By Emma Berry
Selling at Goffs UK for the first time, Lordship Stud equalled the Premier Sale record of £280,000 with a homebred colt by the ubiquitous Dark Angel (Ire) out of Swiss Dream (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), who was sold through the Highclere Stud draft and led two days of “cracking trade” in Doncaster.
Lot 448, the strong grey son of the stallion who has made Doncaster his own this week, is the first foal of the Harris family's treble Listed winner, whose Group 3-winning half-brother Swiss Spirit (GB) (Invincible Spirit {GB}) has also been making a name for himself this week as one of the sale's leading freshman sires.
Agent Ross Doyle, taking instructions by telephone, saw off attempts first from Amanda Skiffington and later Ed Sackville to claim the colt on behalf of Shadwell, which ended the sale as leading buyer with 22 yearlings purchased for a total of £2,131,000.
Doyle said, “Dark Angel is a fantastic stallion and we were lucky enough to buy Estidhkaar (Ire) here for Shadwell. We felt he was the pick of the sale – he's a lovely colt from a lovely family and he ticked plenty of boxes for everyone.”
Speaking on behalf of his parents Trevor and Libby and brother Ben, Tom Harris, whose family owns Newmarket's Lordship Stud, said, “This is the first time we've sold at this sale. It always had a reputation for offering 2-year-old types but now there are some high-quality horses coming here. This horse looks like a 2-year-old and the family is all about speed so we thought he'd be a stand-out here.”
He added, “We'd like to thank Carolyn Warren and her team at Highclere Stud for doing such a good job preparing the colt, and also our team at home at Lordship, who have raised him since birth. It's quite a landmark occasion for us as it's the first time that a daughter of Swiss Lake has had progeny for sale.”
Swiss Lake (Indian Ridge {GB}), the dam of three black-type winners and the G2 Coventry S. runner-up Swiss Franc (GB) (Mr Greeley) is the prize specimen among the Lordship broodmare band. Her 2-year-old colt by Frankel (GB), named Swiss Storm (GB) and owned in partnership with David Elsworth who has trained most of the immediate members of the family, is entered to make his debut at Newmarket on Friday. A full-brother to Swiss Spirit is being sold in Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale, where her Group 3-winning daughter Swiss Diva (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) will also be represented by an Oasis Dream colt.
Figures Up For Fifth Year
The colt's price – which equaled the sale record set by Gale Force Ten (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) in 2011 and was matched again last year by the sister to Galileo Gold (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}) – helped overall turnover for the sale to £17,455,000 which was down slightly by 2% but from 20 fewer horses sold. Last year's excellent clearance rate of 87% was maintained for the 454 horses offered, while the average crept up by 3% to £44,078 and the median was boosted by 13% to £34,000.
The second day of what Goffs UK Chief Executive Henry Beeby described as “cracking trade” added £8,704,000 to the aggregate, with 195 yearlings sold on the day for an average just above the sale's as a whole at £44,636 and a median price of £32,000.
“For the fifth consecutive year the Premier Sale has returned improved figures of sustained trade at a level we have not witnessed at Doncaster at any sale in memory,” Beeby commented.
“Last year we celebrated 31 lots that made £100,000 or over and it has been pleasing to build on that with one more £100,000-plus transaction. To put this sale's progress into perspective, the average price has grown by a staggering 64% in just four years as it increasingly competes at a higher level for the type of yearlings that breeders never used to consider for Doncaster, a fact that has been clearly illustrated by the median price climbing another 13%.”
He continued, “Indeed, the key to this sale has always been the individual and we can only marvel at how our vendors keep getting it right and upping the ante at the same time, as without the 'Donny yearlings' for which the sale is renowned, we have nothing.”
Colemans' Mustard With First Offering
Acclamation (GB) also took his turn in the spotlight on Tuesday when the Rathbarry Stud stalwart was responsible for the day's second-top lot, a colt consigned by Brightwalton Stud and sold to the Hong Kong Jockey Club for £230,000. Matt Coleman found himself on the other side of a transaction for a change, with the agent being the breeder of lot 288 in partnership with his father, Roger, a lifelong racing fan.
The January-born colt is the first foal of the Listed Bosra Sham S. winner Melbourne Memories (GB) (Sleeping Indian {GB}) who was in turn the first horse bred by the Colemans.
Roger takes up the story. “When we sent [grandam] Three Decades to stud we had to find a stallion we could afford so we settled on Sleeping Indian as I really liked his bottom line. I spent 25 years in Australia and Matt was born in Melbourne – the first time he ever went racing was to Flemington – which was how she ended up being known as Melbourne Memories. To think that the first filly we bred ended up taking us to Ascot and now her first foal has done this – it's quite unbelievable really.”
Melbourne Memories, who was unsold at £2,200 when offered at Brightwells as a yearling, later won three of her ten starts and was third in the G3 Fred Darling S. for Clive Cox. Now six, she has a filly by the young Shadwell stallion Mukhadram (GB) at foot which Roger Coleman hopes to keep, and is in foal to Showcasing (GB).
Mark Richards, who bought her colt, said of his second purchase at the sale, “Acclamation is a proven horse in Hong Kong. He's had ten winners from 16 horses to race over there which is a pretty good strike-rate. As with most of our purchases this colt is a real athlete. He moved beautifully and is very well put together.”
Sundstrom Hails New Sales Paradise
Angus Gold was under-bidder on the Acclamation colt and also had to play second fiddle when it came to the only Siyouni filly in the catalogue (lot 376), who was offered by Anna Sundstrom's Coulonces Consignment on behalf of her breeder Francois Mathet.
When bidding reached £220,000, Gold cried enough, allowing John Dance and Daniel Creighton of Salcey Forest Stud to add the sleek bay daughter of the dual winner Recambe (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) to Dance's portfolio of horses in training with James Bethell, Karl Burke, Tom Dascombe and Becky Menzies.
“She had the pedigree and a lovely walk – she just oozed class,” Creighton said. “The fact that she's eligible for French premiums gave us the confidence to have that one last bid. Angus has beaten us on about half a dozen of our favourites so far.”
The filly, whose dam is a half-sister to Hong Kong Derby winner Salford Mill (Ire) (Peintre Celebre) is one of six yearlings bought at Doncaster this week by the team from Salcey Forest Stud, a150-acre farm in Northamptonshire which is home to 14 mares. She was also one of a select three-strong draft brought from France by Sundstrom, a regular major player at Arqana.
After selling the trio for a total of £362,000, she said, “I needed a fresh challenge and bringing horses to this sale has been a really great way for me to meet some of the English owners and trainers that I didn't know. I must admit I wasn't expecting this filly to make as much as she did but she's a beauty who has just kept blooming. I'll definitely be coming back – this is the new sales paradise!”
Ivory On The Dark Side
Dark Angel has been the dominant stallion during the two days of the Premier Sale and several more of his yearlings played key roles on Wednesday. Lot 331, Cooneen Stud's filly out of the Oaks d'Italia-placed Oeuvre d'Art (Ire) (Marju {Ire}) will be trained by Dean Ivory, who went to £170,000 to secure her on behalf of the Yarrow family, owners of the multiple winners Sirius Prospect (Gone West) and Lancelot du Lac (ITY) (Shamardal).
Angus Gold had his way when it came to buying lot 364, the first foal of Quelle Affaire (GB) (Bahamian Bounty {GB}), also by Dark Angel, for £130,000 from Yeomanstown Stud. The Shadwell buyer also added to Sheikh Hamdan's team of youngsters with the purchase of lots 338 and 363, a pair of Kodiac colts from Tally-Ho Stud and Kilminfoyle House Stud, for £150,000 apiece.
George Washington Remembered
The sale of lot 397 for £160,000 to Shadwell represented a breakthrough for Tweenhills' first-season sire Havana Gold (GB). The half-brother to three winners is out of Roslea Lady (Ire) (Alhaarth {Ire}), herself a half-sister to G2 Gimcrack S. and Stewards' Cup winner Conquest (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}).
Trickledown's Paul Thorman, who, with wife Sara, consigned subsequent Classic winner George Washington (Ire) (Danehill) as a yearling in 2004, said, “We took him to the foal sale last year and he didn't make his reserve but he's improved out of all sight this year. He's as good-looking a horse as I've seen and Sara and I kept commenting that he reminded us a bit of George – he was in the same field as him and he had that same fluent movement and touch of arrogance, as if he knew just how good looking he is.”
In The Grove
Grove Stud enjoyed a decent pair of results, the second coming when David Redvers, who earlier had bought the sole Scat Daddy yearling in the sale (lot 360) for £90,000, went to £140,000 for lot 430, an Oasis Dream first foal of the Italian Listed winner Souviens Toi (GB) (Dalakhani {Ire}). Amanda Skiffington was out of luck when trying to buy Trickledown's Havana Gold colt but struck for the next lot through the ring from Grove Stud (398), a son of Sir Percy, who was a 70,000gns foal purchase for Brendan Holland last December and transformed into a £120,000 yearling.
“I just love the way he moves,” said Skiffington, who confirmed that the half-brother to dual juvenile winner Spiritual Lady (GB) (Pastoral Pursuits {GB}) was bought for Fiona Carmichael and Ian Jennings and will be trained by Hugo Palmer.
Less than an hour later, the agent added lot 419, a colt by Fast Company (Ire) from the Lynn Lodge Stud draft to the Carmichael-Jennings list of recent purchases. The first foal of the Zamindar mare Shehila (Ire) was knocked down at £110,000.
Charlton Left Breathless After First Pinhook
While Harry Charlton is likely to follow his father Roger into the training ranks eventually, his younger brother Tom may well have been bitten by the sales bug after a decent first pinhooking touch with lot 290. The dark brown filly was by a sire known well at Beckhampton – the former Roger Charlton-trained Bated Breath (GB) who has had 11 first-crop winners this season – and caught Tom's eye at Tattersalls last year, where he managed to buy the first foal of Midnight Hush (Fr) (Anabaa) for just 13,500gns. Consigned at Doncaster through Norris Bloodstock, which offered their first draft at Goffs UK, the filly was bought by trainer Michael O'Callaghan for £90,000.
“I really liked her at the foal sales and my dad and brother both got involved so it was a nice family project. We felt if she didn't make enough we'd be happy to keep her and race her as she was such a lovely filly, but Liam and Jenny Norris did a great job preparing her for the sale and we're very pleased to have sold her so well,” said Tom.
New Trainer In Clover
Another Tom, this one Newmarket's newest trainer Tom Clover, is being sent his first yearlings from the Goffs UK Premier Sale thanks to a first-time buyer in Britain, Omie Rangabashyam, a transplant surgeon who has 15 horses in training in his native Singapore.
Clover, who will be assisted in his fledgling training venture by his partner Jackie Jarvis, the daughter of the late Michael Jarvis, will take charge of lot 350, a son of Dragon Pulse (Ire). The colt out of the Danzig mare Polska represented another good pinhooking result as the half-brother to nine winners was bought by Gerry Burke for €18,000 as a foal and resold through his Glidawn Stud for £75,000.
“We also have a Sepoy (Aus) colt to train for Mr Rangabashyam and my mum bought a Foxwedge colt yesterday to syndicate,” said Jackie Jarvis, who added that work is underway for the duo to move their new team into Wroughton House Stables at the foot of Newmarket's Warren Hill.
The one-day Silver Sale takes place at Goffs UK on Thursday from 10am.
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