Cliffs Colt Tops Craven Opener

By Emma Berry 
A son of Coolmore’s first-season sire Canford Cliffs (Ire) (lot 70) was one of the last horses through the ring at Tattersalls’ Craven Breeze-up Sale Wednesday evening, but he shot straight to the top of the charts when selling to Charlie Gordon-Watson for 300,000gns. 

Named Sparte Quercus (Ire) and consigned by Paddy Twomey’s Athassel House Stud, the son of the listed-placed mare Khaizarana (GB) (Alhaarth {Ire}) had been bought by Crispin de Moubray for €65,000 at Arqana’s October Sale and ended up as the subject of an across-the-ring duel between Gordon-Watson and eventual under-bidder Luke Lillingston. 

“He’s going to Hong Kong for a new client,” said Gordon-Watson, who claims the times of the breeze don’t affect his judgement on the individual. “I’m very excited about the stallion and this is a thoroughly nice horse. We’ve had plenty of luck buying from Paddy in the past.” 

With 41 of the 57 lots offered through the first session, the clearance rate climbed to 72% from last year’s 68%. However, the 800,000gns European record for a breeze-up horse set at the equivalent session in 2014–and subsequently beaten at 1.15 million gns just 24 hours later at the same sale–contributed to other markers dropping. The average price of 80,585gns represented a drop of 31% while the median fell 14% to 65,000gns. The aggregate of 3,304,000gns was a decrease of 39%. 

Ferguson’s Recurring Dream… 
Just four lots ahead of the session-topper, John Ferguson had gone to 250,000gns on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed for an Oasis Dream (GB) half-brother to dual Group 1 winner and Newsells Park Stud stallion Mount Nelson (GB) (lot 66). The colt’s full brother, Monitor Closely (GB), has also brought honor and glory to the family with his G2 Great Voltigeur S. victory and placed finish in the G1 St Leger. 

For the colt’s breeder, Philip Freedman, it was a case of ‘if at first you don’t succeed,’ as the youngster was presented at Tattersalls as a yearling, where a foot abscess on the eve of the sale scuppered his chances of a decent return. Freedman explained, “We put him through the ring as I wanted him to be eligible for the Tattersalls Millions sales races in case I didn’t sell him at the breeze-ups. I’m absolutely delighted he’s going to such a good home.” 
Ferguson confided that the colt had been on his shortlist in October and that he was pleased to be able to add him to the Godolphin roster of horses in training. 

“We came very close to buying him as a yearling,” he said. “So it’s nice to come back here and see him show himself off as a 2-year-old. He’s not an obvious type of breeze-up horse in that you’d expect him to be more a horse for the second half of the season but he was a real athlete with arguably the best pedigree in the catalogue.” 

The colt was consigned for Freedman by Malcolm Bastard, who breaks in and pre-trains a number of the breeder’s homebreds and added, “He was a really lovely colt to prepare–straightforward from the start. Hopefully one day we’ll see him as a stallion.” 

The international diversity of the Tattersalls buying bench was evident from the start on Wednesday when two of the early leading lights were bought by owners from Hong Kong and Japan. 

A colt by Stormy Atlantic (lot 27) was an early success story for Brendan Holland’s Grove Stud when selling for 200,000gns to agent Alastair Donald for an undisclosed Hong Kong-based client. The first foal of the Group 3-placed winner Bea Remembered (GB) (Doyen {Ire}) will remain in Newmarket to be trained by Ed Walker. Donald, who also bought a Cape Blanco (Ire) colt (lot 4) for the same client for 90,000gns, said of his Stormy Atlantic purchase, “He was the one I wanted from the sale. He did an excellent breeze and he’s a gorgeous individual with a lovely temperament. The mare was pretty decent–she maybe just lacks a bit of pedigree–but he was such a fabulous mover that I felt I’d have to give about this much for him.” 

Another colt by an American-based sire, this time Distorted Humor (lot 61), made the top 10 list when selling through Brown Island Stables for 160,000gns to Italian agent Marco Bozzi, while Japan’s Shadai Farm snapped up the most expensive filly of the session (lot 31), a speedy daughter of Kodiac (Ire) out of a Vettori half-sister to Lady Bamford’s dual Oaks winner Sariska (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), for 130,000gns. 

Another Dream on the Rise… 
Dream Ahead (Diktat {GB}) was bred by Darley but was sold as a foal at Keeneland for just $11,000. Since notching five Group 1 victories and retiring to Ballylinch Stud in Ireland, the top sprinter has become one of the most sought-after young stallions in Europe with a first-crop yearling average of 73,220gns. Now 2-year-olds, that same crop are proving just as popular at the breeze-up sales, with three sold during the first session of Tattersalls for an average price of 86,667gns to make him leading freshman sire with more than one lot sold. 

Top of the trio was Oak Tree Farm’s colt out of the Trempolino mare Chanterelle (Fr) (lot 33), from a family that has produced the G1 1000 Guineas-placed filly Vista Bella (GB) by Dream Ahead’s sire Diktat. Bought for €60,000 as a yearling by Mags O’Toole at Arqana, the half-brother to juvenile winner King Bolete (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ore}) realized 150,000gns to a bid from Darley’s Dick O’Gorman. 

Another buyer who has been keen on Dream Ahead since the yearling sales is Tony Nerses, who spent £130,000 on a yearling colt by him at least year’s DBS Premier Sale and waded back in to sign for Brown Island Stables’ filly (lot 13) to the tune of 90,000gns. The April-born filly is out of the dual juvenile winner and Group 3-placed Absolute Music (Consolidator). 

BHA In Agreement on Tripartite… 
The British Horseracing Authority welcomed a new Chief Executive in January when Nick Rust took the reins from Paul Bittar, and Rust–along with BHA Chairman Steve Harman and seven non-executive directors of the board–joined together to buy lot 25, a Tally-Ho Stud-consigned son of Zebedee (GB), for 78,000gns. A half-brother to listed winner Terror (Ire) Kodiac {Ire})–who was scratched from Wednesday’s G3 Nell Gwyn S. at Newmarket–the colt has already been named Tripartite and will be trained by Jeremy Gask at the Sutton Veny farm owned by new BHA director and the colt’s part-owner Eamonn Wilmott. 

The second and final session of the Craven Breeze-up Sale commences at 6 p.m. local time Thursday.