Perry snares dual winner Age Of Sail at Tattersalls
After falling just short during the first two days of the Tattersalls July Sale, Bruce Perry finally prevailed in the famous Park Paddocks sales ring when he parted with 40,000gns (approx. AU$80,000) for Age Of Sail, a dual-winning son of Frankel (Galileo), who was consigned by dual-purpose trainer Gary Moore.
Bred by Godolphin and catalogued as Lot 716, the four-year-old has run 13 times, including three times over hurdles.
Starting back on the Flat last month, he delivered his first triumph at the 11th attempt when winning a handicap over a mile and a half by three lengths at Chepstow on June 2, a performance he followed with a win over the same distance at Goodwood on June 9.
Perry said Age Of Sail was bought for an existing client and would head to a trainer in either Sydney or Melbourne.
“We were trying to find a nice filly to go to Frankel, but we couldn’t find one. We saw this horse last night and we thought he would make a really nice racehorse,” he said.
“He’ll go into quarantine and go to Australia, we’re not sure where yet but it will be Sydney or Melbourne. He has won his last two at Goodwood and Chepstow on firm ground and won them impressively. Over a mile and a half I think he will be a nice prospect.
“He was a good-moving horse with a beautiful temperament and very clean. He was a great type and was very athletic. I think he will get 2000 metres and we can target some nice races over that distance. We really loved him and we thought we’d have to pay a lot more.”
The gelding is out of the winning mare Pivotal (Polar Falcon) mare Concordia, a cross which has yielded 20 winners from 30 runners, headed by seven stakes winners, five of which have scored in elite company, including dual Australian Group 1 winner Hungry Heart.
Concordia is the dam of six other winners including Australian Listed scorer Clearly (Invincible Spirit) and the Charlie Appleby-trained Polarisation (Echo Of Light), who famously won the Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) twice in 2017. After first ‘winning’ the Group 1 at Randwick, the race was subsequently declared void. However, he was able to repeat those heroics when he returned for the re-running of the 3200-metre marathon two weeks later.
Further back, this is the same family as Snow Bride (Blushing Groom), the dam of multiple Group 1-winning champion Lamtarra (Nijinsky).
At the time of going to press, Balalaika (No Nay Never), who finished third in the Sandringham Stakes (1m) at Royal Ascot last month, was leading the way on the penultimate day of the Tattersalls July Sale after Eamonn Reilly of BBA Ireland beat off fierce competition to land the filly for 330,000gns (approx. AU$660,300).
Bred by the late Sir Robert Ogden and owned by Lady Ogden, the filly was offered by Barton Sales as Lot 619 and has won one of six starts, when scoring over seven furlongs at Newcastle as a two-year-old last season.
She is out of the unraced Frankel mare War And Peace, herself a daughter of Group 1 winner Emulous (Dansili).
“She is for an existing client,” said Reilly. “There are no plans, but she will stay in training and although no trainer has been decided she will probably stay in the UK. Her last run was very promising, and she has been brought as a long-term broodmare prospect for the client.
“She is a good topped filly, has a good walk and behaved very well up here. There is plenty happening with the pedigree.”
Paul Moroney is a familiar name on the Tattersalls buyer sheets and on Tuesday at the July Sale the agent once again got involved in the action when he joined forces with Armando Duarte to purchase Luna Dorada, a mare by Golden Horn (Cape Cross), paying 35,000gns (approx. AU$70,000) for the Jamie Railton-consigned four-year-old.
Trained by Ralph Beckett, the mare broke her maiden on her first and only start as a juvenile, while her best effort last season was a third-placed finish in the Abingdon Stakes (Listed, 1m 2f) at Newbury on June 9.
Speaking from Australia yesterday, Moroney told ANZ Bloodstock News that Luna Dorada would now be covered by Juddmonte Farms’ sire sensation Frankel (Galileo) on southern hemisphere time.
The Kiwi agent is hoping to repeat a trick, having struck gold on at the Magic Millions National Sale earlier this year when selling European private purchase Amicable (Dutch Art) in foal to Frankel to Yulong for $600,000.
At the Tattersalls December Mare Sale in 2021 he and Catheryne Bruggeman teamed up to buy Moselle Valley (Guiliani) for 22,000gns before turning a profit when selling her to Edinburgh Park Stud and Rick Connolly Bloodstock for $180,000 at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale the following year.
“I have decided in the last couple of years to test the water ourselves and invest in the odd mare for trade and breeding. [Catheryne and I] bought one at Tattersalls in December in 2021 called Moselle Valley and we doubled our money selling her at Magic Millions the following year,” he said.
“After that, we upped the ante last year and bought Amicable privately and sent her to Frankel southern hemisphere time and turned that into a nice profit, getting $600,000 for her at the Magic Millions Sale this year.”
To date in Australia, Frankel has sired 55 winners from 84 runners and they are headlined by 16 stakes scorers, three of them being at the highest level; Hungry Heart, Converge and Mirage Dancer, while fillies Steinem, Miss Fabulass, My Whisper and Let’sbefrankbaby have all won at Group level Down Under.
Demand for the sire phenomenon’s stock has grown and mares in foal to southern hemisphere time have proven to be highly profitable for breeders.
Moroney said they had not yet decided whether they will sell Luna Dorada in foal or wait and sell the foal instead, with both options having turned a healthy profit for a host of breeders in Australia over the past few years.
So far in 2023, 11 mares in foal to Frankel have sold at Inglis and Magic Millions auctions, averaging $829,545, while he also sired the three highest-priced weanlings sold in Australia this year, for $925,000, $825,000 and $725,000.
“We were on the lookout for another one this year to do the same or we might take this one a little bit further and sell the foal, we haven’t made a decision on that, we’ll wait and make a decision until a bit later,” said Moroney.
“The Frankel weanlings are making crazy money down here and I expect that to continue, so we may wait and sell the foal, but nothing has been decided on that.”
Luna Dorada is one of two winners out of the winning mare Lunar Spirit (Invincible Spirit), herself a half-sister to US Listed scorer Kissable (Danehill Dancer). Kissable herself produced fellow US stakes winner and Grade 1-placed Amandine (Shamardal) as well as Loving Dream (Gleneagles), winner of last year’s edition of the Prix de Royallieu (Gr 1, 2800m).
Given the mare’s pedigree and her physical appearance, Moroney said he was pleasantly surprised to have been able to secure her for 35,000gns, having valued her at a lot more.
“I had a list of 25 that I was interested in pedigree-wise and she was at the top of the list and I didn’t think that I would be able to get near her. I valued her at a lot more than what I got her for and we are absolutely delighted to have been able to get her. She was the only one on the list who was stakes-performed,” he said.
“It is difficult to buy stakes-performed fillies off the track who were also two-year-old winners and they are worth a lot of money in Australia. She is a gorgeous specimen, I was very taken with her on the videos which Armando Duarte sent through.
“She is a very good physical and that’s what we’re into, we like taking good physicals to market and those are the types of horses we have had good success turning over. We have got the first part of the equation right, now we just need to get her foal to Frankel, get her to Australia and then make a final decision on her future.”