Hawthorne goes the distance at Arqana
Dean Hawthorne and Badgers Bloodstock were active all week at the Tattersalls December Mare Sale earlier this week, and on Saturday at the Arqana equivalent, the duo got stuck into unfolding action, purchasing three lots for a total aggregate of €1.63 (approx. AU$2,660,500).
The first acquisition of their frenetic spending spree was dual winner Sparklia (Dark Angel), offered in foal to Intello (Galileo), who they purchased for €155,000 (approx. AU$253,000).
Later on in the afternoon, the team went to €675,000 (approx. AU$1,101,700) for French Bob, a one time-winning daughter of Galileo (Sadler’s Wells), before finishing the afternoon’s action with their most expensive of the afternoon, going to €800,000 (approx. AU$1,305,800) for Prestige Stakes (Gr 3, 7f) winner Mise En Scene (Siyouni).
Hawthorne told ANZ Bloodstock News that both French Bob and Mise En Scene would stay in the southern hemisphere and would be covered by Siyouni (Pivotal) and Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) respectively.
Mise En Scene was offered by Monceaux and she is out of the unraced Galileo mare Gadfly and she is a half-sister to 2006 English 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) winner Speciosa (Danehill Dancer), Group 3 scorer Major Rhythm (Rhythm) and Listed winner Special Meaning (Mount Nelson).
“She is a Group 3 winner at Goodwood and was fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Fillies Mile and an unlucky fourth,” said Hawthorne, who manages the breeding interests of Jonathan Munz’s GSA Bloodstock.
“She is a big, roomy and scopey mare. You only have to look at her pedigree and it features the best stallions in the world. She will be staying up here and going to Wootton Bassett in Ireland and do a few years up here and go south a bit later.”
Meanwhile, French Bob is a daughter of French 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Beauty Parlour (Deep Impact) and she is also the dam of US Grade 1 scorer Blowout (Dansili), who produced a colt by Kingman (Invincible Spirit).
The three-year-old filly’s Listed-winning second dam Bastet (Giant’s Causeway) is out of stakes-placed Benediction (Day Is Done) and she also produced multiple Australian Group 1 winner Might And Power (Zabeel) and Matter Of Honour (Casual Lies), who won at Group 3 level in Australia.
Further back this is the same family Group 1-winning duo Mosheen (Fastnet Rock), Lucky Owners (Danehill) and Mustang Valley (Vanbrugh).
“She was a beautiful mare, she really was a quality mare. Being out of a Group 1 winner and being a half-sister to a Group 1 winner, that is the stuff you’re after,” explained Hawthorne.
“She is going to stay up here and go to Siyouni. She will eventually make her way Down Under, but that might be two or three years yet.
“She really was a quality mare and I was stoked to get her. She is a tidy mare and I think Siyouni puts a bit of size into them and I think that is a really good mating for her. I was delighted to get her, she is one of my favourite mares of the whole trip.”
Munz hit the jackpot when he purchased Rekindled Applause (Royal Applause) privately in about 2006 in a deal brokered by agent Rob Roulston. The mare would go on to produce dual Group 1-winning sprinter Giga Kick (Scissor Kick), winner of The Everest (1200m) in 2022.
Hawthorne invested into another mare with similar bloodlines when he bought Sparklia, a dual-winning Dark Angel (Acclamation) and a grandson of Royal Applause (Waajib), the sire of Giga Kick’s dam.
“With the Dark Angel mare, we were following that Acclamation and Royal Applause sireline again,” said Hawthorne.
Among Sparklia’s siblings is Spotify, a Group 3 winner from the northern hemisphere-bred crop of late Arrowfield Stud breed-shaper Redoute’s Choice (Danehill). The mare also counts dual Group 2 scorer Impassable (Invincible Spirit), two-time Group 3 winner Attendu (Acclamation) and Listed scorer Foreign Time (Invincible Spirit), among her other half-siblings.
Hawthorne said, given the success with Redoute’s Choice, the mare would foal down here, before heading straight to southern hemisphere and would be covered by either a Danehill (Danzig)-line stallion or one of the High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells)-line ones.
“She was a really nice mare with a very strong first dam and the first dam has also worked well with Redoute’s Choice.
“She will go Down Under immediately once she has foaled and she will go to a Redoute’s Choice-line stallion or a High Chaparral-line stallion. She was a really nice buy, and I was very happy to get her.”
Hawthorne left France yesterday to start on-farm inspections ahead of next month’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale and he arrived in the country earlier in the week, having been at Tattersalls all week where he bought three mares for an aggregate of 975,000gns.
Reflecting on his European trip, the agent said: “I think this is the best group of mares we have bought. We don’t buy old mares, we generally try and target four or three-year-olds. We’ve bought mares by some of the best sires in the world up here. I have been absolutely stoked with what we’ve got and think it is possibly the best Group of mares we’ve bought – it’s quite exciting.
“We are starting to trade and develop and then have a band up here in time and when you’re paying that sort of money, you probably have to trade up here for a while.”
First Light Racing and Howson & Houldsworth Bloodstock came away from last year’s sale with winning filly Osmose (Zoffany), who they bought for €160,000.
Now in training with Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, the four-year-old mare looks a stakes winner in the making, having finished third in the Tesio Stakes (Gr 3, 1600m) in October and was most recently sighted being narrowly denied victory in the Matriarch Stakes (Gr 3, 2000m).
On Saturday at Arqana, they returned to the iconic French sales ring, buying one-time winner Extraordinaire (Intello) for €200,000 (approx. AU$327,200).
The two-year-old is out of Eiriamach Na Casca (Intense Focus), a half-sister to Irish Derby (Gr 1, 1m 4f) winner Trading Leather (Teofilo).
Meanwhile, having been active throughout the early part of the day, Damon Gabbedy continued his spending spree, finishing Saturday having signed four under his Belmont Bloodstock banner. The purchases were headed by one-time winner Levante Breeze (Siyouni), who he bought from Graffard Racing for €160,000 (approx. AU$261,800).
The daughter of Siyouni is a three-quarter sister to Group 3 winner Treasure Trove (Siyouni), while she is a half-sister to the dam of German Listed winner Peshmerga (Counterattack), who is raced by Avedis Damirdjian and is now continuing her career with Robert Quinn in Australia. She got off the mark in the country when saluting the judge in a contest over 1900 metres at Rosehill on November 4.
Gabbedy, teaming up with Sambor, Wells and McCarthy, also signed for Winning Side, a dual winner by Fastnet Rock (Danehill), paying Capucines €80,000 (approx. AU$130,900) for the three-year-old.
Catheryne Bruggeman and Paul Moroney combined to buy two lots on Saturday, first teaming up with Pangloss for Ad Astra (Protectionist), a dual winner who was also placed at Listed level. They paid €80,000 (approx. AU$130,900) for the German-bred four-year-old.
Later on in the afternoon, they snapped up Sadalsuud (Territories), alongside JML Bd NZ, securing the five-year-old mare for €65,000 (approx. AU$106,400).