Walsh’s Sioux Nation filly heading to Twomey after €370,000 sale-topping swoop
Those old sages say that lightning never strikes twice but whoever devised that cliche would be eating their words if they were present at the Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up Sale on Friday as a very familiar electrical storm made its presence felt during a livewire sale, that was building on last year’s record-breaking returns with several hours of trading still to be done.
At the 2023 renewal of the sale, Grade 1-winning jockey Katie Walsh brought a Sioux Nation (Scat Daddy) colt to the sale and he topped the charts, making €240,000 (approx. AU$393,100) to Mark McStay for Paddy Twomey. Named Letsbefrankaboutit, the colt went on to win the Round Tower Stakes (Gr 3, 6f) at the Curragh later in the summer.
Twelve months on, Walsh brought a daughter of the Coolmore Stud-based resident to Tattersalls Ireland, and once again she stopped the clocks in one of the quickest times up the Fairyhouse straight on Thursday.
Consequently, the half-sister to six winners was in demand among the free-spending buyers, but it was the familiar team of the Avenue Bloodstock mainstay and the trainer who could saddle his first Classic winner at the Curragh on Saturday, when he runs A Lilac Rolla (Harry Angel) and Purple Lily (Calyx) in the Irish 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m).
Incidentally, both fillies were purchased in this sales ring, with Purple Lily, a first-crop daughter of Calyx (Kingman), bought by McStay for €155,000 from Brian O’Connell’s Chasefield Stables at last year’s breeze-up sale.
The successful agent had to go to €370,000 here to fend off his rivals, who included Anthony Stroud, for the third-crop daughter of Sioux Nation.
He said: “The filly speaks for herself and came highly recommended by Katie; she did an outstanding breeze. We had to dig very deep but there are no regrets; let’s hope she’s lucky.
“The new owner is very happy and delighted to be able to send another horse to Paddy. I’m delighted to get her and she looks like she’s one who can rock on fairly soon.”
Walsh purchased the filly for €60,000 as a yearling and has enjoyed another brilliant breeze-up sales season. McStay was keen to praise the work done by the Cheltenham Festival winner, whose track record as a breeze-up consignor is even surpassing her accomplishments as a jockey.
“Katie does a great job, she’s one of the best in the business, her recommendations stand for an awful lot,” he said.
“The filly was extremely well produced and did a superb breeze. I’m not a clock worshipper but she did clock very well, and Katie got paid accordingly.”
The filly from the family of Irish Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) and Tattersalls Gold Cup Gr 1, 1m 2.5f) winner Luxembourg (Camelot) was one of four punchy purchases by McStay for Twomey.
The pair went to €140,000 (approx. AU$229,300) for Willie Browne’s Dark Angel (Acclamation) colt out of Morsian, a Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) half-sister to Listed winner Mistrusting (Shamardal), dam of Grade 1 winners Mysterious Night (Dark Angel) and Althiqa (Dark Angel), out of the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes (Gr 2, 6f) winner and Cheveley Park Stakes (Gr 1, 6f) runner-up Misheer (Oasis Dream) .
They also bought a Teofilo (Galileo) colt from Mickey Cleere for €120,000 (approx. AU$196,500) and Leamore Horses’ Starspangledbanner (Choisir) colt out of Tingleo from the family of Bosra Sham (Woodman) for €90,000 (approx. AU$147,400).
Having been such a prolific purchaser, McStay was well placed to comment on trade seen at Fairyhouse and beyond.
“The breeze-up consignors put a lot of money down, they put a huge amount of effort into it, and it doesn’t always come off,” he said. “This year a lot of the middle market has been really tough for them, and when they get a good one like this they’re entitled to get paid. The demand for good horses around the world is as strong as ever.”
Of the Tattersalls Ireland Breeze Up Sale, he added: “Every year this sale produces. The timing is good, it gives the consignors a little bit of extra time, and they can take a later horse.”
Conor Hoban’s career as a jockey came to an end only last winter when he announced his retirement, but Beechlea Bloodstock, the pre-training and consigning business he operates, has been going successfully for a couple of years and the blue livery of the Laois-based farm was flying high with the sale of a first-crop former Darley shuttler Earthlight (Shamardal) colt for €300,000 (approx. AU$491,300) to David Spratt of Gaelic Bloodstock.
Beechlea Bloodstock’s colt by first season sire Earthlight made €300,000 at Tattersalls Ireland
Unlike so many of the other leading lots, the chestnut was not a pinhook, rather being sold on behalf of Rathcairn Stud, clients of Hoban, and he was delighted to have achieved such a brilliant result for the team.
“He’s a lovely, big, strong horse, owned by Rathcairn Stud, who bred him,” he said. “We got him before Christmas, we prepped him and he’s just kept progressing all the way. He’s big and I thought he did a lovely breeze yesterday, finishing out really well. He’s an exciting horse going forward and we wish his new owners all the best.
“We’re delighted, it’s a great result for the owner and everyone in the yard. We’ve had a great two weeks and this is the best result we’ve had – it’s credit for the team at home and the work they’ve done.”
The colt is a half-brother to two winners from three runners out of the winning Lawman (Invincible Spirit) mare Elusive Laurence and such was the confidence behind him, Rathcairn Stud were willing to back their judgement if the market did not meet their valuation.
Hoban added: “We had high expectations coming here based on the colt’s homework, and the owner was prepared to race him if he didn’t make his money because he’d shown us plenty at home. We thought he’d sell well but we got more than we thought.”
Beechlea has produced nine horses for this breeze-up season and all have sold, including a recent €285,000 sale, and Hoban said: “It’s important they can go on now and do it on the track.
“It’s been a good season for us, and we’re looking forward to getting back involved for next year. A lot of credit has to go to Tattersalls Ireland for today – there’s a great turnout, plenty of horses are getting bought and this is definitely the strongest sale we’ve been at this spring.”
Matt Coleman and Stroud’s agency was among the most prolific of purchasers at the top end of the market with Coleman signing for a pair of juveniles at €270,000 (approx. AU$442,200) apiece on behalf of his clients while Stroud, who was thwarted in his pursuit of colts by Earthlight and Sioux Nation, signed at €125,000 (approx. AU$204,725) for a Kodi Bear (Kodiac) filly from Hyde Park Stud.
Coleman’s first big purchase of the day sparked joyous scenes between Fethard neighbours the Tynan family, who bred the colt, and Ryan Conran and Pamela O’Rourke of Lacka House Stud, who sold her to the agent for €270,000.
The Blandford team bought a total of eight horses during the sale with one other six-figure purchase among them; Ardglas Stable’s filly from the first crop of Sussex Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) winner Mohaather (Showcasing).
Bidding for Go Racing, they went to €105,000 (approx. AU$172,000) for the half-sister to a pair of winners.
Last year a total of four horses sold for €200,000 or more and that figure was bettered on Friday with no fewer than six horses attaining prices at that level, no sale more poignant than that of the Coulsty colt who came out on top of most time lists during the breeze on Thursday morning.
It was a quicksilver edition of the Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up Sale, which also recorded an increase in the number of six-figure price tags year-on-year with 20 horses making at least €100,000 (approx. AU$163,800) compared with 18 last year, which was a record for the auction.
The clearance rate hit 89 per cent, which was an excellent return and illustrative of the diverse and hungry cast of buyers assembled for the sale by the teams at Tattersalls Ireland and Irish Thoroughbred Marketing. A total of 219 horses from the 245 offered found buyers during almost 11 hours of trade at Fairyhouse on Friday.
An aggregate of €9,544,500 (approx. AU$15,632,000) was an all-time high for this auction and represented an increase of 11 per cent year-on-year from the previous record turnover. The average of €43,582 (approx. AU$71,400) showed a gain of one percentage point from last year’s sale, which was also a record figure, with the only cloud on the horizon the median, which declined by seven points in 12 months to €28,000 (approx. AU$45,800).