Stardust sprinkled at Baden Baden with buyers seeking the next Arc winner

The flags that line the entrance to the BBAG sales complex in Iffezheim, gently swayed in the warm early autumn breeze on Thursday morning, their vivid colours reflecting the hues of the voices, accents and languages that rose from the lawn, the barns and the restaurants as buyers from around the globe descended on the sales ground.

Arc winners Danedream and Torquator Tasso and this year's Deutsches Derby and Grosser Dallmayr Preis Bayerisches Zuchtrennen hero Sammarco are a trio of horses who have sprinkled star dust over this sales ground in recent years and their exploits, the dedicated efforts of Klaus Eulenberger and his team at BBAG, and the determination of German breeders has ensured this sylvan haven in the Black Forest is now an unmissable destination on the yearling sales trail.

Purchasers, agents and vets from Europe, America, Australia and Hong Kong were ferried in a fleet of vehicles from airports around Southern Germany on Wednesday under leaden skies and roads that were dampened by precipitation not seen in great quantities anywhere in Europe this summer.

The rain that fell on Wednesday disappeared without a trace and Thursday dawned in a blaze of sunshine and the cloudless blue skies which have come to define the summer of 2022.

It was perfect weather for viewing beautifully bred and perfectly presented yearlings from Germany's most renowned and famous breeders.

The Gestut Gorlsdorf barn, resplendent in the stud's green and white colours with yellow blooms added for even more colour, bore a large banner displaying the Group winners bred on the farm in recent years. Pride of place went, naturally enough to Deutsches Derby hero Sea The Moon, who stands at Lanwades Stud in Newmarket and is the sire of Group 1 Coronation Stakes winner Alpine Star.

Heike Bischoff, owner of Gestut Gorlsdorf and Sea The Moon, would dearly love to breed and own a Preis der Diana winner, after so many near misses with the talented Group and Listed-winning fillies that adorn the banner alongside her Derby victor.

Dressed in shades of her farm's vibrant green, she was delighted at the reception Gorlsdorf's draft of nine yearlings garnered from the cast of international buyers.

"The whole world is here it seems - from America, Ireland, England, France - and right from yesterday morning we have been extremely busy. It is a very good sign," she remarked.

The yearlings and the team travelled the ten hours from Gorlsdorf, which lies an hour to the north-east of Berlin, overnight on Monday and settled into their temporary home on Tuesday.

Naturally Sea The Moon features prominently in the Gorlsdorf consignment as well as members of the 11-length Classic winner's family and Bischoff reflected with pride and emotion on the privilege it is to breed horses by a stallion she had bred and foaled.

"It is just marvellous, it couldn't be more wonderful," she beamed. "It is perfect. He was such a lovely and good character, and did extremely well for us so it is such a pleasure and joy to see him become a good stallion."

Sea The Moon's progeny in the Gorlsdorf draft includes a full-brother to Listed third Party Moon (109), already named Putyourmoneyonme while an Iffraaj colt (159) is the first foal out of Sea The Moon's full-sister Sea The World.

However it is a colt by his wonderful sire Sea The Stars (49) that Bischoff believes will be the headline maker for Gorlsdorf come sale time.

"The Sea The Stars colt will be our most valuable yearling at the sale I think. He has lovely breeding as he is out of an Adlerflug mare and he has done so well with Torquator Tasso and lots of other good horses," she added.

He is a three-parts brother to Listed-winning filly Mercedes, by Sea The Moon, out of Group 2 Diana Trial winner Meergorl, one of the Gorlsdorf poster girls.

Juddmonte International hero Japan in his surroundings at Gestut EtzeanCredit: Martin Stevens

The consignment from Gestut Etzean, stabled across from the training yards in Block B, had a shorter journey than the Gorlsdorf yearlings, coming just two hours from the farm between Frankfurt and Heidelburg.

In a couple of years, the first crop of yearlings by Etzean's young sire, the Group 1 Juddmonte International and Grand Prix de Paris winner Japan will follow in their hoofprints. The signs for the son of Galileo and Shastye have been very encouraging, reports the stud's manager Ralf Kredel.

"Japan has been very well received in Germany and all of the top breeders sent good mares to him. He covered 80 mares plus in the end, which was the biggest number for any German stallion this year, so we are very happy with him." Kredel commented.

"He has let down already after his first covering season and he behaves very well. We were very happy to get the chance to stand such a horse in Germany and hopefully make him successful like other big imports before such as Big Shuffle and Dashing Blade."

Etzean, which lies in the forested mountains of the Odenwald, was home to Lord Of England, a son of Dashing Blade, until his death last year. Sire of Deutsches Derby winner Isfahan among others, he is the sire of Kredel's pick of the Etzean draft, a filly with the portentous name Olympia (55).

"We have a very good filly by Lord Of England, called Olympia, which is a great name. She's a full-sister to a Group 1 horse and from a very stout German family with a lot of stamina. We have plenty of fillies from this family which is why we are selling this one even if it is hard for a stud manager to sell such a nice filly, but somehow we have to generate an income for the stud so from time to time we sell a filly like this, but we usually sell the colts," he smiles.

The BBAG sales ring will be a hive of activityCredit: Bbag

Olympia is a full-sister to Olorda, whose Group/Grade 3 wins included the Prix Vanteaux and The Very One Stakes. She was also third in the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary.

Etzean consigns yearlings by the farm's own mares and for clients who board their mares permanently on the farm, ensuring that all yearlings in the Etzean draft have been raised on the hilly swards, almost 1000m above sea level.

Kredel is proud of the farm's excellent record at this sale, from where genuine top-class horses have been found, and at prices that cost less than a holiday in one of nearby Baden Baden's opulent hotels.

"Maybe we are lacking a superstar by a foreign stallion but the main idea of the stud was always to support their own stallions and that is what we are popular for," is his honest assessment. "We have sold a lot of Group 1 winners here, 11 so far, and not costing a fortune with only two of them making more than €50,000."

As the flags continued their laconic dance in the breeze, the buyers and vendors, inspections complete and showing over were left to contemplate their fortunes tomorrow, wondering if the soft breeze will blow in their favour.

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