'Horses like this are rarely found on the market' - Godolphin strike for blue-blooded Camelot colt at record €850,000

On a sweltering late summer afternoon the record price for a German auction melted as quickly as an Erdbeereis left out in the Baden-Baden sun as members of racing's global elite went toe to toe for a Camelot colt who has Classic winning genes and a stallion's pedigree.

The figures might not have been quite at the level of the famous Kentucky sales ring battles of yore between Coolmore and Sheikh Mohammed but their representatives at Baden-Baden gave more than a passable impression of their bosses as bloodstock's behemoths slugged it out in the ring. 

The Coolmore team, captained by David O'Loughlin and Joe Hernon, were up against Anthony Stroud and David Loder in the royal blue corner, while Joseph O'Brien, who was standing with Philip Baron von Ullman and the team around this year's King George hero Goliath, attempted to make a bold bid for youth.

However, their bank balance was no match for that powering the Coolmore and Godolphin bids, and in a replay of countless auctions the world over for the past 45 years, it was the twin titans of the global sport who transformed a small patch of Bad-Wurttemberg into the centre of the bloodstock universe for a few minutes.

When the bid board hit €820,000 it tied the record for the auction but the knockout blow was yet to be landed. Still the heavy hits came, with Stroud pushing the board operator into using figures they had never inputted before at €830,000. 

A counterpunch pushed it to €840,000 but unbeknownst to those watching in fevered silence, they were on the ropes and Stroud's quick jab at €850,000 dealt the final blow, securing Gestut Brummerhof's homebred son of Preis der Diana winner Diamanta for Godolphin at an auction and country record of €850,000.

It is also the highest price for a Camelot yearling for three years, since Luxembourg's full-brother Hiawatha made €1.2m at Goffs, and it equals the second best price in Europe for a yearling by the sire, which was also paid by Godolphin. That was at Arqana two years ago for the colt out of a Frankel half-sister to Lope De Vega.

After signing for the record-breaker, Stroud was effusive in his praise for the striking dark bay, almost black, yearling.

"This colt is absolutely beautiful, by a sire of Classic winners and out of a Group 1 winner. He will be trained by Charlie [Appleby]," he confirmed.

"When you see Coolmore, Joseph O'Brien and Alex Elliott all bidding on a horse then you know you will have to stretch very hard to get the horse that you want but horses like this colt are rarely found on the market. Physically he has all the attributes and then he has a very good pedigree, comes from a very good farm and is out of a very good mare so he has everything we are looking for."

Gestut Brummerhof's Camelot colt out of Preis der Diana winner Diamanta in the BBAG sales ringCredit: BBAG

That pedigree is also that of a young mare who has already proven her worth as a broodmare with her first foal. Three year-old Diya, by Dubawi, won the Listed Diana Trial at Mulheim for owner-breeder Gestut Brummerhof, on just her second start, although disappointed behind Erle in her attempt to emulate her dam and win the Diana itself.

Diamanta is from the second crop of Maxios, who initially stood in Germany at Gestut Fahrhof before his acquisition by Coolmore as a National Hunt sire. She is the only European Group 1 winner sired by the son of Monsun and is a homebred for Brummerhof.

Still only eight, she is a half-sister to the Listed Langer Hamburger winner Diamantis, by Golden Horn, and to the Zamindar colt Diamant, who was second in the Norwegian Derby. They are out of the Group 3 Preis der Winterkonigin runner-up Diamantgottin, by Fantastic Light.

In a beautiful piece of symmetry that sometimes occurs, Shareef Dancer who was one of the prize lots on that incredible Keeneland July night in 1981 when Sheikh Mohammed bought him for $3.3m, appears in the pedigree of this filly.

The Irish Derby winner is the sire of her third dam Dunnellon who is out of Dunoof, a Shirley Heights full-sister to High Hawk, dam of another of Sheikh Mohammed's Breeders' Cup Turf, Grand Prix de Saint Cloud and Coronation Cup winner – In The Wings. His imprints are strong on German breeding through his sons Soldier Hollow and Adlerflug, with the recently deceased Soldier Hollow featuring prominently in the pedigrees of the day's other top lots.

It is the third time Julia and Gregor Baum's Gestut Brummerhof have held the distinction of breeding, consigning and selling the most expensive yearling ever to come under the hammer in Germany. 

Brummerhof bred the Arc and King George heroine Danedream, who made only €9,000 in this ring as a yearling, albeit at the Spring Horses in Training Sale. In 2007 they sold North Star for €710,000 and 12 years later smashed their own record when Godolphin went to €820,000 for Brummerhof's Sea The Stars filly out of Anna Mia, a Listed-placed daughter of Monsun.

That high-point was equalled a year later by another daughter of Sea The Stars when Gestut Ammerland purchased Gestut Gorlsdorf's full-sister to Deutsches Derby winner and sire Sea The Moon. Named Sea The Sky, she went on to win the Listed Prix Joubert for Andre Fabre and she has also wound up in the Godolphin broodmare band as she was purchased for €1,250,000 at Arqana last December as part of the dispersal of Ammerland's stock following its cessation of breeding.

Once he had recovered his equilibrium, Gregor Baum remarked: "We were quietly confident that he would get a good price today. He is a gorgeous horse and all the right people were interested in him so we were very hopeful but you cannot know for sure until they sell. We didn't think about the record which we had before."

Godolphin added another grandson of Maxios to their string for 2025 when purchasing Gestut Fahrhof's Teofilo colt out of the Listed-placed Conscious for €150,000 to round their spending up to the cool million.

The March-born brown colt is closely related to Costa Rica, by Saxon Warrior, who won last year at three for Simon Stokes and her owner-breeders, Gestut Fahrhof and the Niarchos family's Flaxman Stables.

Their dam Conscious is a half-sister to Group 3 Prix Cleopatre winner Steel Princess, the dam of Grade 1 Canadian International winner Sarah Lynx.

Bittersweet fruit for von Finck

Friday was a bittersweet day for Helmut von Finck, who earlier this year lost his horse of a lifetime, Soldier Hollow, and confirmed to the media at the sales that his homebred Deutsches Derby winner Sammarco, who shares his sire with the record-breaking sales-topper, had been reluctantly sold to Australia, where he will race on for a season before retiring to stud.

Gestut Park Wiedingen's Soldier Hollow full-brother to Whispering Angel will be trained by Ralph BeckettCredit: BBAG

His owner-breeder had hoped to stand the 2022 Derby and Grosser Dallmayr-Preis winner in Germany, but with no bids coming in for the multiple Group winner and competition for the best German mares fiercely contested among the studs where high-profile recent recruits including Torquator Tasso and Japan reside, Von Finck felt there was no other option for Sammarco, particularly as he attempts to build the stud career of Destino, the Soldier Hollow full-brother to Dschingis Secret.

Soldier Hollow's legacy is of incredible importance to von Finck so it gladdened his heart somewhat to see Alex Elliott go to €320,000 for his homebred Soldier Hollow full-brother to the 2018 German champion two-year-old filly Whispering Angel. The Group 3 Preis der Winterkonigin winner has produced this year's Group 3 Bavarian Classic winner Wilko as her first foal, and gives every indication of following in her dam's hoofprints as a broodmare of note. Her Japan yearling colt would later in the day make €120,000 to Eckhard Sauren.

That was one of the factors which drew a delighted Elliott to the colt, as he explained after signing the docket.

"He was the absolute standout for me physically in the sale and he is out of a mare who doesn't miss to Soldier Hollow," he said. "She's bred a champion two-year-old by him [Whispering Angel] and I am so grateful that my client went with me and stretched to get him."

In addition to Whispering Angel, Wamika is the dam of dual Listed winner and Group 2 Italian Derby second Winning Spirit and Listed Prix Finlande winner Wangari. Wamika has also produced Group 3 Fruhjahrs Meile second Western Soldier and her three-year-old Soldier Hollow colt, Winning Soldier, has been third on his most recent two runs.

A homebred for Von Finck, Wamika is a Shirocco half-sister to Wai Key Star, the multiple Group 3 winner and Group 1 Grosser Dallmayr Preis second by Soldier Hollow. Their dam Wakytara is a winning Danehill half-sister to Group 1 Premio Vittorio di Capua winner Waky Nao, who was also owned and bred by Von Finck.

Elliott purchased the horse on behalf of a new client to go into training with Ralph Beckett and the agent added: "He is the first horse I have bid on today so I am over the moon to be able to get him. It's not often you outbid Anthony Stroud for one, he's an exceptional judge of a horse."

The agent also struck for a Too Darn Hot colt offered by Gestut Fahrhof at €110,000. Out of the Listed winner Guajara, he is a half-brother to last year's German champion two-year-old colt Geography and to Groundbreaker, who was twice Listed-placed for Andrew Balding but makes his second start over hurdles for David Pipe at Worcester on Sunday. 

He operated at both ends of the price spectrum on Friday, signing at €30,000 for a Counterattack half-sister to Group 2 winner Sky Full Of Stars, by Kendargent, and Grade 3 handicap hurdle winner Sternrubin. Offered by Gestut Karlshof, she is a daughter of Listed Prix Belle de Nuit second Sworn Mum who is a Samum half-sister to Group 3 winner Sworn Pro and Listed winner Sworn Sold.

Von Finck also sold a homebred Soldier Hollow filly, a full-sister to this season's Group 3 Diana Trial third Egina from the family of the Preis Der Diana winner Erle and last year's auction topper Eleganz, for €160,000 to Healthy Wood.

Liberty shoot a Gleneagles birdie

Von Finck may have also bred and sold a future Derby winner as his Gleneagles colt, a half-brother to another champion two-year-old in Dhaba, was bought by the team behind the last two Deutsches Derby winners.

Lars Wilhelm Baumgartner's Liberty Racing owns the 2023 Deutsches Derby winner Fantastic Moon, who they hope can add another Group 1 trophy to his collection when he contests Sunday's Grosser Preis von Baden over the road from the sales complex. They also own Palladium, who is one of two new individual Group 1 winners sired this season by Gleneagles and, naturally, Baumgartner was delighted to be able to purchase another son of Coolmore's talented sire for the team.

"We love the sire!," he exclaimed with a broad smile on his face. "We have had a lot of success with him and with the breeder of this colt so we hope that this colt will continue that lucky association.

"He is a very good mover and he was our number one horse in the sale so we are delighted to buy him."

Liberty Racing hoping to strike it lucky once more with €200,000 son of GleneaglesCredit: BBAG

The syndicate has won the last two runnings of the Deutsches Derby with colts bought at this auction and Baumgartner smiled when asked if the colt would be in the Hamburg winner's enclosure after the 2026 Classic.

Another six-figure splurge for the team who could be a potential Classic horse was the Teofilo colt consigned by Stauffenberg Bloodstock. Out of Group 2 Cape Verdi Stakes second Asoof, a Dubawi half-sister to Listed Denford Stakes winner Masekela, he brought a winning bid of €140,000.

Liberty's purchases also included the Study Of Man colt from Spencer Sales out of the Sea The Moon full-sister to Group 1 winner Durston for €50,000.

Red letter day for Etzean

The auction was an important one in more ways than one for Gestut Etzean, where the Group 1 Juddmonte International and Grand Prix de Paris winner Japan stands. Galileo's son is an important recruit for the German bloodstock industry so there was pressure on his first crop of yearlings to make an impression in the ring.

While the success of Japan's stallion career is of the utmost importance, the other business of the farm must go on unhindered and with hopes pinned on a Lope De Vega filly and Japan colt who because of withdrawals ended up as successive lots, Etzean's manager Ralf Kredel barely had time to draw breath as first the filly made €190,000 to Ballylinch Stud and then the colt sold for €140,000 to Blandford Bloodstock.

When he did eventually get time to breathe he pronounced himself more than happy with how the key sales had transpired.

"I can relax a little now as they were the big two for us," he remarked. "I am very pleased with the price the Lope De Vega filly got, as I thought she might be a little bit small but I really liked her a lot. She has an excellent German pedigree and she will get every chance to upgrade it further as she is going to a very good home in Ballylinch."

Gestut Etzean's Lope De Vega filly made €190,000 to Ballylinch Stud at BBAGCredit: BBAG

She is the second foal out of Lips Eagle, a daughter of Gleneagles and twice placed at Listed level. She is a half-sister to Lucky Lion, the Group 1 Grosser Dallmayr Preis and Group 2 Mehl-Mulhens-Trophy winner by High Chaparral. The Deutsches Derby runner-up stands at Gestut Graditz and is a three-parts brother to Listed Premio Merano winner Lips Freedom, by Free Eagle.

Second dam Lips Arrow is a Listed-winning daughter of Lips Freedom.

Lizzy Sainty, the French representative for Ballylinch Stud, was on hand to buy the filly and said: "She is a really lovely model of a Lope De Vega filly who is an excellent sire and developing into one as a broodmare sire. She walked really well and we liked her a lot, she comes from top class breeders and has a lovely pedigree. John [O'Connor] will decide where she goes into training later."

She was followed into the ring by Mountbatten, a half-brother to the 2020 Preis der Diana winner Miss Yoda, out of Group winner and Group 1-placed Monami, who is a Sholokhov half-sister to Meridiana, the Oaks d'Italia winner and dam of four stakes performers.

It was a nerve-racking five minutes for the jovial Kredel, and the €140,000 price tag proved to be the first of three six-figure sales for Japan. While later in the day, Miss Yoda's first foal, a colt by Wootton Bassett, failed to make his reserve and was led out unsold at €125,000 by the Westerberg Consignment.

However, Miss Yoda's half-brother was the toast of Etzean.

Kredel remarked of the sale: "I am very pleased with the result for this Japan colt, obviously he is the outstanding colt from his first crop in the sale so I am relieved he did so well and he has been bought by a very good judge and is going to England, which is great and is all you can ask for."

Japan has 71 reported yearlings in his first crop, which is approximately nine per cent of the German foal crop, an enormous proportion for one stallion, and it provides some context of the pressure on the team around him to succeed.

The Japan half-brother to Group 1 winner Miss Yoda sold for €140,000Credit: BBAG/Gestut Etzean

With so many yearlings and roughly 60 foals on the ground, breeders are supporting him strongly so the first hurdle has been cleared. The second one – sales ring success – may prove slightly trickier, as Kredel emphasised the downturn in the global market which was seen at preceding yearling auctions and is to be expected for the remainder of the sales season.

"Obviously the market is tough but it is going to be like that across Europe this year," he said. "I am very pleased with the Japan yearlings at home and the ones at the sales."

However, with three six-figure sales and an average of €51,215 which is 4.7 times his initial €11,000 covering fee, it is an encouraging start to the project, although only 14 of the 24 yearlings offered on Friday were sold.

"Japan is an international horse and the idea was to get an international horse to stand in Germany who would have appeal to breeders and buyers outside the country," said Kredel. "I don't think a horse of such high calibre as Japan had retired directly to stud in Germany for a long time, so he was the perfect horse for us.

"The plan is working so far."

Windstoss blows through BBAG

Deutscher Galopp reports nine foals from the first crop of 2017 Deutsches Derby winner Windstoss, whose younger Soldier Hollow half-brother Weltstar succeeded him as winner of the Classic. A homebred for Gestut Rottgen, where he stands, the son of Shirocco is also a half-brother to Group 3 winner and Grosser Preis von Bayern runner-up Well Disposed.

Dio Del Vento was the most expensive yearling from the first crop of Windstoss at BBAGCredit: BBAG

Fully one-third of those nine foals were offered for sale by Rottgen on Friday and they made quite the mark in the ring.

First up was Tailwind, a colt out of the French winner Taniyala, who is a Dansili half-sister to Group 3 Prix Chloe winner Tariyana. The first foal of his dam, who was bought for €45,000 from the Aga Khan's draft at Arqana in 2021, he made €50,000 to Uwe Aisch.

Better was to come for Rottgen and Windstoss as the second member of the trio made six figures. Dio Del Vento, a half-brother to Listed Prix Luth Enchantee winner Derida and the Listed-placed Dalvida, was bought by FX Weissmeier for €120,000.

Five hours later the Windstoss half-brother to that colt's dam was bought for €49,000 by Panorama Bloodstock. In addition to Damour, the Listed-placed dam of Derida and Dalvida, this colt is a sibling to the Listed winners Dessau and Daria.

Windstoss's first yearlings to sell returned an average of €73,000, which is 18 times their covering fee.

Sauren enchanted 

The soporific spell cast by the heatwave in Baden-Baden was dramatically broken as the clock struck midday on Friday by a beautiful daughter of Zarak who weaved her own magic over the buyers at BBAG's yearling sale.

They were risen from their drowsiness as the filly, consigned by Ronald Rauscher entered the ring, and Thorsten Castle, wielding the gavel, was quickly fielding bids from €40,000 up as the appearance of the first foal out of Group 3 Mehl-Muhlens-Trophy and Listed Diana Trial winner Sconset acted like a shot of adrenaline in the arms of bidders.

Already named Santa Catarina, perhaps in a nod to the Brazilian state of the same name, the dark bay filly found plenty of admirers among the crowds and quickly became the first horse to rush through the six-figure barrier.

Sauren, the prominent financier, was accompanied by Wilhelm Feldmann, who sported an ice-soaked towel in a shade of yellow found on the Brazilian flag in an effort to manage the heat, as the pair raised the temperature in the ring, pushing the price ever higher in €5,000 increments.

Santa Catarina: Zarak filly was the first six-figure sale at BBAG on FridayCredit: BBAG

Sauren is hugely supportive of racing in his native city and the vice-president of FC Cologne, currently languishing in Bundesliga 2, managed to hit the winning bid more decisively than his club's strikers are in front of goal with Castle blowing the whistle at €155,000.

"She is a very good mover and a filly with an excellent pedigree, and she was one of our top favourites of the sale," commented Sauren. 

"We saw her at [Gestut] Ebbesloh [breeders of the filly] and again here and were impressed with her every time. When we saw that they wanted her, we knew it was going to be difficult to buy her but we think that was a fair price for a daughter of Zarak with a pedigree."

He added: "We hope to buy some more yearlings so when the auction is finished we will discuss what trainers they go to."

With transfer deadline day looming, it didn't take long for Sauren to add more players to his team including a relation to the former record-priced yearling.

Sauren went to €200,000 for Gestut Gorlsdorf's Kingman filly out of Sea The World, a Sea The Stars full-sister to Sea The Moon and Sea The Sky and to Sea The Sun, the unraced dam of Listed Prix Solitude winner Golden Lyra.

Second dam Sanwa is an unraced Monsun full-sister to Deutsches Derby winners and sires Schiaparelli and Samum and Preis der Diana winner and Deutsches Derby second Salve Regina.

Of his purchase Sauren said: "She is a great filly and comes from a great family, we loved her and once again we went to stretch our budget to get her."

Sauren also swooped for Gestut Park Wiedingen’s Japan colt out of Whispering Angel for €120,000 and added a fourth six-figure purchase as time ran out on Friday evening, going to €105,000 for the only Kodiac in the sale, who is a half-brother to the multiple Group-winning sprinter Namos and to the Hamburg Listed winner Narmad. Offered by the sale-toppers Gestut Brummerhof, he is out of the Listed Bayerischer Fliegerpreis winner Namera.

In between those six-figure purchases he paid €49,000 for Astrofight, Gestut Karlshof's Counterattack half-brother to the Group 3 winner and Oaks d'Italia second Atomic Blonde out of the Listed winner Alwina.

Homecoming for Alson yearlings

The third member of the German-based first-crop sires to make their debut at the BBAG Sale also managed to record a six-figure transaction..

Gestut Fahrhof's Alson may not have the same recognition as Japan or Windstoss outside of Germany or France, where the son of multiple German champion sire Areion was trained by Andre Fabre to win the Group 1 Criterium International and finish third in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains for his owner-breeder Gestut Schlenderhan.

However, he was a popular new recruit to the stallion ranks and covered 48 mares, with 37 reported foals, including a half-sister to Torquator Tasso and his Group 1-winning half-brother Tunnes.

Alson's top priced yearling was this Gestut Fahrhof filly bought by Philip, Baron von UllmannCredit: BBAG

He was bred and raced by Gestut Schlenderhan from one of their outstanding families and it was fitting that the latest generation at the helm of the storied stud would purchase Alson's most expensive yearling.

Philip Baron von Ullmann, celebrated his first Group 1 winner last month when Goliath stunned the field in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and he has quite clearly become hooked on the winning feeling.

The Alson filly he bought for €100,000 from Fahrhof is inbred 3x3 to Galileo as a daughter of the unraced Frankel mare Bandama. She is a half-sister to the Listed-placed Blueridge Silver, by Siyouni, and out of Grade 1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes winner Blueridge Mountain, a daughter of Giant's Causeway.

His six-figure purchase was the most expensive of the three Alson yearlings that he bought and he also purchased a Sea The Moon colt.

A total of seven of the 11 Alson yearlings were sold, with the average coming in at €43,214, which is slightly more than seven times his initial covering fee of €6,000.

Statistics

Despite the record-breaking top lot there was no getting away from the reality that the industry is going through a challenging period with the market tougher at all levels than it has been for the last number of years.

The downward trend has been noticeable across all sales and Friday's results continued that decline which began at the 2023 sale.

Godolphin's €1,000,000 outlay represented 13.4 per cent of the sale's turnover of €7,428,500. Even that spend couldn't prevent the sale from posting a decline of eight percentage points from last year's figure.

That in itself was down by five points on the year before which was the zenith of the sale's growth.

This year's average price of €48,552 was a dip of two points on last year while the median, despite dropping by 0.27 per cent year-on-year, was actually higher than the average at €48,745. Both those figures showed greater drops last year with hindsight suggesting that the records posted by the 2021 sale were the peak of this current cycle.

A total of 153 of the 210 yearlings presented were sold which produced a clearance rate of 73 per cent, which again was lower than last year's sale, and is the third year in succession that figure has fallen.

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