Juddmonte Jewels On Offer At Tatts

JUDDMONTE JEWELS ON OFFER AT TATTS 
By Kelsey Riley 
While the bloodstock market has moved through a series of phases over the last decade, not least a recession and correction as a result of the global economic downturn, one constant has always been the presence of the Juddmonte Farms draft of mares and fillies off the track at the Tattersalls December Breeding Stock Sale. Year in and year out, astute buyers clamor for piece of the breeding empire established by Khalid Abdullah. With the draft’s average generally ranging between 30,000 and 50,000gns with top prices in the 150,000gns to 350,000gns range, it provides a welcome boost to the middle/lower market of the sale. 

Mirroring the overall market at last year’s Tattersalls December sale, the 2013 Juddmonte draft was the farm’s strongest since the turn of the decade, with an average of 52,471gns and a high-price of 280,000gns commanded by the unraced 3-year-old filly Anew (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), whose dam is a half-sister to the prolific producer Hasili (Ire). This year’s Juddmonte draft of 36 fillies out of training–all to be sold during the sale’s third session Dec. 3–could very well rival those results, with some quality representatives of some of the operation’s best families set to go under the hammer. Juddmonte will also offer a collection of 16 broodmares between today and tomorrow. 

Lord Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to Khalid Abdullah, noted that the decisions on which races fillies are culled are more about choosing the very best to add to the Juddmonte broodmare band–which numbers around 250 between Europe and the U.S.–rather than deciding which should be sold. 

“We’d try to preserve the best pedigrees and the best racehorses to come back to stud, and those that we have quite a lot of the family or that don’t come up to the very high standards we have would probably get sold,” he said, adding, “We cannot keep everything.” 

Lord Grimthorpe noted the highlights of the draft are likely to include: 

Lot 2132, Button Down (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), a 3-year-old placed daughter of the stakes-winning Modesta (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells), a half-sister to Group 1 winners Elmaamul (Diesis {GB}) and Reams of Verse (Nureyev) as well as Midsummer (GB) (Kingmambo), the dam of Midday (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}); 

Lot 2133, the placed 3-year-old filly C’est Chic (GB) (Dansili {GB}), a half-sister to a stakes winner and out of a half-sister to Group 1 winner Etoile Montante (Miswaki); 

Lot 2140, the placed 3-year-old filly Generata (Mizzen Mast), whose second dam is champion broodmare Toussaud, the dam of four Grade I winners including Empire Maker; 

Lot 2141, Hiking (First Defence), a winning 3-year-old from the immediate family of Cityscape (GB) and Bated Breath (GB); 

Lot 2143, Lily Link (GB) (Rail Link {GB}), an unraced half-sister to GI Northern Dancer Turf S. winner Redwood (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}) and a granddaughter of dual Group 1 winner Jolypha (Lyphard), also from the immediate family of champion and Classic winner Dancing Brave; 

Lot 2150, the unraced 3-year-old filly Posset (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), a full-sister to champion and six-time Grade/Group 1 winner Midday (GB) and stakes winners Hot Snap (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) and Midsummer Sun (GB) (Monsun {Ger}); 

Lot 2154, a winning half-sister to GI Kentucky Oaks winner Flute (Seattle Slew) named Reimpose (First Defence) and 

Lot 2158, another unraced 3-year-old named Time Being (GB) (Zamindar), and this time a full-sister to G1 Falmouth S. winner Timepiece (GB), and a half to G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud victor Passage of Time (GB) (Dansili {GB}) and Father Time (GB) (Dansili {GB}), winner of Royal Ascot’s G2 King Edward VII S. It is also the immediate family of champion and four-time Group 1 winner Twice Over (GB) (Observatory). 

Savvy buyers, however, will also be looking below the top ranks of the Juddmonte draft, considering the fact that Juddmonte mares sold in this ring for between 3,000gns and 21,000gns have produced nine Group 1 winners since 2004. Those include the four-time Group 1-winning sprinter Sole Power (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}), whose dam, Demerger, was a 4,000gns buy; dual Grade I winner Marketing Mix (Medaglia d’Oro), whose dam cost 20,000gns; Eclipse champion Leroidesanimaux (Brz) (Candy Stripes), sire of Animal Kingdom, whose dam was hammered down for 3,000gns and three-time G1 Melbourne Cup heroine Makybe Diva (GB) (Desert King {Ire}), whose dam was worth just 21,000gns when she went through the ring in 1997. Other Grade/Group 1 winners whose dams are Juddmonte/Tattersalls graduates include Funny Moon (Malibu Moon) and Heatseeker (Ire) (Giant’s Causeway). Green Room (Theatrical {Ire}), the dam of Group 1 winners Lord Shanakill (Speightstown) and Together Forever (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), was a 20,000gns buy at Tattersalls’ February sale in 2005. Mares purchased from the Juddmonte draft at Tattersalls December have produced a total of 14 Group 1 winners since 2004. 

“The middle market is naturally the most important to the majority of medium-range breeders,” Lord Grimthorpe commented. “Usually it all filters down–it’s naturally a supply and demand business, but usually if the top is strong that increases the middle market to a certain extent, and also the lower end of the market. There has to be something for everyone.” 

A Dream Roster… 
Juddmonte stands seven sires at its Banstead Manor Stud in Newmarket, a number that appears small compared to some of the bloodstock business’s other superpowers, but that septet oozes quality all the way through, its established flagbearers including Dansili and Oasis Dream. The first weanlings to hit European sales rings by Frankel at recent foal sales included the €1.8 million record-sitting filly out of Finsceal Beo (Ire) at Goffs, and another Juddmonte freshman, Bated Breath (GB), has had his first foals sell for up to $107,000 in recent weeks. Juddmonte will unveil another heavyweight next year when four-time Group 1 winner and Cartier Horse of the Year Kingman (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) covers his first book. 

Lord Grimthorpe noted Kingman is “in great form,” since his relocation from trainer John Gosden’s yard to Banstead Manor. “He’s settled in like a pro,” he said. “It’s so exciting to have a horse like him on the stallion roster.” 

Commenting on the first-crop foals by Frankel, Timeform’s highest-ever rated horse, Lord Grimthorpe added, “We’ve been very pleased with ours. They seem to be athletic and have good temperaments. It’s very exciting that in under two years they’re going to be hitting the racetrack.” 

He added, “There are plenty like him. They have quite a familiar head and his great movement and body. They’re all developing now–most of them are no more than six months old, so it’s hard to get a really good handle on them, but certainly we’ve been pleased with the initial sightings.” 

Frankel received yet another boost to his glowing page when his full-brother Noble Mission (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) garnered three Group 1 events in 2014, culminating in the G1 Champion S. Oct. 18, and that Juddmonte homebred recently arrived at Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky, where he will take up stud duty in 2015. Lord Grimthorpe shed some light on the decision to stand the 5-year-old in the U.S., explaining, “We looked at various options for him. Lane’s End came up with a very good solution for all of us, including the horse.” 

Lord Grimthorpe said he “very much hoped” Juddmonte would support Noble Mission with some of its own mares. “We’ve retained an interest in the horse, so I would imagine Prince Khalid would want to,” he said. 

Champions like Frankel, Noble Mission and Kingman will ensure Juddmonte’s breeding-shaping families live on for many generations, and breeders will have a chance to get in on the legacy this week at Tattersalls.