Dubawi On Top Again As Book 2 Closes

Dubawi (Ire), the ruler of Book 1, was back in charge at Tattersalls on Wednesday courtesy of his sole Book 2 yearling (lot 1267), Croom House Stud's colt out of the unraced Brazilian Samba (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) who became yet another addition to the Godolphin collection for the sum of 300,000gns.

“He's a May foal, so we decided he'd stand out in this sale and we're delighted that he did that,” said Denis Brosnan, who owns Croom House Stud with his wife Joan and son Cathal. The County Limerick farm, which breeds under the name of Epona Bloodstock Ltd, has been responsible for some notable sales graduates in recent years, including Group winners Zoffany (Ire) (Dansili {GB}), his daughter Illuminate (Ire), and soon-to-be Tally-Ho Stud stallion Mehmas (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), from its broodmare band which numbers around 30.

“We like to keep a few fillies to put into training but we let a few go each year to retain the quality,” Brosnan added. “We bought Brazilian Samba here as a filly out of training from Lady O'Reilly and she has a Mastercraftsman colt foal but she wasn't covered this year as he too was a late foal.”

Jono Mills stood in for John Ferguson to conduct the bidding on the half-brother to Hong Kong Group 2 winner Endowing (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) and commented, “He is the last Dubawi in the sale, is from a very good farm and Dubawi's record speaks for itself.”

It certainly does when it comes to the sales returns at Tattersalls, where 16 of his yearlings have sold for 14.9 million gns in the last eight days, nine of which were bought by Godolphin for a total of 9.25 million gns.

Dubawi-mania was not the sole factor in a very pleasing set of figures from the second week of October trade at Park Paddocks, however. Eighty-seven fewer lots (594, for a clearance rate of 84%) were sold this year from a slimline Book 2 catalogue which makes the turnover of 38,823,500gns a respectable tally, down by just 8% on last year's 42,414,000gns for 681 sold. A new record average price of 65,359gns was achieved––an improvement of 5%–– while the median of 50,000gns equalled the previous record and was up by 6% on 2015.

The final session brought 12,952,000gns to the overall total (+4%) and set an improved average of 66,421gns (+19%) and median of 50,000gns (+14%). Clearance on the day was 85%, with 195 of the 230 offered lots sold.

Westerberg's Successful British Debut
At the top end of the market, competition for colts was fierce with four tied for the second spot on the last-day leader-board at 240,000gns. One of the quartet represented a first foray to the British bloodstock market for Peter Rodde of Gestüt Westerberg, who prepped his homebred Shamardal colt (lot 1262) on his farm at Ingelheim in the Rhine Valley before consigning him at Tattersalls through Jamie Railton.

“We thought about this very carefully and decided we might have more bidders for him here in this price range,” said Rodde, who was in Newmarket with his wife Aline and daughter Annelie. “We discussed it for months and decided we needed to be more adventurous. We wanted to prep him at home and our manager Merle Schmidt did all the work with him. She also came to show him at the sale––for emotional reasons really––but it was important to keep that consistency to have success in the end.”

The Rodde family bred the colt's dam Boccassini (Ger) (Artan [Ire}) who won the G2 Prix Robert Papin in France before returning home to Westerberg. Her four runners are all winners, including Listed winner Bastille (Ger) (Saddex {GB}) and Godolphin's seven-time scorer Broughton (Ger) (Teofilo {Ire}) who made a successful conversion to hurdling when joining the stable of the man who signed the ticket for his half-brother, John Ferguson.

Among Ferguson's 16 Book 2 purchases were Yeomanstown Stud's Dark Angel (Ire) colt (lot 1166) out of a Shamardal half-sister to G1 Prix de l'Opera winner Kinnaird (Ire) (Dr Devious {Ire}) and a Kodiac (Ire) colt (lot 1097) from 3-year-old winner Surrey Storm (GB) (Montjeu {Ire}), consigned by Paul and Marie McCartan's Ballyphilip Stud. The colts were bought for 220,000gns and 200,000gns respectively.

Dark Angel was also on the list of Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez, who raced Oaks winner Qualify (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Ire}) and added the top-priced filly of the session to her string when buying lot 1226 from Staffordstown Stud through trainer John Murphy for 200,000gns. The grey filly is a grand-daughter of Bourbonella (GB) (Rainbow Quest), who died earlier this year and is best remembered for producing Shadwell's G1 Prix du Moulin winner Aqlaam (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), a full-brother to this filly's dam Araqella (Ire).

From Shanghai To Newmarket Via Kentucky
It was refreshing to find a new name­­––new to many in Europe at least––on the list of leading stallions, with Rathbarry Stud's homebred son of Ashford freshman Shanghai Bobby (lot 1117) being another sold for 240,000gns.

Conceived in Kentucky but foaled in Ireland after his dam Thousandfold (Giant's Causeway) was bought carrying him for $130,000 at Keeneland's November Sale, the dark brown colt will be heading to the land of his father as a breeze-up prospect for Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables.

Irish breeze-up maestro Willie Browne signed the ticket on his colleague's behalf and said, “I wish he was coming to me. I saw a lot of the Shanghai Bobby yearlings at Keeneland and he is very typical of his sire's stock. I think they are putting a syndicate together for him so I hope I can be involved.”

Niamh Woods of Rathbarry Stud was understandably delighted by the reception for the colt bred by her mother Catherine Cashman. She said, “We bought the mare in foal as we were eager to get back into a good European family. He's a great first foal for her––I'm told the sire is really stamping his stock.”

While Thousandfold failed to win during her racing career in America, her dam Salut d'Amour was a good 2-year-old in England, finishing runner-up in both the G2 Cherry Hinton S. and G2 Queen Mary S. Salut d'Amour's four winners include the Listed-placed Secret Admirer (Thewayyouare) and she is a half-sister to G2 Sandown Classic Trial winner Regime (Ire) (Golan {Ire}).

Holy Order For Portman
Through the unbeaten Group 3-winning juvenile Mrs Danvers (GB) (Hellvelyn {GB}), Jonathan Portman has shown what he can do with a filly who was bought in for just £1,000 and his stable gained some more expensive ammunition on Wednesday when Geoffrey Howson and Matthew Houldsworth rebutted the attempts of John Murphy in securing lot 1274, by Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) for 240,000gns.

Brendan Holland of Grove Stud is a renowned breeze-up pinhooker but he's none too shabby when it comes to pinpointing a good foal prospect either, and he bought the first foal of the unraced Brilliant Sunshine (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) for 105,000gns in December.

“He's been bought for Ann Plummer and Tony Wechsler,” confirmed Howson, whose agency also bought a 500,000gns son of High Chaparral (Ire) (lot 198) for the duo during Book 1.

“Ann rang this morning and said we should buy her the best in the sale today. I saw this colt on Sunday and thought he was the nicest we'd seen. I hardly wrote anything about him on the page. The more you write, the worse a horse is usually. They do a very good job at Grove Stud.”

Iffraaj Colt Heads East
Completing the quartet of 240,000gns colts was the Hong Kong Jockey Club purchase of lot 1130, an Iffraaj (GB) first foal of the unraced Toquette (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) from the fast family of G1 Darley Prix Morny hero Arcano (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}) and G1 Prix de l'Abbaye winner Gilt Edge Girl (GB) (Monsieur Bond {Ire}).

Homebred by consignor Corduff Stud, the colt was one of 19 by his Darley sire which sold for an average of 114,947gns from Iffraaj's 2014 fee of €25,000.

Commenting on his seventh purchase of the October Sale, Mark Richards of the Hong Kong Jockey Club said, “He is a lovely athletic horse and was the last one left on our list so we are delighted to have bought him. I wish we had been able to pay a little less.”

He continued, “With Arcano under the second dam, the pedigree says speed and he looks speedy himself. He should fit in with the others we bought this week and last week. We haven't had many by Iffraaj in Hong Kong, but the couple we have had have gone on okay, and his stock have pace and go on fast ground.”

Corduff Stud's good day continued with the sale of a pinhooked Showcasing (GB) colt for 220,000gns. Lot 1141, the son of the Listed-placed Turning Leaf (Ire) (Last Tycoon {GB}) was bought as a foal for 105,000gns by Richard Brown and it was his Blandford Bloodstock colleague Tom Goff who signed for him this time around while standing alongside John Gosden, who trained Showcasing.

“He was an expensive foal but we had also pinhooked his half-sister, this year's 2-year-old Mouille Point (GB), and she was a queen,” said David Egan of Corduff Stud. “We are also big fans of Showcasing.”

Leading The Way
With 25 yearlings sold for a total of 1,694,500gns, the sizeable Castlebridge Consignment led the vendors' list but special mention must go to Michael Fitzpatrick's Kilminfoyle House Stud draft, with a mixture of homebreds and shrewd pinhooks, which passed the million mark for just eight horses sold at an average price of 128,750gns, while Yeomanstown Stud also recorded a six-figure average of 102,467gns for 15 sold.

One name dominated the buyers' table––Shadwell––with Sheikh Hamdan's team taking home 42 yearlings for an outlay narrowly in excess of 5 million gns. Rabbah Bloodstock wasn't far behind with 32 bought for 1.77 million gns.

Chairman Edmond Mahony wrapped up a lively three days of Book 2, saying, “At the end of Book 1 of the October Yearling Sale last week we reflected on the extraordinary progress the sale had made since 2010 and the same applies to Book 2. Turnover at Book 2 was a little over 20 million gns in 2010 and the average price was 32,000gns. This year the average price has exceeded 60,000gns for the third consecutive year and the turnover is not far below 40 million gns, making Book 2 the second highest grossing European yearling sale behind October Book 1.”

He continued, “Similar to last week, the feature of the sale has been the strong demand at the top of the market with the trainers and bloodstock agents consistently remarking on the competition for the best yearlings and well over 100 lots selling for 100,000 gns or more. We made a determined effort to control the numbers in Book 2 this year and cataloguing 140 fewer yearlings than in 2015 has made the sale significantly more manageable for both vendors and buyers alike and without doubt assisted the sale.

“Every year graduates of Book 2 advertise the merits of the sale by performing at the very highest level and racecourse achievements are a major factor in attracting buyers at all levels of the market. This sale is the key one for so many British and Irish owners and trainers and they have been competing all week with buyers from throughout Europe and as far afield as Australia, Hong Kong and Japan. Most notably, however, buyers from throughout the Gulf region have made a huge impact, and it would be remiss not to register our sincere gratitude for the massive contribution made in particular by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, both of whom have demonstrated their sustained enthusiasm for the sport of horse racing by supporting the market with such commitment.”

Book 3 of the October Sale starts today at 10am and continues on Friday. It is followed directly by Book 4, which will close the October Sale on Friday evening.