Dwyer makes first trip to Tattersalls count
Henry Dwyer made waves at Royal Ascot this year when he saddled his stable star Asfoora (Flying Artie) to victory in the King Charles III Stakes (Gr 1, 5f) and on Tuesday at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale he was thrust into the spotlight once again, teaming up with Sam Haggas of Hurworth Bloodstock to purchase Group 3 winner Atlantic Coast (Kodiac) for 340,000gns (approx. AU$706,700).
The son of Kodiac (Danehill) has won three times for Joseph O’Brien, headed by his juvenile win in last year’s Killavullan Stakes (Gr 3, 7f) at the Curragh, while he doubled his stakes tally on his most recent appearance on a racecourse when he took out the Prix Matchem (Listed, 1400m) at Saint-Cloud on October 4.
Bred and raced by Al Shira’aa Farms, the three-year-old colt was offered with a BHA rating of 106.
“He has the perfect profile for Australia – he won a Listed race in France last time, which generally means they already have a pretty high rating, which he does,” Dwyer told ANZ Bloodstock News. “He will go back to Australia and head straight into stakes company.
“His form is very current and his rating is current, so he will prove to be a nice mile to 2000-metre horse in Australia I would say. He is a stakes horse everyday of the week at home and he gets any sort of ground, he is just a beautiful horse.
“We will just get him back, he will be an autumn carnival horse. He will be a Melbourne Autumn Carnival type or maybe Adelaide. He goes on top of the ground as well as with cut in the ground, too, so he might be a Brisbane winter horse – they get soft tracks there, which he likes.”
It was Dwyer’s first trip to Tattersalls and he said he had enjoyed his time at the auction, an experience which had been enhanced with help and guidance from Sam Haggas.
“We don’t have horses in training sales in Australia, they are generally online, so it is a different process. But it is really interesting and a learning curve. I have had really good help and Sam Haggas has been showing me the way and my vet Rob McInnes is over here doing the vetting and it has been terrific.”
From limited numbers, Kodiac has proved himself in Australia. The sire of 15 winners from 19 starters and that group are headed by his Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m)-winning son Best Solution.
“Kodiacs have done well in Australia and Joseph [O’Brien] has trained him well. For a horse who has had a bit of racing at three and a bit of travelling, he looks in such good order, a beautiful mature to him. We are so pleased to have him and be able to take him back to Australia, he is going to be a great bit of fun,” Dwyer said.
Smith swoops for a pair colts
Warwick Farm-based trainer Matthew Smith purchased Autumn Winter (Galileo) during the first session of the sale and on Monday and he added two more tried horses to his portfolio on Tuesday, forking out 285,000gns (approx. AU$592,400) for the duo.
His first purchase on Tuesday came in the shape of Bard Of Avon, a winning son of Galileo (Sadler’s Wells), who he secured over the phone via Tattersalls’ Jason Singh for 150,000gns (approx. AU$311,800) from Baroda Stud. Trained throughout his career by Joseph O’Brien, the three-year-old went under the hammer with an official rating of 80.
It is a pedigree familiar to Australians with the colt being out of the Keith F Nolan Classic (Gr 3, 1600m)-winning Australian-bred mare Dawn Waller (Fastnet Rock) and she is herself a half-sister to fellow Group 3 scorers Osaila (Danehill Dancer) and Obama Rule (Danehill Dancer).
A couple of lots later, Smith etched his name on the buyers sheet again when parting with 135,000gns (approx. AU$280,600) to secure Portland, a Listed-winning son of Dubawi (Dubai Millennium), who was offered for sale by his owners Coolmore.
The colt won two of his 12 starts for Aidan O’Brien with the pair headlined by his triumph in King George V Cup (Listed, 1m 4f) at Leopardstown in June. Now rated 105, the three-year-old achieved a career high rating of 108.
Portland is out of the Group 2-placed winner Zagitova (Galileo), who is herself a half-sister to 2014 Prix Maurice de Gheest (Gr 1, 1300m) winner Garswood (Dutch Art).
Go Daddy Australia-bound after selling for 350,000gns
Later in the evening on Monday, Ciaron Maher and Billy Jackson Stops added to their earlier purchase of Jareth (Make Believe), snapping up dual Group 3-placed gelding Go Daddy (Smooth Daddy) for 350,000gns (approx. AU$723,300), the most expensive horse to find a new home during the opening session.
Offered by his trainers William Muir and Chris Grassick’s Linkslade Stables, Go Daddy is the winner of one race – a 1m 2f Nottingham handicap won off a BHA mark of 83 last October– and has finished in the places six times, including running third in the Deutsches St Leger (Gr 3, 2800m) at Dortmund in September and the Geoffrey Freer Stakes (Gr 3, 1m 5f) at Newbury in August. He also finished second in the Grand Prix de Clairefontaine (Listed, 2400m), beaten three-quarters of a length by the winner. He was offered for sale with a BHA rating of 105.
Will Bourne, head of bloodstock for Maher, was at Tattersalls and said the horse would remain in the UK with trainer Harry Eustace and will be aimed at the next year’s NE Manion Cup (Gr 3, 2400m) at Rosehill, before a possible tilt at the Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m).
“He profiles perfectly for Australia and I was chatting to Ciaron and he loved him and how consistent he was,” Bourne told ANZ Bloodstock News. “The plan is to keep him in work here with Harry [Eustace] then he’ll go down on the horses-in-training flight and we’ll target the Manion Cup, which [William] Haggas has done really well in with Favorite Moon and Post Impressionist. We’ll aim to run him off the plane during the Sydney Carnival.
“We’ll run him off the plane. We usually buy in our spring and then bring them out, but Harry has prepared horses like Sir Dragonet for us to win a Cox Plate, so Ciaron has full faith in Harry and they work very well together.
“Our max was 400,000gns and I’d have been thrilled to get him for 250,000gns, so anywhere between is pretty much bang on. He has that perfect profile for Australia so I don’t think he was missed by anyone.”
Craig’s team reinvest
If it’s not broke don’t fix it, was the motto adopted by JP Bloodstock’s Pat Sells and Busuttin Racing when they returned to familiar territory to buy 88-rated two-year-old Fearless Freddy (Territories) for 280,000gns (approx. AU$578,600).
Another offered by Muir and Grassick’s Linkslade Stables, Fearless Freddy has won three times, breaking his maiden over seven furlongs at Leicester in June, before winning over a mile at Kempton and was most recently seen landing a mile contest at York on October 12. .
Sells has had success buying horses by the former Darley stallion, having purchased another son of the stallion, Craig, privately for Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young last year.
He has proved himself a lucrative buy, finishing runner-up at Group 3 level, before filling the same placing in the Toorak Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) earlier this month. Craig will look to plunder further riches when he takes his chance in the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) at Rosehill this weekend.
Sells said Fearless Freddy reminded him of Craig and was confident he could make a similar impact in Australia.
“He is going to Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young in Cranbourne,” said Sells. “I bought a horse for them called Craig last year, he finished second in the Toorak Handicap last week and this horse is almost a carbon copy – and both are by Territories.
“I went to see him at Willie’s [Muir’s] last week and William describes him as a ‘tiger’ – if you watch his win at York, every time I watch the replay, you think he couldn’t win from where he was, but he has a great turn of foot on soft ground over a mile, it is what we are looking for for Australia.
“Hopefully, he is another Craig. It was the York run that really put him on the radar for us. He vetted cleanly, there was lots of interest in him, it is a lot of money, but these owners have had success with horses like him – he is a Territories out of a Motivator mare, Craig is by the same sire and out of New Approach mare.”
“William will tell you this horse has a bombproof mentality, he wants to win, but you have to pay money for that. Ideally, we would have preferred to pay closer to 200,000gns, but we knew we had to go a bit further.”
Freedman and Badgers buy two
Later on in the evening, Anthony Freedman and Badgers Bloodstock secured two lots back-to-back for an aggregate of 350,000gns (approx. AU$723,300), first paying Shanaville Stables 200,000gns (approx. AU$413,300) for Thebelmontgangster (Inns Of Court), before forking out 160,000gns (approx. AU$330,600) for Spanish Blaze (Phoenix Of Spain).
Thebelmontgangster broke his maiden on his third attempt when winning over a mile at the Curragh on October 17 for trainer Natalia Lupini.
Catalogued as Lot 327B, the colt is out of Rare Kylla (Kyllachy), who is herself a daughter of stakes-placed winner to 2020 Mornington Cup (Listed, 2400m) winner Aktau (Teofilo).
Consigned by his trainer Marcus Tregoning’s Whitsbury Manor Racing Stables, Spanish Blaze has won four of his 14 starts, including his most recent appearance when he landed a seven-furlong contest at Newmarket on September 28. He was offered with a BHA rating of 86.