Waterhouse, Bott and McKeever team up on Derby runner-up Hoo Ya Mal
The Andrew Balding-trained Hoo Ya Mal (Territories) will do his future racing in Australia after trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott and agent Johnny McKeever went to a session-high £1.2 million at the Goffs London Sale on Monday evening.
Fellow three-year-old Drombeg Banner (Starspangledbanner) also enticed southern hemisphere interest at the prestigious 26-lot sale, which precedes the five-day Royal Ascot meeting, with the sprinter bought by Hong Kong-based Shen You Holdings for £230,000.
Hoo Ya Mal, a maiden winner at York as a two-year-old, was runner-up at 150-1 to Desert Crown (Nathaniel) in the Epsom Derby (Gr 1, 1m 4f) on June 4 and he has been supplemented for the King Edward VII Stakes (Gr 2, 1m 4f) at Royal Ascot on Friday.
“He’s got a very attractive profile and you very rarely get the opportunity to buy horses of this calibre,” Bott said of Hoo Ya Mal from London.
“He’s got a profile that we think will really suit Australian racing, with races like the Melbourne Cup being high up on the agenda for him.
“As you know, the racing industry in Australia seems vibrant and healthy with great prize-money around. We want to capitalise on that and this is a horse that we think will be racing at the elite level.
“We had to be strong on the horse and pay what I thought was a fair amount but I’m excited to get him down there and see what he can do for us.”
McKeever has had a long association with Waterhouse, having most recently purchased this year’s Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner Knight’s Order (So You Think) for 250,000gns at the 2018 Tattersalls Horses In Training Sale and previously bought subsequent The Metropolitan (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Glencadam Gold (Refuse To Bend) and 2014 Sydney Cup winner The Offer (Montjeu).
Hoo Ya Mal has won one of his six starts for Balding and previous owner Ahmad Al Shaikh and he was also placed in the Craven Stakes (Gr 3, 1m) and Newmarket Stakes (Listed, 1m 2f) prior to his career-best effort at Epsom. His second appearance at public auction proved much more lucrative than his first, as he was snapped up by Federico Barberini at just 40,000gns back in 2020.
The colt was bred by Meon Valley Stud from the Montjeu (Sadler’s Wells) mare Sensationally, which means he is a sibling to five winners, including the Summer Plate Handicap Chase (Gr 3, 2m 5.5f) winner Really Super. His second dam is One So Wonderful (Nashwan), Meon Valley’s Juddmonte International (Gr 1, 1m 2.5f) heroine.
Sir Owen Glenn’s Go Bloodstock also signed alongside McKeever, Waterhouse and Bott to buy the lightly raced stayer, the trio out-lasting the US-based Marie Yoshida of Asian Bloodstock Services who fired in a £1.1 million bid over the phone via Nick Nugent.
McKeever, however, proved the stronger with the winning £1.2 million bid.
Bott added: “He came onto the radar when we saw the entry for the sale and we did a bit of homework on him prior to his run in the Derby, so he was well on the radar before Epsom.
“Obviously that run confirmed what we thought of him and that’s the profile you want to see, a horse who’s continuing to improve and he’s improved every time he’s stepped out.
“The Derby is probably the most prestigious race over here and there’s been very few horses of that calibre come to Australia, although we’re starting to see it a bit more now.
“We’ll have a discussion with Andrew and see how he’s done after that run in the Derby as we want to do right by the horse first and foremost, but the new owners would be very interested in having an Ascot runner.
“Ultimately the main aim is racing in Australia but it’s a huge attraction to have a runner at Royal Ascot. We’re very active in the tried horse sale markets throughout the year and whenever there’s private opportunities available, and this was an opportunity where it all fell into place nicely.”
Bott and Waterhouse will be hoping to repeat the success they have enjoyed with previous London Sale purchases, most notably Pornichet (Vespone), who was bought at the inaugural renewal in 2014 for £425,000 before winning the Doomben Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) the following year.
Hoo Ya Mal became the second-most expensive horse sold at the London Sale, behind headline acts Jet Setting (Fast Company) and Cappella Sansevero (Showcasing), who fetched £1.3m apiece when offered in 2016 and 2014 respectively.
The last lot to be offered at the London Sale, three-year-old Drombeg Banner (Starspangledbanner), was snapped up by Hong Kong-based Shen You Holdings for £230,000. A winner of both his starts this season, the Ken Condon-trained sprinter is nominated for Friday’s Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes (5f) at Royal Ascot. A relatively new entity with strong Australian interests, the Josiah Ma and Alex Leung-led Shen You Holdings races under the Harbour Racing banner in Australia with the assistance of industry figure Shane McGrath.
Harbour Racing has already enjoyed success with a southern hemisphere-bred son of Starspangledbanner (Choisir), racing the Clinton McDonald-trained three-year-old Star Patrol, a winner of his three starts in Victoria this year by a combined 14 lengths and who is nominated for Saturday’s A R Creswick Stakes (Listed, 1200m) at Flemington.
A total of 12 lots sold during the short, sharp London session, resulting in a clearance rate of 50 per cent. Turnover reached £4,475,000, which was a 42 per cent increase on the last time the London Sale was held in Kensington Palace Gardens back in 2019.
The average price was £372,917, an 18 per cent rise, while the median was £300,000, a nine per cent dip.