A great sale yesterday with the top price smashing last year's record. Full write up on the sale from EBN here:
RECORDS TUMBLE AS FILLY EXCEEDS PREVIOUS BEST
Staged for the first time under the Tattersalls Ireland banner, the Ascot breeze-up sale produced plenty of fireworks yesterday, which not only included a first six-figure for the sale, but three of them, while the sale grossed a total of £1,914,500 for 59 of the 85 lots offered selling at an average of £32,449 and a median of £22,000. There are no comparable results to previous runnings of the Ascot sale due to the change in sales company last year.
The sale’s ring filled up, as the sole offering by Exceed And Excel, a filly who was consigned by Church Farm Stables as Lot 38, but it was Tom Malone who struck the winning bid of £180,000, a new sale record. Malone was pretty much in from the start, first fending off the attention of Stephen Hillen and latterly Dermot Cantillon.
The bay, a 30,000gns purchase from Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale by her consignors Church Farm Stables, is bred to make a two-year-old, being a half-sister to Chandlery (Choisir), winner of the Gr.2 Vintage Stakes. They are out of the unraced Masai Queen (Mujadil), a full-sister to the four-time Listed-placed runner Mombassa.
Malone said, “She is for Charles Wentworth and is set to go into training with Eddie Lynam. She came highly recommended and is a bullet. There is enough to shout about.”
Malone and Wentworth have previously joined up for Groupwinning success with a breeze-up purchase. Malone jointly paid, with Alan McCabe, £65,000 for Caspar Netscher, winner of the Gr.2 Mehl-Mulhens Rennen and Gr.2 Nearctic Stakes, at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale in 2011.
Results on the track in Britain and Ireland for the first Northern Hemisphere crop by Lonhro last year, which included Lily Agnes Stakes winner Rah Rah and the promising unbeaten in one start Raymonda, ensured that the sole offering by the former shuttler to Jonabell Farm was well worth a look. Sold as Lot 79 by Kilminfoyle House Stud, the $30,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearling Sale purchase by JC Bloodstock went the way of Johnno Mills, bidding for Richard O’Gorman Bloodstock, at £170,000, with Alex Elliott among those vanquished.
The colt is the second foal out of the unraced Seeking The Gold mare Wild Idle, a daughter of the 1996 US Champion TwoYear-Old Filly Storm Song (Summer Squall). Wild Idle is also a half-sister to the dam of last year’s wide margin Gr.1 Irish St Leger winner Order Of St George.
Just three lots after the sale topper went through the ring, Lot 41 also breached six-figures, selling to Stephen Hillen & Tony Byrne for £115,000. The son of Equiano is a half-brother to the Hong Kong Listed winner Flaming Lamborghini (Compton Place) and the dam of the consistent Group-winning Scandinavian sprinter Avon Pearl. He was the sole offering by Brendan Holland’s Grove Stud, who picked him up for €30,000 at last year’s Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale.
Joseph Tuite is set to train the March-born two-year-old and said, “He has been bought by Tony Byrne, who owns Littigant [winner of last year’s Ebor Handicap off an 18-month layoff, who also landed the November Handicap]. This colt worked well. We liked him when we saw him at Fairyhouse last year and we should have bought him then. He will race shortly and hopefully we will be back here [for Royal Ascot].”
Previous to missing out on the Exceed And Excel filly, Dermot Cantillon, who ended the sale as leading buyer, spending a total of £228,000, secured a son of Equiano (Lot 36), who was consigned by Eddie O’Leary’s Lynn Lodge Stud. A 35,000gns Tattersalls December Foal Sale purchase by Margaret O’Toole, the bay had been bought back at 30,000gns from Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale.
After purchasing the half-brother to the German Gr.3 winner Majoune’s Song (Singspiel), out of the French Gr.3 winner Majoune (Take Risks), Cantillon said, “He did one of the fastest breezes of the day. The new owner wished to be anonymous, but he will be trained in England. He has a stallion’s page.”
Cantillon waited until the very last horse into the ring (Lot 101) to acquire his priciest purchase of four on the day, a Pivotal filly, which also included an Elnadim colt (Lot 66), who shares the same grandam as the Lonhro for £35,000. A 23,000gns purchase as a foal, the filly was pinhooked by yesterday’s consignor, Katie Walsh’s Greenhills Farm, for €30,000 at the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale last September. A full-sister to two multiple winners, out of the Listed winner Coy (Danehill), this is the further family of the Champion Three-Year-Old Miler and sire Zafeen.
Cantillon said, “She is for the same clients as the earlier colt. She did a good breeze and is all about potential. She is not a two-year-old.”
The action got off to a quick start with just the second horse into the sales ring, a son of Kyllachy (Lot 3) being secured by David Phelan for £75,000. The bay proved a half-sister to the Gr.2 Royal Lodge Stakes runner-up Waseet. Brown Island Stables were the consignors.
It was not long until that price was matched for a son from the first crop by the Juddmonte-based Bated Breath (Lot 11), with Rabbah Bloodstock securing the colt, who was consigned by Willie Browne’s Mocklershill. A 65,000gns foal purchase, Browne paid only 30,000gns at Book 2 of the Tattersalls Yearling Sale last October. Bidding yesterday opened at £10,000, but graduallyto be a significant pinhook for connections, with Charel Bloodstock having paid 12,000gns for him at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale. He is the first foal out of the trice-placed Act One mare Director’s Dream, increased to £75,000. The colt is a half-brother to last year’s speedy juvenile Argentero (Zoffany), winner of the Listed Rochestown Stakes, out of the unraced Pivotal mare Frabjous, a half-sister to the Gr.1 Prix Maurice de Gheest winner May Ball.
Jonno Mills said, “He is a straightforward sort, who is a nice type and we hope he will be lucky. He will be trained by James Tate.”
The other two-year-old from the Church Farm Stables consignment was Lot 43, a son of Kodiac, who is a half-brother to the 19-time winner One Slick Chick (One Cool Cat). David Dennis landed the March-born bay for £68,000. He was pinhooked from Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale at 45,000gns.
Rounding out the top ten were two colts consigned by Con Marnane’s Bansha House Stables, who ended the sale as the number one consignor, selling seven for £272,000. Lot 69, a son of Royal Applause, who was a 14,000gns Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 3 purchase, resold for a healthy profit to Ken Condon for £68,000. He is the first foal out of a winning Red Ransom halfsister to the Gr.2 Del Mar Derby winner Medici Code.
The Canford Cliffs colt (Lot 33) is heading to Scandinavia, after being purchased by Swedish trainer Frederick Reuterskiold for £55,000. He is a half-brother to last year’s Gr.2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte runner-up Dressed In Fur (Excellent Art), who is due to run in the Gr.3 Prix Imprudence at Maisons-Laffitte later today.
Reuterskiold said, “He is already entered in the Swedish Derby. He will want a break and we shall bring him back for an autumn campaign. He is for an existing client Finn Blichfeldt.”
The colt had been purchased for €26,000 from the BBAG Jahrlings Auktion by Emerald Bloodstock.
Top Lots
Lot 38 f Exceed and Excel ex Masai Queen
Purchaser: Tom Malone
Price: £180,000
Lot 79 c Lonhro ex Wild Idle
Purchaser: Richard O'Gorman Bloodstock
Price: £170,000
Lot 41 c Equiano ex Miss Rimex
Purchaser: Hillen & Byrne
Price £115,000
Lot 101 f Pivotdal ex Coy
Purchaser Dermot Cantillon
Price £95,000
Lot 36 c Equiano ex Majoune
Purchaser Dermot Cantillon
Price £78,000
Lot 11 c Bated Breath ex Frabjous
Purchaser Rabbah Bloodstock
Price £75,000
Lot 3 c Kyllachy ex Director's Dream
Purcasher David Phelan
Price £75,000
Full results here
