'Statement Of Intent' Sees Amo Equal 2.5 Million Record For Chaldean's Sister

at 3:34 pm | Back to: Europe, Shared News Europe

Updated: November 29, 2024 at 5:10 pm

Alex Elliott and Kia Joorabchian | Tattersalls 

By Brian Sheerin and Emma Berry

NEWMARKET, UK — In an extraordinary session in which the turnover of 30,906,000gns was almost double this day of trade from 12 months ago, and included the five highest-priced foals sold in Europe this year, Amo Racing's Kia Joorabchian returned to the Tattersalls ring to once again head the buyers' list. In addition to his eye-watering outlay on yearlings in October, the football agent and increasingly prominent owner and breeder spent a total of 4,675,000gns on four weanlings. 

Heading this recent spending spree was the 2,500,000gns purchase of the sister to Classic winner Chaldean (GB), which was described by bloodstock agent Alex Elliott as “a real statement of intent”. Joorabchian's power-packed bidding display on Whitsbury Manor Stud's Frankel (GB) filly equalled the long-held record-high price set by Padua's Pride (Ire) (Caerleon), way back in 1997. 

It was going to take something special to match a record that has stood for nearly 30 years and, like Padua's Pride, who was a full-brother to a Classic winner in dual Derby winner Generous (Ire), lot 945 boasted a pedigree to die for.

Amo Racing's Book 1 spend reached close to 23 million gns, which is all well and good, according to Elliott, who said that Friday evening's spree laid down something of a gauntlet with regard to the operation's long-term plans.

“What is there to say? We gave 4.4 million gns for a Frankel filly out of a Group 2 winner [at Book 1] and we have bought a sister to a Classic winner for 2.5 million gns there. Her sister was a good race filly and she made 2.5 million gns here last year. I knew we had to be there and I think Kia has made a good move. It's a brave statement of intent. To come to the yearling sales and blow it up is one thing but to continue it into the foals is a real statement of intent. It's a really good sign moving forward. It's a long-term thing.”

While there is no denying that bidding a couple of million for a living, breathing creature is pretty serious business, Joorabchian is a man who has a lot of fun doing so. He can get pretty creative with his bidding, between phoning a friend for encouragement and deliberately late 100-grand nods, which is what he did to pry the top lot away from a similarly determined Paddy Twomey as underbidder. 

“I was willing him to do it,” Elliott reflected. “He had to make a phone call–a phone a friend, he said! I said, 'don't ask the audience, because they'll definitely tell you to bid!' But I was willing him along and am absolutely over the moon that we've got her. Listen, the mare is unbelievable, the farm is unbelievable and the sire is unbelievable. She is a lovely filly-great action. She put the head down, as Alastair Pim said. It's a long-term project and it's great to see. We've come a long way since early Ascot two-year-old races. The whole thing has developed and I'm delighted that Kia made that last bid.”

 

 

Suelita (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) just doesn't miss. Since she was acquired by Whitsbury Manor Stud for an inspired 21,500gns at the December Mares Sale here in 2013, not only has she produced the 2,000 Guineas winner in Chaldean (GB), but she is also responsible for the high-class Alkumait (GB) and a further three black-type performers, including Group 1-placed Get Ahead (GB) (Showcasing {GB}). That filly lit up the December Mares Sale 12 months ago when selling for 2.5 million gns to First Bloodstock (a partnership comprising Tony Bloom and Ian McAleavy). Current two-year-old Kassaya (GB) (Kingman {GB}), topped the foal sale of 2022 when bought by Juddmonte for 1,000,000gns.

Chris Harper, who bought Suelita 11 years ago, said, “It's extraordinary. She was the last mare I bought. I certainly didn't say 'this is going to be a superstar' when I bought her. This is just my sort, in other words, she was very pretty, not very big but a nice strong body with short legs, which I like. And the pedigree went back to an old mare I shared with Gerald Leigh – that didn't make all the difference but it was a small factor. I suppose I bought 10 mares that year and she was one of them. When you have a band of mares like ours, you're retiring and replacing, and she happened to be one of those. What a lucky chap I am. Unbelievable. I never ever thought that something like this would happen to someone like me.”

 

 

Harper, whose son Ed now runs Whitsbury Manor Stud, added, “I passed all the decision-making over to Ed around 12 years ago. He makes all the decisions but is kind enough to tell me what's going on! What he's done with it is brilliant. I worked it up from nothing and, in football terms, I never got out of the Championship, but he's got it into the Premiership, which I never did. And that's a real achievement.”

The sale of Chaldean's sister cemented Amo Racing's position at the head of the buyers' sheet for Friday. Along with the top lot and the Frankel colt out of Breeders' Cup winner Audarya (Fr) for 850,000gns, Amo Racing parted with the same sum for yet another Frankel filly, this time offered by Hazelwood Bloodstock. That filly hails from Listed winner Auria (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}).

 

Amo Racing's participation was doubtless significant, but Joorabchian and partners were just one of seven buying entities to spend at least a million gns at the sale so far. The figures for this session are in the starkest contrast to an opening day which must have been so demoralising for a number of breeders. Not so on Friday. In what is traditionally the sale's high point, the average soared by 66% to 159,309gns and the median climbed 41% to 87,500gns. With a clearance rate of 90%, the 194 foals sold lifted the aggregate by 72% to 30,906,000gns.

 

Just Like A Prayer, Madonna Blesses Swinburns Again 

On Tuesday morning not many consignors were showing their Friday foals. One of the few exceptions was the Swinburn family's Genesis Green Stud.

“I'll show you them all,” said Michael Swinburn to pinhooker Liam Norris. “The difference is these are my foals. I want people to see them.”

It is a safe bet that those who made the trip down to the Genesis Green boxes at Highflyer Paddock K were not disappointed with what they saw. Within a matter of minutes on Friday evening the top three – on paper at least – passed through the ring as consecutive lots to sell for a total of 2,330,000gns. The first and last of that trio were from the same family, and it is one which topped this sale in 2021 when the Dubawi (Ire) colt out of Madonna Dell'Orto (GB) (Montjeu {Ire}) sold for 1,800,000gns.

This time around it was Madonna Dell'Orto's jaunty filly by Dubawi's son Too Darn Hot (GB) who got the ball rolling when selling to Yulong for 480,000gns. Next came the Frankel colt out of the dual Group 1 winner Audarya (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}), bred by Alison Swinburn, and sold to Amo Racing for 850,000gns. Finally, a cracking first foal out of Madonna Dell'Orto's daughter Angel's Point (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) was the first to reach the seven-figure mark when bringing the hammer down in favour of MV Magnier at 1,000,000gns.

Michael Swinburn wears his heart on his sleeve, and there is extra emotion tied up with the family of Madonna Dell'Orto, who was bought by his late brother, the legendary jockey, Walter, who trained the mare to race six times in the colours of his parents Wally and Doreen. 

“On the way in today I just called in to the church and said, 'Would you ever help us out today?'” said Michael. Someone was clearly listening.

Though winless on the track, Madonna Dell'Orto has been the source of much success for the Swinburns in the ring and, among her five winners, is the Group 2 winner I Can Fly (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), who has in turn produced this season's G1 Fillies' Mile runner-up January (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) for Coolmore.

After striding across the lower sale paddock to compose his thoughts, a tearful Swinburn returned to congratulations and said, “Ever since the day Walter bought [Madonna Dell'Orto] she's just been unbelievable. 

“Andrew Balding trained the dam [of the Sea The Stars colt] and when she ran she was a bit disappointing to say the least on her first run, and I said to Andrew, 'Are we in trouble with Angel's Point?' He said, 'She's talented but she's just a minx.'

“It's just a family which keeps producing really. They're good walkers, there are plenty of winners. 

“I Can Fly has a Dubawi coming along, a Frankel coming along, and she went to Justify this year. Madonna is in foal to Sea The Stars, Angel's Point is in foal to Study Of Man, and we still own Ceriola, the Fastnet Rock filly, so hopefully she can come up and do something for us. What can you say about a family like that?”

Swinburn added of the Frankel colt, “You wouldn't have known he was on the farm. He was never in his box down there [at Tattersalls]. Everyone thought he was going to be the big horse but I always had my eye on the Sea The Stars. I said to Pat Downes, 'How about going to the foal sale?' He was a belter, but they weren't very keen on it, but I thought 'strike while the iron's hot'. You never know what next year brings.”

He continued, “But to go back to the Frankel horse, he was born straight, reared straight, never sick a day in his life. When they came to film for Tatts, they had the camera up in his face but he didn't give two hoots.

“He's a horse that I think will just get better and better because, if you saw him a month ago, he was a little bit of a shell of a horse. But he's done really well in prep, strengthened up, and he's only going to go in one direction, so I think that Kia has been really lucky there.

“The nice thing is that all the ones we've sold are off the farm and that's great for my team.”

MV Magnier, who signed for two foals on the day, said, “We've been lucky with Sea The Stars with The Lion In Winter. Unfortunately, things didn't go right with him later on in the season. But Michael Swinburn has always been very lucky with this family going back to Landseer (GB). He was a very good horse for us and I Can Fly was a special filly and has a lot of potential. I Can Fly could end up being a very important broodmare. I am very happy for the Swinburns and this is a great result for them. They have been great supporters of ours. Listen, it's a lot of money to pay for a foal but Sea The Stars is a very good stallion and Dark Angel is a very good broodmare sire. The sale has been incredible. The one thing we can take out of this is that we put our stallion fees way too low!”

 

 

Owner-Breeders Zero In On West Blagdon Draft

West Blagdon Stud's draft is routinely one of the highlights of the December Foal Sale and this year's consignment was no exception.

Coolmore and Godolphin signed for the top pair – a filly by Frankel (GB) and a Camelot (GB) colt at 800,000gns and 650,000gns respectively. All eight foals offered were sold, for a total of 2,080,000gns.

“She is out of a Pivotal mare who has crossed well with Frankel,” said MV Magnier after outbidding Simon Mockridge of Juddmonte for lot 897, the half-sister to G3 Prix de Lieurey winner Cloudy Dawn (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) and listed winner Iromea (Ire) (Dansili {GB}), all offspring of the Pivotal (GB) mare In The Mist (GB). Now 18, she was bought by Wigan in this same sale back in 2006 from the Britton House Stud dispersal for 110,000gns and went on to win three times in France for Wigan and George Strawbridge.

“James and Anita Wigan, they have been incredible supporters of ours for a long time,” added Magnier. “They are very good breeders who have raised a lot of good horses in the past.”

 

 

The family was back in the spotlight only moments later when Cloudy Dawn's second foal, a filly from the first crop of Baaeed (GB), was bought by Yulong Investments, who have been signing this week under the name of their Suffolk-based farm Willingham, for 260,000gns. From seven foals sold on the day, Baaeed's average for the sale was 240,000gns, with buyers including Katsumi Yoshida and Yeomanstown Stud.

Bidding on Godolphin's behalf Anthony Stroud signed for lot 894, the Camelot first foal of the dual winner Queenlet (Ire) (Kingman {GB}). The colt's fourth dam is the influential Cassandra Go (Ire), whose descendants include the Group 1 winners Halfway To Heaven (Ire), Magical (Ire), Rhododendron (Ire) and Auguste Rodin (Ire).

“Camelot has had a great year and I think this foal will add to our crop of homebreds,” Stroud said. “You've really got to pay for the ones you want and he was the one foal today that we really zeroed in on.”

 

 

More Success for Hunscote Stud and Norris Bloodstock 

The Frankel half-sister to Group 3 winner Ville De Grace (GB) (Le Havre {Ire}) produced yet another good result at the December Sale for the team of consignor Norris Bloodstock and breeder Stephen Smith's Hunscote Stud. Sold as lot 925, the filly out of the Arch mare Archangel Gabriel brought a final bid of 700,000gns from American owner Pearly Fallon of Hampstead Holdings, sitting with agent Amanda Skiffington. 

“It was love at first sight when I saw her today,” said Fallon. “She was the first horse that I looked at today and I thought she was probably the best.

“We have approximately ten horses but she'll have to be in a special spot because she's pretty special, but I'm not sure where that will be. We have horses with Ed Bethell and Mr Haggas will be getting one shortly, as will Mr Fanshawe and Mrs Harrington. She's a perfect fit. I love Frankel.” 

Jenny Norris, who also sold Ville De Grace for Hunscote Stud and partner Chris Humber two years ago for 2,000,000gns, said, “The mare has this amazing ability to produce beautiful stock and they all love their job. This filly has been a pleasure to deal with and I am delighted for Hunscote Stud.”

 

 

Wallsgrove's Inside Track on Blackbeard Pays Dividends

Whirly Dancer (GB) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) has been a star for breeder Joyce Wallsgrove, who bought the half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner Poet's Word (Ire) (Poet's Voice {GB}) as a five-year-old at the February Sale of 2012 for 9,500gns. A few years later she produced Beckford (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}), winner of the G2 Railway Stakes and placed several times at the highest level for Newtown Anner Stud, where he now stands. 

Beckford's weanling half-brother from the first crop of  Blackbeard (Ire) was one of the early standouts of the Friday session, ultimately selling for 155,000gns to Paddy Fleming as Wallsgrove's smile grew wider with every turn of the ring he made. 

Consigned by Brook Stud, where Wallsgrove keeps both Whirly Dancer and her daughter Poet's Dance (GB) (Poet's Voice {GB}), the colt was catalogued as lot 793 and is also from the family of Group 3 winner Malabar (GB) (Raven's Pass) and her multiple group-winning son Tiber Flow (Ire) (Caravaggio).

Wallsgrove has a unique perspective when it comes to stallion selection as she is the stables manager at Newmarket Racecourses, meaning that she has the opportunity to see many of the potential future stars of the breeding sheds at close quarters during their racing days. 

“I said to Dwayne [Woods, Brook Stud] that I am going to bite the bullet and send her to Ireland,” explained Wallsgrove of her decision to send Whirly Dancer to the G1 Middle Park Stakes winner Blackbeard. “I work for Newmarket Racecourses and I had seen him there. I really liked him then and he stuck in my mind.”

She continued, “This chap is a lot like [Beckford], they have got the same temperament, they grow up very quickly and, once they understand what you want them to do, they take to it very quickly – I suppose they are quite precocious. I thought if I could get 100,000gns I would be happy, but he sold himself.” 

Talking Points

Japanese buyers may be better associated with spending big at the Sceptre Sessions but one interesting dynamic to have developed at Tattersalls in recent years is the spending from that region in the foal section and Katsumi Yoshida was one of the more interesting names to feature on the buyers' sheet on Friday. It was Shingo Hashimoto who landed lot 853, a Baaeed colt out of winning Galileo (Ire) mare Tranquil Star (Ire), who got the job done on behalf of the leading Japanese owner and breeder for 280,000gns. “We liked his conformation – he is a very strong and good-looking colt,” Hashimoto said. “We will take him back to Japan and we are really excited because Baaeed was such a great racehorse.” The Baaeed colt was sold by Genesis Green Stud.

Speaking of Japanese buyers, Paca Paca Farm's Harry Sweeney has been noticeably strong at Tattersalls this week, signing for 14 foals for 1,680,000 gns. His Friday spend was headed by a 220,000gns Wootton Bassett (GB) colt from Ringfort Stud. Sweeney also went to 215,000gns for a Havana Grey (GB) filly from Whitsbury Manor Stud. 

Mostly bidding online, Yulong's Yuesheng Zhang spent 3,038,000gns on 12 foals, headed by Castletown Stud's Lope De Vega (Ire) filly at 650,000gns. That spend, along with the massive flex from Amo, strong spend from owner-breeders Coolmore, Juddmonte and Godolphin, reminded that end users continue to dominate at the top end of the market even at the foal sales. 

This has been something of a breakout year for young bloodstock agent Henry Lascelles, who raised the temperature of the sale in the early part of the evening when going to 580,000gns to secure Awbeg Stud's Wootton Bassett (GB) filly from the family of Group 1 performer The Summit (Fr). Lascelles, who was standing alongside Lady Bamford's stud manager Chris Lock on the stairs opposite the rostrum, commented, “We loved her. She is a beautiful mover, has a big square hip, the yearling full-brother I believe is going to Ballydoyle and the Sergei Prokofiev two-year-old finished second in an October maiden and has been sold to the US, so there is a bit happening on the page.” He added, “I hope she will turn into a lovely two-year-old. It was a bit more than we were planning on spending, but there are a lot of end users buying today. She will go to the farm from here and has been bought as a racing prospect.”

 

 

Philip Stauffenberg played a leading role as a buyer on Friday – and even opened up the top lot at 1 million gns – but also enjoyed a memorable sale with a Sea The Stars colt that was knocked down to Juddmonte for 700,000gns. Offered by The Castlebridge Consignment and bred by Stauffenberg with his wife Marion, the Sea The Stars colt is a three-parts-brother to the Classic winner Fantastic Moon (Ger) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) out of broodmare Frangipani (Ger) (Jukebox Jury {Ire}). The latter will be offered at the Sceptre Sessions next week. Stauffenberg commented, “For Juddmonte to buy this foal, it's an honour for us. He's going to a very good home and we're very happy about that. Lovely colt – really straightforward. That's the first horse they have bought from us as breeders. It's fantastic. The mare is in foal and is carrying a full-sibling to Fantastic Moon.”

 

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