WITH the principal yearling sales in Ireland and England concluded, and just the Arqana October Yearling Sale next week to come among the major European sales, I wondered about the subsequent careers of the yearlings that headed the market two decades ago.

Money doesn’t always buy you success, though it does often give you the best shot at it. The unbeaten career of Mrs Danvers, recent winner of the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes, shows that there is still a place at the heart of racing for the ‘small man or woman’. Unsold at £1,000 last February at Ascot, she has now amassed almost £200,000 and what a prospect she is for next year.

Following is a look at the lots that topped the principal yearling sales in Ireland, England and France in 1996.

TATTERSALLS HOUGHTON SALE

Finishing second in a mile maiden at Doncaster from just four career starts was the highlight of the early career of Singer Sargent, the 880,000gns sale topping lot at the 1996 Houghton Sale. His appeal was obvious as he was a son of Kingmambo and out of a stakes-winning full-sister to Sadler’s Wells. He was purchased by Demi O’Byrne from Camas Park Stud and trained by Sir Michael Stoute for Michael Tabor and John Magnier. Sent to Saudi Arabia he won a couple of races there.

Singer Sargent was one of three yearlings at the sale to sell for 500,000gns or more and one of the others was also purchased by O’Byrne. He was a son of Shirley Heights and Darara, the latter winner of the Prix Vermeille. Darara has gone on to become the dam of four Group/Grade 1 winners, though her 1996 yearling was not one of them. Named Kilimanjaro, he showed huge promise at two and was runner-up the next season in the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot. He stood in New Zealand where in just a handful of crops he sired a couple of group winners.

TATTERSALLS OCTOBER SALE

Woodland Stud sold the top two lots at this sale, both to Darley Stud Management. Setting a new sale record at 310,000gns was a son of Polish Precedent out of Draft Board. Named Plan-B, he won the Britannia Handicap at Royal Ascot as a maiden in what was to prove to be his only success. His dam turned out to be a half-sister to the brilliant Ouija Board, dam of the dual Derby winner Australia.

DONCASTER ST LEGER SALE

Twenty years ago Eddie O’Leary was doing what he continues to do today, making money in the sales ring. Having purchased a colt for 7,000gns, he brought him to Doncaster and topped the sale when Peter Doyle Bloodstock paid 62,000gns for the son of Distinctly North out of Princess Raisa. A full-brother to a winner in Japan, the colt was named Distant Vintage and he won as a two-year-old in England for Richard Hannon before heading to Norway where he was a minor winner.

GOFFS ORBY SALE

Miss Pat O’Kelly’s Kilcarn Stud sold the top three lots at the 1996 Orby Sale, part of what was then known as the Irish National Yearling Sale. All three were colts and they included the most expensive yearling sold in Europe. He was a son of Woodman, the first foal of Danse Royale, and he cost Demi O’Byrne 1,125,000gns. Named Twickenham, he did not see a racecourse until he was four. Trained by Aidan O’Brien, he won at Cork on his debut and again at Galway. He was stakes-placed a couple of times and later ended up in Saudi Arabia.

For information, the other pair of yearlings were a son of Fairy King and Welsh Love at 640,000gns, while Shadwell Estate Company paid 550,000gns for a Last Tycoon out of Flame Of Tara. The former was the champion Irish juvenile Second Empire, winner of the Group 1 Grand Criterium at Longchamp (now the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere) and he was placed in the Irish 2000 Guineas, Prix du Moulin and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

The Last Tycoon was named Somayda and he won two of his first five starts for John Dunlop and was placed a couple of times. His form deteriorated afterwards and he ended his career having run 42 times, and selling at one point for just 2,500gns as a horse in training.

TATTERSALLS IRELAND SEPTEMBER SALE

The second best ever price for a yearling colt at Fairyhouse up to then was paid by agent John O’Byrne for a son of Waajib out of Simple Annie, a modest racemare but a half-sister to Annie Edge, the classic-placed dam of leading sire Selkirk. The colt realised 64,000gns and went into training with Aidan O’Brien for Sue Magnier. As Hermitage Bay, he was ridden on both his starts at two by Christy Roche, being narrowly beaten at the Curragh and then winning at Leopardstown. That was the extent of his racing career in Ireland but he amassed far more than he cost as a yearling when he won three times in Hong Kong.

AGENCE FRANCAISE DEAUVILLE SALE

There were joint top-priced yearlings at Deauville selling for 3,500,000 francs. Haras du Mezeray sold a colt by Nureyev out of the Breeders’ Cup Turf runner-up Sierra Roberta. He was bought by Patrick Barbe for a Japanese owner. Shortly afterwards the price was matched by Haras d’Etreham’s Alzao colt from Sudah, a winning Rainbow Quest mare, and he was bought by Maktoum Al Maktoum’s Gainsborough Stud.

The Nureyev colt raced in France as Sopraffino where he won twice as a three-year-old and was third in the Group 2 Prix Guillaume d’Ornano over 10 furlongs at Deauville. The Alzao colt was named Capital Prince and he too raced in France where he placed a number of times. He then went to the UAE and won six times there up to the age of seven.

VERDICT

The overall result from a look at these leading lots was that the results were mixed. Second Empire was easily the best of the runners, while many had to travel abroad to show their best form.

Two decades later and most of these lots are largely forgotten.