By Emma Berry
Le Havre (Ire) colt Pouvoir Magique (Fr) (lot 247) did indeed inject a little magic into the final hour of the Guineas Breeze-up Sale at Tattersalls when provoking a spirited bidding war between Tom Goff and Charlie Gordon-Watson to bring the hammer down at 300,000gns in Goff's favour.
His sales price––up from a scarcely believable €12,000 at Arqana's August Sale––prompted tears of joy from vendor Mary Reynolds, who operates as Ardglas Stables from Co. Tipperary in partnership with Ambrose O'Mullane.
“We had to go to France to buy him and he's a really nice horse by a top-class sire,” said Reynolds as she hugged her partner and brushed away tears.
“He was well prepped by the Drions of the Coulonces Consignment but for some reason he just slipped through the net. He gallops like a proper horse and is so well balanced. Everything just fell into place for him.”
Goff of Blandford Bloodstock was unable to name the colt's new owner but he and partner Richard Brown were kept busy throughout the day, signing for six of the eight most expensive horses of the sale.
The Le Havre colt––the first foal of the French winner Barmaid (Fr) (Cape Cross {Ire})––led a single session which turned over 3,658,300gns for 114 2-year-olds sold––a clearance rate of 79% and an aggregate which was down by 3%. The average of 32,090gns represented an improvement of 2% on last year, with the median of 20,000gns falling by 15%.
Prior to the late appearance of the sale-topper, it had very much been ladies' day on Friday after Katie McGivern of Derryconnor Stud sold an Acclamation (GB) filly (lot 144) to champion trainer John Gosden for 260,000gns.
The daughter of the Whipper mare Malaspina (Ire), herself out of Gerry Oldham's French listed winner Mahalia (Ire) (Danehill), was retained by breeder Peter Kavanagh of Kildaragh Stud at 70,000gns last October. That proved to be a shrewd decision as McGivern's small team from Co. Meath gave the well bred filly from the family of Group 1 winners Ectot (GB) (Hurricane Run) and Most Improved (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}) a thoroughly professional schooling which saw her post one of the fastest breeze times of Thursday's session.
“She clocked a very good time and I love the way she really picked up when she hit the hill. To me that's a sign of a good horse. She has the pedigree and she's a lovely looking filly so I was fairly confident coming into the sale that she might stand out here, but you never know until it all goes right on the day,” said McGivern, who is the daughter of successful former jockey and trainer Joanna Morgan.
She continued, “Mum used to do some breeze-up horses while she was training so I was bitten by the bug at an early age.”
From consigning just one breezer four years ago, the Derryconnor Stud draft across the sales this season has grown to 20, with three sold at the Guineas Sale for a total of 300,000gns.
Peter Kavanagh, who confirmed that Malaspina has recently produced a full-sister to this filly and is now in foal to Sir Percy (GB), added, “This wasn't quite plan A or plan B but sometimes you have to stick with a horse and Katie has done a very good job with her.”
Richard Brown outlasted Simon Crisford and Charlie Gordon-Watson in the final stages of securing the filly on Gosden's behalf.
Another filly to make the top five was lot 148, by first-crop sire Mayson (GB) and from the fast family of the Rae Guest-trained multiple Group race-winning sprinter Mirza (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}). His half-sister Millinsky (Stravinsky) was no slouch either, winning four races at the minimum distance, and she is already the dam of a winner, but her Mayson filly fetched only £9,000 when offered at the DBS Premier Sale last August. That relatively small outlay led to a terrific return for Ger Kennedy of Sherbourne Lodge, who brought her back to the breeze-up to fetch 140,000gns.
He said, “She has always been very straightforward, I think all good horses are. They are like driving a Ferrari, you just put the accelerator down.
“I have told everyone she could be a Queen Mary filly–I hope that is what she becomes. Her breeder Bearstone Stud rang earlier this spring to ask after her and we told them to send the mare back to Mayson. I hope they've taken our advice!”
Breaking the Blandford Bloodstock stranglehold on the buyers' list was Charlie Gordon-Watson, who, in association with Luca Cumani, went to 170,000gns to buy a Swiss-bred son of Zoffany (Ire) named Rigoletto (lot 191). Out of Rumina (Fr) (Dashing Blade {GB}), a half-sister to the hardy black-type campaigner Beckermet (Ire) (Second Empire {Ire}), the March-born colt is a half-brother to the Swiss winner Ruanda (Swi) (Yeats {Ire}).
The bay was one of two six-figure results on the day for Norman Williamson of Oak Tree Farm, who also sold lot 206, a Helmet (Aus) half-brother to G1 Nunthorpe S. winner Margot Did (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) for 100,000gns.
“The Helmet colt came to me from his breeder and he was hoping for this sort of money. He's a big horse and we brought him to this sale as we thought he'd need a bit of extra time but as it was he came to hand very quickly and did it all really nicely,” said the consignor.
“The Zoffany colt was also pleasing as he was a €40,000 pinhook. He's a lovely horse and I'm delighted he's gone to Luca Cumani as he'll give him plenty of time. It's the results on the track that really matter to us.”
Gordon-Watson also went to 120,000gns on Cumani's behalf for lot 218, a Footstepsinthesand (Ire) colt from Bushypark Stables. The bay is the first foal of Swift Acclaim (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), a half-sister to G3 Prix de Ris-Orangis winner Presto Shinko (Ire) (Shinko Forest [Ire}) and cost just 10,000gns at Book 3 of Tattersalls' October Sale.
Michael Fitzpatrick's Elzaam (Aus) colt (lot 103) out of the Swain mare Extraordinary looked a sharp sort in his breeze on Thursday and the Kilminfoyle House Stud offering duly made the early running when knocked down at 120,000gns to Richard Brown, who had to see off challenges from Charlie Gordon-Watson and Liam Norris.
“He did a very good breeze and he's a strong colt who looks like a 2-year-old,” said Brown of the representative of Ballyhane Stud's freshman sire, an Australian-bred but English-raced son of Australia's multiple champion sire Redoute's Choice.
He added, “His sire was a very good 2-year-old himself and Redoute's Choice is a good sire of sires. He's been bought for John Gosden.”
One of Kilminfoyle House Stud's draft will be making his way to America to be trained by Todd Pletcher after Justin Casse went to 80,000gns for lot 145, a colt by Helmet who is the first foal of treble winner Malea (Ire) (Oratorio {Ire}), a daughter of the G2 King's Stand S. winner Don't Worry Me (Ire) (Dancing Dissident).
Bringing the tally of six-figure lots to eight––a record for the sale– was lot 119, Windmill Stables' strong Bahamian Bounty (GB) colt who stretched out really well on the Rowley Mile on Thursday to multiply his 10,000gns yearling price tag by ten when knocked down for 100,000gns to Richard Brown.
As the breeze-up season drew to a close at Tattersalls ahead of Newmarket's big Classic weekend, Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony reflected on the sale, commenting, “The feature of our recent Craven Breeze-up Sale was the strength of demand at the top of the market and today's Guineas Breeze-up and Horses-in-Training Sale has very much followed suit.
“The 300,000gns sale-topping Le Havre colt is the third-highest price ever at this sale and the highest price since 2008. In addition, eight lots sold for 100,000 guineas or more, breaking the previous record set in 2009. There has been plenty of competition for quality 2-year-olds which breezed well, and there have been some spectacular pinhooking successes, as ever reflecting the professionalism and judgement of the consignors.”
He continued, “As well as strong demand at the top of the market, the significant number of overseas buyers, particularly from Greece, Italy, Scandinavia and Spain, has been another positive to take from today's sale. It would be wrong to ignore the fact that the market has been selective at times, but we should also recognise that overseas buyers have made a significant contribution to the sale and have been active at all levels of the market for both horses in training and the breeze up 2-year-olds.”
Dubawi colt Neoclassical heads HIT session
With Dubawi (Ire)'s sons Dubday (GB) and The Blue Eye (GB) having won the last three runnings of Qatar's richest thoroughbred race, the HH The Emir's Trophy, agent Will Douglass will be hoping that Neoclassical (GB) (lot 72) can follow suit after purchasing the 3-year-old colt for 47,000gns.
“He has been bought for a private Qatar-based client, who particularly likes horses by Dubawi,” said Douglass, who works for Charlie Gordon-Watson Bloodstock.
The George Strawbridge homebred, whose dam Teeky (GB) (Daylami {Ire}) is a winning half-sister to Group 2 winners Aiken (GB) (Selkirk) and Sleeping Indian (GB) (Indian Ridge {GB}), has made just one start for John Gosden. He headed the relatively low-key section of horses-in-training which preceded the Guineas Breeze-up Sale and saw a total of 50 horses sold for 549,600gns, a fall in revenue of 34% for the same session last year. The median price of 6,750gns improved marginally by 8% but the average fell by 32% to 10,992gns, with 86% of the horses offered finding a buyer.
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