Tattersalls Braced for More Bumper Trade as Graduates Shine

NEWMARKET, UK–There has been no respite for the hardy consignors and their staff since last week's heady renewal of Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. No sooner had the hammer fallen on lot 549 than the next batch of yearlings came prancing onto the sales ground, ready for three days of inspections ahead of Book 2, which begins its three-day run from 10am on Monday.

This is the week that really requires stamina from all participants: three new books to complete the October sale by Saturday, with the numbers running on from last week, though to lot 2097, who should just make it through the ring before the gates fly back for the start of QIPCO British Champions Day.

With prices at an extraordinary high last week–a factor which will almost certainly mean that Book 2 is also stronger than usual–it is worth bearing in mind, for those on the search for juveniles for next year, that two years ago a first-crop daughter of Galileo Gold (GB) was plucked from Book 4 for just 4,000gns.

Bought from Kilpatrick Farm by Michael Aguiar, she found her way to George Boughey's stable and, given the name Oscula (Ire), she went on to race with huge success for the Nick Bradley Racing syndicate. And boy, hasn't she danced every dance? A winner in May, then a Group 3 winner by June, Oscula waltzed from the helter-skelters of Brighton and Epsom, to Royal Ascot, Newmarket, Deauville, Longchamp and Saint-Cloud. And that was just her 2-year-old season. This year she has added two more group wins, at Glorious Goodwood and Deauville, as well as notching umpteen stakes places here and there, not to mention a trip to Saudi Arabia in February. It is safe to say that Oscula is the type of filly we would all love to own–and all the better if we could find one just like her for 4,000gns.

Buyers will have to dig deeper than that through the next three days of Book 2, which by any standards is an elite sale in its own right. It owns the best bragging rights of all this year, having produced the Derby winner Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), not to mention the four-time Group 1 winner State Of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}). Breeder Gary Robinson of Strawberry Fields Stud withdrew Desert Crown's half-brother by Study Of Man (Ire) from Book 1 last week, but he will be offering another relative in Book 2 in lot 817, an Expert Eye (GB) colt out of the Derby winner's half-sister, the six-time winner Rose Berry (GB) (Archipenko).

The winning graduates have kept pouring in over the weekend for Tattersalls. Charyn (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) continued an excellent run for her owner Nurlan Bizakov in the G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte just six days after Belbek (Fr) (Showcasing {GB}) won the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere. Though Bizakov traditionally races homebreds, he bought Charyn from breeder Guy O'Callaghan's Grangemore Stud at Book 2 last year for 250,000gns. Her dam Futoon (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) has no yearling in the sale this year, but Grangemore's draft of five in Book 2 contains another Dark Angel filly [lot 919] who is the first foal of Listed Two-Year-Old Trophy winner Summer Daydream (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}).

At Newmarket, Fitri Hay's Book 2 graduate Royal Scotsman (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) came within a head of landing the G1 Darley Dewhurst S. when finishing second to Chaldean (GB) (Frankel {GB}). Over at the Curragh on Saturday, Joseph O'Brien's Lumiere Rock (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}) continued her smart progression. She too was sold in Book 2 last year, for 55,000gns to Rockfield Farm, and she has provided a timely update for consignor Castletown Stud, which offers her half-sister by Zoffany (Ire) as lot 1711 in Book 3. When the catalogue went to press, Lumiere Rock was still unraced. 

These are just the tip of the equine iceberg, of course, and an honourable mention must go to one of this season's most exciting juveniles, Lezoo (GB) (Zoustar {Aus}), who was plucked from the Chasemore Farm draft at last year's Book 3 for 77,000gns by Hamish Macauley.

In short, those labelled the 'cream of the crop' helped to provide Tattersalls with an historic rendition of Book 1 but, as ever, the classy runners of the next few seasons will emanate from all levels of the market. Bargain-hunters shouldn't be deterred; they may just have to wait a little longer than normal to strike this week.