BADEN-BADEN, Germany—The world in 2020 is vastly different to the one we knew 12 months ago but a familiar theme was revisited with one moment of déjà vu in the ring at BBAG on Friday as a daughter of Sea The Stars (Ire) out of a Monsun (Ger) mare sold for a sale record-equalling €820,000.
In 2019, it was Matt Coleman who signed for the top lot on behalf of Godolphin, this time around the day's prize offering, a full-sister to 11-length Deutsches Derby winner Sea The Moon (Ger), will remain in German ownership, having been sold by her breeders Heike Bischoff and Niko Lafrentz of Gestut Gorlsdorf to Dietrich Von Boetticher's Gestut Ammerland.
Named Sea The Sky (Ger), the filly, offered as lot 61, is a daughter of no ordinary Monsun mare. Her dam Sanwa (Ger) has already produced a Classic winner who is now a much sought-after young stallion and is herself a full-sister to the German Classic-winning trio of Samum (Ger), Schiaparelli (Ger) and Salve Regina (Ger). The restrictions placed on so many businesses by the global pandemic mean that sales houses have had to restrict the number of people allowed into the ring but a bidding battle ensued between opponents in different locations, with Jorgen Albrecht signalling his intent to the bid spotter outside, while Dominique Rauch of Gestut Ammerland conducted the bidding on behalf of Von Boetticher from inside the ring.
“She's a very nice model with a high-class pedigree,” said Rauch after coming out best in pursuit of the filly. “She'll come back to Ammerland to be broken in and will then go into training with either Andre Fabre or John Gosden.”
This most recent acquisition is clearly already a well-credentialed broodmare prospect, whatever lies in her immediate future on the track. Eventually, she will join the Bavarian farm with a breeding hall of fame which includes dual Classic winner Lope De Vega (Ire) and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Hurricane Run (Ire), and Ammerland was also co-breeder of the most recent Arc winner, Waldgeist (GB).
For the breeder of such a filly, it must surely be a difficult decision to sell, but Bischoff and Lafrentz have not only Sea The Moon's 3-year-old Golden Horn (GB) half-sister Sea The Gold (Ger) to be retired to their broodmare band eventually, but also the knowledge that Sanwa is presently carrying a filly by Frankel (GB).
Reflecting on a positive day at the sales for their farm in a difficult year, Bischoff said with a smile, “We are over the moon. For us, as normal breeders, to be able to compete with the big boys is really special. It is wonderful for us to see how popular Sea The Moon has become around the world.”
With his sister at the head of the leader-board, Sea The Moon also provided the top-priced colt of the day, another bred at Gorlsdorf and out of the G3 Prix Chloe winner Wunder (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}). The purchase of lot 162 by Shaikh Duaij Al Khalifa represents a branching out by the owner of five-time group-winning sprinter A'Ali (Ire) (Society Rock {Ire}).
“This was Anthony Stroud's pick of the sale but he had to leave earlier to get to Arqana so I bid for him,” said Stroud's partner Matt Coleman, who confirmed that the colt will be trained in Newmarket alongside A'Ali at Simon Crisford's stable. “Anthony bought a number of horses for Shaikh Duaij at the breeze-up sales but he is also keen to buy some middle-distance types at the yearling sales.”
Niko Lafrentz added, “Sea The Moon is standing at the best place at Lanwades. When he retired and we sold part of him, with that money we made a five-year plan to support him with good mares and by putting horses in training. It's a fairytale really.”
For the team at Gorlsdorf, however, the result was bittersweet as Wunder lost her life to colic just weeks after giving birth to this colt, her first foal.
The appearance of Sea The Sky relatively early in proceedings was the highlight of a sale that had made impressive advances last year when buyers from Australia and Hong Kong were present and active. In 2019, 21 horses achieved six-figure prices. This time around only nine reached that level but, as trade picked up late in the afternoon, the overall figures did so accordingly, though they still pulled up short of last year. This is to be expected throughout the yearling sales this season and, when the year ends, a downturn of 21% in the turnover of €6,465,500, along with an average of €41,446 (-26%) and median of €39,000 (-29%) may not look so bad. After all, as Ronald Rauscher said on Thursday, in this strange year, we are perhaps fortunate that bloodstock sales are taking place at all.
Stars Aligned
If recent trends are anything to go by, in order to stand out as a vendor at BBAG, you need to bring a Sea The Stars filly with you. The Aga Khan Studs stallion provided the co-top lot in 2018—subsequent Classic winner Miss Yoda (Ire)—and last year his daughters were two of the top four lots, including the record-breaker. This time around, the day's top two were also Sea The Stars fillies, and it was Alex Elliott who signed for the second of them (lot 173), who was consigned by Jamie Railton and is the first foal of the G2 T von Kastrow Stutenpreis winner Ashiana (Ger) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}). Elliott was not at liberty to name the new owner of the filly, confirming only that she was bought, at €380,000, for an existing UK client.
Ashiana, a half-sister to German 3-year-old champion Ashrun (Ger) (Authorized {Ire}), had herself passed through the same ring five years ago when she sold to Eckhard Sauren for €46,000 and she has now given the owner-breeder a handsome return on that investment, both on the racecourse and in the sales ring.
Viva Vega
On paper, the standout of the Gestut Rottgen draft was the Dubawi (Ire) half-sister to Deutsches Derby winners Windstoss (Ger) (Shirocco {Ger}) and Weltstar (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}). But she was bought in for €70,000 and was eclipsed by the Lope De Vega (Ire) filly by the name of Delida (Ger) (lot 183), who was the pick, at €270,000, of Laurent Benoit of Broadhurst Agency. The agent was unable to shed much light on the filly's new owner, except to say she will be trained in France. On a delayed Kentucky Derby weekend, it is pleasing to report that she hails from the excellent German family which produced Animal Kingdom (Lesroidesanimaux {BRZ}), her dam being the listed winner Diatribe (GB) (Tertullian).
Ballylinch Stud's Lope De Vega, who continues on his determined upward curve and recorded a new TDN Rising Star on Friday with the first-time-out victory at Ascot of Godolphin's La Barrossa (Ire), was also to the fore at BBAG via lot 49, a filly out of the listed winner Promesse De L'Aube (Fr) (Galileo {Ire}). Sold for €110,000 through Ronald Rauscher, she was bought by Gregor Baum of Gestut Brummerhof, who outbid Matt Coleman at €110,000 for the half-sister to two winners and grand-daughter of former champion 2-year-old filly in Germany, White Rose (Ger) (Platini {Ger}).
Rauscher also sold one of the leading colts of the sale, from the second crop of Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist (Ger) (lot 45), who will race for Hans-Gerd Wernicke's Stall Salzburg after the owner went to €85,000. Out of the listed-winning 8-year-old mare Peace Society (Iffraaj {GB}), the colt's 3-year-old half-sister Pleasant Company (Ger) (Siyouni {Fr}) won earlier this year for her breeder Dr Christoph Berglar, who also bred Protectionist.
Benoit's fellow French agent Ghislain Bozo stepped in for lot 180, a Fastnet Rock (Aus) half-sister to Japanese listed winner Vachement (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) out of the French Group 3 winner Daksha (Fr) (Authorized {Ire}, at €200,000. In a busy late afternoon spell, David Redvers soon entered the fray for lot 187, another Fastnet Rock (Aus) filly, this one out of the Group 3 winner Felicity (Ger) (Inchinor {Ire}). Redvers has been successful at this sale in the recent past and bought the listed winner Run Wild (Ger) (Amaron {GB}) here two years ago on behalf of the same syndicate which will race this filly, who was bought for €160,000 from Gestut Haus Itlingen, A half-sister to five multiple winners, her best-credentialed siblings are the champion miler Felician (Ger) (Motivator {GB}) and listed winner Fly First (Ger) (Big Shuffle).
New Bay A New Boy To Follow
Former trainer-turned-agent Andreas Lowe returned to a family he knows well when going to €155,000 for a chestnut son of promising first-season sire New Bay (GB). Bred by Gestut Etzean, the farm responsible for this year's G1 Press der Diana and BBAG graduate Miss Yoda (Ger), the colt is out of Strawberry (Ger) (Lord Of England {Ger}), a sister to listed Steher Cup winner San Salvador (Ger) and three-parts-sister to G1 Grosser Preis Von Berlin winner Sirius (Ger) (Dashing Blade {GB}), both of whom were trained by Lowe.
“He has been bought for Gerd Mosca of Gestut Winterhauch and will go back to the stud before going into training,” said Lowe of the colt (lot 150) already named Sea Bay (Ger) and who had attracted interest from fellow bidders Matt Coleman and Jeremy Brummitt.
Gestut Winterhauch will also welcome a colt from the first crop of Haras de Bouquetot's Zelzal (Fr) (lot 31) out of the unraced Samum (Ger) mare Elision (Ger) and from the family of fellow Normandy-based freshman sire Ultra (Fr). He was selected from the Gestut Eulenberger Hof draft for €19,000.
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