Kia Joorabchian splashes the cash at Tattersalls Book 1
Ever since Tattersalls revealed that Kirsten Rausing would be putting the Frankel (Galileo) sister to Alpinista on the market, industry insiders and bloodstock aficionados have speculated over what such a rare offering might fetch. At 2.11pm on Tuesday the blue-blooded filly entered the packed Park Paddocks auditorium. By 2.15pm we had our answer: 2,500,000gns (approx. AU$5,109,200).
However, there was a significant plot twist just minutes earlier when another Frankel filly, this youngster out of Duke of Cambridge Stakes (Gr 2, 1m) winner Aljazzi (Shamardal), rewrote the script when bringing a jaw-dropping 4,400,000gns (approx. AU$8,992,300). Both fillies were signed for by Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing after contrasting rounds of bidding.
When Newsells Park Stud presented the filly out of Aljazzi, Joorabchian found Japanese trainer Mitsu Nakauchida in his way. Rather than slowing down, the pace of the bids increased in line with the price, with the rival camps exchanging hefty raises with rare gusto in front of a transfixed audience.
Joorabchian, standing in the bidders’ area opposite the rostrum, had his back to auctioneer John O’Kelly, but signalled his bids by breaking from the huddle with adviser Alex Elliott and Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis and nodding at the man with the gavel. But when Nakauchida, taking instructions on the phone in the bidders’ area directly to the left of the rostrum, pushed the price to 4,300,000gns with another assertive nod of the head, there was no movement from his rival.
“Turn around one more time,” pleaded O’Kelly. “For the heck of it!”
The remark not only drew a stifled laugh from the audience but also had the desired effect. The Amo man looked impassively in the auctioneer’s direction before another subtle nod. Nakauchida responded with a dejected shake of the head, and the hammer duly fell on the second-most expensive yearling ever sold in the Park Paddocks ring.
The price has been bettered only by Al Naamah (Galileo), a sister to Epsom Oaks (Gr 1, 1m 4f) winner Was, who brought 5,000,000gns from Al Shaqab Racing in 2013.
“I’ve never been in that rarefied atmosphere before,” said a shell-shocked Elliott after signing the docket. “We didn’t expect the filly to make that, but with Kia and partners we very much honed in on her. She’s going to be part of team Amo, although no trainer has been decided yet.
“They’ll all be fighting for her as she’s a Frankel filly with a fantastic physique. With that pedigree, we’ve seen Ylang Ylang come from the same farm and bred on the same cross; we just very much need history to repeat itself.
“I keep saying to people, good horses will pay you back. Now she’s got a lot of paying back to do. Our valuation was a good bit below that, but when Kia and Mr Marinakis decided they wanted the filly, they wanted the filly.
“Japan were the underbidders and it’s great that she’s staying here. It’s great for British racing that these men are around to buy these horses. We all understand how difficult the product is to promote at the minute, and for what bloodstock costs. To have two men stand up and say they want to keep her here, kudos to them.”
Asked what this headline purchase signified in terms of Joorabchian’s strategy, Elliott said: “I think you can say that his sights have been raised and he wants to compete at the top level.
“He knows you’ve got to buy them at the top level. All the top teams select the best horses, it’s just a case of who blinks first. Fair play to Kia and Mr Marinakis, they certainly didn’t blink, although I think I might have done a few times!”
Despite attracting more of the pre-sale hype, the sister to Alpinista filled the runner-up spot on the sale’s list of prices. It seemed for all money that the hammer would fall at 2,400,000gns, but, just before gravity took over, Joorabchian raised his catalogue from the back of the packed gangway.
The Group 1-winning owner stood besides trainer George Scott, who sought clarification from the auctioneer that the bid was indeed Amo’s. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t miss you!” quipped O’Kelly before bringing the gavel down at 2,500,000gns.
“A sister to an Arc winner, there’s not an awful lot to say that people don’t already know about her,” said Elliott.
“Kia has been in the game for a number of years now and he realises to compete at the top table, you have to have the best pedigrees. That’s the only way to compete at the top consistently. Amo has got to a level now where it’s ready to try to do that, and that filly has just about the best pedigree around. It doesn’t get any better than that.
“She’s a fine, big scopey filly. She’s worth a hell of a lot residually. We’ll take her time with her as it’s very much a late-developing family. She very much looks like that physically.”
Elliott added: “Kia’s got some horses who are going to stand at stud. We’ve obviously got King Of Steel, although I’m not saying these fillies will necessarily go to him down the line until he proves himself good enough. We’ve got an awful lot of proving to do, but Kia is ready for the operation to prove itself at the next echelon.
“That’s where we’re trying to get to and that’s why we need to get into these families. As I said before, the fact these fillies are staying here is huge for British racing. We should all be cheerleaders of that.”
Of course, Alpinista’s race record runs much deeper than simply winning the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr 1, 2400m). She retired to the Lanwades paddocks with Sir Mark Prescott having saddled her to ten victories, six of which came at the highest level.
Her Group 1 spree began in the Grosser Preis von Berlin (Gr 1, 2400m) in 2021, in which she defeated that year’s Arc winner Torquator Tasso (Adlerflug). Then came wins in the Preis von Europa (Gr 1, 2400m) and Grosser Preis Von Bayern (Gr 1, 2400m) before she returned at five to annex the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Gr 1, 2400m). She proceeded to give weight and a beating to Epsom Oaks heroine Tuesday (Galileo) in the 2022 running of the Yorkshire Oaks (Gr 1, 1m 4f), before her crowning moment in her Longchamp swansong.
Similarly, the filly’s pedigree is built on much firmer foundations than just one illustrious sibling. She hails from her breeder’s flourishing ‘Al’ dynasty, which traces back to Alruccaba (Crystal Palace), from the family of Mumtaz Mahal who was purchased with Sonia Rogers for 19,000gns in 1985. All manner of black type performers and numerous significant producers descend from Alruccaba, with the first three generations of the seven-figure filly’s pedigree containing 64 pieces of Group 1-winning and placed form.
But none have done more to further the family’s standing than Alouette (Darshaan). The daughter of Alruccaba won at Listed level during her time on the track and went on to breed four black-type performers at paddocks. These are headed by Rausing’s champion siblings Alborada (Alzao) and Albanova (Alzao). The former won back-to-back runnings of the Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) while the latter landed a hat-trick of German Group 1s.
Albanova has added five black-type performers to the family since she retired to Rausing’s broodmare band, including Group 3 winner Algometer (Archipenko), the Listed-winning All At Sea (Sea The Stars), who is now better known as the dam of St Leger (Gr 1, 1m 6.5f) hero Eldar Eldarov (Dubawi), and Alwilda (Hernando), winner of a Cologne Listed contest before finding fame as an Arc-winning broodmare.
And, moreover, the filly is far from the only member of the family with the potential to add to the proliferation of stakes form on the page. Alwilda is in foal to Sea The Stars (Green Desert), delivered a brother to Alpinista in March this year and also has her two-year-old Iffraaj filly, Alpetta, in training with Prescott.
Alpinista’s Listed-winning half-sister Alpenblume (Kendargent) has also joined the broodmare band, and visited Frankel for her first covering.
A full report from the first day of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale will feature in Thursday’s edition of ANZ.