By Brian Sheerin and Emma Berry
Cormac Farrell was left flabbergasted after bringing the Arqana Breeze-up Sale-topping figure of €1.9 million for a Night Of Thunder colt who went the way of Godolphin and summed up the outstanding piece of business as “the stuff of dreams”.
Out of Date With Destiny, the only foal that the chronically subfertile George Washington sired, the Night Of Thunder colt was picked up by Farrell for 90,000gns at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.
Speaking of the monumental profit, he said, “It's the stuff of dreams. Will I ever sell a horse for that sort of money ever again? Probably not.”
He added, “You just never know if it's all going to happen but it has and Anthony Stroud turned up on behalf of Godolphin, and Coolmore were very strong as underbidders, so a big thanks goes to the buyers. I can't believe it. It's just amazing stuff and I'd like to thank the whole team around me.
“He was just a very nice yearling. We never imagined that we'd be able to afford him to be honest. It's worked out. The stallion is exceptional – he couldn't be going any better. They all breeze very fast and obviously go on to be very good racehorses as well.”
Only Willie Browne had a better day at the office than Farrell. The latter, who is based in Kildare, cleared a whopping €2.8 million for six horses sold and enjoyed major profit with a Gun Runner colt that went the way to Justin Casse for €450,000 and a Harry Angel filly that sold to Highclere for €230,000. They were sourced for $145,000 and 45,000gns respectively.
As for Stroud, who held off the persistent challenge of Coolmore to sign the winning docket on the top lot, he commented, “The really good horses like him, and others, that's what people are focusing on. The valuations at times can be difficult but, if you really like one, you've got to go for it.”
The Night Of Thunder colt led home what was another record-breaking trade at a breeze-up sale. Turnover climbed 24% to €27,444,500 while the average was also on the rise by a massive 21% to €201,798 and the median by 20% to €120,000. The clearance rate also rested at an extremely healthy 87%.
Williamson Does It Again
It was very much a case of that man again early in the session after Norman Williamson, who sold recent 2,000 Guineas winner Ruling Court at this breeze-up sale 12 months ago, set the tempo when his Maxfield colt went the way of Godolphin for a cool €1 million.
It proved to be another shrewd piece of business for the man behind Oak Tree Farm given that he sourced the colt at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale for just $70,000 last year. Anthony Stroud, who signed for lot 5 on behalf of Godolphin, confirmed that the colt would be trained by Charlie Appleby.
A delighted Williamson said, “I wasn't expecting a result like that but he is a beautiful horse. Everybody who saw him absolutely loved him and the sire has been selling so well in America.
Asked how he managed to buy the Maxfield colt for just $70,000 at Keeneland, Williamson quipped, “That's our job, isn't it? I bought him with a view towards him being an early two-year-old because he was strong but he wasn't very big. Come Christmas, he just transformed. He grew and looked like a totally different horse. You need a bit of luck.”
It proved to be another profitable trip to sunny Deauville for Williamson who cleared €1.84 million on four horses sold on the day. On the buying front, it was nothing short of a dominant performance from Stroud at the top end of the market. And was it any surprise? The leading bloodstock agent added a second Classic winner sourced from the breeze-ups to his CV when Ruling Court followed on from Native Trail and he summed up the past week as being “fantastic”.
He commented, “It was great for Norman and great for the breeze-ups. It was also excellent for Coolmore with Ruling Court being by Justify. Very good for Godolphin, also.”
Glending Rings the Million Bell
Roderic Kavanagh and Cormac O'Flynn have wasted no time in ensuring that the name of their Glending Stables has been in lights from the early days of their consigning business.
Vandeek – now a stallion at Cheveley Park Stud – was the first to advertise their pinhooking and pre-training talents when topping the Tattersalls Craven Sale two years ago before going on to win the G1 Prix Morny and G1 Middle Park Stakes. At Goffs UK recently they pulled off another triumph when selling a Too Darn Hot filly for £320,000 after giving 35,000gns for her as a yearling.
But that paled into insignificance alongside Saturday's sale of a Sioux Nation filly (lot 25) from the family of dual Listed winner Bahia Breeze for €1 million – a staggering mark-up from her yearling price at the V.2 sale at Arqana last autumn of €48,000.
Kavanagh and O'Flynn, in the company of their partners Teresa Magalhaes and Serena O'Flynn, both of whom play key roles in the operation, stood transfixed ringside as the filly's price soared way beyond expectations. Anthony Stroud, acting on behalf of KHK Racing, had the final bid after a lengthy duel with an online bidder.
Stroud was not impressed by the tardy bidding process, with an online bidder pushing up the price in €10,000 increments. He said, “I don't know how long it went on for but bidding in increments of €10,000 when the horse has gone beyond half a million slows the whole thing down. I think it probably needs to be reviewed. It's hard for the auctioneer but it's also very hard when you have somebody on the other end of the telephone and they don't really understand how it is going up in increments of €10,000. It slows the whole auction up, too. Who knows who you are bidding against when it is online but I happened to know who I was bidding against.”
He added, “That is some sort of satisfaction. We bought Vandeek from this vendor. This filly did a very good time and looked very well.”
After the hammer eventually fell, a stunned Kavanagh said, “The top of the market is so fruitful. They want a premium product and she is – hopefully she will go on to be one. It was amazing. You couldn't in your wildest dreams predict that.”
O'Flynn added, “The ticker was going some. We may have looked cool on the outside but on the inside we were bubbling. Anthony Stroud has bought a good few from us in recent years and we can't thank him and his clients enough, not just for supporting us but for the whole industry. It keeps us all going for the rest of the year.”
Blandford's Brown Comes Away With Nine Horses Despite 'Frustrating' Day
Richard Brown admitted to feeling the frustration about not being able to rival Anthony Stroud at the very top of the market despite the fact the Blandford Bloodstock agent left Arqana with nine juveniles sourced for various different clients.
But the one Brown was really waiting on was Tally-Ho Stud's Mitole half-sister to Royal Ascot hero Valiant Force on which the hammer fell at €800,000.
Brown said, “It has been a very frustrating day but this has made it. The market has been extremely strong. We have been on what we perceive to be the best horses here but it has been tough. It has been extraordinary trade but she was the one. She makes the difference. I just think she is a beautiful filly. An outstanding athlete.
“The vendor and I disagree on whether she is mature or needs time. She's a big filly and, the more I look at her the more I come around to his [Roger O'Callaghan's] way of thinking in that she is big and mature. We will get her back and she'll get some time off before we figure out if we shoot for Ascot or not. The nice thing is, if we shoot for Ascot, she's a big filly. We won't put any pressure on her.”
He added, “We have bought nine horses today. I shouldn't moan but it has been frustrating. I think there is more depth to the market than normal. I had a couple smaller orders at the Guineas Sale last week but I got blown out. I filled those orders earlier today instead. This is an elite, select sale but, like everything, I am sure there are guys who have had tough days and I feel for them. It's hard when you have had a tough day and all of this is going on around you. But you can't say anything other than it was a pretty extraordinary breeze-up season. The top has never been healthier.”
Breeze-up King – or Pope – Bags Second Seven-Figure Sale of Season
Willie Browne is widely known as the breeze-up king but French bloodstock agent Laurent Benoit christened him the new Pope of the breeze-up game and, you know what, it might just stick. The legend behind Mocklershill sold his second seven-figure lot of the season when his Siyouni colt was knocked down to Coolmore's MV Magnier for €1 million.
Showering the colt with praise, Browne said, “I have consigned a lot of horses down through the years but I don't think I have consigned a better-looking horse. If you were any kind of a connoisseur of a horse, for me, he was nearly the perfect kind of horse. I was hoping that he'd gallop well and he did. I think he's worth it. I do. I loved the horse. When you get that kind of money you want them to be good and I'm assuming he'll go to Aidan [O'Brien].”
Browne also sold an Acclamation colt for 1.4 million gns at the Craven Breeze-Up Sale last month and, speaking on the market, he said, “Well it's very time-related. I haven't been watching it too closely today but they tell me there are still some soft patches. Luckily enough, I've sold every horse I brought here bar one. But as I said before, you need a fast horse.”
Americans in Action
President Trump's announcement – and subsequent partial climbdown – on trade tariffs had cast some uncertainty over the participation of American buyers at the breeze-up sales but there was still some evidence of support from across the Atlantic at Arqana.
Agent Kerri Radcliffe has long had strong links with American buyers and she signed for lot 118, a colt by Justify, at €725,000 on behalf of an Memo Racing, a new hedge fund-backed partnership. He will be returning to his place of birth, where the half-brother to three black-type runners had originally been bought at Keeneland by Eddie O'Leary and Mags O'Toole for $150,000.
“He's by Justify, so it doesn't get much better, and he'll go to America, Radcliffe said. “I don't know who's going to train him yet but we'll figure that one out as we go along. He's got a great pedigree and is a gorgeous horse, and we all know what happened with a Justify from this sale last weekend.”
On a memorable day for Cormac Farrell, his CF Bloodstock draft sold a Gun Runner half-brother to two Grade III winners, including the Tampa Bay Derby runner-up Sole Volante, to Justin Casse for €450,000. With yet more equine arimiles being clocked up, he too will be returning to America.
Major owner-breeder Mike Repole, one of the stars of Netflix's Race for the Crown, is another regular American buyer at Arqana, and he was back on the scoresheet on Saturday as the purchaser of lot 105. Sherborne Lodge's filly by Sioux Nation, from the further family of Lady Carla, was knocked down at €145,000, having been a 24,000gns Tattersalls Somerville yearling.
Repole later picked up lot 135, a Siyouni filly out of a half-sister to Group 1 winner Feed The Flame, for €200,000 through Alex Solis and Jason Litt.
Ramiro Restrepo's Marquee Bloodstock was also active and bought the Wootton Bassett (GB) half-sister to Group 2 winners Royal Dornoch and Hawksmoor for €280,000. The filly, however, represented the stark contrast of returns in the breeze-up sector as she had been signed for last August by trainer Satoshi Kobayashi for €360,000.
'Doing Right by the Horse' Leaves O'Callaghans In Clover
The sale of Yeomanstown Stud's Blue Point colt to Anthony Stroud on behalf of KHK Racing for €900,000 proved a timely reminder of all the hoops these horses must jump through. Initially bought as a foal for 170,000gns to pinhook as a yearling, the Blue Point colt missed his engagement at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale for whatever reason.
The O'Callaghan family at Yeomanstown Stud have a thriving stud business, are masters of the pinhooking craft, breeze horses and even have some in training. In short, they turn their hand to everything. And in this instance, being able to stand back and do right by the colt paid off in the long run.
David O'Callaghan said, “He is a great horse by a top stallion and he breezed very well. He was very well-liked by everyone on the sales ground and had a lot of admirers. I am glad that Anthony Stroud bought him and he is going to Roger Varian who will do a very good job with him. We bought him as a foal from Michael Gaffney and brought him back to Book 1 but had to withdraw him there. We decided that we'd bring him back here and he has been very straightforward ever since.”
He added, “We're in the horse business. We're horse traders and do whatever we have to do in order to do right by the horses. We are fortunate to be able to do several different pieces. He actually made what I thought he would make and I even felt he had a chance of breaking the million-euro mark, which you don't say too often. All the right people were lining up and, even if the top three buyers didn't turn up, there were plenty of others just below that.”
Talking Points
Bloodstock agent Alessandro Marconi, who sourced Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Metropolitan as a yearling, has been an increasingly active figure at the breeze-up sales in Europe this season and struck for the Brown Island Stables-consigned New Bay filly for €450,000. The New Bay filly put in one of the most impressive breezes and hails from the family of Classic winner Ervedya.
Brighton & Hove Albion footballer Georginio Rutter continues to be a regular face at bloodstock sales across Europe. Having been spotted at Goffs UK last year, he was at Arqana on Saturday alongside Xavier Blanchet. The French native has the four-time winner Quasar in training with Blanchet and is also a partner in Nuit De Gala, a winner from the first crop of Without Parole who is in training with Jean-Claude Rouget.
Proof that two Eds are better than one came in the sale late in the day of lot 193 for €820,000. Ed Sackville conducted the bidding on behalf of an existing client of Ed Walker, and the huddle of people let out a collective whoop when the hammer fell in their favour. Sold by Roger Marley's Church Farm Stables, the daughter of Wootton Bassett is out of the Australian Group 3 winner Zargos (Shamardal). She had been bought for €125,000 in the same ring last August by Grove Stud.
A total of 13 horses sold for €500,000 or more compared to six last year. Meanwhile, the four seven-figure lots that sold on Saturday brings the total number of millionaires this breeze-up season to seven.
Thought for the Day
Anthony Stroud was rightly peeved after signing for the €1 million Sioux Nation filly after the underbidder, who was playing online, was able to place bids in increments of €10,000 despite the fact the filly was rocking and rolling at six figures. Lest we forget that the same thing happened when Yulong bought Place Du Carrousel at the December Mares Sale here in 2023 for the unusual sum of €4,025,000 after the filly had been in the ring for a yawning amount of time. It's a glitch in the system that needs to be changed. There's no way an online bidder should be allowed to go up in tens of thousands when a horse is making a certain figure in the ring when that same privilege is not afforded to bidders in the ring.
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