Australians nab six of the top eight lots on Day 2 of Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale

Cover image courtesy of Tattersalls

Tulloch Lodge tops the session

Day 2 of the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale was typically lively on Tuesday from an Australian perspective, with six of the top eight lots sold going the way of an Australian contingent that included Tulloch Lodge, Ciaron Maher and Chris Waller.

Strong trade helped the session’s overall aggregate to finish at 11,933,015gns (AU$23.9 million), albeit that was down four per cent on 2022, while the day’s average fell 12 per cent to 44,861gns (AU$90,100) and the median was similarly down 12 per cent to 22,000gns (AU$44,200).

The clearance rate, though a healthy 88 per cent, was down five per cent on last year’s figure.

The top seller was Lot 767, a Lope De Vega (Ire) gelding called Balance Play (Ire), who headed the session when bought by McKeever Bloodstock, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott for 575,000gns (AU$1.155 million). The 3-year-old was consigned to the sale by Alex Elliott’s Imperium Sales as “a potential Melbourne Cup horse”, according to Elliott.

Balance Play was rated 101 going into the session, with Will Bourne, head of bloodstock for Ciaron Maher Racing, underbidding for the son of Lope De Vega. The horse was a three-time winner and three-times placed in Class company when trained by Ralph Beckett for his Valmont ownership.

“Balance Play is our highest-rated horse of the sale,” said Claudia Miller, bloodstock manager for Tulloch Lodge. “We were under strict instructions not to leave without him. He is a lovely 3-year-old; lightly raced, very consistent and effective on all going. He is just the exact profile of the horse we look for at this sale. We are very excited to get him.”

Balance Play has raced seven times all up. He is from the Cape Cross (Ire) mare Bezique (GB) and is a half-brother to the dual stakes winner Khalidi (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}).

This is the same family as the brilliantly performed Bauer (Ire) (Halling {USA}), who was imported to Australia for the Melbourne Cup, finishing second after winning the G3 Geelong Cup for Luca Cumani.

Alex Elliott said he was sad to see the gelding go, and he was speechless at the price. Elliott was also responsible for consigning the next-best seller, Lot 769, a No Nay Never (USA) 3-year-old called He’s A Monster (Ire), who sold for 450,000gns (AU$905,000) to Blandford Bloodstock on behalf of Wathnan Racing.

Additonally, Imperium Sales consigned the second of Tulloch Lodge’s big spends on Tuesday.

McKeever Bloodstock, Waterhouse and Bott paid 280,000gns (AU$560,000) for Lot 768, Bear On The Loose (Ire) by Footstepsinthesand (GB). This 3-year-old gelding is a half-brother to the Naas stakes winner Warnaq (Ire) (Arcano {Ire}).

“We were very confident in these horses,” Elliott said. “I just hope they go on to do the service for everybody that we think they can. I came here with big expectations and for all of the horses to jump through the hoops, it’s amazing.”

Imperium Sales, a debut consigner, cleared over 2 million gns (AU$4.1 million) across 10 horses throughout the two days of trade, including the two most expensive lots through the ring so far.

Ciaron Maher in for three

Ciaron Maher Bloodstock accounted for the third best-seller on Day 2, opting in at 360,000gns (AU$720,000) for Lot 720, Amleto (Ire) by Sea The Stars (Ire). This gelding was consigned by William Haggas’ Somerville Lodge, Haggas having trained the 3-year-old through his four starts to date.

Amleto is well-bred from the Hernando (Fr) mare Holy Moon (Ire), making the gelding a full brother to the G1 Irish Oaks winner Sea Of Class (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), and no less than four other stakes winners, including Italian starts Charity Line (Ire) (Manduro {Ger}), Final Score (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}), Cherry Collect (Ire) (Oratorio {Ire}) and Wordless (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}).

“The profile suits Australia,” said Will Bourne, bidding on behalf of Maher and Eustace. “The sireline is proven as well with the Group 1 Australian Cup winner Fifty Stars and Just Fine, winner of the G1 Metropolitan (both by Sea The Stars). He is just a lovely, lightly raced horse and is the perfect fit to go Down Under.”

Bourne said the middle-market trading was particularly strong on Day 2. He said Amleto profiled well for Australia, so it was necessary to get to the price he paid for the gelding.

“There are some really lucky owners in this horse, a couple of Melbourne Cup-winning owners like Matt Belford and Jeff Garvey, so they gave me the confidence to go and buy this horse. I spoke to Matt last night and he gave me the green light to go ahead.”

By the close of Tuesday’s session, Maher had signed for four horses across the two days of the sale to the tune of 660,000gns (AU$1.33 million).

His other purchases on Tuesday included Lot 658, the 5-year-old gelding Cosmic Vega (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) at 100,000gns (AU$200,000), and Lot 647, Chartwell House (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}), bought for 60,000gns (AU$120,000).

Chris Waller busy

Chris Waller Racing accounted for three horses in the top 10 of trade on Tuesday, the most expensive of which was Lot 721, the No Nay Never gelding Florida (Ire).

Up to Tuesday, this horse was trained by Michael Buckley with seven races to his name for two wins, including a Class 3 at York on September 10 over a mile. He had shown good form leading into this sale, racing as recently as October 6 at Ascot.

Waller went to 300,000gns (AU$602,000) for Florida from the Somerville Lodge draft, and it might have been a throw to logic because this horse is closely related to the Invincible Spirit (Ire) gelding Bashiyr (Ire). Racing in Australia as Irish Sequel (Ire), under Waller’s care that horse won the G2 Brisbane Cup and Listed Winter Cup last year, and he is currently spelling.

In addition, Waller paid 240,000gns (AU$480,000) for Lot 614, the 3-year-old Camelot (GB) colt Denmark (GB). This horse is a half-brother to Big Blue (GB) (Galileo {GB}), who raced variously in Australia before success as a jumper for Ciaron Maher.

The first dam on this page is the dual Group winner Board Meeting (Ire) (Anabaa {USA}), who is a half-sister to the Champion European filly Bright Sky (Ire) (Wolfhound {USA}).

Denmark was consigned by Coolmore and raced by that outfit with Aidan O’Brien. For six starts he was a winner for two seconds, campaigned in Ireland, France and Britain.

Whipping in the top three of Waller’s purchases, the Saxon Warrior (Jpn) gelding Unlimited (Ire) cost the Rosehill trainer 230,000gns (AU$460,000). Lot 725 was also consigned by Haggas’ Somerville Lodge, and he is well-related as a three-quarter brother to the Deep Impact (Jpn) Group 1 winner Deep Brillante (Jpn).

Haggas had sent Unlimited through six races and the 3-year-old had won twice, including two out of his last three starts, all in excess of 2000 metres.