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Average falls slightly while median shows large gain on opening day of Book 1.
Fillies by Coolmore's No Nay Never (Scat Daddy) and Darley's Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) headlined the opening day of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1 on Tuesday, when selling for 825,000 guineas and 800,000 guineas respectively. The opening session saw turnover of 25,201,000 guineas, at an average of 210,008 guineas and a median of 152,500 guineas.
With 2.5 per cent fewer horses offered this year, compared to last, the aggregate fell 9.2 per cent. The average was down 6.2 per cent while the median was up 27 per cent from 120,000 guineas last year.
German pinhooker Philipp Stauffenberg enjoyed his best ever return in a sale ring when the No Nay Never sister to the Group Two winner and Group One placed juvenile, Arizona, was knocked down for 825,000 guineas to Cheveley Park Stud's Chris Richardson. The daughter of the Lady Ederle (English Channel) is also a sister to the Grade Two winner Nay Lady Nayand was secured by Richardson after he saw off Juddmonte Farms' Simon Mockridge. She was catalogued as Lot 110. http://db.tattersalls.com:8080/4DCGI/Sale/Live?site=NMT
Richardson was stood alongside Patricia Thompson, the owner of Cheveley Park, and her son Richard.
"She was the one we really wanted," said Mrs Thompson. "She is a beautiful filly and she was first on the short list. We were looking for a filly for the broodmare band, we will get her broken in and make some plans."
The Stephen Sullivan-bred bay filly was purchased by Philipp Stauffenberg as a foal for €260,000 and is from the family of Dabirsim (Hat Trick) and Sea Of Class (Sea The Stars). Explaining his reasoning behind his purchase last autumn he commented;
"I bought her because she is an outcross and would be attractive for the big farms, and that was exactly what the case was. She was a top horse for every breeder, it didn't matter who. But she still needed to be a good physical, otherwise I wouldn't have bought her.
"The racecourse is the primary goal, today is just one step. Hopefully she will prove that she is worth what Cheveley Park have spent. It is wonderful that Mrs Thompson goes on and spends something like that. This is not a filly in training Mrs Thompson will have to wait for her, it is a future investment and it is very encouraging for the industry."
He added: "All the sales companies wanted to have her, but she has done so well I think she deserved to be in the top sale, this is the top sale."
Juddmonte Farms' Simon Mockridge didn't have to wait long after the missing out on the top lot of the day, striking to secure the Dubawi filly out of the Group Two winning Monsun (Konigsstuhl) mare Longina for 800,000 guineas. Newsells Park Stud consigned the filly as Lot 127 http://db.tattersalls.com:8080/4DCGI/Sale/Live?site=NMT on behalf of breeder Al Shahania Stud.
"We were strong on the No Nay Never filly, but not strong enough," said Simon Mockridge. "This is a very, very nice filly, by Dubawi who for us is a great outcross for the longer term for stallions such as Kingman and Frankel. But she is also a great free moving filly, who showed very well."
Of plans for Juddmonte, Mockridge continued: "The positive news is that Prince Khalid's family want to continue to develop Juddmonte and we need to buy some outcross fillies, and that is the reason why we are here. The No Nay Never and this Dubawi filly fitted the bill perfectly.
"It has been a tough year, a very difficult year losing Prince Khalid, but the family is committed and is showing that it is committed to the future. The Prince left us with a great legacy and it is there for us to drive forward. It is fortunate in that we have a very strong stallion base, we are very fortunate to have Frankel and Kingman. That is number one, it keeps us going, and we just need to refresh a little bit.
"Fillies like these are very rare and very difficult to buy, you have to be competitive, and I think we have been that."
Julian Dollar of Newsells said: "We have five lovely horses for the draft from Al Shahania Stud. They have been with us for ten weeks, we have just put a bit of polish on them. They came looking fantastic, produced by a good team. They deserve all the credit, they are very good horsemen."
Bertrand Le Metayer, bloodstock advisor for Al Shahania who was at Tattersalls with stud manager Arnault Leraitre, said: "The team on the farm in France has done a great job, it is an honour to get such a result with a filly. She has been brilliant from the word go – she goes to sleep, gets up, goes to sleep. She has a great mind and she showed it today. That is what caught the buyers' eyes.
"We thought she was our best yearling and deserved the best sale."
Lope De Vega colt makes 725,000 guineas
The most expensive colt to sell on Tuesday was a son of Ballylinch Stud's Lope De Vega (Shamardal) who was sold to Godolphin for 725,000 guineas.
The colt, who was consigned by the Player family's Whatton Manor Stud on behalf of Andrew Stone's St Albans Bloodstock, is out of a half-sister to the multiple Group One winner Postponed (Dubawi) and was offered as Lot 49. http://db.tattersalls.com:8080/4DCGI/Sale/Live?site=NMT
"He moved extremely well, he is very light on his feet and he behaved very well here," said Stroud. "He is out of a very good mare from the family of Postponed, whom we know well, and Lope De Vega we like very much. We think he is a very nice horse."
Ed Player of Whatton Manor said: "We are delighted to have horses nice enough to come to Book 1, we have always aspired to have horses for Book 1.
"Andrew Stone of St Albans has entrusted us with God Given, we had Bianca Nera at the farm a long time ago and it has come full circle. We are absolutely delighted with the price, he is such a good walking horse, he walks for fun and he has not put a foot wrong here."
Other lots to sell well on Tuesday include a colt by Coolmore Australia shuttler Justify (Scat Daddy) who was bought by Elliott and McElroy for 450,000 guineas. Catalogued as Lot 63, http://db.tattersalls.com:8080/4DCGI/Sale/Live?site=NMT the colt is the third foal out of Hourglass (Galileo), a half-sister to Shamardal (Giant's Causeway), from the family to Street Cry (Machiavellian).
Lope De Vega finished the day as the leading sire with 15 lots selling for 3,960,000 guineas at an average of 264,000 guineas. Godolphin meanwhile was the day's leading buyer having spent 2,675,000 guineas on five lots.
