Radcliffe reveals heavyweight partners for rising force Phoenix

Major American farms take a stake in three yearlings

Kerri Radcliffe revealed that Three Chimneys would share the $850,000 Violence colt Phoenix bought on TuesdayCredit: Keeneland Photo

The rapidly evolving Phoenix Thoroughbreds, which has bought big-ticket horses at major sales across Europe and America throughout the year, collected more expensive stock at Keeneland on Tuesday – at the same time revealing that it has formed partnerships with three high-profile American breeding establishments.

Soon after buying a full brother to juvenile stakes winner Buy Sell Hold for $850,000, Phoenix racing and bloodstock adviser Kerri Radcliffe said that the Violence colt will be raced in partnership with the Torrealba family's Three Chimneys Farm.

Additionally, Gainesway has joined Phoenix in a Tapit filly out of a stakes-winning half-sister to Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Stakes winner Shared Account; while Stonestreet has partnered with the fledgling operation in an Into Mischief colt.

"He was just lovely and racy, he looks like what a racehorse is supposed to look like," Radcliffe said of the Violence colt. "This horse is going to be staying in America. Three Chimneys are a partner with us, and this is a lovely new venture."

This Violence colt will be owned in partnership by Phoenix Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys FarmCredit: Keeneland Photos

Radcliffe indicated that Gainesway and Stonestreet had approached her after she bought the Tapit filly and Into Mischief colt – which the respective farms had bred and sold – on behalf of Phoenix at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale. "They asked to join with us and buy back into them," Radcliffe explained. The Tapit had cost $675,000, and the Into Mischief $500,000.

But Radcliffe and Phoenix have not arranged for any partners, at least so far, for the organisation's second purchase at Keeneland during the opening day of Book 2, a session-topping $950,000 Scat Daddy colt out of stakes-placed Miss Lamour, by Mr Greeley. Godolphin's Group 1 winner Hawkbill appears on the page under the colt's third dam.

Radcliffe said he will be trained by her husband, Jeremy Noseda. "I was waiting all week to find a Scat Daddy colt that I loved," she said. "I saw him and fell in love with him and had to have him. Probably when I opened the catalogue and saw Scat Daddy, that was the No 1 thing, but he's a beautiful horse. He has gaskins upon gaskins; he actually reminded me a lot of Acapulco [Scat Daddy's Queen Mary Stakes winner]. I hope he is as good as she was at Ascot!"

During the elite Book 1 session, Radcliffe had acquired a $1.1 million War Front colt and a $800,000 son of Candy Ride for the Phoenix organisation, which is billed as an investment platform. Phoenix was formed by chief executive Amer Abdulaziz Salman, who is described in company documents as a specialist in corporate communications and fiscal planning. His family raised Arabian horses in Bahrain.

Phoenix has so far acquired four yearlings at Keeneland, including the Violence colt in partnership with Three Chimneys, for a total of $3.7 million. During the Saratoga sale, Radcliffe signed tickets for six yearlings for a total of $3.95 million.