Maher Secures Tyrrhenian Thunder for 600,000 Guineas at Tattersalls

Cover image courtesy of Tattersalls

The international appeal of Britain and Ireland’s racing talent was on full display at Tattersalls on Wednesday, where Australian interests made their presence felt with a series of significant acquisitions.

Turnover rose 8% to 12,137,000 guineas (AU$24 million) during Wednesday's session, while the median fell 8% to 22,000 guineas (AU$44,000) and the average increased 1% to 44,786 guineas (AU$89,000). The clearance rate was up 3% to 92%.

Tyrrhenian Thunder off to Australia

Adrian Keatley warmed up for the Breeders' Cup in the best possible fashion when netting a cool 600,000 guineas (AU$1.2 million) for the ultra-smart juvenile Tyrrhenian Thunder (Night Of Thunder) at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses-In-Training Sale on Wednesday.

A €300,000 (AU$475,000) purchase at the Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up Sale, Tyrrhenian Thunder represented a vindication for Keatley's change of modus operandi in becoming more of a trading stable when selling to Billy Jackson Stops and Will Bourne on behalf of Australian trainer Ciaron Maher.

“We really put our necks on the line when we bought this horse at the breeze-ups,” Keatley said.

“I think he is going to be a flagship horse for us, which is important, because we want to go down this trading route. It's the only way to survive.”

Keatley's training career had gone from strength to strength since making the move from Ireland in 2019. The Classic-winning handler has sent 26 winners on the level in Britain this year and has Hell Of A Spin (Naval Crown) to look forward to in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Speaking about the rebuilding process, which has seen him amass his best team of youngsters and a career-high tally, Keatley added.

“Any game you are in, if you feel it's not working, you just break it down and look at it and rebuild. That's what we did. We are in a really good location now in the north of England – albeit, it's not a location that the fancy owners like to have horses.

"I'm not going to get the bigger horses off the fancier owners where I am, so this is what we want to do, and I think it's a better business model. We want to buy the younger horses at yearling and breeze-up sales, and when we produce them on the track, we want these horses to go on and achieve bigger and better things.”

He added, “I think Tyrrhenian Thunder will be a very cheap horse some day, for sure. He is a proper Group 1 horse. If he ended up being a Cox Plate horse, I wouldn't be one bit surprised. He is very smart.”

Tyrrhenian Thunder's lightly-raced profile made huge appeal to the Australian market, according to Bourne, who is a regular attendee to this sale.

“He's very lightly-raced but ran a huge figure the other day. He's by Night Of Thunder so even though he's still doing a few things wrong as a 2-year-old, we're hoping he can progress over a mile once he gets down to Australia.

"I guess you have to pay when there's low miles on the clock but he's still shown plenty of ability in his two starts, which is advantageous for his new owners. That price was pretty much bang on.”

Maher's buying team also sourced the 100-rated Organ (Ulysses) for 375,000 guineas (AU$744,000) and talented stayer Winday (Galiway) for 325,000 guineas (AU$645,000).

Organ has been a four-time winner up to 8 ¼ furlongs and looks a promising type which caught the eye of the team.

“He’s (Organ) a staying horse but has a sharp turn of foot, which was flagged by our speed data,” said Will Bourne after purchasing the 4-year-old.

“He goes on firm ground, so he has the perfect profile. He’s just a nice, progressive horse who can step up in distance. He’s going to ship straight to Australia and has been bought for the same owners as Mr Monaco.”

Mr Monaco (Territories) who has been a dual Group 3 winner in Australia lines up in the G1 Melbourne Cup on Tuesday, he was purchased by Astute Bloodstock and Ciaron Maher at this sale in 2024 for 410,000 guineas (AU$810,000). Louis Le Metayer of Astute Bloodstock purchased Pierre Royal (Kingman) on the first day of the sale.

BBA Ireland capitalise on “soft market” to spend 1.5 million guineas

BBA Ireland agent Michael Donohoe said that the softening to the market this week played a massive part in him spending 1,542,000 guineas(AU$3.1 Million) on 14 horses to go to Saudi Arabia. That spend was headed by the 425,000 guineas (AU$843,000) Blue Courvoisier (Sea The Stars), last seen finishing a narrow second in a Listed contest at Chantilly over 1 mile and one furlong.

Donohoe said of his week's shopping.

“All for the same client, to be campaigned in Saudi Arabia – all good-looking horses who, physically, have plenty of size and scope and appear as though they would act well on the surface out there.

“They train on the dirt track out there, which is very kind and forgiving, but they need to vet well and be robust types, which all of these are. They are sound, clean-winded horses and should all do very well out there. With regards to Blue Courvoiser, he is trained by Clive Cox, who is an exceptional trainer but is also a good man to buy off as his horses go on.”

Speaking about the market, he added, “I found the week soft. Definitely. That's just my opinion. In previous years, you would have had a lot more competition on some of the better horses, so possibly, we may have found value here this week. That's how it felt to us, anyway. It's not surprising with what is going on in the world, especially in the Middle East, and the Australian dollar is not as strong as it was before. It has been that way all year with the private trade as well – that market has definitely been a bit softer.

“So perhaps we have had a bit of a reality check this week. The yearling sales just gone, they were stronger than ever. People within the bloodstock industry, they seem to have a short-term memory and we are all believers, which is the beauty of the game. The pinhookers and the breeze-up handlers, they have to go back in every year, and they did that stronger than ever this year, but this is the reality.”

Walker can sleep easy

Ed Walker will sleep like a baby tonight given Alfred Wallace (Dubawi), the second-most expensive horse through the ring on Wednesday at 450,000 guineas (AU$890,000), is returning to his stable after Dermot Farrington secured the colt on behalf of Jim and Fitri Hay.

Farrington said, “He has been bought for Fitri and Jim Hay. He is one of the best-bred horses in the catalogue, by a brilliant stallion and has shown top class form throughout the summer. He goes back to Ed Walker.”

Buick and Stokes strike up new alliance

A new relationship was forged this week when bloodstock agent Martin Buick sourced the 170,000 guineas (AU$337,000) Glory Road (Too Darn Hot) to continue his career in Australia.

Buick said, “He will be trained by Phillip Stokes, who is a very good trainer in Australia. He does exceptionally well with middle-distance horses, so the hope is that this horse could become a Cup horse. I met Phil on a trip when we were viewing stock in France during the summer and we have kept in touch ever since.”

Buy of the day

Could we have seen the next Pierre Royal (Kingman)?, quite possibly. Bay Of Stars (New Bay) boasts a very similar profile and looks well bought at 150,000 guineas (AU$298,000) to Blandford Bloodstock's Stuart Boman to go to Joseph O'Brien.

At a more workingman's price, the Horsewatchers should have plenty of fun with Bad Boy Rizz (Bungle Inthejungle) at 16,000 guineas (AU$32,000) . Despite the fact he's had a wind operation, he could do plenty of damage in British sprints. There is a good programme for him in Britain and he could be one to keep the right side of.