High-class performer Ghostwriter (Invincible Spirit), who holds obvious claims in the G2 Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot, led the way at the Goffs London Sale on Monday when selling to Kia Joorabchian's Amo Racing for £2 million.
A three-time winner – including at Group 2 level – for trainer Clive Cox and owner Jeff Smith, Ghostwriter twice hit the frame behind City Of Troy last year in the Coral-Eclipse and Juddmonte International.
Joorabchian held off the attention of American owner John Stewart as underbidder. And, while he was standing beside Alex Elliott when the hammer fell, the Amo Racing boss insisted that there was no pressure on the bloodstock agent given he had instead taken the advice of his son Max before waving the winning bid.
“To be honest, my son picked him out a little while ago,” Joorabchian said. “He was like, 'we've got to buy this.' He's third favourite [7-1] for the Hardwicke. I think he's got a chance to go up to Group 1 level so we'll see.”
Asked if his son was in attendance, Joorabchian joked, “No, I haven't got my son here but I have my adopted son, Alex Elliott. He doesn't have any pressure because he didn't want to buy it. So we're okay, this one's on me.”
Ghostwriter boasts a rating of 118. He is out of the Cheshire Oaks runner-up Moorside (Champs Elysees) and from the family of the 2,000 Guineas-winning sire Zafonic.
Asked if Ghostwriter would be staying with Cox, Joorabchian added, “We'll see. I don't know Clive Cox but I'm sure I'll meet him and we'll see. At the moment, I am not buying horses to stay [with their current trainers], I'm buying them to go into our own yard. This one, I don't know yet, because he [Cox] has done a good job with him so we'll have a chat. Alex knows him a little bit better.”
Amo Racing also landed the John and Thady Gosden-trained Tycoon (Kingman) through bloodstock agent Nick Bell for £600,000. The three-year-old colt carried Bjorn Nielsen's silks to victory in a Windsor maiden back in April before finishing third in a Listed contest at Goodwood last month. He has the option of the Hampton Court Stakes and the Golden Gate Stakes at the Royal Meeting.
Bell commented, “He's a very exciting horse. I thought that he didn't quite stay at Goodwood [over 1m3f] the last day. He's got a very good pedigree and I think his career is only going in one direction. He's got a couple of options at Ascot but I'd like to go for the Golden Gate with him on Saturday off a mark of 97. I think he'd be very competitive off that but he's also in the Hampton Court so I will leave that decision up to Kia and the Amo team.”
Meanwhile, Stewart managed to get in on the act when going to £625,000 to secure Woodshauna (Wooded). The Resolute Racing boss had already struck a deal last month on the private market for the Paddy Twomey-trained Rogue Legend (Havana Grey), who heads the betting for the Windsor Castle Stakes, and was returning to a source he knows well for Woodshauna. The Group 3-winning three-year-old is trained by Francis Graffard, who also manages the career of Stewart's leading older performer Goliath.
Stewart said, “Francis has been telling me about the horse and he was my main target at the sale. He will stay with Francis and target a Group 1 in the beginning of July. I think we got some good value since he was not targeting an Ascot race. I thought he would be a bit more expensive.”
Of the 30 horses offered at the Goffs London Sale, 19 were sold. However, Rafale Design (Starspangledbanner) and Ali Shuffle (A'Ali), who had won and finished second respectively just 24 hours before the sale, failed to find buyers. Rafale Design was a vendor buyback at £2 million while Ali Shuffle was retained at £500,000. All told, the 19 sold horses went for a combined £7,720,000. The average was £406,316 while the median was £300,000.
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