Dreams To Be Discovered at BBAG

DREAMS TO BE DISCOVERED AT BBAG 
By Kelsey Riley 
With the likes of Novellist (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) and Danedream (Ger) (Lomitas {GB}) as flagbearers in recent years, the strength of the German breeding industry hardly needs introduction, and as such representatives from all four corners of the globe have flocked to Iffezheim, Germany for today’s BBAG yearling sale. Amongst those feasting their eyes on the 274 catalogued lots over the last few days were Brookdale Farms’ Fred and Freddy Seitz; George Strawbridge with agent John McCormack; leading German trainers Andreas Wohler and Peter Schiergen; Irish agent Peter Doyle; Blandford Bloodstock’s Tom Goff and Richard Brown; Qatar Racing Manager David Redvers, Crispin de Moubray, Simon Crisford, Luke Lillingston, New Zealand-based agent Ric Wylie and the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Mark Richards. 
Indeed, the catalogue boasts something for buyers everywhere. As BBAG Assistant Manager Klaus Eulenberger pointed out, the catalogue is composed of 90% German-breds and is sprinkled with entrants from France, England and Ireland. 
“We always say, it’s not a German sale, it’s a central European sale,” Eulenberger noted. “It’s mixed, but many of the families from abroad go back to German families.” 
Eulenberger also noted that the number of international buyers inspecting yearlings this year is the highest ever. 
“[The number of international buyers] has increased each year over the last seven or eight years, but this is the highest,” he said. “There are many U.S.-based [buyers], Japanese clients, Emirates, and every European agent has to be here for this sale.” 
Jamie Railton is the lone British-based vendor in town, and he presents three today: a pair of fillies by Teofilo (Ire) and Lando (Ger), and a colt by Monsun. 
“We’ve been showing since Saturday, and things are ticking along nicely,” he said. “We have a number of German clients we sell for at Tattersalls and we’ve sold in the past here. I like being the only English vendor here. We have a good relationship with German people, and I hope that continues.” 
Of the German-bred Thoroughbred, Railton added, “There are some fantastic breeding empires here who have lasted for a long, long time. They win all over the world, consistently.” 

Back On The Rise… 
Three years ago, things were not so rosy at BBAG. After reaching a peak in 2007, when a record price of €710,000 was recorded for the Monsun (Ger) colt 
North Star (Ger), the sale experienced four consecutive years of decreases in aggregate, which fell from €7.4 million in 2007 to €4.5 million in 2010. During this period of global recession, the German foal crop also fell, from 1,250 in 2008 to just over 1000 in 2010. Things began to look skyward for BBAG in 2012, with an aggregate and average that were slightly up, but the figures exploded last year, with the aggregate up €1.5 million from 19 fewer horses catalogued. Similarly, the average jumped a whopping 43% to €47,983. 
“We had a very good sale last year, with [an aggregate] of nearly €7.3 million,” Eulenberger said. “The most important figure for us and our vendors was the average price, which was the best average we’ve ever had.” 
Once the financial crisis passed, the quality of German breeding once again shone through. 
“The crisis was over, so people were investing in horses again,” Eulenberger said. “Also, our flagship horses like Danedream and Novellist are very important to us. The international interest is huge at the moment.” 

Dream Run for German-Breds… 
The German-bred horse has perhaps never been so revered internationally as it has in recent years, and it’s current excellent run was kicked off in October 2011 with the victory of Danedream in the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe; the Gestut Brummerhof-bred’s third consecutive Group 1. The bay found herself in the spotlight once again the following season after grinding out a victory in Ascot’s G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. While Danedream was unable to defend her Arc title after her Cologne stable was quarantined, a dark bay son of German’s flagship sire Monsun called Novellist was just emerging onto the scene. Christoph Berglar’s homebred captured three consecutive Group 1s in 2013: the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in France, the King George and the Grosser Preis von Baden. Meanwhile last year, four other sons and daughters of Monsun recorded Group 1 victories in three different countries: Estimate (Ire), Maxois (GB), Silasol (Ire) and Fiorente (Ire). In addition, Altano (Ger) (Galileo {Ire}) won Longchamp’s St Leger, the G1 Prix du Cadran. This year, Germany has a new potential worldbeater in Gestut Gorlsdorf homebred Sea the Moon (Ger) (Sea the Stars {Ire}). 
Add to this the past successes of horses like Shirocco (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}), Manduro (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) and Stacelita (Fr) (Monsun {Ger}), and you have a winning formula. Furthermore, GI Kentucky Derby and G1 Dubai World Cup winner Animal Kingdom (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}) hails from a German family, as does Urban Sea, the dam of Galileo and Sea the Stars (Ire). The popularity of the German-bred, and particularly the progeny of the late Monsun, was reaffirmed two weeks ago when Monsun’s last-crop daughter out of the excellent producer Sasuela (Ger) topped the Arqana August yearling sale at €1.2 million. There are six final-crop progeny of Monsun catalogued today. 

A Lot For a Little… 
When considering the BBAG average has peaked at €47,983, yet German-breds are collecting some of the biggest prizes on the globe, it is apparent there is value to be found at BBAG. Last year’s G1 Deutsches Derby winner Lucky Speed (Ger) (Silvano {Ger}) was purchased for €46,000 in 2011 and has now earned in excess of $500,000. Danedream was a €9,000 graduate of BBAG’s June sale and retired with earnings of $5.4 million; Manduro was picked up for €130,000 and earned $1.7 million and Novellist, a €100,000 buyback, had banked nearly $2 million by the time he was sold to Japan for stud duty. 
Paris-based agent Crispin de Moubray, who does a lot of work for German clients, noted he has had particular success finding value at this sale. 
“I’ve done very well out of this sale–something like 50% black-type horses to purchases,” he said. “I used to buy horses here for Henry Cecil, and we bought some nice horses for between €20,000 to €30,000.” 
He noted that a key to such success is understanding the local stallions that may fly under the radar of other international visitors. 
“I always find if you don’t look at the horses all the English and Irish look at, if you look at the German stallions, you can get very good value,” he said. 
The BBAG yearling sale begins at 9:30 a.m. local time today. For more information, visit www.bbag-sales.de.