THE Group 3 Lingfield Derby Trial winner, and a supplementary entry for the sale, English King set a new record for a colt sold at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training Sale when he realised 925,000gns on Wednesday. Widely anticipated to be the star attraction, bidding opened at 400,000gns for the son of Camelot who cost €210,000 as a yearling and ran fifth in this year’s Epsom Derby.

The ultimate bidding war was waged by Ted Voute, to the right of auctioneer John O’Kelly, and Armando Duarte who was outside and bidding to Richard Botterill. Both bidders were on telephones to the Middle East and Australia. Voute appeared beaten when he chanced what he believed would be a clinching bid of 900,000gns, but Duarte swiftly retorted with the winning nod on behalf of Ballymore Stables Australia and Paul Moroney Bloodstock.

English King was trained by Ed Walker for Bjorn Nielsen and the trainer was on hand to congratulate Duarte. “It is a bit bitter sweet. I rather have won that money on the track, I’d have far rather won the Derby!” said Walker.

He added: “It has been a perfect storm. In a normal year Bjorn may have sold more yearlings and he may have been up for competing internationally with this horse from home, but when I tried to persuade Bjorn to keep him and aim for all these big races in Australia and Hong Kong and around the world, quite rightly he was worried as to whether we’d be able to race in those races. Will racing be happening? I would have loved to hang on to him, but it’s a great result and Bjorn puts a lot into the game and it is great to get a big result like that.”

Paul Moroney said: “English King’s track-record performance when winning the Lingfield Derby Trial and beating St Leger runner-up Berkshire Rocco was one of the most breathtakingly dominant performances anywhere this year. He is clearly a highly-talented colt with loads of quality and we are thrilled to have secured him.

“He’s certainly an exciting addition to the team and our first time playing at this very high level, so one could say the pressure is on for him to perform. He will head down under in December to join Mike [Moroney’s] Flemington stable early January.”

The new record for a colt at the sale easily beat the 625,000gns given last year by Joseph O’Brien for Summer Sands, while the Shamardal Royal Ascot-winning filly Aljazzi holds the record for the highest priced lot ever sold at the sale when she made 1,000,000gns in 2018.

The buyers of the top lot made two other significant purchases. They included the top-priced offering in the Juddmonte draft, the three-year-old Emissary who is a Kingman half-brother to the Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Workforce. The dual winner and stakes-placed colt was trained by Hugo Palmer and his fellow trainer Ed Dunlop was underbidder.

Duarte said: “We have probably paid a bit more than we expected to, but he is a nice horse. He is improving all the time and he has not had many runs, he is rated 103 and he is by a good sire. This sort of horse does not come onto the market very often. He is 16.2hh, and there is plenty more to come from him, he could be special horse in Australia.”

Their spending spree was completed by their first buy of the week when they went to 200,000gns to secure Keats, winner of the Listed Navigation Stakes at Cork since the catalogue was printed. The three-year-colt by Galileo was the best price of the week for a lot from Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle Stables.

Duarte explained his appeal: “We think he might make up into a top miler or might stay 10 furlongs. Normally we are looking for a stayer, but this horse could be a miler. He has been very highly recommended by Mick Flanagan, who works closely with Coolmore Australia. It was perhaps more than we wanted price-wise, but we think we have got a nice horse and one for the future.”

Bullfinch brings up the rear in style for Castlebridge

BILL Dwan’s The Castlebridge Consignment ended the week as the leading consignor, selling 58 lots for 1,722,400gns. The honour of topping their giant draft fell to the last lot they put through the ring.

Bullfinch, a three-year-old son of Kodiac was knocked down for 370,000gns to John Ferguson on behalf of Chris Waller Racing, one of five purchases at the sale by the Australian trainer. Winner of three of his five career starts and sold with a rating of 103, Bullfinch is a son of the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes winner Thistle Baird and he was sold as part of the Waddesdon Stud dispersal.

“Bullfinch he has got undoubted ability, he has been beautifully trained and the mare [Thistle Bird] went on to be a champion older mare. She was wonderful,” said Ferguson. “His sire Kodiac has had the winner of the Caulfield Cup in Best Solution, whom we bought as a yearling a few years ago. So, from an Australian point of view, there are a lot of reasons to think Bullfinch could be a lot of fun.”

Ferguson was in action for Waller instead of bloodstock agent Guy Mulcaster who chose not to travel to Britain this year. “Chris is after horses with good recent form and a good rating,” said Ferguson. That criteria applied to Desert Icon who finished third in the Listed Foundation Stakes at Goodwood last time out and is rated 104. The three-time winner is a four-year-old gelded son of Sea The Stars and his career to date was handled by William Haggas. He cost 210,000gns.

Also on the Ferguson and Waller shopping list was the three-year-old Australia colt Crystal Pegasus. This dual winner was offered from Sir Michael Stoute’s Freemason Lodge Stables and sold for 190,000gns.

Middle East investment strong

TED Voute spent 935,000gns on four lots for his Saudi Arabian client Najd Stud and the most expensive of the quartet, at 340,000gns, was the four-year-old Dansili colt Derevo. The three-time winner is rated 98 and has shown his versatility by winning on the all-weather and the turf when trained by Sir Michael Stoute.

Voute said: “We like to buy from the Juddmonte draft and Dansili as a sire in Saudi Arabia is a big plus. This horse has good form, has been well produced and the aim, like the other purchases, will be the Saudi Cup international race day.”

Joining Derevo will be Urban Icon, a four-year-old son of Cityscape who cost 320,000gns. Trained by Richard Hannon for Michael Pescod, the colt won a listed race at Wolverhampton and two other races, and he was third last year in the Group 3 Greenham Stakes.

“He is a tough and consistent sort and he will go on quicker ground. He will ship out to Saudi and we can see how he acclimatises and adjusts before any plans are made. However, the ideal plan would be to go the normal route through the Cup races and then see if he will be good enough for the big Saudi international day,” explained Voute.

Voute also purchased four horses for the newly developed racing and bloodstock operation Najd Stud at this year’s inaugural August Horses In Training Sale in Newmarket and they have all shipped to the Middle East, have settled well into their training regimes, though none have run as yet.

Another high-value purchase by Voute at 185,000gns was the Andrew Balding-trained Pivotal three-year-old Mon Choix, twice a winner this year over a mile. The half-brother to stakes winner Private Manner had the Group 1 Prix de Diane Hermes-French Oaks winner Confidential Lady as his grandam.

Haggas draft appeals as Piranesi stars

WILLIAM Haggas’ Somerville Lodge had its best ever sale and heading its outstanding draft was the three-year-old Zoffany gelding Piranesi. He won again after the catalogue was printed and, with two wins and two places in four starts, his consistency made him an appealing prospect. The hammer fell in favour of Jane Chapple-Hyam at 300,000gns.

Among those who attempted to secure the half-brother to Group 1 winning two-year-old Rivet were Ted Voute, Ed Dunlop and Ronald Rauscher, but none could match the buying power of Chapple-Hyam. “I am just the caretaker trainer!’ she said, adding: “He has been bought by my client to go overseas and will go straight abroad. The client and I work together. Very happy to get him as he is a very good looking horse, and there is some improvement in him.”

Desert Icon was next best of the Haggas draft, selling for 210,000gns to John Ferguson for Chris Waller, while a recent listed race success for the two-year-old Dandy Man filly Royal Address boosted her sale prospects significantly. Her victory in the five-furlong Criterium de Vitesse at Chantilly brought her tally of wins to three and she fetched 170,000gns when sold to Narvick International, one of a trio of purchases made by the agency.

“She is for Marsha Naify and goes to California,” said Emmanuel de Seroux. “She is a beautiful filly, athletic, sound, and she should do well in California. She looks to have speed. She will be a future breeding prospect, once she has won a Grade 1!”

Irish form valued highly by international purchasers

VICTORIA de Sousa and Chris Dwyer acquired the two-year-old War Front colt Fight Zone for 280,000gns from The Castlebridge Consignment. Trained by Ger Lyons for Wendy O’Leary, the colt opened his account at the fourth time of asking at Naas, having been placed a couple of times, and then displayed his versatility when adding a second victory on the all-weather at Dundalk.

“He is for Dubai, for Sheikh Rashid and for the Carnival,” said de Sousa. “He is a lovely horse, with good recent form and vetted well. It is hard to get all those things with a clean vet. He comes from a good stable and Chris really liked the horse – he is the main judge!”

Fight Zone had obvious appeal in Dubai as two of his siblings already have excellent form there. His full-brother Alkaraama won the Listed Jebel Ali Sprint, while his half-brother Mark Of Approval’s three wins include the Listed Jebel Ali Stakes and he ran third in the Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge R3.

Fight Zone was not the only Irish-trained juvenile to make a splash in the sale ring this week. Bought for only £4,800 at the Tattersalls Ireland Ascot Yearling Sale in 2019, and withdrawn from the Goresbridge Breeze Up Sale in July, Ascot Adventure was a wildcard entry for this week’s sale.

In training with Andrew Slattery at Meadowview Stables, the son of Mayson made a winning debut in the colours of Adrian Costello at Cork on September 29th, scoring with style. He impressed many potential buyers, but was bought this week by Woodhurst Construction for 150,000gns with a 2021 campaign in mind.

“He is a very nice two-year-old. He won his maiden well and we think he will make a really nice sprinter, he is just a lovely horse. We wanted a two-year-old to go forward into next year,” said John Fitzpatrick, who with Kevin Bailey, is putting together an ownership syndicate. “He has a bit of size about him as well so there is some improvement as he grows and that is what you want,” explained Bailey, adding: “We’ll give him a break now, come back again next year and go to war!”

There was probably no better bred lot this week than the Aidan O’Brien-trained Nobel Prize. John Walsh Bloodstock bought the Group 3 Ballysax Stakes winner as a stallion prospect for 170,000gns and his appeal was obvious.

The three-year-old colt is by Galileo and out of the Group 1 Danehill winning mare Hveger. She is dam of the Group 1 winners Highland Reel and Cape Of Good Hope, and the Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed Idaho, all full-brothers to Nobel Prize.

Walsh said: “The next stop is the English National Stud prior to export. My client has pursued him for a while. He has done what he can do, it is hard to improve that pedigree!”

Another from Ballydoyle to make a mark this week was the three-year-old American Pharoah colt Party Season who sold for 160,000gns, bought by Narvick International’s Emmanuel de Seroux. The colt won over 10 furlongs at Dundalk days before he sold. After his purchase, de Seroux said: “He won nicely last weekend, and he could be horse who could switch to dirt. He started his career on turf and has been much improved since switching to the all-weather. Possibly he may go to the US, but we have not yet decided. We love American Pharoah and we bought some nice ones last year.”

Australian dollars spent by Rauscher

AUSTRALIAN purchasers at the sale this week made a significant contribution to the turnover, and three of the top four buying groups came from the southern hemisphere.

Australian Bloodstock and Ronald Rauscher bought nine horses during the week for various trainers. Their final purchase was their most expensive, when they paid 180,000gns for Fifth Position from the Roger Varian draft.

The Dark Angel four-year-old colt has a rating of 104 and won in each of the last two seasons for owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, while his placed efforts included finishing third in a listed race at Goodwood and the valuable John Smith’s Cup at York.

Expensive buy

Rauscher spent 802,000gns and another expensive buy, on behalf of Ciaron Maher Racing, was the David O’Meara-trained three-year-old King’s Charisma. The son of Teofilo, fresh from siring two Group 1 winners at the weekend, was bought at the October Book 2 Sale in 2018 for 20,000gns, and this week he sold for 170,000gns. This year he won his first three starts.

Well-bred fillies have scarcity value

WHILE most well-bred fillies find their way into the Tattersalls December Sale, the horses-in-training sale sometimes includes a few that stand out for their scarcity value.

One such was Godolphin’s Festival Day who was by Flaxman Stables Ireland as a breeding prospect. The winning Dubawi three-year-old is well-known to the Niarchos family as she is a granddaughter of their champion Miesque.

Martin Buick signed for the filly as he stood alongside Electra Niarchos. “Festival Day is from one of the best pedigrees in the stud book,” said Buick. “This filly stood out for us here. The family speaks for itself, it keeps reproducing, and we have the dam. Festival Day has been bought to go to Ulysses [bred and raced by Flaxman].”

Festival Day is out of Ama who sold for 1,800,000gns as a three-year-old in 2007, and was bought back by Flaxman Stables 10 years later for 160,000gns. Subsequently, Ama’s Dubawi daughter Lunar Maria, a full-sister to Festival Day, won at listed level in Germany for Godolphin. Ama has a yearling colt by Ulysses.

Another filly to catch the eye was sold on the opening day of the sale. “She is the filly I was after in the sale,” said Ted Durcan after going to 165,000gns for the winning Asiaaf. “She is lovely model, has excellent form, she will be a lovely filly next spring and summer on fast surface. She is a lovely big scopey mare, and she will improve. I’ve been watching her all summer, and arriving out of Marcus’s [Tregoning] hotel is a major plus. He is a marvellous horseman.”

Bred, owned and sold by Shadwell, Asiaaf is by New Approach out of the Shamardal mare Baqqa, herself an own-sister to the multiple Hong Kong and Singapore Group 1 winner Dunboyne Express, and from the further family of the Oaks winner Love Divine and successful sire Sixties Icon.

Mahony grateful for continuing support

AS is his normal practice, Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony issued his end of sale statement. He said: “The Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale is a uniquely international fixture and to stage it amidst such widespread global travel restrictions was a daunting prospect, but yet again the industry has risen to the challenge. The sale understandably lacked some of its customary vibrancy with so many of our regular overseas buyers unable to travel, but the market has again held up remarkably well, particularly at the top end where we have seen a record sale price for a colt of 925,000gns and double last year’s number of lots sold for more than 300,000gns.

“It is a similar scenario to the recent Tattersalls October Yearling Sales. Quality bloodstock remains a coveted commodity and the status of the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale as the premier sale of its type in the world is based on consistent achievement on racecourses throughout the world. It is no coincidence that the most notable feature of the international influence this week has been the contribution from Australian and Saudi Arabian connections. The inaugural $30 million Saudi Cup night in February this year saw the connections of two Autumn Horses in Training purchases standing proudly in the winners’ enclosure, and there have been four individual Australian Group 1 winners from the sale since 2019.

“Success-driven demand is the key to so many sales at Tattersalls and it has been especially evident at all levels of this year’s Autumn Horses in Training market.

“Equally important has been the role of the live internet and telephone bidding facilities which have both played a crucial part in enabling participation from buyers unable to attend the sale in person. We all crave the return of some semblance of normality to everyday life, but in the meantime we are having to explore all possible ways in which to facilitate business and the live internet and telephone bidding platforms have been vital innovations which have proved particularly well suited to this sector of the bloodstock market.”