Anthony Mithen mulls over mating after buying Mehdaayih dam for bargain sum

Sayyedati Symphony, the regally bred dam of Wednesday's impressive Cheshire Oaks winner Mehdaayih, was sold for just €8,000 as part of a cull of Godolphin mares at the Goffs November Sale six months ago.

To let go of the dam of a Frankel filly trading at a best price of 6-1 for the Investec Oaks so cheaply may look injudicious now, but in mitigation her catalogue page at the auction showed she was a 13-year-old with two winners to her name and she was not in foal after a cover by Australia.

Sayyedati Symphony did, however, have an important pedigree update as Mehdaayih had broken her maiden for John Gosden to become the mare's third winner in the weeks before the sale.

The astute purchaser at Goffs – Anthony Mithen, owner of Rosemont Stud in Victoria, Australia – explained why he chose the daughter of Gone West and brilliant racemare Sayyedati.

“I loved her pedigree and must say I thought it was a big bonus to have the two-year-old in the family who had won a race since the catalogue had been printed, and trained by John Gosden too,” he said. “That tickled my fancy but I didn’t imagine the hoopla she created at Chester!

“I was looking for mares that we could breed fillies from as potential mates of ours for the future, and she hit my shortlist of around 15. From memory she was the first one through the ring and when I bought her I thought I might end up needing to buy a plane to take the lot home if they were going to be that cheap.”

Reflecting on how he managed to secure the mare at such a knockdown price, he added: “I suppose for the local market not being in foal was a stopper but for me, planning to take her back to Australia, it actually makes it logistically easier so it was no knock.”

Mithen is now weighing up covering options for Sayyedati Symphony, who has been exported to Australia. The stallion roster at his Rosemont Stud has gained an exciting new name ahead of the southern hemisphere covering season in Shamus Award, a dual Group 1-winning son of Snitzel, and will welcome back an old friend in the in-form Starspangledbanner.

“We'll now have to seriously consider who we send her to in Australia but we bred and still part own the favourite for the South Australian Derby on Saturday [Mr Quickie]. We recently secured standing rights to his father Shamus Award who won the Cox Plate and the Australian Guineas, so he shapes as a likely suitor for now.”

Mithen is not the only buyer of a relation to Sayyedati from the Godolphin draft at Goffs last November who has benefited from the prestigious pedigree update supplied by Mehdaayih.

Ana O'Brien paid just €6,500 for Lonely Ahead, a winning daughter of Rahy and Sayyedati who has produced multiple winners Bin Shamardal and Solo Mission, while Chuck and Wendy Bloodstock gave €110,000 for Alf Guineas, a winning daughter of Sea The Stars out of a half-sister to Sayyedati Symphony.

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