By Emma Berry
“Sire power takes you a long way,” said Mark Dwyer after selling Tuesday's Tattersalls Craven Sale top lot, a son of Invincible Spirit (Ire) (lot 47), for 360,000gns to Jamie McCalmont.
The colt out of the speedy listed winner Loch Jipp (Belong To Me) was on plenty of shopping lists but both John Ferguson and Stephen Hillen had to give best to McCalmont, who was buying on behalf of the Coolmore team.
“I'm not sure who will train him,” said McCalmont. “He was just a lovely colt and a really powerful looking individual who wasn't fazed by anything here today.”
Dwyer, who offered the colt through his Oaks Farm Stables for Highbank Stud having bought him as a yearling for 150,000gns at Book 1 of the October Sale, added, “He breezed particularly well and had coped very well with his prep. The more he did the better he got. I don't know how many times he showed but he never put a foot wrong and you love to see that in a horse.”
A relatively slow start to the opening session gave way to a frenetic patch of activity towards the end of the day's trade which boosted both the aggregate and average figures. Turnover was up by 7% at 3,547,500gns, while the average improved by 19% to 95,878gns. With 37 of the 51 lots offered being marked as sold, the clearance rate was up one point at 73% but the median dropped to 60,000gns, a reduction of 8%.
Dwyer's assessment of sire power was clearly widely shared as another Invincible Spirit colt ended the opening session of the sale as the joint-second highest price at 320,000gns after Ibrahim Araci took on trainer David Le Menuisier for lot 55, this time from Norman Williamson's Oak Tree Farm in Ireland.
The colt also has a listed-winning dam in Mambo Light (Kingmambo), who was Group 3-placed in Germany and has produced two winners from her three runners to date, including Le Juge (Ire) (Dansili {GB}), who recently claimed his second victory on the bounce at Chantilly for Andre Fabre and the Coolmore partners of John Magnier, Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor.
Rob Speers, buying on behalf of Araci, said of the relation to Grade 1 winners Denon and Aldebaran, “This horse has a proper stallion's pedigree and is from a family we know well. In fact we were the under-bidders on Le Juge when he sold as a yearling at Arqana.”
He continued, “We hope that he's more a Classic type of horse rather than a Royal Ascot 2-year-old and we won't be in a rush with him. This has been a lucky sale for us: we bought Native Khan (Fr) here, who won the Craven S. and was placed in the Guineas, and also [Group 3 winner] Chigun (GB), so we've had two proper group horses from the sale so far.”
There's nothing like a decent winner at a major meeting to stir an owner's spirits and Terentrum Star (Fr) (Dutch Art {GB}) provided a nice boost for Tengku Abdal Rahman at Newmarket on Tuesday afternoon. Several hours later the successful owner added to Kevin Ryan's string when buying lot 17, a son of Zoffany (Ire) out of the Entrepreneur (GB) mare Flying Flag (Ire) for 320,000gns.
The colt had been an expensive pinhook for Brendan Holland at 175,000gns last October but Ryan, who buys in partnership with Stephen Hillen, has trained two Group 1 winners from past consignments of Holland's Grove Stud in The Grey Gatsby (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) and Astaire (Ire) (Intense Focus) and is pleased with his latest addition.
He said, “We've bought him for Mr Rahman who has raced some nice horses, including [Group 2 winner] Bapak Chinta. This colt is a fantastic individual and he did a lovely breeze but he hasn't been bought as a 2-year-old. We'll give him a holiday now. He'll have a month off and we'll bring him back for the autumn. Mr Rahman goes with the flow and this horse is a nice 3-year-old prospect. In my view he was the nicest in the sale.”
Eight individuals sold for six-figure sums during the session, including Mocklershill's More Than Ready colt (lot 46), who was bought by Simon Crisford to race for Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum.
“He breezed well and we liked him a lot,” said the trainer of the first foal of the Street Cry (Ire) mare Limonar (Ire), who won the listed Prix Coronation for Carlos Laffon-Parias and is out of a half-sister to Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Bachelor Duke (Miswaki). “It's a young family and she's good mare. Hopefully he'll be good enough to take us to all the fancy races in fancy places.”
The pinhooking result of the evening went to Con Marnane of Bansha House Stables, whose scrutiny of the Book 3 catalogue at last year's October Sale reaped dividends when his 15,000gns outlay on a Helmet (Aus) colt out of Texan stakes winner Kathy's Rocket (Gold Legend) was given a major boost when John Ferguson decided to add him to Godolphin's horses in training.
Alex Elliott and David Redvers also tried for the late April colt (lot 39) by the Darley shuttle stallion but, with Helmet having two winners on the board already in the colours of Sheikh Mohammed's son Sheikh Hamdan, Ferguson was determined in his attempt to secure the professional breezer, going to 210,000gns in the process. A good evening for Marnane saw seven juveniles sold for a total of 580,000gns.
Redvers later gained some consolation when buying the top-priced filly of the day, lot 59, an Exceed And Excel half-sister to German champion Mi Emma (Ger) (Silvano {Ger}), for 155,000gns from Church View Stables.
The sale continues after racing today at 6pm.
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