Luminate half-sister lights up strong Book 2 opener at 370,000gns

Fierce competition saw Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Sale get off to a bright start, with Monday's session - headed by a half-sister to recent Group 3 winner Luminate - posting hefty gains across the board.

By the final fall of the hammer, 214 yearlings had changed hands for turnover of 16,563,000gns - a 31 per cent jump from the corresponding point in 2016. The average was up 23 per cent to 77,397gns, while the median rose from 50,000gns to 60,000gns. The clearance rate stood at 85 per cent.

A staggering 55 lots brought six-figure sums, compared with 37 on day one last year.

Godolphin acquired 27 yearlings for a total spend of 15,930,000gns during Book 1, including the sale-topping Galileo filly, and their first play during Monday's session proved a sizeable one, as Anthony Stroud outbid Jake Warren at 370,000gns for a Lope De Vega filly offered by Baroda and Colbinstown Studs.

The filly's page received a significant boost as recently as Saturday, as her two-year-old half-sister Luminate maintained her unbeaten record with a impressive success in the Group 3 Prix de Conde at Chantilly.

"It's all about timing!" said Colbinstown Stud's David Myerscough. "She's a homebred of mum and dad's, so it's brilliant. She had a great walk - all those Lope De Vegas have great walks - and she was just starting to blossom.

"She's always been a lovely, big filly and very straightforward. It's a lovely Aga Khan family that could just amount to anything."

Warren's interest in the filly came as no surprise, as it was he who secured Luminate for €85,000 when offered by Baroda and Colbinstown as a yearling.

"The time of her first race [when she won at Deauville] wasn't great," Myerscough said of Luminate. "But we knew Freddy [Head] held her in high regard. I think the last filly to win that race was Latice back in 2013, and she went on to win the Prix de Diane - if she were to emulate her that would be okay!"

Both fillies were bred by former Tattersalls auctioneer Philip Myerscough and his wife Jane from the Rainbow Quest mare Kalandara, a half-sister to Kalanisi, who was bought by Colbinstown for just €35,000 from Goffs in November 2013.

The mare delivered a brother to Luminate earlier this year and is safely in foal to Ballylinch Stud's New Bay, while Myerscough added that big things could be in the pipeline for her next cover.

"We might see if we can get to Frankel with her next spring - that would be exciting," he said.

Anything is possible

Another lot that brought a significant update to the ring rocketed to the head of trade, with Newsells Park's Nathaniel colt out of 2008 Queen Mary Stakes winner Langs Lash going the way of the China Horse Club's Mick Flanagan for 370,000gns.

"He's a very, very good colt physically," said Flanagan. "He's by a sire capable of exceptional things. To get a champion in his first crop of three-year-olds [Enable] makes anything seem possible.

"It was a bit more than I wanted to pay, but there's a bunch of Nathaniels here over the next couple of days that are very good and I can see them all selling well," added Flanagan, who said the China Horse Club will have around 15 horses in training in Europe in 2018.

The colt is a brother to The Kid Bobby B - who broke his maiden at the second attempt over a mile at Dundalk since the catalogue's release - and a half-brother to Waipu Cove, who landed a Tipperary Listed race before transferring to race in Hong Kong as Jolly Convergence.

Langs Lash, a daughter of Noverre, was signed for by Robin O'Ryan for just £15,000 at the Goffs Kempton Breeze-Up in 2008. She went on to win two of her five starts before Kern/Lillingston paid €200,000 for her at the 2009 Arqana December Sale.

The China Horse Club added to its haul later in the session with the acquisition of a Bated Breath colt from Deer Forest Stud for 120,000gns.

The May foal's page had been given a big boost by his Havana Gold half-brother Headway, who finished second in the Coventry Stakes and third in Gimcrack since Deer Forest Stud paid just €17,000 for his Bated Breath sibling in the Tattersalls ring last December.

Hong Kong again

The Hong Kong Jockey Club have been ever-present at Europe's premier auctions this sale's season, including at last week's Book 1 - where they parted with 1,140,000gns for four yearlings - and the operation entered the fray early in the opening session of Book 2 when going to 260,000gns for an Acclamation colt from Glenvale Stud.

"He is a good-walking horse, deep bodied with plenty of substance - one of the nicest Acclamations we seen for a long time," said Hong Kong Jockey Club representative Mark Richards.

The colt, an 85,000gns pinhook by Peter and Ross Doyle, boasts a particularly speedy page, being a half-brother to the useful sprinter Fear Or Favour and out of the winning Averti mare Insaaf. In turn, she is a half-sister to Clive Cox's Temple Stakes winner Priceless and to the dams of Aeolus and Pixeleen, who scored at Newmarket on Friday.

Later in the session the Hong Kong Jockey Club dipped back into the Glenvale draft when securing a Sea The Stars colt from the family of Blue Duster for 300,000gns.

"We wouldn't normally be in the running for a son of Sea the Stars," said Richards. "But this colt just looked a speed horse as an individual, and also has a pedigree that is full of speed. Hopefully, the class of Sea The Stars will also come though - he's a top-class stallion and he gets plenty who are good over a mile."

Shadwell return to the source

Few in the industry have a greater affinity with the progeny of Kodiac than Ballyphilip's Paul McCartan, having bred and sold Tiggy Wiggy and pinhooked Kodi Bear and Coulsty. And Shadwell will be hoping that McCartan has worked his magic once again having signed for a colt by Tally-Ho Stud's record-breaking sire for 200,000gns.

"Not everybody gets it right all the time, but you can pretty much guarantee if Paul brings a horse to the sale it'll be a pretty good horse," said Gold, who bought Prix de l'Abbaye winner Battaash from the Ballyphilip draft at Book 2 in 2015. "This was the only horse that every single Shadwell trainer loved - Sheikh Hamdan liked him too, so was very keen to get him."

The colt is the first foal out of Mystery Bet, a winning two-year-old daughter of Kheleyf, which means he is bred on the same cross as Tiggy Wiggy.

"Battaash is back at Shadwell with his feet up having a break, hopefully," added Gold. "The time off did him so much good last year and we thought he'd earned some more - he was so impressive last time."

Kodiac finished a street clear on the leading sires' list by aggregate, with 21 lots fetching 2,116,000gns, including ten who made six-figure sums.

Shadwell finished the session as leading buyers, having bought 13 lots for 1,645,000gns.

Quads for Dugan

The most expensive Kodiac sold during Monday's session went the way of US-based agent Shawn Dugan, who parted with 240,000gns for the Floors Stud-consigned filly.

"She is lovely, pretty filly, and by a sire who is doing so well," said Dugan, whose name appeared by five lots during Book 1 at a total spend of 1,730,000gns.

"She is from a great farm and from top breeders - they will be doing their best for the pedigree going forwards. She goes from here to be broken in by Jamie Lloyd, and she, along with all of my purchases, will be staying to race in Europe."

The filly is out of the Galileo mare Lady Glinka, a sister to Group 2 winner Mikhail Glinka who is out of a sister to Derby winner Sir Percy.

Dugan's other purchases included a 210,000gns Dark Angel colt offered by Highclere Stud and a Nathaniel filly from the family of Ridgewood Pearl offered by New England Stud on behalf of Widgham Farm.

Encore for Ballymacoll

Described by auctioneer John O'Kelly as "buying into a bit of history", the second draft of yearlings from the Ballymacoll Dispersal saw three lots sold for gross receipts of 169,000gns.

Con Marnane had to go to just 9,000gns for a flashy chestnut son of Lope De Vega out of the Listed winner and Irish Oaks runner-up Scottish Stage, who was followed into the ring by the Cacique half-sister to Fiorente, who brought 70,000gns from Hubie de Burgh.

The draft was rounded off with the Archipenko half-sister to Blandford Stakes winner Eleanora Duse and the aforementioned Scottish Stage, with Ghislain Bozo of Meridian International and David Redvers seeing off Stephen Hillen with a bid of 90,000gns. She is the 13th foal out of her dam, who is a granddaughter of Ballymacoll's great filly Sun Princess.

Read more:

Two years in business, two October Sales – and the top lot at both

Ballymacoll lots among the jewels in the December Foal Sale