Seven-figure frenzy as Magnier strikes for 2 million gns mare Pepper
One turf starlet after another took to the Park Paddock stage in Tuesday’s headline-making day at the Tattersalls December Mare Sale, and was greeted by an enthusiastic and international buying bench, with no shortage of bidding as 41,912,000gns (approx. AU$44,007,600) changed hands.
The day’s highest-pricest lot belonged to Newsells Park Stud and Gestut Ammerland’s homebred Waldlied (New Approach), a three-parts sister to Arc hero Waldgeist (Galileo), who won the Prix de Malleret (Gr 2, 2400m) during her time in training with Andre Fabre, and fetched 2,200,000gns (approx. (AU$4,298,509) to the bid of Jill Lamb Bloodstock and Ammerland’s representative Crispin de Moubray.
However, Australian buyers were not to be left out and, the very next lot into the ring, saw Cayenne Pepper (Australia) go the way of Coolmore Australia’s Tom Magnier for 2,000,000gns (approx. AU$3,907,735).
The four-year-old daughter of Australia (Galileo) won four races in the silks of the late Jon Kelly, including the Blandford Stakes (Gr 2, 1m 2f), and was also placed in three Group 1s while under the care of Jessica Harrington.
“She’s a lovely mare and we knew what she could do on the racetrack,” said Magnier. “Obviously Jessica Harrington held her in high regard and Jon Kelly was a very close friend of our family so we’re delighted to get a mare that he owned. She’s a lovely physical and she’ll go to Wootton Bassett. All the top people have been talking about her this week so it’s great to have her and hopefully we’ll have a bit of luck.”
Another offered by Newsells Park Stud, Cayenne Pepper was making her second appearance at public auction, having been sourced by Harriet Jellett at 195,000gns at the December Foal Sale in 2017.
“Jamie McCalmont and Philippa Mains helped select her as a foal,” recalled an emotional Jellett. “She had such an incredible hind leg action, I can still picture her stepping out of the box as a foal. She had a lovely hip and hind leg and you need an engine when you buy a racehorse.
“Jon had given us some money to pinhook with, but when we came to prepare her as a yearling it was decided that she wasn’t strong enough or big enough and we’d be better off racing her. It was the best decision as she’s a filly that has always given her most, always does her best. Jon was such a huge part of it, he would have loved tonight, his excitement would have been palpable.”
Coolmore know plenty about the pedigree as Cayenne Pepper’s page traces back to Allegretta, dam of the brilliant Urban Sea (Lombard), whose sons include breed-shaping sire Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) and his Derby- (Gr 1, 1m 4f) winning brother Sea The Stars (Cape Cross), as well as the likes of Black Sam Bellamy (Sadler’s Wells), who carried the Tabor silks to success in a brace of Group 1s.
Freedman brothers strike again on international circuit
Richard and Michael Freedman have been active participants on the breeding stock sales circuit, picking up two lots from Fasig-Tipton’s November sale, while they added a further two purchases from Keeneland’s sale at a combined cost of US$1,035,000 (approx. AU$1,446,833).
And the training brothers struck again at Tattersalls, signing for one of the just two mares in the sale covered to southern hemisphere time, as Salsa Bella (Siyouni), in foal to Frankel (Galileo) on a September 3 cover, was bought for 200,000gns (approx. AU$293,560).
The six-year-old mare has as her first foal a son of former New Zealand shuttler Showcasing (Oasis Dream), born this year, and on the track was stakes-placed in the US, having run second in the Sweetest Chant Stakes (Gr 3, 8f) at Gulfstream Park.
Out of Sinndar (Grand Lodge) mare Katsya, whose third dam Marie De Vez (Crystal Palace) is the family from which Group 1 winners Morandi (Holy Roman Emperor) and Lord Glitters (Whipper) derive.
The brothers were active earlier in the day’s session, bringing home Lot 1701, the Group 3-placed Zoffany (Dansili) mare Soffika for 150,000gns (approx. AU$293,080).
Soffika is a half-sister to twice Group 3-placed Dubka (Dubawi), while her second dam Blush Rambler (Blushing Groom), is the dam of Listed winner Rambling Rose (Cadeaux Genereux), herself the dam of three-time Group 1 winner Notnowcato (Inchinor).
Boomer signs for Musk Creek and Milburn Creek
Craig Rounsefell’s Boomer Bloodstock purchased three lots, the first in conjunction with Milburn Creek while a second was bought in partnership with Victorian operation Musk Creek Farm.
On behalf of Milburn Creek, Rounsefell signed for Lot 1625, the unraced US-bred filly Brave Lass (Medaglia D’Oro) for 85,000gns (approx. AU$166,078). The three-year-old is a half-sister to the stakes-placed Amniarix (Speightstown), while her granddam, Listed winner and twice Group 1-placed filly My Branch (Distant Relative), is the producer of two stakes winners, headlined by Haydock’s Sprint Cup (Gr 1, 6f) winner Tante Rose (Barathea), as well as the stakes-placed Melodramatic (Sadler’s Wells). She is also dam to Rosie’s Posy (Suave Dancer), the dam of dual US Grade 1 winner Dubawi Heights (Dubawi) and twice French Group 1 winner and sire Make Believe (Makfi).
Brave Lass is out of the stakes-performed Sea The Stars (Cape Cross) mare Bold Lass, who has also produced a yearling filly and weanling colt by Frankel.
Musk Creek Farm will be the recipients of Lot 1885, the stakes-placed four-year-old Tomorrow’s Dream (Oasis Dream), who was purchased for 150,000gns (approx. AU$293,080).
The mare hails from second dam, the Group 2-winning and Group 1-placed mare Irresistible Jewel (Danehill), a producer of three stakes winners, including Irish St Leger (Gr 1, 1m 6f) winner Royal Diamond (King’s Best) and stakes-winning, Group 1-placed fillies Princess Highway (Street Cry) and Mad About You (Indian Ridge).
Ribblesdale Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 4f) winner Princess Highway was placed third in the Irish Oaks (Gr 1, 1m 4f), while Mad About You ran third behind the unbeaten Zarkava (Zamindar) in the Prix Marcel Boussac (Gr 1, 1m) as a juvenile, before filling the runner-up spot in the next year’s Irish 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) and Pretty Polly Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f).
Rounsefell also signed for a mare in partnership with Murray Thoroughbreds, securing the unbeaten two-year-old stakes winner Diablotine (Kodi Bear) for 110,000gns (approx. AU$214,925).
She is a half-sister to the stakes-performed Flambysister (Stormy River) and a granddaughter of Listed winner and Group 2-placed filly Firm Friend (Affirmed), in turn the dam of stakes winners Fred Lalloupet (Elusive City) and Mon Pote Le Gitan (Thunder Gulch), as well as Frida La Blonde, dam of Group 1 winner Wooded (Wootton Bassett).
Rosemont and David Redvers added to their three purchases on Monday’s opening day by securing Lot 1855, Siyouni (Pivotal) filly Siyata for 120,000gns (approx. AU$234,464), and Lot 1874, three-time-winning Frankel filly Turandot, for 85,000gns (approx. AU$166,078).
A winner of one race on the track, Siyata is a daughter of Listed winner and Group 2-placed mare Caponata (Selkirk), herself a daughter of Listed winner Daring Diva (Dansili), a sister to Group 1 winner Emulous and the Group 3-winning First Sitting.
Daring Diva is the dam of six winners including Group 2 winner Brooch (Empire Maker), who in turn is the producer of Haskell Stakes (Gr 1, 9f) winner Mandaloun (Into Mischief) in the US.
Turandot, meanwhile, is a half-sister to Falmouth Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) and Prix Rothschild (Gr 1, 1m) winner Amazing Maria (Mastercraftsman) and is from a deep US family that includes the Grade 2 winner and Grade 1-placed Integra (Torsion).
John Foote in partnership with Kern/Lillingston Association secured War Front (Danzig) filly Measure Up for 62,000gns (approx. AU$121,139).
The Juddmonte-bred filly is a daughter of Group 1 winner Proportional (Beat Hollow), a sister to Group 3 winner Vote Often, with Measure Up a half-sister to Listed winner Variable (Sea The Stars).
Catheryne Bruggeman and partner Paul Moroney were also in the action, purchasing Lot 1623, the German-bred Guiliani (Tertullian) filly Moselle Valley, for 22,000gns (approx. AU$42,985).
Moselle Valley is a three-quarter sister to Doomben Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Mawingo (Tertullian).
Waldlied heading home
Sale topper Waldlied was bred in partnership from the blue hen Waldlerche, a Group 3-winning Monsun (Konigsstuhl) half-sister to St Leger (Gr 1, 1m 6.5f) hero Masked Marvel (Montjeu) from the famed German ‘W family’. Newsells Park owner Graham Smith-Bernal confirmed the Hertfordshire farm had bought out their partners.
“She’s coming back home, where she belongs,” he said. “She’s a beautiful mare in terms of her demeanour and attitude, she’s a very special horse from a very special family. It was breaking one partnership and forming a new partnership. We also own 100 per cent of Waldlerche now, as well as her number one daughter.
“She was a great racehorse, I think she was rated as highly in training as Waldgeist was by Andre Fabre. She’s a very special horse and we are absolutely delighted to have her back with us.”
By the close of play on Tuesday Newsells Park Stud had sold 12 lots for receipts totalling 5,794,000gns (approx. AU$11,320,710).
Times family of the essence
Cayenne Pepper was not the only seven-figure acquisition Coolmore will be sending to Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) in 2022, as Sunday Times (Holy Roman Emperor), dam of dual Grade 1 winner Newspaperofrecord (Lope De Vega), sparked a duel between MV Magnier and David Redvers, sitting with owner David Howden at the back of the packed auditorium. The Coolmore man won out when the price reached 1,800,000gns (approx. AU$3,516,962).
Consigned by Goldford Stud on behalf of owner-breeder Allan Belshaw, Sunday Times, a 12-year-old daughter of Holy Roman Emperor (Danehill), was offered in foal to Newspaperofrecord’s sire Lope De Vega (Shamardal).
“She’s an absolute cracker,” said Magnier. “She’s bred a champion before and is hopefully carrying a full-sister. What Newspaperofrecord did at the Breeders’ Cup was incredible. I’d say she’s most likely going to Wootton Bassett. There’s plenty going on in the page the whole way down. It’s a lot of money but hopefully she’s worth it.”
Sunday Times is a second generation homebred tracing back to Simply Times (Dodge), who Belshaw bought in Ocala in 1995. She has bred three winners, with Newspaperofrecord joined by Listed scorer Classical Times (Lawman), who was sold to Juddmonte in 2018.
“I’m satisfied, I’m happy about it, but slightly disappointed because I’ve had her since she was a baby,” said Belshaw. “But there comes a time when you have to move on and I have plenty of babies from the family, so it’s like starting again. She can help the cause for the younger members of the family.”
Sunday Times, a sibling to the dam of Mackinnon Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Latrobe Camelot) and Pink Dogwood (Camelot), made her second appearance much more fruitful than her first, after she was bought back at just 10,000gns at Book 2 in 2010.
“She was not sold as a yearling at Book 2, when Holy Roman Emperor was just at the beginning of his career,” said Belshaw. “She was bought in at 10,000gns and I’m not sure she even got a bid, believe it or not! She turned into a nice racehorse and then an even better broodmare.
“The big one was the Breeders’ Cup (Juvenile Fillies Turf). Someone actually bid for her while I was at Churchill Downs but I wasn’t brave enough and thought I can’t sell her. I’ve got two of her fillies (by Lope De Vega and Kingman) at home and half a dozen half-sisters, so we’re in a good place.”
A short while later James Wigan of London Thoroughbred Services snared another member of Belshaw’s herd when Daily Times, a daughter of Gleneagles (Galileo) and Sunday Times, was knocked down at 800,000gns (approx. AU$1,563,094). The winning four-year-old was also offered by Goldford Stud and carrying to Lope De Vega.
“She’s going to stay here for the time being,” said Wigan, whose purchase was made on behalf of the McCausland family’s Erdenheim Farm in Pennsylvania. “She will foal here and will probably go to Kingman before travelling to the US, hopefully, in foal.”
Flotus achieves first lady status
The sale’s first seven-figure lot was Flotus (Starspangledbanner), the highest-rated two-year-old filly to be offered anywhere in the world this year having finished runner-up to Tenebrism in the Cheveley Park Stakes (Gr 1, 6f) on her most recent start.
Most of the usual suspects were in the vicinity when the daughter of Starspangledbanner (Choisir) was presented by Simon and Ed Crisford’s Gainsborough Thoroughbreds on behalf owners, which include Australian-based trainer Jean Dubois and Singaporean Ben Kwok, but matters soon boiled down to Roger Varian, taking instructions on the phone on the back stairs, and Shingo Hashimoto, representing Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farm from his position by the exit.
When Hashimoto signalled a bid of 1,000,000gns (approx. AU$1,953,867) Varian shook his head and disappeared from sight and the gavel came down in favour of the free-spending Japanese operation.
After just six starts, a CV that includes wins in a Goodwood maiden and the Ripon Champion Two-Year-Old Trophy (Listed, 6f), Flotus remains with plenty of racing potential, though Hashimoto said no future plans had been made.
“I haven’t decided if she will race on, I need to talk with my boss in Japan and see how it goes,” said Hashimoto. “It could go either way, but if she’s going to race again she will stay here. She has put up some pretty outstanding performances so I’m very excited to buy her.”
Flotus was making her third sales ring appearance, having been pinhooked by Glenvale Stud at €65,000 as a foal before Arthur Hoyeau signed at 125,000gns at Book 1 last year. Having congratulated the filly’s purchaser, Simon Crisford said: “She’s top-class and we wish her new connections the very best for the future.
“We’re very sorry to see her go but she did a fantastic job and she’s a beautiful filly. She was owned by a syndicate and they decided the time was right to sell. I’m sure she’ll do very well, not only on the racetrack but as a broodmare in the future.”
Blue bound for Sottsass date
The smart Shades Of Blue (Kodiac), winner of the Prix Hampton (Listed, 5f) and runner-up to Glass Slippers (Dream Ahead) in the Petit Couvert (Gr 3, 5f), was offered by The Castlebridge Consignment in foal to champion sire-elect Frankel. It was, however, her compatibility with another stallion with Galileo in his pedigree that prompted Michele Zerolo to bid 850,000gns (approx. AU$1,660,787) on behalf of Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm.
“She’s been bought to go to Sottsass,” said Zerolo. “I liked the whole package; she’s by a stallion you can cross with Sottsass, she was a good racehorse and a talented two-year-old, and she’s in foal to Frankel. She will go to Coolmore, where Mr Brant plans to send plenty of good mares to Sottsass.”
The Newtown Stud-bred daughter of Kodiac (Danehill) is out of the unraced Verglas (Highest Honor) mare Enjoyable, meaning the likes of Laraaib (Pivotal), Gutaifan (Dark Angel) and the Group 1 winners Mustashry (Tamayuz) and Ventura Storm (Zoffany) appear beneath her second dam.
Sottsass, an Arc-winning son of Siyouni and the Galileo mare Starlet’s Sister, covered 132 mares in his debut season at Coolmore at a fee of €30,000.
Fairytale result for Furtado
Another rags-to-riches tale to emerge from the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it session of selling was the sale of Just Beautiful (Pride Of Dubai) to Paddy Twomey, signing as BBA Ireland, at 625,000gns (approx. AU$1,221,167). The three-year-old daughter of Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry) has been a real flagbearer for Ivan Furtado, who sourced the filly with Doncaster Racing at just 8,000gns in 2019. She won five times from seven starts, including the Sceptre Stakes (Gr 2, 7f) on her most recent outing.
The filly’s pedigree has improved considerably since that bargain acquisition, as her dam, the Group 3-placed Makfi (Dubawi) mare Astrelle, has now bred three black type performers from as many runners, with Fearless King (Kingman) winning the German 2,000 Guineas (Gr 2, 1600m) and the two-year-old McKulick (Frankel) running third in the Miss Grillo Stakes (Gr 2, 8.5f) just last month.
“It’s a fantastic story, it’s a dream come true for us,” said Furtado. “She has been a joy to deal with, she took us to the next level and we’re ever so grateful to her. The team at home have done a great job and I wish the best to her new connections. She was a joy and thanks to Jamie Railton for consigning her so well.”
In expanding on the filly’s initial appeal, the trainer explained connections had had to resist the temptation to keep Just Beautiful for another season. He said: “She was great looking, not the biggest, but put together well, a nice dark bay and who walked well. She always had a great head and was very professional. She’s a very clever filly and she transferred that to her racing, she always tried so hard.
“We talked about going another year, but she has done fantastically for us, she won her first Listed race, she won her Group 3, but the time was right. We don’t want her to go, we love her to bits, but the time is right.”
Twomey added: “She’s a lovely filly, Ivan has done a great job with her, we hope to do the same. She should have a bright racing career ahead. She’s been bought for an existing client.”