BBAG boss Eulenberger makes yearling sale pitch to British and Irish buyers

BBAG manager Klaus Eulenberger has urged owners in Britain and Ireland to head to Baden-Baden next week for the Premier Yearling Sale and said: "You can find whatever you are looking for!"

The German auction house stages its one-day sale next Friday and Eulenberger was in Newmarket earlier this month in a bid to drum up enthusiasm and attract potential buyers to the south west of his country.

BBAG and German Thoroughbred Racing sponsored a host of races on the July course on Saturday, August 11 and Eulenberger was delighted to be back in Suffolk for the ninth year in a row in the build-up to his company's sale.

View the catalogue here

"We love to support this day," said Eulenberger. "It's great to come here to meet clients and friends, and Newmarket racecourse always take really good care of us."

In the same spirit, BBAG is seeking to look after its prospective buyers from Britain and, with the help of Goffs UK, will be running a shuttle flight from Doncaster on Wednesday, the final day of the latter's Premier Yearling Sale, to Baden-Baden to ensure those wishing to attend both sales are able to do so.

The move demonstrates BBAG's commitment to increasing the international presence of its sales and Eulenberger says the change has been clear to see this century.

"This sale has really, really improved in the last 15 years and it is a true international sale now," he said. "It keeps getting better and it's no different now to any other international sale. When you come to the sales complex, you'll see all the familiar faces.

"German breeding has got very international. Traditionally, we like to breed a nice, staying three-year-old. We prefer to breed a Derby winner than a high class two-year-old but we have nice breeze-up horses in this catalogue and we are expecting a lot of pinhookers to come over, so that's a market that has opened up. Of course, you have the Classic lines and also the guys looking for Melbourne Cup winners. German horses have done very well in that race recently, with four of the last six winners connected to Germany."

He added: "There is much more interest from Australia now. For the guys who invest in thoroughbreds, it's an open world and Australians are now buying yearlings, leaving them here in Europe and, if they're good enough, eventually taking them back."

Those familiar faces who make the trip will be running the rule over a bumper 279-strong catalogue and Eulenberger admitted his company had considered spreading the sale out across two days, with an evening session among the options looked at, before deciding to maintain the one-day format, for now at least.

BBAG's Baden-Baden sales ring, which will be busy once again next weekCredit: Foto: Frank Sorge

Among the yearlings up for grabs will be a Golden Horn colt out of the Listed-placed Selkirk mare Ninfea, a half-sister to the four-time Group 1 winner Novellist. Fellow first-season sire Gleneagles has three representatives catalogued but perhaps the most intriguing yearling of all is the latest offering out of the outstanding mare Wellenspiel.

The Gestut Rottgen dam has achieved the remarkable feat of producing each of the last two German Derby winners, Windstoss in 2017 and Weltstar earlier this year, and is represented in this catalogue by that pair's Kamsin half-brother, named Worrick.

Eulenberger said: "It has been a great story for us, Rottgen breeding the Derby winner twice in a row out of the same mare. They have a two-year-old colt now who was at this sale last year [by Reliable Man and named Walerian, bought back for €110,000] and now to have the yearling half-brother by Kamsin is great for us."

While Eulenberger acknowledges some apprehension heading into this yearling sale series, having observed sales across Europe so far this year, he believes BBAG's central European appeal means this year's auctions should continue to hold their own.

"We kind of share the feelings you have in Britain and Ireland but we're a central European sale, so we have those buyers there too and with the quality of the German horses, we aren't too worried - it should be alright," he said.

Asked to identify his pick of the catalogue, Eulenberger said: "I've seen that many yearlings over the last weeks and while there are clearly a few potential highlights, it would be very hard for me to pick just one right now. We have some lovely bred fillies, which is a big thing for the international market. It's hard to buy into these German-bred families, as most of the German guys are owner-breeders."

He added: "When [British and Irish owners] buy their horses in Germany, they have every opportunity they need. They can buy a precocious two-year-old, they can buy a Classic horse and they can even find a lovely horse for Cheltenham."

If you are interested in this, you should read:

Wunderbar Wellenspiel produces back-to-back German Derby winners