NEWMARKET, UK — “Get in there!” There's nothing like a bit of football chanting from the terraces of Tattersalls to wake up a slumbering press bench at the end of a long day, and there is no better man for that job than the irrepressible Clive Washbourn.
“Two hundred, show us your money,” yelled the owner and breeder as Lynn Lodge Stud's colt by Pinatubo (Ire) circled in the ring below him.
“Have you anything to say on the back wall?” enquired auctioneer Simon Kerins of Anthony Stroud, who had also been in the fray, but no answer came the stern reply, and the chestnut (Lot 182) was hammered down to Washbourn to his delighted cry of “I love Tatts, it's theatre!”
Compared to the ducking and diving of certain bidders, Washbourn is a breath of fresh air, and his style is certainly unconventional. He jumped up the price for the colt from Richard Hannon's final bid of 170,000gns straight to 200,000gns, much to the bemusement and/or amusement of those gathered in the gangway to watch his progression. Washbourn then delighted in telling the gathered press corps how he is going to “smash Coolmore up the Ascot straight. Boof, boof, boof!”
Bred by Michael O'Leary of Gigginstown House Stud, the son of the Dubawi (Ire) mare Narak (GB), who is a daughter of Group 1 winner Chachamaidee (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}), had been withdrawn from October Book 1 but returned here to steal the show in a manner which those present will be unlikely to forget in a hurry.
Washbourn continued, “This particular sale is amazing value for money, because occasionally you get Book 1 rejects and the most important thing is understanding why they have been rejected.
“These Pinatubos look like middle-weight fighters and this thing will be smashing Coolmore up the Ascot straight. I thought I might not be able to get him because Laura, my lovely girlfriend, was supposed to be keeping me under control, but I lost the plot and bought a Mohaather.”
Washbourn, whose horses are trained at Coombelands in Sussex by David Menuisier, enjoyed notable success with the G2 York S. winner Thundering Blue (Exchange Rate), and this year he has been represented by his homebred Caius Chorister (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}), who won last month's G3 Prix Belle de Nuit, and G1 Kameko Futurity Trophy runner-up Devil's Point (Ire) (New Bay {GB}).
He said, “I'm a small, insignificant owner who has had seven or eight group winners. I have a brilliant pedigree man, and I then have my own rules, and I have a brilliant trainer. Physically, this colt was for us a four-star rating. He's as near to Thundering Blue as we've ever had, so that was it, number one target.”
He added, “I think I probably overpaid. I had a rush of blood. I've probably been a complete idiot but I wanted this horse.
“If anyone is ever going to train a Group 1 winner for me, it's David. I love David, he's a real horseman. What a finish he's had to the season, with Caius, and Devil's and [Group 1 winner] Sunway.”
Final Stop, Tattersalls
This was the last stop on the yearling sales circuit for 2023 and, along with the lively finale provided by Mr Washbourn, the sale added a little footnote to bloodstock history with the offering of the final yearling by Galileo (Ire) at public auction.
Lot 171, bred by Coolmore and consigned by Castlebridge, caught the attention of many but the duo that is taking him home is known professionally as Glending Stables and more personally as Roderic Kavanagh and Cormac O'Flynn.
“He looks like a fast Galileo. Physically he's very nice and hopefully he gallops the way he walks because he's a great mover,” said Kavanagh after signing the ticket for the son of Listed winner Manderley (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}) at 125,000gns.
“We've a similar number [of breezers] for next year and we waited all day for him. We'll get to work now.”
Manderley was trained by Richard Hannon to finish fourth in the 1,000 Guineas, and the sister to Group 2 winner Gregorian (Ire) is also the dam of last season's Listed Prix de la Seine winner Hidden Dimples (Ire) (Frankel {GB}).
A record number of six-figure lots for the December Yearling Sale — 13 in total — led to a record average of 37,330gns, which was up by 8% on last year's trade. Turnover was also up, by 6%, to 4,778,200gns, and the median dropped by 9% to 20,000gns. At 79%, the clearance rate was also down slightly on last year.
Big Evs Team Strikes for Mohaather Colt
RP Racing, which has had an extraordinary season on the racetrack thanks to the outstanding GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint and G2 Flying Childers winner Big Evs (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}), signed up another recruit by a freshman stallion when going to 175,000gns for Ringfort Stud's colt by Mohaather (GB).
Lot 150 is not only from the first crop of the Shadwell stallion but is also the first foal for his dam, the Listed-placed Jm Jackson (Ire) (No Nay Never), herself out of a half-sister to the stallion Trans Island (GB).
Conor Quirke, who had bought Big Evs privately for RP Racing in the spring, outbid Anthony Stroud to secure the colt, who was bred in partnership by Ringfort Stud and The Ladies.
Quirke said, “He is out of a fast two-year-old, there was a lot of No Nay Never about him, and hopefully he will be fast. I think he will be sharp, the stock by the stallion look to be the business.”
Reflecting on a season in which Big Evs won four stakes races from just six starts, he added, “Hopefully he is not a horse of a lifetime and we can find the next one. To have come off the ropes in the Nunthorpe and deliver two of his best performances leaves us very excited for next year. Fair play to the owners, they are restocking and getting stuck in for next year. I am very grateful for the opportunity. Hopefully these horses can deliver on the track.”
For the same connections Quirke also went to 65,000gns for a strong colt by Coulsty (Ire) from Drumachon Stud.
Another Beau for Fabre
Breeder Lord Margadale has enjoyed plenty of success already with the 12-year-old mare Frangipanni (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) and the sale of her Showcasing (GB) colt for 170,000gns helped to brighten an otherwise gloomy day considerably.
Twice a winner for Lady Rothschild, Frangipanni, a daughter of the G1 July Cup winner Frizzante (GB) (Efisio {GB}), was bought for the Lord Margadale by Anthony Stroud at the July Sale of 2014, and it was Stroud who returned to buy her yearling for an undisclosed client. Last year, the mare's Dubawi colt had been one of the highlights of October Book 1 when sold for 1 million gns to John Dance's Manor House Farm. Frangipanni's first foal, Tropbeau (GB), is also by Showcasing and won the G2 Prix du Calvados among her three group wins for Andre Fabre, as well as finishing runner-up in the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest. Another of her offspring, Toussarok (GB) (Iffraaj {GB}), won six of his 44 starts for Mark Johnston.
“[The family] has been very good to us. We're over the moon, but if he'd been a filly he wouldn't be here,” said Lord Margadale. “The only filly she has ever had is Tropbeau.
“[The yearling] has always been a lovely horse from the word go, and it's great that the mare has produced another really lovely horse by Showcasing. He's a little bit smaller than Tropbeau but slightly sharper looking.”
Frangipanni's colt foal by Zoustar (Aus) is catalogued as lot 773 in Friday's sale and is also consigned by Folland-Bowen Bloodstock, the operation run by Natalie Folland and Matt Bowen and based at Lord Margadale's Fonthill Stud in Wiltshire.
He added of the 12-year-old mare, “She is having a year out but she is going back to another Whitsbury Manor Stud stallion next year, Havana Grey, because pace is really her thing.”
Stroud confirmed that the Showcasing colt would follow his elder sister, a graduate of the Arqana Breeze-up Sale, to Andre Fabre's Chantilly stable.
Lord Margadale added, “Hopefully he'll have fun with him and this time round he'll have him from the word go because he won't have breezed.
“People told me that he was one of the two nicest horses in the sale, but I wouldn't know, and obviously he was going to be the apple of my eye. I was hoping he might make around about the 150-mark. Last year when we sold the half-brother by Dubawi he stuck at around 140 for about three minutes, and I was thinking 'Oh Jesus.'
“Unfortunately, because he was bought by John Dance, we don't really know what has happened to him, which is worrying, but I am told that he's a nice horse and that he's grown a bit, so he may not have run this year anyway.”
Sea The Stars Trio in Top Ten
The December yearling catalogue always includes a number of well-bred horses who have missed earlier engagements for a variety of reasons. That was true of the Sea The Stars (Ire) colt offered early in the session as Lot 9 by WH Bloodstock. Bred by The Lavington Stud, the son of Listed winner Pirouette (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) was withdrawn from October Book 2 but this time around sold for 150,000gns to trainer James Tate on behalf of Rabbah Bloodstock.
Eddie O'Leary's Lynn Lodge Stud draft was another to offer a colt by the Aga Khan Studs stallion, and Lot 95, from the family of Classic-winning fillies Minding (Ire), Tuesday (Ire) and Empress Josephine (Ire), will be heading into training for Simon Taplin. The owner of Norman Court Stud in Wiltshire bid 120,000gns for the colt out of Contemptuous (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), an unraced sister to the G1 Coronation S. winner Lillie Langtry (Ire).
“I usually buy fillies, but we have had a good year and we are looking to get the stud further forward and he took my eye yesterday,” Taplin said. “My trainers are going to be fighting over him.”
Those trainers include Jack Channon, Clive Cox and Eve Johnson-Houghton, with the latter being the trainer of the juvenile Mister Sketch (GB) (Territories {Ire}), who was bred by Taplin and sold privately to Wathnan Racing after winning a novice contest at Salisbury in August. He was subsequently second in the G2 Mill Reef S. for his new owner.
Taplin added of his latest purchase, “It would be the dream to have him become a stallion but he hasn't been bought with that in mind, we just want to run him and see what happens and have some fun. We do have Sixties Icon and Rumble Inthejungle on the farm; Sixties is 20 now and will cover next spring.”
Dutch-based Agrolexica International Trading was the day's leading purchaser with three yearlings bought for 370,000gns, including Mount Coote Stud's Sea The Stars filly from the family of Lope De Vega (Ire) for 135,000gns.
The action at Tattersalls now switches to foals and, judging by the number of hardy folk out viewing foals in almost ceaseless rain on Monday, the four sessions, which take place on Tuesday and Wednesday then Friday and Saturday, should be lively in the build-up to next week's mares sale.
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