By Chris McGrath
After a sluggish start, the first day of the Horses-in-Training Sale at Tattersalls was suddenly shaken into life when a 3-year-old half-brother to Mastercraftsman (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) sent over from Ballydoyle was claimed in a matter of seconds by a classic poker player's stunt. With many of the more obvious prospects lurking later in the catalogue, purchasers had spent a beautiful fall day in Newmarket cautiously sifting the wheat from the chaff. Despite a significant rally in prices later in the session, the average slipped 6 per cent on last year's opening day, from 23,700gns to 22,390. An aggregate of 5,105,000gns changed hands, compared with 5,451,000 in 2014, again a decline of 6 per cent, with 50 of the 278 lots offered failing to find a buyer – representing a three-point dip in clearances to 82 per cent. The median was down 14 per cent, to 12,000 from 14,000gns.
But the arrival in the ring of lot 289, as night fell, proved the cue for a theatrical gamble that would give the whole sale an overdue kick-start. Grant Pritchard-Gordon, of Badgers Bloodstock, went straight for the jugular with a bid for Prospector (Galileo {Ire}) as exotic for its precision as its size. Not 200,000gns, nor 250,000 – but 240,000. By the time any potential rivals for the colt had overcome their confusion, the hammer was down. “I thought you might have missed it,” Pritchard-Gordon grinned to the press, signing the chit barely a minute after the colt had entered the ring. “It's a tactic I've seen quite a lot in Australia – they call it a 'king bid' – and it was for an Australian client who has used it successfully in the past, and was keen to utilize it again.”
A past patron, Paul Makin, has often been associated with a flamboyant bidding strategy, trying to blow the opposition out of the water with a knockout opening bid. But Pritchard-Gordon was reluctant to divulge the identity of the colt's new owner. The one certainty is that Prospector had greatly magnified his value just two days previously, when following up a recent maiden success at Navan in a competitive Leopardstown handicap. Nonetheless a Coolmore partnership had remained prepared to cull the eighth most expensive hip at the Keeneland July Sale of 2013 – a colt by their champion stallion, Galileo, out of Starlight Dreams (Black Tie Affair), the dam of MG1SW Mastercraftsman, himself a promising Coolmore sire. “This horse has the profile of one that's going to go on improving at four,” Pritchard-Gordon said of Prospector. “He cost $1.4 million as a yearling, he's a half-brother to a very under-rated, top stallion and, most importantly, he is the type of very nice staying horse that should do well in Australia.”
It had taken over five hours for the sale to register its first six-figure tag, at lot 201. It was no surprise to learn that the man who had arrested the initial freefall in the various year-on-year indices was Anthony Stroud, who signed a docket of 155,000gns for Red Galileo (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). As ever, Stroud has been sieving the catalogue for horses eligible for the Dubai Carnival, and while Red Galileo had only won one of his 21 career starts for Ed Dunlop, he has consistently maintained an official rating above 100 ever since finishing fifth as an outsider for the 2014 G1 Epsom Derby. “He's a good horse and one with a rating good enough for Dubai,” Stroud confirmed. “His profile fits and he's obviously by an outstanding stallion.” Stroud, who saw off strong Australian interest for a stablemate of Red Cadeaux (GB) (Cadeaux Genereux) and Trip To Paris (Ire) (Champs Elysees {GB}), professed to have no idea who will train the gelding. Dandy Nicholls, overhearing that there might be a vacancy, mischievously stepped in to volunteer his credentials. It may or may not prove significant that Simon Crisford, the former Godolphin manager who has made such an excellent start to his new career as a trainer, had been standing alongside as Stroud was bidding.
Next to break six figures was lot 258, Classic Villager (GB) (Authorized {Ire}). Winner of three of his four starts since joining Chris Wall, the gelding had caught the imagination of Stephen Hillen, who bid 110,000gns on behalf of Brian and Rosie Hargie. “We looked at all the videos and he's one horse I really wanted coming here,” Hillen explained. “He's got progressive form, and Authorizeds do seem to progress really well with age. I'd envisage him improving next year and aiming at the top mile-and-a-half handicaps. He travels really well in his races and I like that kind of horse – you can hold onto them that bit longer, and they only need to race for a furlong.” Hillen also signed for lot 343, Flaming Spear (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), on behalf of the colt's present trainer, Kevin Ryan. Winner of his sole start at two, he was regarded as a Classic prospect for Qatar Racing in the spring but disappeared after a midfield finish in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains. Ryan's faith was evidently not diminished when he was beaten on his first start since, at Chelmsford earlier in the month, as Hillen saw off Jeremy Brummitt with a bid of 125,000gns to take the colt back to Yorkshire. “It just hasn't happened for him this year, for one reason or another,” Hillen said. “He probably wants a bit of dig and every time he's been declared the ground has been fast. He's still a gorgeous colt.” Albeit not for long – he is likely to be a gorgeous gelding when next seen.
Another trainer anxious to retain the services of a horse discarded by Qatar Racing was Charlie Fellowes, who paid 100,000gns to buy back lot 395 Wet Sail (Henrythenavigator) had made the frame in a listed race at Chester during the summer and resumed an upward curve by winning a conditions race at Salisbury earlier in the month. “He's staying in the yard for a new owner,” confirmed Will Douglass, of Charlie Gordon-Watson Bloodstock. “He's a fun, solid horse, the type that's hard to get hold of, and Charlie really wanted to have him back.” The sale of lot 315 for 100,000gns represented good business for Scuderia Blueberry, purchasers of Gerrard's Quest (GB) (Captain Gerrard {Ire}) for 13,000gns in the same ring as a yearling 12 months previously. The colt had finished third for Marco Botti in a Group 2 in Italy eight days before the sale and is now off to Qatar where his new owner, Adel Al-Muslamani, hopes that he can emulate his success there with a 120,000gns purchase at last year's sale, Bronze Maquette (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}).
Le Maitre Chat (Tale Of The Cat) volunteered himself as having options both on the Flat and over jumps when he finished strongly for a close fifth in the historic Cesarewitch Handicap earlier in the month. But it so happens that his trainer, Ian Williams, is an adept operator in both codes and duly went to 82,000 guineas to ensure that lot 197 remained in his care. “He ran so well in the Cesarewitch, and that was his first start for us,” Williams explained. “I think he's a guaranteed runner at Royal Ascot next year, over two and a half miles. But in the meantime I hope jumping hurdles will make a man of him.”
A poignant footnote came in a final draft of horses from the local Carlburg stable of Clive Brittain, the octogenarian pioneer who is handing in his training licence at the end of the season. Brittain started his career as a stable lad in the 1940s and opened new horizons for British trainers with their first Breeders' Cup success, through Pebbles in the 1985 GI Breeders' Cup Turf, and the following year was thwarted only by Ferdinand when saddling Bold Arrangement in the GI Kentucky Derby. Though his trademark enthusiasm remains undiminished, Brittain's is retiring to care for his unwell wife. Few proved inclined to stoke the embers of a ground-breaking career, however, 11 lots fetching an aggregate of just 50,900gns.
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