Records For Average, Median at DBS
By Emma Berry
Owner Frank Gillespie has enjoyed extraordinary success with previous breeze-up purchase The Grey Gatsby (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), whose wins include the G1 Prix du Jockey-Club and G1 Irish Champion S., and he will be hoping that his luck holds for his most recent signing, a son of Footstepsinthesand (GB) (lot 157), who topped the DBS Breeze-Up Sale at £185,000.
Bidding on the colt himself and standing with his agent Stephen Hillen, who bought The Grey Gatsby at Arqana for €120,000, Gillespie had to see off early interest from Peter and Ross Doyle and eventual under-bidder David Redvers to secure the Sherbourne Lodge consignee.
Speaking after signing the ticket, Hillen said, “Frank asked me to buy one horse for him here and this colt was top of my list. He did one of the fastest breezes and he just did everything right. Fingers crossed he can be as lucky as some of the other horses Frank has owned.”
The May-foaled colt was bought at Arqana’s October Sale for just €15,000 and is out of the dual Brazilian stakes-winning mare Notting Hill (Brz) (Jules), who was also placed in the GI John C. Mabee H. and has already produced fellow Brazilian Group 2 winner Notting Tomorrow (Aragorn {Ire}).
The Grey Gatsby, who was last seen in public finishing second to Solow (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}) in the G1 Dubai Turf, is set to reappear on European turf in the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup May 24.
Hillen added, “I watched him work at Malton on Tuesday and he looked fantastic. Let’s hope the ground is right for him at the Curragh.”
While the top price fell far short of last year’s record-breaking £340,000 for subsequent five-length maiden winner Likely (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), an increased number of six-figure lots in 2014 led to a decent 36% improvement in the median to £30,000, and the average also rose, by 6%, to £38,725. Of the 144 lots offered, 129 found new homes for a clearance rate of 88%–again an improvement on last year’s 85%–and a boost in turnover of 7.5% to £4,995,500.
Admitting that he felt the record-breaking 2014 sale would be hard to beat, DBS Managing Director Henry Beeby commented, “We are simply delighted to have made advances again with a new record for both average and median flowing from a sale which sold nine lots of £100,000 or over compared to six last year.”
U.S. Sires To The Fore Once More…
Just as at Tattersalls last week, the stock of American-based sires proved popular at Doncaster, with the single representative of Scat Daddy (lot 73) being knocked down to Matt Coleman of Anthony Stroud Bloodstock for £170,000 after a tussle with David Redvers.
The colt, who celebrates his second birthday today, is a son of the winning Candy Ride (Arg) mare Champion Ride, a full-sister to the dam of Lane’s End Farm’s popular freshman sire Twirling Candy. Consigned by Eddie O’Leary’s Lynn Lodge Stud, the colt’s price tag was a significant improvement on his $37,000 return as a yearling at Keeneland, where he was bought by Alex Elliott of Elliott Bloodstock Services.
He was the middle lot in three consecutive purchases for the Cool Silk Partnership, which also signed for a Cacique (GB) colt named Callaghan (Ger) from Tally-Ho Stud for £48,000 and followed the Scat Daddy colt with a Kodiac (Ire) filly out of juvenile winner Christmas Cracker (Fr) (Alhaarth) for £50,000. All three are to be trained in England by James Given.
“We’ve had a good winter on the all-weather with 15 winners and we thought we’d have a go today–we tried hard for the Street Cry filly earlier,” said Peter Swann, the Chairman of Scunthorpe United Football Club who races around 30 horses under the Cool Silk Partnership with Barbara Wilkinson. “We bought well at the yearling sales last year but we liked the look of a few of these and it just so happened that they all came through together.”
The Cool Silk team later stretched to £110,000 to buy lot 152, a Tally-Ho Stud-consigned son of Dutch Art (GB) out of French listed winner Mystic Spirit (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). It was the second time the colt had been knocked down to Anthony Stroud Bloodstock after he was selected for €63,000 at Arqana’s October Yearling Sale.
The aforementioned Street Cry (Ire) filly (lot 19) was the sole juvenile by the late Darley stallion in the catalogue and is a half-sister to GIII Hollywood Juvenile Championship S. winner Necessary Evil (Harlan’s Holiday). She led early trade when selling to Richard O’Gorman for £125,000, having been bought at Keeneland in September by Fergus Galvin for $75,000.
Too Good To Pass For Highclere…
The good day for Lynn Lodge Stud–which topped the consignors’ table by selling three juveniles for an average of £116,667–continued when a colt by GI Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Raven’s Pass (lot 111) was snapped up by Jake Warren to join a Highclere Racing Syndicate. Bought back as a yearling in the same ring for £45,000, a good breeze on the Town Moor on Wednesday saw his value soar to £160,000.
“He deserved to make that,” said Warren. “He’s an absolute cracker–a strong horse with a good pedigree and he breezed really well. We’ll have to assess him once we get him home but it’s likely he’ll join one of our Highclere syndicates, which had some bad luck earlier this year and lost a horse.”
Just three lots later, David Elsworth went to £100,000 to secure a smart grey Acclamation (GB) colt (lot 114) offered by Mark Dwyer’s Oaks Farm Stables and hailing from the Aga Khan family of leading French 3-year-old Karaktar (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}). He cost pinhooker Willie Browne of Mocklershill £25,000 at the DBS Premier Sale last August. The trainer said: “He’s a lovely horse with a lovely way about him. He might be more one for tomorrow but he’s by a good 2-year-old sire and out of a mare by Verglas, who gets 2-year-olds. He did a very nice breeze.”
Exceedingly Fast…
Exceed And Excel (Aus) has been the sire at the top of the table for two of the last three renewals of this sale and there was quite a buzz surrounding another of his offspring to hit the leader board this time around. Lot 132, a grey first foal of the G3-winning Slickly (Fr) mare Lixirova (Fr), impressed many onlookers with a sharp breeze on Wednesday and was duly the subject of some intense bidding, with honors eventually falling to John Wall.
“It’s my birthday tomorrow and my wife told me to go out and buy myself a present,” said Wall after signing the docket at £130,000.
Confirming that the Gilbinstown Stud-consigned colt would be remaining in the UK and that he would be taking advice on a potential trainer, he added, “To be able to buy the fastest breezer in the sale for that sort of money isn’t bad.”
Former Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford celebrated his first winner as a trainer last week when 16-1 shot Mutawathea (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) landed a London Mile Series Qualifier at Kempton and he added to his Newmarket-based string with the purchase of lot 148, a colt by Kodiac (Ire), at £110,000. The first foal of the Oasis Dream (GB) mare Munaa’s Dream, the colt was bought by Con Marnane from the same ring for just £28,000 as a yearling, and agent Anthony Stroud, buying on Crisford’s behalf, was happy to return to the Bansha House Stables draft.
He said, “I bought [subsequent Group 1 winner] Fleeting Spirit (Ire) from Bansha House a long time ago and this is a nice horse who breezed very well so I’m happy to be able to buy him for Simon.”
Hoping For Another ‘Wow’ Factor…
Trainer John Quinn enjoyed a memorable 2014 courtesy of his Brightwells Ascot Breeze-Up Sale purchase The Wow Signal (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) and, in company with his son Sean and bloodstock agent Richard Knight, picked up another three juveniles for this season at Doncaster. Top of the trio was the penultimate lot through the ring, a January-born son of Pivotal (GB) (lot 177) who was knocked down at £110,000 after Quinn withstood advances from underbidder Stephen Hillen.
“I really liked him and he has an excellent pedigree,” said the Yorkshire-based trainer of the first son of the Cheveley Park Stud-bred mare Regal Salute (GB) (Medicean {GB}). “He did an acceptably good breeze without burning it up but he was a really nice individual and I’m happy to have been able to get him.”
The colt was another good pinhooking result of the sale, with his consignor Longways Stables having bought him at the DBS Premier Sale for £25,000.
Issuing an upbeat bulletin on his Classic hopeful The Wow Signal, Quinn added, “He’s in great form; I’m really pleased with him.”