems fair to believe that that figure could well be exceeded this week. For the last seven years in a row, turnover has increased significantly at this elite boutique, that number being just shy of 50 million gns in 2010 and pushing fractionally past 100 million gns last year. The fact that the second tally was accrued from exactly 100 fewer yearlings naturally means that both the average and median have shot up in that period, the former in the 2017 bonanza being a whopping 293,095gns. This may seem almost obscene set against the struggling lower tiers of the market but it is a sign that the 'sport of kings' remains very much a cherished pursuit for those with the capital to invest in the best pedigrees available.
They will find plenty to please them this week, and indeed, with the excitement of a weekend in Paris now consigned to memory, the sales grounds had a renewed buzz in the autumn sunshine on Monday.
Sheikh Hamdan was on patrol, with his brother Sheikh Mohammed appearing during the afternoon. An American contingent, which includes Chad Brown, Peter Brant, Sheila Rosenblum, Andrew Rosen and Reiley McDonald, is in town, along with a good smattering of Australasian agents, among them Guy Mulcaster, Brad Spicer, David O'Callaghan of Sun Bloodstock and John Camilleri, breeder of the mighty Winx (Aus).
As the dust settles on the Arc's return to Longchamp and a thrilling second victory for Enable, John Gosden and Frankie Dettori's previous winner of the race, Golden Horn (GB), is set to be represented by his first Book 1 yearlings. Last December in the same ring, six of his weanlings sold for an average of 203,333gns and we won't have to wait long to see how the Darley stallion is being received this week. Consecutive lots by him, 12 and 13, the former a half-brother to the Group 2 winners Bonfire (GB) (Manduro {Ger}) and Joviality (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) and the latter a half-sister to Hong Kong champion Pakistan Star (Ger) (Shamardal), will set the tone early. He has a further 16 to sell, including Le.Gi Stud's half-sister to last year's record-breaking 850,000gns Sea The Stars (Ire) colt (263), while Norelands Stud offers Golden Horn's Galileo half-brother as lot 371 on Thursday.
“He's been very well received and he's a typical Galileo in that he has an absolutely bombproof temperament. Like me, he thrives on eating, but unlike me he also thrives on exercise,” said Harry McCalmont of Norelands Stud who bought Golden Horn's dam Fleche d'Or (GB) (Dubai Destination) for 62,000gns from Hascombe & Valiant Studs in the year her future Derby and Arc winner was foaled.
Everyone involved in the racing world will be aware that, to a degree, such good fortune goes hand in hand with success, but in this week's exceptionally strong catalogue, Tattersalls won't have to rely merely on luck to ensure fortunes.
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