Boman and Neasham finish off successful week at Tattersalls
Stuart Boman of Blandford Bloodstock and Australia-based trainer Annabel Neasham have enjoyed enormous success buying at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale and they enjoyed another fruitful week, leaving Park Paddocks with four horses for an outlay of 725,000gns (approx. AU$1,499,900).
The autumn auction has been a happy hunting ground for Boman and Neasham, with the pair having sourced horses such as Fawkner Park (Zoffany) and Zaaki (Leroidesanimaux) at the sale in the past.
The most expensive of the week’s purchases came on Wednesday evening when they went to 300,000gns (approx. AU$620,600) for Godolphin homebred Hawk Power (Gleneagles), winner of two of his nine starts for Andre Fabre, victories that came at Chantilly and Deauville. He was last seen finishing third in the Prix le Fabuleux (Listed, 1800m) won by Fast Tracker (Churchill).
“He’s a lovely horse and buying from Godolphin means there’s no reserve,” said Boman. “Obviously that attracts a lot of people. He’s a very consistent horse and he was the one that once I’d gone through everything I just wanted to buy. We’ve bought a couple of others along the way but we’ve had to be patient waiting for him.
“I think he’s all about next year, plus he’s a very well-bred horse and it’s a pedigree that’s worked in Australia. He’s out of a Street Cry mare, which I thought was very attractive too and I think he’ll be better on top of the ground. He ran on a bog behind Fast Tracker, who Wathnan Racing bought and was favourite for the French Derby.
“He just shows up every week, travels well, has a turn of foot; he’s just a simple horse to like.”
Hawk Power is the sixth foal out of Lyric Of Light (Street Cry), dam of five winners and successful herself in the Fillies’ Mile (Gr 1, 1m).
Earlier in the afternoon on Wednesday, Boman and Neasham combined with topline syndicators to purchase Formal Display, a son of former shuttler Too Darn Hot (Dubawi), paying Juddmonte 100,000gns (approx. AU$197,000) for the well-bred colt.
Trained by Ger Lyons, the three-year-old has won two of his seven starts with his most recent victory coming over seven furlongs at Gowran Park on September 21.
Being out of Group 1 winner Passage Of Time (Dansili) makes Formal Display a three-quarter brother to two-time Group 2 winner Time Test (Dubawi), while he is also a half-brother to dual Group 3 scorer Tempus (Kingman).
Boman said given the colt’s pedigree he could prove to be a stallion prospect in time and this coupled with his racetrack performance led the agent to label the purchase a “bargain”.
“He’s a nice horse and well-bred, being a three-quarter brother to Time Test. He’s still a colt and we’ll probably keep him an entire. There are very few horses here that you can say are stallion prospects, but he could prove to go that way,” he said.
“He has a Timeform rating of 108 and he was 100,000gns. I looked at the catalogue page five times and kept asking my assistant Ellen: Is this the right horse? I kept checking my vetting and all of those things – I thought he was a bargain.
Neasham and Boman’s first purchase of the week came during the frenzied hour on Tuesday evening when the pair stretched to 240,000gns (approx. AU$496,500) for dual winner Black Run (Nathaniel).
Trained by Paul and Oliver Cole, the son of Nathaniel (Galileo) won over 1m 1f as a two-year-old at Goodwood and doubled his winning tally when landing a Newmarket handicap over 1m 2f, while he also finished third in the Golden Gates Stakes (1m 2f) at Royal Ascot in June. He was offered with a BHA rating of 98, but has been as high as 99.
“Black Run is a gorgeous horse and Nathaniel is a stallion that works well in Australia. We bought Floating Artist by him a few years ago and he worked out very well down there,” Boman told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“Black Run ran very well at Royal Ascot, finishing a very good third and he won very well at Newmarket earlier in the year. The horse is lightly raced and he is quite a tactical sort of horse, who races on pace. He is a quick stayer, which is just the type we are after. He has proved himself at Group level and he [Paul and Oliver Cole] is a trainer I like buying from.”
Boman and Neasham’s final purchase of the week came on Thursday when they went to 85,000gns (approx. AU$167,500) for Native King (Kingman), who ran eight times for Hugo Palmer for one win over seven and a half furlongs at Chester in June. He was arguably unlucky not to add to that tally on his most recent appearance where he finished second, beaten a short-head, over a mile at Kempton on October 2. He was knocked down with an official BHA rating of 88.
Bred and raced by Vefa Ibrahim Araci, the colt was bought in partnership with New Zealand-based Go Racing and Boman believes he has the profile to make an impact in Australia.
“He’s well-bred and has a good turn of foot, who needs top of the ground and a fast pace and he will get all of those things in Australia. I would say gelding him will be the first port of call. He was unlucky not to win the other night at Kempton and got his highest timeform rating. We brought him on one bid and 85,000gns was around what we valued him at – so we’re happy,” said Boman.
“Native King was bought for Annabel and Go Racing in partnership, they are both good clients of mine, so it’s nice to put two good clients together on one horse. He is a really good looking son of Kingman and he is a stallion who works well in Australia.”
Reflecting on his week, Boman said: “We underbid a lot of horses, but we are quite disciplined. Hawk Power we stretched – but we do that infrequently. We stopped on a lot more than we bought.
“I was just going through my vettings and the amount of horses that we bid on and reflecting on the ones that got away. You have to be pretty firm on your prices because just to get them to Australia, there are a lot of add-ons and a lot of extra costs and we try and keep it at a price point we feel that is not only going to be enjoyable and successful, but also profitable.”