War Alert
On the eve of the first Classic of the British turf season, the Tattersalls Guineas Sale drew a decent crowd to Newmarket for a record-breaking day’s action topped by a daughter of red hot sire-of-the-moment, War Front, at 270,000gns.
Sheikh Fahad Al Thani is the proud new owner of the filly (Lot 233), a first foal for multiple winner and listed-placed Pastel Gal (Lemon Drop Kid), who was led out of the ring unsold at $85,000 at Keeneland September and subsequently changed hands in a private transaction between Suzi Shoemaker and Jim McCartan of Gaybrook Lodge Stud.
Buying on behalf of Sheikh Fahad, his racing and bloodstock manager David Redvers said: “Jim’s horses go like rockets. We have Lightning Thunder running in the [G1] QIPCO 1000 Guineas on Sunday and we bought her from Gaybrook Lodge last year. This filly did the quickest breeze and was by far the nicest filly at the sale. She’s a bit up behind and a bit back at the knee but she clearly has a massive engine.”
He added: “The fact that she’s by War Front is a bonus. We locked on to him from the start and sent him mares when he was still standing quite cheaply.” Three six-figure transactions and solid trade with a 79% clearance rate throughout the breeze-up section of the sale led to the highest turnover in seven renewals of the auction, and at 3,271,800gns, the aggregate leapt up by 39% on the 2013 auction. The average of 32,718gns improved by 28% and the median, at 22,000gns, was up by 33%.
Combined with the figures for the horses-in-training section, the aggregate for the day stood at 3,955,328gns (+43%), with the average at 27,278gns (+18%) and median at 16,000gns (+14%).
“After the record-breaking Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up Sale it has been encouraging to see the momentum continue to this week’s Guineas Breeze-up and Horses-in-Training Sale,” said Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony. “The 270,000gns top price was the highest price at the sale since 2010 and the second-highest price for a filly at this fixture.”
War Alert
The sales-topper provided yet another memorable moment in a highly successful breeze-up season for McCartan’s Gaybrook Lodge Stud, which also consigned the day’s second top lot (Lot 181) at 215,000gns, plus an 800,000-guineas High Chaparral (Ire) colt which returned the second-highest price at the Craven Sale.
“I’m chuffed to bits, it’s absolutely brilliant,” said McCartan, who sold four juveniles through the session for a total of 553,000gns to end the sale as leading consignor. “I love War Front. We’ve been successful with him right from the start. I bought this filly from Suzi Shoemaker, who’s a very good breeder. It’s just such a relief when it all works out like this–it’s great for the team at home who have worked so hard.”
Taking second billing during the session was another filly, this time a daughter of Invincible Spirit (Ire) out of the unraced Machiavellian mare Golden Flyer (Fr), who had been bought by McCartan for just i39,000 at the Goffs Sportsman’s
Sale last year. She will join Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum’s string of bluebloods after being knocked down to Ed Dunlop, who will train the filly in Newmarket.
“We tried hard to buy a horse for Ed at the Craven Sale,” said Sheikh Hamdan’s racing manager Angus Gold. “She looked sharp and did a really good breeze for her size. I doubt she’ll be out too early but she vetted well.”
Source: Thoroughbred Daily News, Saturday, May 5, 2014 | by Emma Berry
