Shrewd connections snap up Shadwell's Albasheer for 130,000gns

Buyers continue to be drawn to stock bred by the late Hamdan Al Maktoum, as clearly evidenced by the 540,000gns Rihaam setting a Tattersalls July Sale record on Wednesday.

And that trend was maintained on Thursday as Blandford Bloodstock’s Tom Biggs went to 130,000gns for Albasheer, who was bred by Shadwell and sold by the operation during the morning session.

The lightly raced four-year-old doesn’t appear to have been the easiest to train having made just five starts over two seasons with Owen Burrows, but he has shown a high-class level of form nonetheless.

His racing career began with a six-and-a-half length romp at Doncaster on his debut before he finished a length second to Chindit in the Group 2 Champagne Stakes, when a short head in front of subsequent four-time Group/Grade 1 winner State Of Rest.

He also finished sixth, beaten four and a half lengths, to St Mark’s Basilica in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes on the last of his three juvenile outings. He will now continue his career under the care of Archie Watson for owner Taylor’s Bloodstock.

Tom Biggs and Archie WatsonCredit: Laura Green

“He’s been bought for Andy Taylor of Taylor’s Bloodstock,” said Biggs. “He’s had a couple of horses with Archie recently and we’d been looking for a horse with this sort of profile for a while. We wanted something rated over 100 that’s capable of being a stakes horse, which hopefully he can be if he runs to his form.

“He’s a lovely looking horse, he’s had his little issues recently but hopefully they’re behind him. We might try running him over six furlongs rather than seven, that might be an angle. He was the only one in the sale who fitted that profile, we had to go a little bit over what we thought but that’s often the way.

"It’s been a while since his last run but he’s the type we’ve done well with previously so hopefully Archie can get him back to his best.”

Albasheer is by Shamardal and out of Mutebah, a winning daughter of Marju who was also third in the Listed Prix des Tourelles. The pedigree traces back to Sheikh Hamdan’s influential blue hen Height Of Fashion, meaning the further reaches of his page include Shadwell celebrities such as Nayef, Nashwan, Ghanaati and the unbeaten Baaeed.

Shadwell offered eight lots at this year’s July Sale for receipts totalling 917,000gns.

Biggs and Watson have enjoyed plenty of success with their past horse-in-training buys, with the likes of Group 1 British Champions Sprint Stakes scorer Glen Shiel, Outbox and Snowy Winter all winning major prizes after being picked up for bargain sums.

Australian interests hit the target

The 130,000gns mark was hit for a second time once the evening session got under way with Will Johnson, bidding over the phone via Jason Singh, landing the progressive Grenoble, who was offered by William Haggas’s Somerville Lodge on behalf of Newsells Park Stud.

The son of Siyouni won one of his seven starts for Haggas and was last seen finishing a luckless second, beaten just a head, by Swilcan Bridge in an Epsom handicap on Derby day.

The well-bred three-year-old is now set to continue his career in Australia, as Johnson explained, saying: “He's a lightly raced horse and comes into Australia with a rating that enables him to work through the grades. He falls straight into Saturday class in Australia and with prize-money continuing to improve there are plenty of options for him over a mile to a mile and a half.

"Rather than always spending the big dollars on a horse who will land you straight into a Group 1, you can have a lot of fun working through the Saturday races and the Listed and Group contests down the line.

Lot 540: Grenoble sells for 130,000gnsCredit: Laura Green

"He's for Darren Thomas of Seymour Bloodstock who, along with his racing manager Mark Pilkington, identified the horse. I've helped them on the ground with inspections and organising the vetting and the finer details. We will have a bit more of a plan as regards the trainer when they wake up with the news they have bought the horse!"

Grenoble is out of the Grade 2-winning Giants Play, a daughter of Playful Act and Giant’s Causeway who has bred three black-type performers, most notably the dual Group 3 scorer Ispolini.

Johnson added: "Siyouni is an extremely good stallion and he goes well in Australia. His horses bred on southern hemisphere time, their stakes winners to runners ratio is extremely strong and he's got Amelia's Jewel in western Australia.

"Sottsass and St Mark's Basilica are standing at Coolmore Australia this year, it ensures everyone knows the stallion. It always helps whatever horse you buy if they have a bit of a pedigree and are by the right stallion."

St Lawrence secures his next Star

The first six-figure lot of the day went the way of Oliver St Lawrence, who struck a bid of 100,000gns to secure Nietzsche's Star from Andrew Balding’s Park House Stables draft. The three-year-old was catalogued as the winner of one race, a Lingfield handicap, but had boosted his profile since having followed up at Newbury and Doncaster, improving his rating from a mark of 63 to 81 in the process.

"He’s going to Bahrain and is for Fawzi Nass," said St Lawrence. "He’s a scopey sort, goes on firm ground and seems to be progressing - Andrew tells us there’s more in him too. He seems to fit the profile for Bahrain, he has got to go up a few pounds to get into the Bahrain series but that looks perfectly possible. He won't run here and will tick over until he can travel.”

Bred by Bartisan Racing, Nietzsche's Star is out of the Listed-placed Whim, a daughter of Nayef whose dam, Whazzis, is a sibling to Whazzat, winner of the Chesham Stakes and dam of James Garfield. Other siblings to Whazzis include Whatami, dam of Group 3 Hoppings Fillies' Stakes winner Nkosikazi and Wolferton Stakes scorer Juan Elcano, and Unaided, who bred four-time Grade 1 heroine Uni.

Oliver St Lawrence: secured two six-figure lotsCredit: Laura Green

Nietzsche's Star was making his first appearance at public auction having been withdrawn from Book 2 of the 2020 October Yearling Sale.

St Lawrence and Nass were back in action during the evening session when they went to 120,000gns for Rollajam, a winner at Ripon for John and Jess Dance and trainer Jedd O’Keeffe. The three-year-old son of Belardo, who was bred by Biddestone Stud and fetched 65,000gns from Creighton Schwartz Bloodstock as a yearling, changed hands with an official rating of 82.

“He’s a lovely, big, strong horse,” said St Lawrence. “I spoke to Jedd yesterday, I’ve done some business with him before, and he highly recommended the horse. He seems very sound and I’ve actually known him since he was a foal as he was bred by Tim and Gill Bostwick of Biddestone Stud. Hopefully he’ll do well out in Bahrain.”

Six-figure slew

There was a flurry of six-figure activity during the evening session as a host of sought after lots came in quick succession. Among those was National Gallery, a two-time winner for Joseph O’Brien who will switch to Kevin Philippart de Foy having gone the way of Sheikh Abdullah Almalek Alsabah’s representative at 110,000gns.

The three-year-old son of Caravaggio is a half-brother to the Listed-winning and Group 1-placed sprinter Forever In Dreams, and was offered by The Castlebridge Consignment.

Shortly after Stephen Thorne of Shamrock Thoroughbreds got in on the act and secured Exquisite Acclaim from Baroda Stud at 100,000gns. The son of Acclamation won once from nine starts for Jessica Harrington and Yuesheng Zhang, whose Yulong Investments emerged as a major buying force during Wednesday’s session.

Stephen Thorne: 'If we can find a nice horse who might suit those races, then we’re keen to take a chance'Credit: Laura Green

The 96-rated three-year-old, a £155,000 yearling, has been campaigned over as far as a mile but Thorne envisaged a sprint campaign could see the colt broaden his horizons.

“Hes a nice, young progressive horse," said Thorne. "He goes into training with Ado McGuinness but we’ll probably geld him and give him a little bit of a break now. We hope he will do well back sprinting and hopefully he’ll be a horse for a foreign trip, somewhere like Doha next spring. We’re looking forward to him."

Thorne added: “We’re always keen to travel a horse as the prize-money is so good, and if we can find a nice horse who might suit those races, then we’re keen to take a chance. This is a fast-ground horse and he’s bred to be a sprinter – he’s by Acclamation and out of an Exceed And Excel mare. He came highly recommended too."

Elliott and O’Ryan get involved

A handful of National Hunt operators were on the lookout for new recruits at Park Paddocks and among those to get involved was Gordon Elliott, whose sales ring ally Aidan ‘Mouse’ O’Ryan went to 80,000gns for New Years Honours, who was offered by Qatar Racing through Jamie Railton.

The three-year-old daughter of Nathaniel ran four times for Ralph Beckett and was last seen making a winning handicap debut over 12 furlongs at Lingfield from an official mark of 67.

“She’s a lovely filly, she’s progressive and her sire speaks for himself,” said O’Ryan. “She goes to Gordon Elliott and will make up into a lovely juvenile hurdler - there’s a good programme for juveniles now. She came recommended by Sheikh Fahad and she’s for sale.”

A 90,000gns Book 2 buy by Beckett and Alex Elliott, New Year Honours is out of Coquette Noire, a Holy Roman Emperor three-parts sibling to Jacqueline Quest, who not only finished first past the post in the 1,000 Guineas awarded to Special Duty but later bred Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf scorer Line Of Duty.

Clearance rate rockets

While overall prices may have been a little cooler than during day one’s red-hot session of breeding prospects, there was no let up in the strength of trade on Thursday, and unquestionably the most striking market metric was the clearance rate of 99 per cent as 155 lots sold from an offering of 157.

In turn that brought aggregate sales of 3,834,000gns, an 11 per cent increase on the corresponding session from 2021. That total means the 2022 July Sale has already surpassed last year’s turnover with Friday’s session still to come. The day two average was up by three per cent at 24,735gns, while the median rose by seven per cent to 15,000gns.

The July Sale concludes on Friday, with the morning session beginning at 9.30am.

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