'He could be anything' - progressive Balance Play sells for 575,000gns during frenetic Autumn Horses in Training Sale session

Day two of the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale may have lasted close to 12 hours, but the top two lots sold within five minutes of one another at around 8.30pm when Imperium Sales presented the headline offerings from its debut draft. 

Rival camps representing Australia clashed when the progressive Balance Play came under the hammer with Will Bourne, head of bloodstock for the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace stable, lining up against agent Johnny McKeever and Claudia Miller, bloodstock manager for the all conquering Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott team. 

The price barrelled through the high six figures until Bourne turned and disappeared down the left hand stairs when McKeever, standing on the opposite side of the gods, indicated a bid of 575,000gns. 

Balance Play was added to the portfolio of ownership entity Valmont at 280,000gns at Book 1 in 2021 and has gone on to land three races for trainer Ralph Beckett. He was sourced by agent Alex Elliott, who is also at the helm of Imperium Sales. The most recent of Balance Play’s wins came in a class two Newbury handicap over 1m2f, an effort that was allotted a Racing Post Rating (RPR) of 106. 

Claudia Miller: "we were under strict instruction not to leave without him!"Credit: Laura Green

“He was our highest rated horse in the sale and we were under strict instruction not to leave without him!” said Miller. “He’s a lovely three-year-old, lightly raced, very consistent and effective on all going. He's the exact profile that we look for at this sale.” 

Miller continued: “We kicked the bidding off at 100,000gns, although we actually meant to go a bit higher as we knew there was always going to be strong competition for him. He could be anything for us though and he’s easily a stakes horse. I think there’s a lot of improvement in him in terms of form and physically. These European horses seem to explode when they get down into a bit of sunshine and the warmer weather. We’re expecting the same from him.” 

McKeever also landed the very next lot into the ring when he bid 280,000gns for Imperium Sales-consigned Bear On The Loose. The three-year-old son of Footstepsinthesand has won three times for Kevin Philippart De Foy having been signed for by Elliott at €100,000 at Goffs two years ago. The KB Thoroughbreds colour bearer has won his last two starts, with his three-length success at Chester last time out earning him an RPR of 97. 

Miller explained Bear On The Loose had been sourced in partnership with microshare syndicator MyRacehorse, who are also involved in the stable’s Group 1 Metropolitan winner Just Fine. 

Balance Play takes his turn around the sales ring at TattersallsCredit: Laura Green

“He’s a lovely horse who we purchased in partnership with Myracehorse,” said Miller. “He’s nice and lightly raced, there’s plenty of improvement to come and he’s a beautiful type. He came highly rated on form from Rob Waterhouse. Hopefully we can do the same as we have with Just Fine.” 

On the European buying mission, Miller added: “There is so much interest in Australia for these types of horses. Obviously we’re racing for huge amounts of money in Australia and we’ve had so much success with European horses, particularly from this sale. It’s been a very happy hunting ground.” 

On the brace, which fetched a combined 855,000gns, McKeever said: “Sometimes it’s easier to sell a high-profile horse than a low-profile one. Luckily the prize-money is good enough to warrant blowing the budget every now and then. We knew there’d be massive interest in Balance Play though, so that was about where we expected his price to be.” 

Those transactions helped propel Imperium Sales to the head of the consignors’ charts with ten lots sold for an aggregate of 2,040,000gns. 

Brown makes Monster move

The Imperium Sales draft also yielded He’s A Monster who fetched 450,000gns from Richard Brown on behalf of the emergent force of Wathnan Racing. The Blandford Bloodstock man went back to back as he also gave 300,000gns for the very next lot into the ring, the three-time winner Just Bring It. 

He’s A Monster won five of nine starts for Archie Watson and owner Lone Star Investment, with his last-time-out success over 7f at Chelmsford achieving an RPR of 110. The son of No Nay Never was bought by Elliott for €160,000 at Goffs in 2021. 

He’s A Monster: five-time winner will head to QatarCredit: Laura Green

“They’ll both go to Qatar,” said Brown. “We focussed on buying real quality and hopefully we’ve done that. Everyone on the team was very keen on both of these horses. He’s A Monster was recommended highly by Archie. He looks progressive and he's a particularly good-looking horse. He could end up running on either turf or dirt in Qatar.” 

Harry Angel's son Just Bring It, a 130,000gns Book 2 buy by Elliott, won three times for Atlantic Equine and Clive Cox. The three-year-old was successful on his last two starts, with the most recent effort, a short head victory over a mile at Salisbury, rated RPR 99. 

Brown also praised Elliott’s efforts with Imperium Sales, saying: “It’s a tremendous effort by Alex Elliott on his first venture selling. They were superbly presented.” 

Aussies again

A couple of prominent National Hunt operators took a big swing at Amleto when the brother to Sea Of Class was presented at the start of the evening stanza on Tuesday, but ultimately the domestic challenge had to give best to the Australian raiding party from the Ciaron Maher camp. 

Agent Dan Astbury, standing with Ben Pauling at the top of the back stairs, traded bids with Eddie O’Leary, who was positioned by the ringside to the left of the auctioneer. But those players had no reply when Maher's head of bloodstock Will Bourne nonchalantly signalled a raise to 360,000gns from the second row of the bidders' area.  

Trained by William Haggas, the three-year-old son of Sea The Stars broke his maiden at Chester in May, an effort that was allotted an RPR of 94. He was last seen running second in a high-end Goodwood handicap. 

Amleto: Sea The Stars brother to Sea Of Class sold from Somerville Lodge to Ciaron Maher for 360,000gns Credit: Laura Green

Amleto boasts pedigree as well as performance as he is out of the blue hen Holy Moon, meaning he is not only a brother to the star-crossed Irish and Yorkshire Oaks heroine Sea Of Class but 11 other winners besides. They include Charity Line and Final Score, back-to-back winners of the Group 1 Premio Lydia Tesio, and the Italian Oaks heroine Cherry Collect. 

“He’s a lovely horse and his profile very much fits Australia,” said Bourne. “The sire line is proven down there with horses like Fifty Stars, an Australian Cup winner, and then Just Fine is this year’s Metropolitan winner. He’s the perfect fit for down under. He’s very lightly raced so there’s plenty of miles left on the clock and I just really can’t wait to see what he can do once he gets down there. You have to take it all into consideration but the fact that the sire line is proven in Australia is a big tick.” 

On the price, Bourne added: “We had a bit more for him as he was the one we’d targeted and were really keen to pick up. It’s not easy though and it feels like a strong market.

“He’s been syndicated and there’s some really lucky owners in him, including a couple of Melbourne Cup-winning owners who’re in Gold Trip in Matt Belford and Jeff Garvey. They took 50 per cent. I spoke to Matt before he went to bed last night and he gave me the green light to go ahead, which gave me a lot of confidence to buy the horse.” 

Mulcaster makes his mark

As was the case on day one, the Coolmore draft provided the early market frontrunner as Guy Mulcaster, long-serving sales ring ally to leading Australia-based trainer Chris Waller, went to 240,000gns for Denmark. 

The three-year-old son of Camelot ran six times for Aidan O’Brien and the Coolmore partners, winning a Naas maiden on debut and hitting a career-best RPR of 111 when third in a valuable Haydock handicap back in September. 

Denmark was another six-figure lot to sell to Australian connections at Park Paddocks on TuesdayCredit: Laura Green

“He’s lightly raced, he looked great up here so we’re very happy to get him for that sort of money,” said Mulcaster. “He’s a horse that fits our bill so we’ll put him in the system like the rest.”

Camelot has enjoyed some big results in Australia, with Russian Camelot, who now stands at Widden Stud, winning the Group 1 Underwood Stakes and the South Australian Derby, while Hunting Horn claimed the Group 2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup. 

Later in the session Mulcaster went to 300,000gns for Florida, a two-time winner by No Nay Never who also hailed from Haggas’s Somerville Lodge draft.

Sketch heads Stateside 

Another set to continue their career abroad is Sketch after the classy son of Showcasing sold for 220,000gns. Marco Bozzi put up a valiant effort but ultimately had to fill the role of underbidder after the winning play came from Jerry McGrath. 

The two-year-old colt, who was offered by The Castlebridge Consignment, ran four times for Freddie and Martyn Meade, winning a Newbury novice by five lengths on debut before running third behind Inquisitively and Purosangue in the Listed Julia Graves Roses Stakes. He was last seen finishing sixth behind Vandeek in the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes. 

Jerry McGrath: "This fella didn’t finish too far behind him in one of his runs though and he’s an exciting horse for America"Credit: Laura Green

“He’ll go to Kentucky,” said McGrath.”We actually looked at Purosangue at the Goffs Champions Day Sale at Ascot but unfortunately his value [not sold at £425,000] was a bit more than we wanted to pay. This fella didn’t finish too far behind him in one of his runs though and he’s an exciting horse for America. He’ll go to the Irish trainer Conor Murphy, although I’m not sure who’ll own him yet.” 

Bred by Ballyphilip Stud, the colt is the first foal out of a winning half-sister to Richmond Stakes scorer Prolific and the Listed-placed Deal Breaker. Sketch was making his second appearance at Tattersalls in little over 12 months having been bought by Martyn Meade for 100,000gns during last year’s Book 1. 

“He’ll have a bit of an easy time and hopefully he’ll be ready to go later in the year,” added McGrath. “He’s had a good season without setting the world alight but he was very impressive on debut, he’s very professional and he's a horse we’ve been keeping an eye on. We knew he was popular so we knew we’d have to go strong for him, but he has a chance of winning it back in America. He’ll be campaigned quite highly, I think, so hopefully he’s lucky. It’ll be interesting to see how he does as his best form is on quick ground and he’s got a good pedigree. Hopefully he can win his price tag back anyway.”

Another sharp move for The Horse Watchers

The Horse Watchers syndicate pulled off a tidy bit of horsetrading when the Jamie Railton-consigned Painters Palette was sold to Najd Stud for 165,000gns. The four-year-old son of Lope De Vega was bought as a six-race maiden from Dermot Weld at €60,000 at Goffs last November, but changed hands yesterday as a five-time winner with a peak RPR of 103. That career-best effort came on his latest start when he won a lucrative Redcar handicap over a mile. 

Painters Palette: five-time winner sold to Najd Stud for 165,000gnsCredit: Laura Green

“The biggest thing is that Rebecca Menzies has done a brilliant job training this horse,” said the syndicate’s Martin Dixon. “From day one she’s got him absolutely thriving and completely turned him around from the horse he was when we bought him.” 

Dixon went on to explain that Painters Palette has been a copybook example of what The Horse Watchers are trying to achieve. He said: “We try to keep the show on the road within the syndicates by moving horses on, if we can. This is a massive result for the people getting involved with us on a regular basis because it shows them what we’re aiming to achieve. Now we know we won’t be able to achieve it all of the time, but that’s the aim; to have success with horses on the track, win plenty of prize-money and then get a respectable sale at the other end.

“If you can do that and the whole experience of racehorse ownership isn’t costing an arm and a leg, then everyone’s happy. That’s what we’re trying to do and with Rebecca’s help, it’s worked out brilliantly with this horse.” 

The Horse Watchers also picked up a couple of promising recruits in the 50,000gns Walsingham and 38,000gns Daring Legend on day one. 

“We bought another three-year-old by Lope De Vega out of Dermot Weld’s, which is the same place that we got Painters Palette,” said Dixon. “He’s called Walsingham and is a nice prospect for the turf next year. David O’Meara will train him. We also bought a two-year-old Dark Angel horse called Daring Legend from James Ferguson. We think he has the scope to train on and make a nice three-year-old.” 

Fom the 303 lots offered, 266 sold for a clearance rate of 88 per cent. Turnover came out at 11,933,015gns (down four per cent from last year's sale), with an average of 44,861gns (down 12 per cent year on year) and median of 22,000gns (down 12 per cent year on year). 

The Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale continues on Wednesday at 9.30am.

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