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Breeding powerhouse spend an enormous 7,220,000gns at the October Yearling Sale
Godolphin’s immense buying power came to fore on the first day of Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, as the global breeding operation parted with an eye-watering 7,220,000gns for eight yearlings, headed by three youngsters they paid seven figures for.
Sheikh Mohammed’s operation kicked off their seven figure spending spree when their bloodstock agent Anthony Stroud went to 1,100,000gns for a colt by Frankel (Galileo) out of multiple Group 1 winner Attraction (Efisio), making the colt a brother to last year’s York Stakes (Gr 2, 1m5f) winner Elarqam, while he is a half-brother to seven other winners including Fountain Of Youth (Oasis Dream) and he counts stakes-placed mare Cushion (Galileo) as one of her three-quarter siblings. The colt was offered as Lot 41.
Attraction has proved a valuable broodmare for Floors Stud, with the operation selling five of her other yearlings for an aggregate of 4,345,000gns, with the aforementioned Elarqam purchased by Shadwell for 1,600,000gns at the 2016 edition of the sale, while same operation purchased two-time winner Maydanny (Dubawi) for 1,350,000gns in 2017. After Tuesday’s sale the colt takes the total receipts for yearlings sold out of the mare to 5,445,000gns.
Attraction was bred by Floors Stud, a farm so successfully developed by the late Guy Innes-Ker, the 10th Duke of Roxburgh, and Chris Gillon, the Floors stud manager was at Tattersalls today to oversee the sale of this colt.
"It's absolutely brilliant, absolutely fantastic,"said Gillon, who has been stud manager at Floors for eight years. "We loved him as a foal and he came perfect all the way through his prep. He got down here and everything went so well. He is a beautiful-looking colt. He never stopped [viewings] and so popular with everyone. Just to see him go through the ring and do that – it is the icing on the cake.
"The late Duke saw him as a foal and he loved him and thought he was the best yet that Attraction had had, but for the colt to come here and do exactly that – the Duke will be up there smiling, that's for sure. It is brilliant for everyone involved, the late Duke, the Duchess, everyone, it is brilliant and we couldn't ask for any more."
An understandably emotional Duchess of Roxburgh said: "He is such a lovely colt, we are thrilled. He has such an easy temperament, and taken it all in his stride, and we are delighted as would my late husband be."
Floors Stud bloodstock advisor Ed Sackville added: "That was absolutely amazing, we are all delighted. We are very grateful for the support from the buyer and hope the horse is lucky – as lucky as Elarqam has been for Shadwell. There was plenty of interest from all the big players, but you never know what to expect. Chris and his team have done a brilliant job.
"This is a lovely horse and has been since he was a foal. Let's hope he is as successful on the track."
Later on in the afternoon, Godolphin outlasted Coolmore’s MV Magnier for a Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) colt out of Attraction’s Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) stakes-placed daughter Cushion with the gavel eventually falling in Stroud’s favour at 2,100,000gns and as with their other seven figure lot, the yearling was offered by Floors Stud.
Catalogued as Lot 109, the colt is the second foal out of the mare, with her first yearling Bright Idea (Zoffany) having been purchased for 110,000gns at Book 1 of the 2018 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.
It was no surprise to see Godolphin keen to secure the colt, with it being by their headline stallion Dubawi, while being out of Galileo mare means he is bred on a successful cross that has been well-advertised this season by Ghaiyyath, who landed the Coronation Cup (Gr 1, 1m4f), Eclipse Stakes (Gr 1, 1m2f) and International Stakes (Gr 1, 1m2f) earlier this season. Ghaiyyath is one of two Group 1 winners bred on this cross, with the other being Night Of Thunder, who has gone on to prove himself a successful sire.
In total the cross has produced a further five stakes winners and 24 winners from 39 runners which fires at a healthy stakes winners to runners rate of 17 per cent. Galileo’s prowess as a broodmare sire has been well documented, with daughters of the Coolmore superstar producing 182 stakes winners in total, headed by 31 elite level scorers.
The sale signalled an emotional one for the Duchess of Roxburghe, whose late husband expressed his admiration for the colt before his death last year.
"This is a lovely horse, obviously by Dubawi," said Stroud. "He moves incredibly well, he is from a very good stud, and we collectively all really liked him. It just shows that when a very nice horse comes up to the ring, there are lots of good people there for them, they are collectors' items."
Stroud added: "It is so sad that the Duke is not here because he was a wonderful breeder, a wonderfully good friend, a wonderful enthusiast; he would have loved to have been here, and he's done a fantastic job. He is probably looking down."
The Duchess of Roxburghe said: "This family means a huge amount to us, and Attraction is an absolute heroine, we are all very emotionally attached to her. The Duke adored this Dubawi colt as a foal so I hope he is watching upstairs!
"My son George runs the stud with me, but he has a new job and was not allowed to be here today, which is a real shame. Ed [Sackville] has been a fantastic support and with Simon Marsh too, and all the team at Floors has been amazing, Chris [Gillon] and his team. Chris deserves a special mention, he has produced the horses to perfection, every single one of them. I was so pleased it was him leading up the colt today.
"I am thrilled for my late husband who did nothing but dream of Attraction and she has really done us proud. They were two really lovely horses, and they have been since they were foals. My husband always thought they were two of the best he had ever produced – and he has been proven right. We wish Anthony Stroud and the team all the success.
"I have spoken to George and he is sitting biting his desk, he is chuffed to bits! I watched in the ring and it is not quite as it is normally, but it was still very exciting and it was tear-jerking stuff. I had some really old dear friends with me, and it was special to have them supporting me."
Sackville said: "It is a hell of a result, we are incredibly grateful to Anthony Stroud for buying him, and it is very nice to be standing back here again and talking, I hope it continues through the week! He is a very nice horse, by Dubawi who needs no introduction – a phenomenal sire who has just done amazingly and continues to deliver year after year.
"And he is out of a Galileo mare, who is a tremendous broodmare sire, and she is a daughter of Attraction so there is a hell of a pedigree to go with it, and Cushion was also a good racemare. Everything was in our favour, certainly on the pedigree, but we were also very lucky as he was also an outstanding individual and two high profile buyers decided to take each other on."
Later on in the evening, the operation went to 2,000,000gns for another youngster by Juddmonte Farms’ sire Frankel - but this time a filly - who was catalogued as Lot 162 and offered as part of the Norelands Stud draft.
The filly is out of unraced Dubai Destination (Kingmambo) mare Fleche d'Or, making the filly a half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner and now Darley-based sire Golden Horn (Cape Cross) and Listed scorer Eastern Belle (Champs Elysees), while she is a sister to stakes-placed Dhahabi.
Fleche d'Or herself is out of Listed-winner Nuryana (Nureyev), who produced Group 1 winner Rebecca Sharp (Machiavellian) - the dam of Listed winner Miss Pinkerton (Danehill).
Nuryana also produced Group 3 winner Mystic Knight (Caerleon) and Listed scorer Hidden Hope (Daylami), who in turn produced Ribblesdale Stakes (Gr 2, 1m4f) winner Frankly Darling (Frankel), who also finished third in this year’s Oaks (Gr 1, 1m4f), while she is also the dam of Listed winner Our Obsession (Shamardal).
"We were really in two minds whether to race her or sell her, we'd have been very happy to have raced her," said Harry McCalmont of Norelands Stud. "We were only going to sell her if we felt she fetching what we thought she was worth. If we had kept her to race she was going to John Gosden, so we thought we might as well bring her to Newmarket – if we didn't sell we could have taken her straight to Johns!
"We are delighted that Sheikh Mohammed has bought her, and delighted to see him here."
Fleche D'Or has a Sea The Stars (Cape Cross) filly foal at foot, and is in-foal to Kingman (Invincible Spirit).
"We will definitely be keeping the foal this time, I know I said that last year about this one!" laughed McCalmont, who bought the mare Fleche D'Or from Hascombe and Valiant Stud at the 2012 Tattersalls December Sale for 62,000gns with BBA Ireland. She had produced Golden Horn earlier that spring. "It was not a bad purchase!" he laughed.
During Tuesday’s session four lots sold for seven figures with 124 of the 158 lots offered sold for 27,750,000gns. This figure was down 22 per cent from that seen last year when 136 of the 164 lots offered were sold. The average fell 14 per cent to 223,790gns whilst the median decreased 33 per cent to 120,000gns.
