'She's a bit of an outcross' - 250,000gns Now Or Never tops day one trade at the Tattersalls February Sale

Yet another top lot went the way of BBA Ireland’s Michael Donohoe as Tattersalls opened for business for 2023 on Thursday. 

During the December Mares Sale the agent sent shockwaves around Park Paddocks when bidding 5,400,000gns for the four-time Group 1 winner Alcohol Free, but this time around 250,000gns was enough to head the market as day one of the February Sale produced a more down-to-earth day of trade.  

The lot in question was the ten-year-old Now Or Never, winner of the Group 3 Leopardstown 1,000 Guineas Trial and third to Jet Setting in the 2016 running of the Irish Classic. The daughter of Bushranger later switched hemispheres where she raced as Now Or Later and won the Group 2 Blazer Stakes. 

The Tweenhills Farm and Stud-consigned mare is also a half-sister to dual Group 1 heroine Fairyland, with the pair out of Queenofthefairies, a Pivotal half-sister to champion sprinter and smart sire Dream Ahead. Now Or Never’s first foal, a colt by Zoustar, turned two this year and she was offered in foal to Tweenhills’ 2,000 Guineas hero Kameko. 

“She’s been bought for a client who has mares in Europe and Australia,” said Donohoe. “She’ll foal down in Ireland and then we’ll decide what we do with her. She could be covered to southern hemisphere or sent to Australia. Obviously she was a great race filly and it’s a proper fast family. 

Now Or Never was sold by David Redvers' Tweenhills Farm and StudCredit: Laura Green

“Possibly the late cover or the fact she missed a year [barren in 2022] might have put some people off as I thought she represented a bit of value. With her pedigree she can go to any stallion as she’s a bit of an outcross. She had plenty of speed herself even though she stayed a mile and physically we should have a lot of options as she’s a nice, neat-sized mare.” 

The Tally-Ho Stud-bred Now Or Never was making her third appearance on the public market. She was a vendor buyback at just 10,000gns as a Book 3 yearling in 2014 and later made £42,000 to BBA Ireland at the following year’s Doncaster Breeze-Up Sale. 

Donohoe also secured the winning Pure Nature in foal to Mehmas at 85,000gns and the well-related First Snowfall at 68,000gns. 

Pure Nature, a Dansili half-sister to Listed scorer Ghostwatch from the family of Hernando, was offered by Baroda Stud, while First Snowfall, a daughter of Dubawi who shares her page with Australian champion two-year-old and sire Pierro, was presented by The Castlebridge Consignment. First Snowfall was catalogued as unplaced but opened her account in a Newcastle handicap on her penultimate outing for Archie Watson and Hambleton Racing. 

“It’s a great family and she will go back to Ireland and a decision will be made about a stallion,” said Donohoe after signing for First Snowfall. “She won't stay in training, she’s won a race now. It’s a proper, deep family. There’s a stallion on the page and with some international runners in the pedigree. She might end up in Australia in time. She’s by Dubawi, who should make up into a proper broodmare sire.” 

Bronsan Racing secure a rare breed

A well-bred colt from the penultimate crop of Galileo was the first lot to break into six-figure territory when Tattersalls’ Jason Singh, taking instruction on the phone from Neil Sands, outbid the O’Callaghan family of Tally-Ho Stud at 140,000gns. 

Offered by Barton Stud on behalf of Lady Ogden, the two-year-old is a half-brother to the dual Group 1-winning Amazing Maria and joins the growing string of Bronsan Racing, which is run by Sands and his father, Con. 

The two-year-old Galileo half-brother to Amazing Maria takes his turn in the Park Paddocks sales ring Credit: Laura Green

“They’re becoming a rare breed these Galileos,” said Sands. “Obviously he’s been one of the greatest stallions of the modern era and my father, who’s the principal of our team, has had this type of horse as a target for a long time. 

“We’re really delighted to have been able to close out at the price we did - he could’ve made double that in Book 1! We have a fantastic network of helpers and Hubie de Burgh assisted us with this purchase. The dream for this horse is for him to become a top racehorse and then a stallion prospect. You’ve got to have that dream, but sometimes we can be afraid to dream!” 

The youngster will head to Ireland to begin his time in training, with Sands adding: “We have a good body of our stable with Joseph O'Brien but we’ll make a plan over the next few weeks. We’re very excited to add him to our stable, which is growing exponentially.

“We have horses in training in Australia and Britain, though the majority are in training in Ireland. We also have a couple of National Hunt prospects, and we are excited about them for the coming season and are looking ahead to Cheltenham, but the primary focus for us is Flat racing. We have about 40 horses in training, horses both owned in partnerships and fully by ourselves.”

The colt is out of Messias Da Silva, who was bought by Sir Robert Ogden for $700,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Calder Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale in 2007. She won one of six starts having been sent into training with Jeremy Noseda, gaining a Lingfield novice success on her second outing. 

She has made a far more significant impact from the paddocks however as she is the dam of five winners, most notably Amazing Maria, whose five successes include Group 1 victories in the Falmouth Stakes and the Prix Rothschild. 

Amazing Maria and Messias Da Silva also came under the hammer during the 2021 December Mares Sale. Both were signed for by Blandford Bloodstock, the former at 230,000gns and the latter at 20,000gns. Amazing Maria was covered by Camelot in 2022 while Messias Da Silva visited Ardad. 

Merry unearths outcross option

A second lot hit the 140,000gns mark later in the session when Hugo Merry secured Queenhope on behalf of Imad Al Sagar’s Blue Diamond Stud. Another consigned by Barton Stud, the winning Kendargent sister to Group 3 scorer and Group 1-placed Kenhope was offered in foal to Ballylinch Stud’s red-hot sire New Bay. 

“This mare is a complete outcross and will be a very easy mare to mate,” said Merry. “We’ve seen her Galiway yearling at Barton Stud and she’s a very, very good first foal. Queenhope is a very commercial mare and I know the family well through my client Dr Poonawalla.” 

Queenhope: well-related daughter of Kendargent sells to Hugo Merry for 140,000gnsCredit: Laura Green

He added: “Blue Diamond was keen to buy into this Grey Sovereign line. It’s so hard to buy interesting pedigrees now and ones that are a complete outcross and this family also goes back to Pat O'Kelly's wonderful Flame Of Tara line. Physically, Queenhope is correct and she has plenty of room to carry a good foal – but really it’s the quality of her first foal that really sold her to us.” 

Coleman on the mark

The majority of interesting lots came during the later stages of the session, including the 98,000gns Moon De Vega who was offered by Jamie Railton and signed for by Matt Coleman of Stroud Coleman Bloodstock. 

The four-year-old daughter of Lope De Vega won one of her nine outings for Ralph Beckett and Regents Consulting and also hit a peak Racing Post Rating of 99 when fourth in the Group 3 Hoppings Fillies' Stakes. 

“She’s been bought to be a broodmare for an English breeder and she’ll be bred commercially,” said Coleman. “Obviously she’s a smart racehorse from a great back pedigree and Lope De Vega and Azamour [Moon De Vega’s damsire] are two broodmare sires I really like too. I thought she had a lot of quality and she’s a good walker.”

Moon De Vega: consigned by Jamie Railton and sold to Stroud Coleman Credit: Laura Green

Railton also consigned another Beckett-trained filly in Apache Spark. The three-year-old daughter of Sioux Nation, who broke her maiden at Wolverhampton on Monday, went the way of Najd Stud at 46,000gns. The Saudi Arabian operation was another who was last seen making a splash at the December Mares Sale having bought Saffron Beach for 3,600,000gns. 

“She’s just a really nice individual and Ralph has done a great job with her,” said Railton. “She’s been bought by a really good organisation and I hope she is successful for them. She looks on an upward curve and maybe upping her in distance is what she needs. She’s a very athletic horse and very likeable so the future looks in front of her.”

Turnover for the session finished at 2,265,500gns, which was down 27 per cent year on year, albeit from an offering that was down by 13 per cent at 180, 141 of which sold at a clip of 78 per cent. The average was down by 12 per cent at 16,067gns and the median was clipped in by 28 points at 6,500gns, having been 9,000gns 12 months ago. 

The Tattersalls February Sale continues on Friday at 10am. 

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