Qatar-bound Black Orange lights up low-key Ascot July Sale

It turns out July sales are like London buses: you wait all year for one and then two come along at once. After a heady few days of selling in Newmarket it was the turn of Tattersalls Ireland to pick up the baton at its Ascot venue on Tuesday.

But while competition was hot at Park Paddocks last week, trade was rather more lukewarm in the sales ring opposite Ascot racecourse.

International buyers repeatedly made their presence felt at Newmarket, and the highest-priced lot among the Flat offerings in the Ascot catalogue is also now set to continue his career in Qatar, with Qatar-based trainer Debbie Mountain going to £54,000 for the precocious Black Orange.

The two-year-old colt won one of his four starts for Gay Kelleway, and was last seen going down by just a nose to Yogi's Girl in the Lily Agnes during Chester's May meeting.

"He's been bought to run in the two-year-old races in Qatar," said Sandra Read of BBA Shipping, who signed the docket on behalf of Mountain having outbid Richard Botterill, who was bidding on the phone next to the rostrum.

This was the second time this year that the son of Pastoral Pursuits had come up for auction, having failed to sell when the bidding reached £120,000 at the Goffs London Sale on the eve of Royal Ascot. He found his way into Kelleway's yard having been bought back at just £3,000 the previous autumn.

Sufi the apple of Pearl's eye

Other highlights among the Flat offerings are due to remain closer to home. Plenty of the usual suspects followed Sufi, a three-year-old son of Pivotal offered by Richard Hannon's East Everleigh Stables, into the ring, but it was owner John Pearl who prevailed with a bid of £31,000.

The colt, bred by Lady Bamford, is now destined for the Danebury yard of Ken Cunningham-Brown.

"He'll be kept to the Flat - we'll give him a break and start from the beginning," said Pearl, before Cunningham-Brown added: "I know Richard Hannon junior well, so I'll speak to him and see what he thinks going forward, but he's a nice-looking horse. I think it was a fair price, but we'll find out when we get him on the track!"

The colt, a half-brother to two winners out of the Galileo mare Basanti, remains a maiden after seven starts, but has some good form to his name and changed hands with a peak Racing Post Rating of 78.

Lot 31: Sufi laps up the sunshine before coming under the hammerCredit: Steven Cargill

Newcombe goes to War

Devon-based trainer Tony Newcombe also entered the fray early on, going to £22,000 for War Of Succession from Andrew Balding's Park House Stables.

The three-year-old son of Casamento boasted a significant update since the catalogue had been published, having landed a Beverley maiden over 1m½f by two lengths when fitted with first-time blinkers in late-June.

"He's been bought on spec but clearly has a bit of potential," said Newcombe. "He'll stay on the Flat, although we train at a bit of altitude, which usually helps them to stay a bit further. He'll have a little break but should be back out in the next six to eight weeks."

The gelding had been bought as a yearling by David Redvers for 85,000gns at Book 2 back in 2015, and is out of a Red Ransom half-sister to the Listed-winning Kalindi - the dam of Medicean Man - and the Group-placed Tayseer.

Godolphin again

Fresh from selling 66 lots for 4,015,000gns at Tattersalls in Newmarket last week, Godolphin offered six more lots at Ascot, although the draft failed to catch buyers' imaginations to quite the same extent, with the most sought after lot coming in the shape of Ocean River for £16,000.

Several interested parties made a play for the three-year-old daughter of Teofilo, but auctioneer Richard Botterill's encouragement of "come on, you could end up riding her!" was enough to see leading amateur and Tattersalls Ireland employee Jamie Codd land the winning bid on behalf of Sharp Bloodstock.

The unraced three-year-old is out of the Bering mare Neptune's Bride and is a half-sister to eight winners, including the Listed-placed Submariner.

One more for Malone

Humidity in the sales ring may have soared as the jump section of the catalogue got underway, but the level of trade could not quite keep pace, with the high point coming when Tom Malone went to £40,000 for Eneko, a son of Laverock, consigned by Le Bas Du Bourg.

"I've bought him to sell on," explained Malone. "He's a grand horse to go juvenile hurdling with over the winter. He's had three lovely runs in bumpers in France but he wants a trip - all he does is keep galloping - and will be much better for jumping in time. I'm delighted to get him, I think he was a bit of value."

The rangy three-year-old, who won one of this three starts in the French provinces for Alain Couetil, is from a proper jumping family, with the likes of Grand National hero Neptune Collonges and RSA Chase winner Hussard Collonges appearing further back on his page.

Late in the session Ownaracehorse Ltd went to £32,000 for the Kim Bailey trained Nicely Indeed, who they had owned in partnership with Gary Tardi.

Lot 118: Eneko, who went the way of Tom Malone for £40,000Credit: Steven Cargill

Figures

After last year's renewal posted a record aggregate, the figures in 2017 will have made for more sobering reading for the Tattersalls Ireland team.

The 111 sold lots generated turnover of £608,600 - a 53 per cent drop from 2016's return. The average stood at £5,485 - a 42 per cent drop, while the median was £3,000 - down 33 per cent from £4,500. The clearance rate remained at 78 per cent - the same as 12 months ago.

"The way the dates of the Irish point-to-point calendar fall have a bearing on sales such as this," commented Tattersalls Ireland director of horses in training Richard Pugh.

"Last year's top lot ran at Tralee, but the way the weeks flipped meant that horses from that meeting and Inchydoney went to Cheltenham instead. It depends how the dates fall. If you look at the Festival sale this year it was awesome and the April sale was extraordinary, but the previous April sale had been ordinary.

"It was always going to be challenging to produce a set of statistics comparable to 2016's record breaking Ascot July Sale. However, today's sale has produced a robust clearance rate of 78 per cent and a top price of £54,000 and has again demonstrated the ability of this unique venue to attract a wide variety of overseas and domestic purchasers."

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