Unique yearlings set to kick off Book 1 with a bang

For some vendors, the Book 1 experience will be over quite quickly as 11 consignors offer their sole Book 1 yearling on the first day of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. Aisling Crowe picks out four yearlings who could make Tuesday a memorable one for their vendors.

Lot 112
No Nay Never - Park Bloom (Galileo)
Lodge Park Stud

A daughter of Europe's leading two-year-old sire from a family that has set the Tattersalls sales ring ablaze over the past 15 years or so, there could be fireworks when the only yearling consigned by Lodge Park Stud enters the premises on Tuesday.

The No Nay Never filly is the first foal out of Park Bloom, a homebred daughter of Galileo from the Burns family's most iconic page. Her dam Park Bloom was retained and won over a mile at three for Jim Bolger and two furlongs further when switched to France and the yard of Henri-Francois Devin.

She is out of the Listed Blenheim Stakes third Alluring Park, whose eight offspring to have sold at Book 1 have generated 11.26m guineas in revenue. Almost half of that came from the purchase of Al Naamah for 5m guineas by Al Shaqab in 2013, a year after her Galileo full-sister Was had won the Oaks for Coolmore and Ballydoyle.

Book 1 record-breaker Al Naamah selling for 5m guineasCredit: Tattersalls

Was herself had cost 1.2m guineas when Demi O'Byrne bought her at Book 1 in 2010 while her younger brothers, the Group 2 winner and Derby third Amhran Na Bhfiann and the Group 3 winner Douglas Macarthur added 1.3m and 1.25m guineas respectively to the coffers.

Their unraced full-sister Al Jassasiyah set brought a successful bid of 1.5m guineas from Mandore International at Book 1 mere months after the Classic success of Was and she has foaled the Listed Prix Charles Laffitte winner Mashael, by Dubawi. He is also the sire of the Group 3 Park Stakes and Irish 1,000 Guineas third Concert Hall, a daughter of Was.

Alluring Park is a Green Desert full-sister to Shinko Forest out of the Champion Stakes winner Park Express who founded a dynasty at Lodge Park Stud. That Group 1-winning daughter of Ahonoora produced as her final foal New Approach, whose five Group 1 victories included the Derby and Irish Champion Stakes so the pedigree appeal is obvious. Park Express is also the dam of Matron Stakes winner Dazzling Park and that Warning mare almost emulated Park Express when second to Daylami in the Irish Champion Stakes.

119
Galileo - Path Of Peace (Rock Of Gibraltar)
Rosyground Stud

It's almost a dream scenario for a consignor; if you have just a single horse to take to Europe's most prestigious yearling auction, then offering a colt by arguably the continent's greatest sire of all time who is a half-brother to a Breeders' Cup winner with a backstory to grab the attention and the heart is the way to go.

Rosyground Stud's sole Book 1 yearling is a Galileo half-brother to Belvoir Bay, who won the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita in 2019 having survived a horrific ordeal just two years' previously.

The daughter of Equiano, who was purchased for just 20,000gns by Peter and Ross Doyle at Book 2, was sold privately to America following two wins as a juvenile and went on to success in a Listed race at Santa Anita later that year for William Mott.

Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Belvoir Bay parades at Fasig-TiptonCredit: Fasig-Tipton Photo

For her three-year-old season, she was transferred to the barn of Peter Miller for whom she won the Torrey Pines Stakes and the Senator Ken Maddy Stakes, both Grade 3, before the devastating events of December 2017 when the Lilac Wildfire devastated the San Luis Rey Training Centre where Belvoir Bay was stabled.

She was one of 450 horses let loose to flee the rampaging flames and it was a number of days before she was found, in an almost unrecognisable state because of the burns she had suffered. Then her remarkable recovery began with a stint in a hyperbaric chamber before a triumphant return to the track four months' later winning the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes and then her first Grade 2, the Monrovia Stakes.

In what transpired to be her final season racing, she finished second to Blue Point in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint first time out and ended the year by breaking the track record for five furlongs on turf at Santa Anita. Days later she was sold for $1.5m to Mike Shannon at Fasig-Tipton's Night of the Stars.

There is plenty more to the pedigree than just Belvoir Bay and dam Path Of Peace improved her record to four winners from six runners recently with the victory of Greavsie, a two-year-old full-brother to Belvoir Bay.

Path Of Peace is a Rock Of Gibraltar half-sister to Cherry Hinton Stakes winner Please Sing and they are out of Persian Song. By Persian Bold, she is a full-sister to Solario Stakes winner and Kentucky Derby second Bold Arrangement.

Lot 136
Gleneagles - Plying (Hard Spun)
Jossestown Farm

Martin Cooney's Jossestown Farm makes its Book 1 debut this year with a half-sister to one of the best and most versatile fillies in training - Alcohol Free.

In addition to being the only yearling offered by the Tipperary consignor at Book 1, somewhat more surprisingly she is the only progeny of Gleneagles catalogued over the three days of the sale, which adds considerably to her rarity value.

Dam Plying has produced four winners from five runners, headed by the July Cup, Sussex Stakes, Coronation Stakes and Cheveley Park Stakes winner. She is also the dam of Listed Prix le Fabuleux winner Alexander James so the daughter of Hard Spun is no one hit wonder as a broodmare.

Alcohol Free's Gleneagles half-sister is the only yearling by the sire in Book 1Credit: Edward Whitaker

Cooney and his partner Elaine Shaw owe quite a debt to the 12-year-old mare as they bought her for just €21,000 at the Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale in 2018, the same sale where Jeff Smith purchased her No Nay Never foal for €40,000, long before she became the quadruple Group 1 winner Alcohol Free.

Plying was bought in foal to Starspangledbanner and the filly which resulted is the three-year-old Hooked On You, who made €40,000 to Pegasus Bloodstock at the Goffs February Sale in 2020 prior to the emergence of Alcohol Free. In one fell swoop, the mare had paid back her purchase price and then some for Cooney and Shaw with her first foal for them.

Better was to follow in the sales ring with her Dandy Man colt, who sadly died this year before making it to the track. He brought €80,000 from Joe Foley as a foal.

The truly life-changing sale of Plying in foal to Lope De Vega last November for €825,000 to Yulong Investments has allowed the couple to begin developing the farm and its facilities but it was a bittersweet sale as the mare meant a great deal more than money.

As a half-sister to a Group 1 winner and a daughter of Gleneagles, who has 23 stakes winners and counting, Plying's final foal for Jossestown Farm could crown the lasting legacy she has created for Cooney.

Lot 141
Cotai Glory - Poyle Sophie (Teofilo)
Hyde Park Stud

Poyle Sophie, John Bourke's bargain buy at the 2018 Tattersalls December Mare Sale has become the stuff of dreams. Offered by the National Stud in foal to their then new sire Aclaim, she was sourced by Bourke from the dispersal of her late breeder Cecil Wiggins' stock just 3,000gns.

The foal she was carrying turned out to be this year's 1,000 Guineas winner Cachet, who has been something of a flagbearer for her sire.

She was Aclaim's first winner when making a successful debut at Newmarket over six furlongs in May of 2021 for George Boughey and her victory back at that course in the Nell Gwyn Stakes in April was the sire's first Group win. Naturally it would follow that her Classic success was the first Group 1 victory as a sire for the Prix de la Foret winning-son of Acclamation.

George Boughey with his 1,000 Guineas winner CachetCredit: Edward Whitaker

Cachet was offered as a yearling at the Tattersalls Ascot Sale (now the Somerville) by Bourke's Hyde Park Stud but didn't find a buyer at 14,000gns. With an eye on his breeze-up operation, Bourke bought her back and prepared her for the Craven Sale where she made 60,000gns to Highclere and earned black type throughout the summer as a juvenile.

Her placings included the Fillies' Mile and Rockfel Stakes and she ended the year by finishing fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies' Turf.

This year she began the season by winning the Nell Gwyn and was just denied a Guineas double by Mangoustine in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches.

Her dam Poyle Sophie failed to win in six starts at three with her best effort second place in a mile and a half fillies' handicap at Kempton. She is a half-sister to Poyle Meg, the dam of Grade 3 San Francisco Mile Stakes winner Whisper Not.

Poyle Sophie is a daughter of Teofilo, who has been burnishing his reputation as a broodmare sire with a Guineas double at Newmarket followed by Dreamloper's Group 1 double in the Prix d'Ispahan and the Prix du Moulin.

Her yearling is a daughter of Cotai Glory, who couldn't have received a more timely boost to his reputation with the victory of The Platinum Queen in Sunday's Group 1 Prix de l'Abbaye, the first at the highest level for the second-season sire.

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