NEWMARKET, UK——Trade continued apace at Tattersalls on Thursday, with a clearance rate of 90% upheld through two lively sessions of horses in training.
The international element of the sale was again evident in the morning session with two six-figure lots being purchased for Saudi Arabia and Australia respectively.
Sheikh Abdullah Al-Malek Al Sabah is the new owner of Man Of The Night (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) (lot 381), who held the top spot throughout the day after he was knocked down at 175,000gns.
The Saudi sheikh, who has more than 50 horses in training in Britain, was accompanied at the sale by his son Faisal, who said, “I think he will suit the big handicaps in the UK and then we will send him to Saudi Arabia. He will stay in the UK until October.”
Formerly trained by Richard Hannon for Night Of Thunder's owner Saeed Manana, the 4-year-old Man Of The Night won on his debut over six furlongs at two and returned to the winner's circle last month at Doncaster to push his rating to 92.
He led a session in which prices were again pushed up by the strong demand. Of the 159 horses offered before and after racing, 144 found new homes to add 3,445,100gns to the the overall tally. The second-day median was 14,000gns and the average 23,924gns. Once again, comparisons are difficult to the shorter format of last year's July Sale, but these figures stand up well to the rising trade witnessed in the few years prior to that.
Family in demand
Restitution (Fr) (Frankel {GB}), from a family which featured in one of the six-figure lots during the opening day of the sale, extended the desirability of his tribe when fetching a bit of 150,000gns from Mark Richards.
Offered as lot 436 by Jamie Railton, the 3-year-old son of listed winner Restiana (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}) has run just twice from the Gosden stable, winning on his second outing at the end of April. He will now be exported to Australia, explained Richards, who was acting on behalf of Mark Player's International Thoroughbred Solutions.
“Mark is well used to purchasing horses here to go to Australia and the mere fact of me being back here, it is using old contacts and old friends as much as anything else,” said British-born Richards, who is now based in Newmarket after 22 years with the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
“He likes to have someone on the ground to see the horses, knows the sort of horse I will be looking at and said that, if I found anything that might suit, to get in touch. I thought this is a lovely looking horse, hopefully he will acclimatise to Australia and he will head straight there now.”
On Wednesday, Restitution's full-sister Tianadargent (Fr) was sold in foal to Mehmas (Ire) for 100,000gns. Another sibling, Restiadargent (Fr), won the G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte and was third in the G1 Diamond Jubilee S. behind Black Caviar (Aus).
Bear fans
Robson Aguiar is a name more usually associated with the breeze-up sales and, often through his partnership with Amo Racing, he has enjoyed a successful season on the track with juvenile graduates such as Go Bears Go (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}) and Hello You (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who runs in Friday's G2 Duchess of Cambridge S.
Another son of Kodi Bear, Caio Shark (Ire), was sold through the Aguiar Bloodstock draft on behalf of Amo Racing for 110,000gns after winning at Haydock in May on his third start. Now rated 81, the former Michael Bell trainee (lot 475) was bought online by SPI Racing.
Aguiar Bloodstock has sold 10 horses over the two days of the sale for just shy of 300,000gns.
British syndicates invest
A relatively small Juddmonte draft at this year's July Sale was headed by Diderot (GB) (lot 517), a 3-year-old son of Bated Breath (GB), who was bought to race on in Britain for a syndicate at 90,000gns.
Dan Downie, who runs the Axom and Elite Racing syndicates, said, “We will give him a couple of weeks before making a decision where he will go into training. He could be for Elite Racing, Axom or the Owners Group, we haven't decided yet. He looks really progressive and there should be some improvement.”
The 88-rated Diderot, a half-brother to the GI Beverly D S runner-up Grand Jete (GB) (Dansili {GB}), was previously trained in Ireland by Ger Lyons and won a mile maiden at Dundalk on the second of his four starts to date.
Another to bring the hammer down at 90,000gns was the 100-rated Above (Fr) (Anjaal {GB}), a former colour-bearer for Qatar Racing who was most recently seventh in the Wokingham S. at Royal Ascot. He has now switched from Archie Watson's stable to Stuart Williams after the Newmarket trainer was the successful bidder on behalf of an unnamed syndicate.
Williams said of lot 557, a 4-year-old gelding who has won three of his 13 starts, “The plan is to stay in Britain with him and try and win a big handicap. We'd like to try to win something like the Ayr Gold Cup.”
Switch of codes
Albert Camus (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) (lot 571), a winner just eight days ago at Haydock over a mile and a half, will face a new challenge when leaving Newmarket for Ireland as he is to be tried in juvenile hurdle races by his new trainer John McConnell.
The Irishman, who was bidding on behalf of Duleek Street Racing and bought the 85-rated 3-year-old from the stable of John and Thady Gosden, said, “We don't expect to improve him from where we got him out of, but with that rating, if he can jump a hurdle, he should be a nice hurdler for people involved.”
McConnell added, “He came highly recommended, the trip looks grand, he has not really encountered soft ground, but I think he will handle it. We have had a bit of luck with Teofilos before to go jumping. He seems to have very good attitude as well, he won really well at the line the other day and he looks as though there is more to come. He is a progressive Flat horse, and that is what you have to pay for a three-year-old like this.”
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