Siyouni Filly Meets The Gold Standard

Certainly relative to last week, this is considered “a trainer's sale”—but it sure helps if you train for Sheikh Hamdan. Two-thirds of the way through Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Sale, his Shadwell Estates have accumulated no fewer than 30 yearlings for 4,880,000gns at a median of 160,000gns—very nearly three times that of the sale overall.

Shadwell already seem certain to top this catalogue for the fifth year running, and very likely with a bigger spend. Not terribly surprising, perhaps, if you can find a horse as fast as Battaash (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) in Book 2, as they did for 200,000gns three years ago. But then that horse was also typical of the profile of Sheikh Hamdan's expenditure in this catalogue, which—given that he finds his greatest motivation in the patient work of building families— is certainly indulgent of the trainers to whom he tends to be so loyal. Those who can't get on his roster must dream of a boss like this.

On Tuesday, admittedly, he topped the session with a filly who can one day serve his own priorities—a 450,000gns daughter of Siyouni (Fr) (Pivotal {GB}) with a page that guarantees her some residual value, even if she doesn't win the Queen Mary.

But Angus Gold also signed on his behalf for another series of youngsters by sires who major in up-and-at-'em speed and precocity.

Gold duly contributed significantly to very solid trade, again characterised by an extremely businesslike clearance rate. In all, 212 lots changed hands from 237 offered, at 86%, in step with the 203 of 240 processed last year (85%). Gross weighed in at 16,661,500gns, up 10% on 15,197,000gns, with average and median mildly divergent at 78,592gns (up 5%) and 57,500gns (down 4%) respectively. Across the two days both indices are virtually unchanged, year-on-year.

The star turn was presented by Corduff Stud as lot 974. She is the second foal of a Desert Style (Ire) (Green Desert) half-sister to G1 Prix du Jockey Club third Baraan (Fr) (Dalakhani {Ire}) and to the dam of Librisa Breeze (GB), who won the G1 British Champions' Sprint this time last year.

Further back this is a very good American family: the fourth dam is G1 Ashland S. winner Chic Shirine, whose various distinctions as a producer include the mother of promising sire Verrazano (More Than Ready). It was instructive that the underbidder should have been no less respected an owner-breeder than Juddmonte Farms, and Gold was duly somewhat taken aback at the eventual number on the docket.

“I didn't think we'd have to go that far,” he admitted. “But she's a lovely filly by a very good stallion. Sheikh Hamdan was looking for some fillies at the start of the week, and she was put up to him early on. She's a lovely filly with the most fantastic attitude, which helps in life—always pricking her ears. John Gosden liked her too, so I imagine that's where she'll be going. Everything looks as though Siyouni is going to be as good a sire of females as Pivotal.”

The dam was acquired through Blandford Bloodstock from the Aga Khan Stud draft at the Arqana December Sale in 2014, for €165,000.

“It was quite obvious this filly was making lists, but it's hard to put a value on that,” said David Egan of Corduff. “But she's been acting really well here, she's a lady. And I'm very pleased Angus bought her: she'll go to a good trainer. The mare has a Lope De Vega filly and is in foal to Dabirsim.”

Anthony Stroud, himself so busy at this sale on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed, noted the demand for fillies of longer-term potential after giving 360,000gns for a Dansili (GB) (Danehill) filly (lot 989) out of Capichera (Ger) (Shirocco {Ger})—whose first foal Catan (Ger) (Oasis Dream {GB}) has won two of his first four starts for Roger Charlton.

“The 2-year-old looks promising, and this is very nice, athletic filly,” said Stroud. “But these good fillies seem to be as valuable as the colts, if not more so. It was a trend in Ireland, a trend last week, and this filly was rather more than one anticipated.”

Conversely, Stauffenberg Bloodstock were rewarded for sticking to their guns when receiving less than they had anticipated here last December—when they bought this filly back for 40,000gns.

Hot Streak Is King For A Day…

Hard to say who had the bigger day: Hot Streak (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}), whose first yearlings have certainly been helping him to live up to his name of late, or the Australian ex-jockey who included two sons of the Tweenhills stallion among the three purchases that launched his new business as a bloodstock agent.

The dockets Paul King signed for the Hot Streak pair posted a neon advertisement for a sire who started out at a fee of £7,000. They had been acquired as foals here last year for just 20,000gns and 40,000gns, respectively. Returned to the ring within barely half an hour of each other, they realised 200,000gns and 220,00gns from King's nascent Kingcraft Bloodstock.

The first, a half-brother to Group 2-placed Switcher (Ire) (Whipper) Lot 937, was sold here in December by the sire's home farm at Tweenhills to Portanova Bloodstock, a pinhook partnership assembled by Ed Player of Whatton Manor Stud.

“We're absolutely over the moon,” beamed Player. “He was recommended as a foal by David Redvers, and he's always been a very forward, mature horse. He's been very popular since we got here, everyone loved him, but we could never have dreamt of making that kind of price.”

King returned for lot 962, a colt out of a Street Boss (Street Cry {Ire}) half-sister to the dam of G3 Dick Poole S. winner La Rioja (GB) (Hellvelyn {GB}).

He was presented by Jamie Railton, who modestly said: “He had a very fast page and, as luck would have it, the horse did the rest—all I had to do was not get in his way. It's great for the team that invested in him.”

Redvers, naturally, said he is delighted by the overall performance of Hot Streak in his sales debut. “His foals have got his hip, and his action,” he reflected. “I expect that hip is what has appealed to the Australians who bought these two. But the fact is that Hot Streak was the most exceptional 2-year-old. If you look back, his speed figure in the Cornwallis is matched only by Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) among 2-year-olds of recent years. Kevin Ryan is on record as saying he was the best horse he'd ever trained and he was just unfortunate that he missed the introduction of the Commonwealth Cup by a couple of years. As it was, he was a close third as a 3-year-old in the King's Stand.”

King proceeded to give 260,000gns for a No Nay Never (Scat Daddy) filly, consigned by Highclere Stud as lot 1002. She is out of an Oasis Dream (GB) (Green Desert) half-sister to two prolific group operators in Balius (Ire) (Mujahid) and Delfos (Ire) (Green Tune).

King explained that all three of his acquisitions will race for his first client, who is based in Hong Kong, out of the Sydney barn of Kim Waugh—whose success as a trainer, notably with G1 Syndey Cup winner Mahtoum (Aus) (Suave Dancer), ensures that she is known for better reasons in her own right than for a husband, Mark, who was one of the most stylish Australian cricketers of his generation.

King certainly deserves credit for trying to set out a different kind of stall. His three picks were all foaled by Feb. 2, but will nonetheless be on a different track, in terms of maturity, relative to the Southern Hemisphere breeding schedule.

“But they won't be rushed, of course,” he explained. “We'll give them time, give them a chance to settle in, and to mature the bone they'll need for the hard tracks in Australia. But they're all real sprinting types, and look to have the physiques that will suit our racing.”

It was an important day, then, for a man making a fresh start after a riding career that yielded over 1,300 winners. “We tried for three yesterday but got blown out,” he said. “I only set up the business a month ago, having ridden for over 30 years until I packed up in January. I rode all round the world, Macau, Mauritius, Malaysia, Inner Mongolia, you name it. Obviously we'll look to buy in Australia too but we're just here looking for different breeds, and to try and be a step ahead with these sires.”

Ever The Twain Could Meet…

Another member of No Nay Never's second crop reminded us that—while everyone can be grateful that the European market's two superpowers have finally taken so much of the politics out of the sales ring—the sheer scale of their respective operations had always made fertile synergies available.

Lot 846 is out of the young Street Cry (Ire) (Machiavellian) mare Whitefall, culled by Darley in the February Sale here in 2013 for just 3,000gns. David Evans then gave her his trademark treatment, making her a winner and five times placed during a dozen runs before September. Bought back for 50,000gns when offered by Kilminfoyle House at the Horses-in-Training Sale that autumn, she has since produced as her first foal this summer's listed-placed winner Dark Jedi (Ire) (Kodiac {GB})—and now this colt by Coolmore's star freshman No Nay Never (Scat Daddy).

Bred by JC Bloodstock and again presented by Kilminfoyle, the chestnut was knocked down for 320,000gns to Ross Doyle. He will be trained by Richard Hannon Jr.

“Lovely colt,” the agent said. “Very well-conformed, strong, mature, good-moving. The mare's been doing her job, and she's by Street Cry, too, that's a big positive. And the sire needs no explanation. His stats are unbelievable, from a relatively small sample.”

Those stats, for the record, place No Nay Never at the top of the rookies' table on all indices—notably 25 individual winners, six of them at black-type level, headed by G1 Middle Park S. winner Ten Sovereigns (Ire).

A Financial Romance…

Who says sentimentality doesn't pay? That certainly wasn't the case with lot 939, a Zoffany (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) colt sold to the Hong Kong Jockey Club for 240,000gns. He was foaled on Valentine's Day, and his nickname at Pantile Stud is “Romeo”, but the original infatuation of his breeders BB Bloodstock—several of whom were in tears after the sale—was with his mother.

She is the dual listed winner and multiple group-placed Bahia Breeze (GB) (Mister Baileys {GB}), who raced for friends Lynn Lambert, Stephen Russell and Val Beeson after being bought by Rae Guest for just 5,000gns this week 15 years ago. At the end of her racing career, they sold her to Sir Eric Parker's Crimbourne Stud.

“I went down to see her a couple of times at Crimbourne,” Lambert said. “I don't have kids and I am afraid I became a bit of stalker. It is a bit of a love story.

“When Sir Eric died, she was put back in the sales and I spent all my savings on her: Rae bought her for me for 65,000gns. I then had a panic, as I was not sure how I was going to pay for her. It was all the money I had, but Stephen and Val came back into the ownership group.”

“She was in-foal to Zoffany, so we decided to sell this colt as a yearling because all her best sales had been as yearlings. We can't believe this has happened. Houghton Bloodstock consigned him today, as she always went there on her holidays when in training.”

Bahia Breeze had a filly by Twilight Son this spring and is in foal to Nathaniel.

Coeur D'Or Strikes Gold…

Consignors are creatures of habit for a reason: it's a cyclical business, a case of finding out what works, forging relationships with particular auction houses and their clientele. But it can sometimes pay to experiment and Eric Lhermite of Haras de Grandcamp made his first offering through this ring a very successful one when selling a homebred brother (lot 811) to Classic runner-up Coeur De Beaute (Fr) (Dabirsim {Fr}) to Shadwell for 240,000gns.

To be fair, it was something of a homecoming in that their dam Twilight Tear (GB) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) was acquired at the December Sale here eight years ago for just 15,500gns. That was a fairly remarkable price for a mare out of a full sister to Group 1 winners Listen (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) and Sequoyah (Ire), the latter also already dam of Henrythenavigator (Kingmambo).

Not that there had been much of a dividend through Coeur De Beaute, sold for €30,000 as an Osarus September yearling before going on to win the G3 Prix Imprudence this spring, and going down by just a short neck in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches. Her brother, already named Coeur d'Or (Fr), put that straight here.

“He's a very good mover but was born quite late [May 7] so August [Arqana] came a bit early,” Lhermite explained. “The mare was empty this year but she has gone back to Dabirsim and is in foal.”

Coeur De Beaute belongs to the debut crop of Dabirsim (Fr) (Hat Trick {Jpn}), who entertained more mares than any other Flat sire in France this year. These are duly exciting times at Grandcamp, not least following the news that Lawman (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) is to follow his former studmate Dream Ahead (Diktat {GB}) there from Ballylinch.

With his eligibility for French premiums in mind, Angus Gold indicated that the colt is set to join Francois Rohaut.

Gold, continuing his hectic week, invested minutes later in another page featuring a 2018 Classic trial winner, as the Camacho (GB) (Danehill) colt for whom he gave 200,000gns (lot 821) is out of a half-sister to James Garfield (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus})— second in the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest since his success in the G3 Greenham S.

Camacho is enjoying a lucrative vogue at this sale, and his son out of Listed winner Zenella (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}) presented by Lodge Park Stud raised 270,000gns from Alastair Donald as lot 859. The agent's interest was unsurprising, granted that he gave 450,000gns for the mare's son Fox Power (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) in Book 1 last year. That colt is now rated 92 after his recent win and placing at Wolverhampton for King Power Racing. Explained Donald: “I think Fox Power could be a stakes horse, he was beaten by the draw last time, and this is a lovely-looking horse.”