'This was a bit of a standout today' - Najd Stud swoops for Godolphin's Tabaretta at sale-topping 210,000gns

A call from Saudi Arabia helped secure the 35th and last six-figure lot of the Tattersalls July Sale as the 210,000gns Tabaretta topped Friday morning’s concluding session. 

Jimmy George was the recipient of the call, with representatives of Saudi-based operation Najd Stud instructing the Tattersalls marketing director to strike the session-topping bid on their behalf. 

The lightly raced three-year-old has won two of his eight starts for Charlie Appleby and recorded a career-high Racing Post Rating (RPR) of 95 when he claimed the second of those victories over a mile and a half at Wolverhampton in January. 

“This was a bit of a standout today,” said George. “The scene in Saudi Arabia is going from strength to strength and he looks like a horse who will suit the country's racing perfectly. Najd is a regular buyer here and a great client, and hopefully this gelding will go on to be successful for the stud.” 

Najd Stud, the racing vehicle of Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Abdulaziz, has been a regular presence at Tattersalls in recent years and has topped several sales along the way. 

These include the 2021 Autumn Horses in Training Sale with the 700,000gns Grocer Jack, who was secured with Peter and Ross Doyle, and last year’s August Sale with the 250,000gns Operating. However, the operation’s most notable purchase came at last year’s December Mares Sale when they spent 3,600,000gns on Saffron Beach. 

George added: “Najd has been buying for many years but the racing in Saudi is expanding. The farm has been very successful with Tattersalls graduates and, like everything, it’s success driven – the more winners they buy from Tattersalls, the more they come back.” 

Tabaretta, a €650,000 Arqana August yearling, is the fourth foal out of the Galileo mare Davantage, making him a half-brother to the Group 3 Prix Miesque scorer Devant. There is plenty of back class on the page too as Davantage is a half-sister to the Prix du Jockey Club hero Blue Canari, while champion older horse Mtoto appears a couple of generations further back. 

Godolphin draft takes centre stage

Tabaretta hailed from the Godolphin draft that supplied the bulk of Friday’s interest, including the four priciest lots. The 14-strong offering yielded an aggregate of 578,000gns, which was 44 per cent of session turnover. 

The 89-rated Mount Tambora, a placed son of Dark Angel trained by Andre Fabre, fetched the second-highest price when Naser Askar signed at 72,000gns. The three-year-old half-brother to the Listed-winning Hertford Dancer is set to continue his career in Dubai. 

Mount Tambora in the Park Paddocks ring, where he made 72,000gns to Naser AskarCredit: Alisha Meeder

Abdullah Muammer also dipped into the Godolphin draft when he went to 56,000gns for Changing Colours on behalf of Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Nuaimi. 

“This horse has a good pedigree, he’s a good physical and he’s fast – we like sprinters,” said Muammer. “We have no training plans as yet.” 

The homebred Changing Colours won one of his five starts for Appleby, with success coming in a six furlong Haydock novice stakes at two. The son of Dubawi, who shares the further reaches of his page with Lope De Vega, hit his highest RPR of 86 on his next outing when runner-up to Shandy Star in the Spindrifter Conditions Stakes at Pontefract. 

Godolphin was the second-highest grossing consignor across the four-day sale, with 44 lots sold for a combined 2,579,500gns. The priciest of the bunch was the 250,000gns Evening Hush, an unraced daughter of Galileo and Wuheida bought by BBA Ireland during Tuesday’s session of fillies and mares. 

The acquisition of Evening Hush contributed to BBA Ireland topping the buyers’ chart with nine purchases totalling 1,711,000gns. The group was headed by the sale’s overall top lot Sweet And Lovely, an unraced sister to Seventh Heaven in foal to Wootton Bassett who fetched 350,000gns when presented by WH Bloodstock on day one. 

The sale’s highest-grossing vendor was The Castlebridge Consignment, with 96 sold lots generating receipts totalling 3,742,000gns. 

ITV in action

Onlookers could have been forgiven for thinking ITV Racing was among the buyers on Friday morning, when presenter Sally Ann Grassick struck a winning bid with mic in hand and flanked by a camera crew. 

In transpired Grassick was not only filming a segment to be aired on ITV Racing on Friday but was also standing in for her sister Cathy, with the 23,000gns Heavenly Wish sourced on behalf of Yvonne Jacques. 

Sally Ann Grassick was in action at Park Paddocks on FridayCredit: Edward Whitaker

When asked if ITV Racing had just bought a horse, Grassick told Tattersalls’ social media: “No! I need to be very clear that none of this money is coming out of ITV funds as there’ll be some very concerned heads of department in ITV when they’ve heard that. 

“My sister, Cathy, is obviously a bloodstock agent operating under our dad’s name, Brian Grassick Bloodstock. This is for an existing client of hers, Yvonne Jacques of Carisbrooke Stud.” 

Heavenly Wish is a daughter of Pivotal who cut little ice in her two runs for Michael Bell and her owner-breeder Lady Bamford. The three-year-old does boast a big pedigree, however, and one that new connections are already particularly close to as she is out of a half-sister to Chachamaidee, whose seven wins include being awarded the Group 1 Matron Stakes. 

Chachamaidee’s breeding record is led by dual Meydan Group 2 winner Valiant Prince and Klassique, who won the Group 3 Pinnacle Stakes in Jacques’ familiar pale blue and pink colours. 

“Obviously being by Pivotal is very exciting because of what he’s done as a broodmare sire, but it’s also a family they know very well because they have Klassique there under Chachamaidee,” continued Grassick. 

“They were absolutely delighted to have got her and she’ll be added to the broodmare band at Yvonne’s stud. It’s been an exciting and interesting thing to bid on a horse on television.” 

Although better known for her media work, Grassick is no stranger to bidding at public auction. When asked how she found the experience while the cameras were rolling, she said: “It’s definitely a bit more nerve-racking and [auctioneer] Alastair Pim played up to the cameras a bit as well, so everyone was watching. We had planned on being more discreet!” 

Figures hold firm

Friday’s session concluded with a 96 per cent clearance rate as 66 lots sold from 69 offered. Turnover reached 1,301,500gns, with an average price of 19,720gns and a median of 13,000gns. 

An expanded catalogue always seemed likely to impact turnover and clearance rate across the four days, and year-on-year comparisons for those two metrics duly headed in the anticipated directions, albeit to no great degree. 

The number of offered lots rose by 71 (13 per cent) this year as 635 horses came under the hammer. Of those, 574 found a buyer (54 more than in 2022) for a clearance rate of 90 per cent, which was down two per cent compared to 12 months ago. 

Those 574 transactions yielded record turnover of 16,986,000gns, which was up one per cent year-on-year. The average price slipped by eight per cent to 29,592gns, but the median, typically the most revealing market indicator, held firm at a sale-high of 15,000gns. 

Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony said: “To have bettered last year’s wide-margin record-breaking Tattersalls July Sale turnover is a clear indication of the robust and vibrant market which year after year makes this fixture so popular with vendors and purchasers alike.

Edmond Mahony: delighted with another successful July SaleCredit: Laura Green

“The key feature of the Tattersalls July Sale is its unique combination of quality and diversity, which cannot be found anywhere else at this time of year and, as ever, Park Paddocks has been alive with a global melting pot of buyers from every continent in the world, who have faced strong competition from British and Irish buyers, both Flat and National Hunt.

“A record 12 lots making in excess of 200,000gns and 35 selling for 100,000gns or more demonstrates the strength at the top of the market, but equally important has been the consistent demand at all levels, and for the fifth consecutive year the Tattersalls July Sale has achieved an enviable clearance rate in excess of 90 per cent."

He went on: “While the high-class consignments from Godolphin, Juddmonte Farms and Shadwell Estates have, as ever, proved to be among the highlights of the July Sale, we have also seen some smaller operations spectacularly rewarded, none more so than Tipperary-based trainer Michael O’Meara and owner Emma Kennedy, whose three-year-old homebred Ethical Diamond sold for 320,000gns. 

“Results of this nature are the hallmark of mixed sales at Tattersalls and we now look forward to the Tattersalls Summer Sale, relocated from Ascot, which numbers 125 lots and takes place at Park Paddocks in Newmarket on Tuesday.” 

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