LAST week produced plenty of results to make the dream of owning a Royal Ascot winner appear more attainable, no matter your budget. Of the week’s 35 winners, 20 were offered at the sales, their prices ranging from 450,000gns right down to 20,000gns.

That was the bargain price paid for Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes heroine Leovanni and Britannia Stakes winner Mickley, with Blandford Bloodstock’s Tom Biggs responsible for both purchases at Tattersalls Book 3. The agent came close to Group 1 success at the meeting with Regional, who he sourced with Ed Bethell for just 3,500gns.

Premium prices

Leovanni, a daughter of Kodi Bear, was resold by George Peckham at the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale for £190,000 to fellow Blandford agent Richard Brown on behalf of Wathnan Racing. The same combination captured the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes with €460,000 Arqana Breeze-Up Sale buy Shareholder.

Richard Brown’s Goffs UK breeze-up buys also included Coventry Stakes second Electrolyte (£220,000) and third Columnist (£170,000). The latter had provided Con Marnane’s Bansha House Stables with an impressive return on his yearling price of 8,000gns at the Tattersalls Somerville Sale.

Breathtaking

The Tattersalls Book 1 Yearling Sale provided the most winners of the week at four, including Group 1 scorer Charyn and the breathtaking Bedtime Story. Tattersalls Book 2 and 3 each sold a pair of winners, as did the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale, Arqana August Sale and Arqana October Yearling Sale.

GER Keane’s winner Crystal Black was perhaps one of the most popular winners of the week.

Bred by Moyglare Stud Farm, the son of Teofilo is one of those priceless examples of how anything is possible in horse racing, the only sport in which any fan can become a stakeholder.

The progressive six-year-old was bought at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses-In-Training Sale for 35,000gns and has repaid the Wear A Pink Ribbon Syndicate with substantial prize money. The former Dermot Weld inmate joined Keane with a rating of 83, which had risen to 103 by Royal Ascot, and has now won five of his last six starts, the defeat being a third behind former stablemate Coeur d’Or in the valuable Irish Cambridgeshire.

Shrewd purchases

Other successful form buys at the Royal meeting included Nick Bell’s 23,000gns purchase Carrytheone, who finished third behind the impressive English Oak in the seven-furlong Buckingham Palace Stakes.

The winner of a valuable Newmarket handicap last time out, his price was only bettered by Kings Bloodstock and trainer Gemma Tutty’s 7,000gns steal Blue Storm.

Sourced at the Tattersalls November Sale, the three-year-old son of Blue Point won the Epsom three-year-old ‘Dash’ earlier this month and was beaten by just half a length in Friday’s Palace of Holyroodhouse Handicap Stakes, having being short of room at a vital stage.

PLENTY of bloodstock agents will have reviewed their sales notes to see how they missed QIPCO 2000 Guineas third and Irish 2000 Guineas runner-up Haatem, so it should have been fresh in their minds watching Peter and Ross Doyle’s 27,000gns yearling buy win a thrilling renewal of the Group 3 Jersey Stakes.

Purchased privately by Wathnan Racing following his game Curragh performance, he had been consigned by Sherborne Lodge Stud on behalf of breeder Hyde Park Stud at Tattersalls Book 2. The likeable bay had previously been bought back at the Goffs November Foal Sale for €28,000.

Second season sires

Haatem leads a smart start at stud by Irish 2000 Guineas victor and talented juvenile Phoenix Of Spain. He is one of three stakes horses by the Irish National Stud resident, who stood for €10,000 in 2024.

The son of Lope De Vega went to stud in the same year as Blue Point, whose outstanding start has been continued by Irish 2000 Guineas victor and last week’s St James’s Palace Stakes winner Rosallion. His Grade 1-winning son Big Evs finished a gallant third against older horses in the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes, while fellow three-year-olds Skukuza claimed runners-up honours in the Britannia Stakes and the lightly-raced Kind Of Blue finished fourth in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup.

Soldier’s Call was another of 2023’s first crop sires to make his mark at Royal Ascot, as Mickley completed a hat-trick in the Britannia Stakes. The Oghill Stud-bred colt advertised his young sire’s ability to upgrade mares, as he is the best performer to date out of Parle Moi, whose previous covers included Dark Angel and Exceed And Excel.

First crop sires

Soldier’s Call now stands at Dullingham Park, but began his career at Ballyhane Stud, whose current freshman sire Sands Of Mali was the only new boy to gain a Royal winner last week. His Ballyhane-bred son Ain’t Nobody landed the Listed Windsor Stakes, while Aviation Time completed a 1-3 for the Group 1-winning sprinter.

Arizona Blaze provided first season sire Sergei Prokofiev with a maiden Group win in the Marble Hill Stakes, but only got as close as third in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes. Haras d’Etreham recruit Hello Youmzain had just one runner at the meeting, Group 2 Coventry Stakes runner-up Electrolyte. The same applied to Yeomanstown Stud new boy Shaman, represented by Chesham Stakes third Brian.

Surprisingly, top-class juvenile Pinatubo was without a runner.

IT was business as usual in the leading sires’ table, to a certain extent. The late Galileo led proceedings with three winners, the highlight of which was Kyprios’s second Ascot Gold Cup success.

Frankel and Sea The Stars recorded two winners each, though the best of those came at listed level. The above sires stood/stand for a private fee, £350,000 and €200,000, which makes Dark Angel’s Royal Ascot success all the more impressive.

The Yeomanstown Stud stalwart celebrated a Group 1 double courtesy of Charyn and Khaadem, bred by Grangemore Stud and Yeomanstown Stud respectively. The 19-year-old grey is now responsible for a total of 17 top-flight winners and has commanded a fee of €60,000 for the last four seasons.

His fee is perhaps influenced by his progeny’s sales results, having achieved an average yearling price of 84,416gns and median of 52,000gns in 2023. As stallion fees continue to rise across the board, it has become increasingly difficult for breeders to produce both a talented racehorse and a ‘sales horse’.