Cover image courtesy of Laura Green/ Tattersalls
At A Glance
Day 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale realised a total turnover of 18,618,000gns (AU$34.2 million), with 209 yearlings sold and a clearance rate of 86 per cent.
The average of 89,081gns (AU$163,600) was down marginally from the previous year's 89,318gns (AU$164,100).
The median also dropped slightly to 65,000gns (AU$119,400), down seven per cent on equivalent figures in 2021.
Monday's top lot was Lot 570, a colt by Sea The Stars (Ire) that made 800,000gns (AU$1.47 million) when bought by bloodstock agent Anthony Stroud. He will be trained by John and Thady Gosden and was the only horse in the sale for vendor Windmill Racing.
The day's other leading lights were Lot 787, a Frankel (GB) colt that sold for 700,000gns (AU$1.3 million), and Lot 735, a colt by Sea The Moon (Ger) that sold for 410,000gns (AU$759,000).
Sea The Stars gets the top lot
Dubawi (Ire) and Frankel (GB) may occupy the top two spots in the sires' table, but not far behind them, and with Baaeed (GB) still to be unleashed on Champions Day, Sea The Stars (Ire) had his own moment in the spotlight at Tattersalls as the sire of the 800,000gns (AU$1.47 million) top lot.
A Book 2 record was set in 2019 when the million-guinea barrier was breached for the first time, but Monday's leading light, who was sold less than an hour after the start of trade, was still a long way in excess of last year's top price of 525,000gns (AU$965,000).
A Book 2 record was set in 2019 when the million-guinea barrier was breached for the first time, but Monday's leading light ... was still a long way in excess of last year's top price of 525,000gns (AU$965,000).
The only horse in the sale to be offered by Fiona Marner of Windmill Farm, the colt (Lot 570) was bred under a foal-share agreement by the Kitcarina Partnership and Sunderland Holdings.
The partnership takes its name from the 7-year-old mare Kitcarina (Fr) (Shamardal {USA}), a winner at Kempton for Windmill Racing on her first start after she was bought as a 3-year-old from Haras de Saint Pair.
The mare's full-sister, Kitcara (GB) (Shamardal {USA}), has already produced the treble Group 3 winner Al Aasy (Ire) and the Listed-placed Sea Karats (Ire) from matings with Sea The Stars, and further encouragement can be drawn from a pedigree laced with plenty of German black type and containing the stallions Konigstiger (Ger) and Pentire (GB).
Lot 570 - Sea The Stars (Ire) x Kitcarina (Fr) (colt) | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
Anthony Stroud, in action for other clients along with Godolphin on Monday, confirmed that the colt will enter training with John and Thady Gosden.
“Since her purchase the pedigree has just really developed,” said Fiona Marner, who also divulged that Kitcarina is back in foal to Sea The Stars. “This colt has been so special all along, though I'm not sure we realised he was that nice.
“It is such a team effort. We are just a tiny farm, we only have five young mares. This mare is owned with two very longstanding and loyal partners, Derek James, who is in America, and Peter Wollaston.”
“This colt (Lot 570) has been so special all along, though I'm not sure we realised he was that nice.” - Fiona Marner
As the buyers' bench broadened to include plenty of people who tried and came up short for yearlings from last week's bumper Book 1, the figures recorded during the first of three Book 2 sessions were almost identical to those set last year.
Garnering overall turnover of 18,618,000gns (AU$34.2 million) from the sale of 209 yearlings (86 per cent), the average of 89,081gns (AU$163,700) was marginally down from 89,318gns (AU$164,100), while the median dropped slightly to 65,000gns (AU$119,400) (down seven per cent).
Fiona Marner | Image courtesy of Laura Green/ Tattersalls
Second best-selling for Frankel
The cross that has already produced the Classic winners Adayar (Ire) and Homeless Songs (Ire), and which contains the magic names of Frankel and Dubawi, was seen in effect with the day's second-top lot (Lot 787), sold by Genesis Green Stud on behalf of Rabbah Bloodstock.
Will Douglass made an attempt from the back stairs, but he had to settle for the role of underbidder as the son of Frankel was knocked down at 700,000gns (AU$1.3 million) to an online buyer which later transpired to be Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland.
Lot 787 - Frankel (GB) x Qaws (GB) (colt) | Image courtesy of Laura Green/ Tattersalls
The chestnut, out of the Dubawi half-sister to the Listed winner Hadaatha (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), was originally intended for Book 1 until the decision was taken to delay his sales appearance.
“He was a big horse and he was always a tall and narrow horse, but with prep he hasn't grown at all but he's filled out. He's turned into a Dubawi, basically, with a Frankel walk,” said Genesis Green's Michael Swinburn. “And obviously it's a cross that has done so well with a number of Group 1 winners.”
Sea The Moon on the board
A colt by Sea The Moon (Ger) out of Pearly Spirit (Fr) had been a bold pinhook at 110,000gns (AU$202,000) last year but, as the auctioneers like to say, he ‘walked into money’ as he prowled around the ring at Tattersalls, attracting bids from Anthony Stroud, Joseph O'Brien, Karl Burke and finally, at 410,000gns (AU$759,000), from Michel Zerolo.
Lot 735 - Sea The Moon (Ger) x Pearly Spirit (Fr) (colt) | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
Sitting in the seats with Jean-Claude Rouget, who will train the colt, Zerolo confirmed that he will race in the colours of Peter Brant's White Birch Farm, which were seen in Grade 1-winning action over the weekend aboard Tattersalls graduate In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Rougir (Fr) (Territories {Ire}).
They were also carried by the Rouget-trained Prix du Jockey Club and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Sottsass (Fr).
“He's got a fine page and it's a pedigree we know well in France,” said Zerolo of the colt, whose unraced dam is a full sister to recent G1 Matron S. winner Pearls Galore (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}).
“He comes from a very good family developed by Mr Putsch, and Sea The Moon is most definitely a serious stallion.”
“He (Lot 735) comes from a very good family developed by Mr Putsch, and Sea The Moon is most definitely a serious stallion.” - Michel Zerolo
The shrewd team at Yeomanstown Stud was behind the profitable pinhook for the colt, described by the farm's David O'Callaghan as “exceptional”.
“He was a Book 1 horse in Book 2, but that was part of the plan. We always like to put a horse like him into Book 2," O'Callaghan said. “He was exceptional: a beautifully balanced horse, bay with black points, a beautiful mover and very correct. I don't think there was a man or woman on the sale ground who did not admire him.”
David O'Callaghan | Image courtesy of Laura Green/ Tattersalls
New Bay colt for Derby-winning owner
In his days working for the late Duke of Roxburghe, Chris Gillon was no stranger to consigning expensive yearlings at Tattersalls and now, under his own Gillon Bloodstock banner and still operating from Floors Castle, the consignor featured on the top 10 list.
The New Bay (GB) colt he prepared (Lot 723) on behalf of breeders Joanna and Malcolm Imray was Gillon Bloodstock's sole offering for Book 2, and he will eventually race in some famous silks, having been bought by agent Richard Brown for 325,000gns (AU$600,000) on behalf of dual Derby-winning owner Saeed Suhail.
Suhail’s most recent victory in the Epsom Classic came just this year with Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), who was also bought by Brown from Book 2 two years ago.
Chris Gillon | Image courtesy of Laura Green/ Tattersalls
“It's fantastic to do that in only our second year and our first time at Book 2,” Gillon said. “Joanna and Malcolm Imray are just 10 miles from Floors and sent him to us in February. He has exceeded expectations and has been very popular here.”
The page for Lot 723 includes his Group 3-winning half-brother, Psychedelic Funk (GB) (Choisir), and the 13-time winner Gale Force Maya (GB), his half-sister by Gale Force Ten (GB) who has won two Listed sprints in September since the catalogue was published.
Their dam, Parabola (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), was picked up by the Imrays at the July Sale of 2010 for just 4000gns (AU$7400) but died last year, making her New Bay colt her final offspring.
Lot 723 - New Bay (GB) x Parabola (GB) (colt) | Image courtesy of Laura Green/ Tattersalls
Brown added, “I'm a big fan of the stallion. I think he is going places - any son of Dubawi you have to take very seriously and he is doing it. He is for Saeed Suhail, who is here and will be here all week.”
Another Grande result For Whatton Manor
Fresh from selling a 1.5 million gns (AU$2.75 million) Dubawi colt to Godolphin during Book 1 on behalf of breeder Andrew Stone, Whatton Manor Stud was back in the limelight on Monday and this time with a homebred.
Lot 659, a filly from the first crop of Too Darn Hot (GB), is out of the Oasis Dream (GB) mare Minwah (Ire), who was unraced herself but has already produced a black-type winner in her current 3-year-old, Grande Dame (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}).
Lot 659 - Too Darn Hot (GB) x Minwah (Ire) (filly) | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
After watching the filly sell for 230,000gns (AU$425,000) to Anthony Stroud, Whatton Manor's Ed Player said; “When Grande Dame started doing what she did this year, winning her Listed race, we knew we had a good chance, and then when she was third in the Sun Chariot that was a lovely update to come into the sale with.”
He added of Minwah, whose colt by Roaring Lion (USA) died as a yearling, but who is now in foal to Ardad (Ire); “The mare has been a little unlucky, but the two who have made the racecourse have been very talented. She is a lovely mare, we bought her here with Larry Stratton for 46,000gns (AU$85,000). She's beautiful and luckily she breeds good-looking horses, too.”
