New HIT sale says much about the trading nature of British and Irish racing

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Here he reflects on a strong two-day horses in training sale in Newmarket and looks forward to Germany's annual highlight, the BBAG Yearling Sale - subscribers can get more great insight from Martin every Monday to Friday.

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It seems trainers can get used to dispersing stock at Tattersalls in August, and buyers should put a trip to Park Paddocks in late summer into their diaries for the foreseeable future.

The second renewal of the Tattersalls August Sale, born out of Covid-19 disrupting the entry process for last year’s July Sale, once again recorded excellent levels of trade this week.

The two-day auction concluded on Wednesday with 5,375,200gns spent on 286 lots. The average price of 18,794gns represented a 14 per cent increase on last year's inaugural event, while the median value rose by 1,000gns to 10,000gns.

The top price of 350,000gns, paid by Peter and Ross Doyle for last Friday’s Newmarket winner Fabilis on behalf of Saudi Arabian interests, eclipsed last year’s sale high of 220,000gns. The overall clearance rate remained unchanged at a very healthy 91 per cent.

It says a lot about the increasingly trade-oriented nature of British and Irish racing – analysed by Lee Mottershead this week – that there is enough demand to sustain a new Tattersalls horses in training sale alongside the company’s long-established July and Autumn auctions.

It was fascinating to hear bloodstock agent Alastair Donald, who has struck countless big-money deals for useful horses to race abroad, question in Lee’s article whether the modern focus on breeding for speed in Britain and Ireland is in alignment with what overseas buyers really want.

“More of an issue is the way people are moving towards breeding sprinters, who have much less of an international resale value,” he said.

“Every mile-and-a-quarter or mile-and-a-half horse now going to stud is pigeonholed as a National Hunt stallion. We're going to stop breeding the horses with which we've had such success selling to Australia.”

Good middle-distance horses don’t just have significant resale value to Australia, either, of course. They can also be sold into jumps racing, Asia, the Middle East and America.

Resourceful buyers looking for middle-distance horses with an eye on future trading would do well to have a thorough look at the lots on offer at the next stop on the European sales circuit, today’s BBAG Yearling Sale in Baden-Baden.

Just look at Skymax, a son of Maxios bought by Alex Elliott for €49,000 there in 2017: he was sent out by Ralph Beckett to win a valuable Newmarket nursery for Norman Brunskill, before being sold privately to Bermuda Racing and winning a Newbury handicap and finishing fourth in the Melrose Handicap for his new owners. He was later transferred to Australia, where he is now a Listed winner.

There is also the Sholokhov filly Momella, signed for by Emerald Bloodstock for a mere €3,000 in 2013. She won a maiden between the flags for Marie Harding before being sold into Dan Skelton's and then Harry Fry’s stables. She has won six races under rules, including a Listed mares’ chase, and finished third in the Grade 1 Mersey Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree.

Momella: Momella, signed for by Emerald Bloodstock for a mere €3,000 at the BBAG Yearling Sale in 2013Credit: Grossick Racing

I suspect if connections chose to sell the smart three-year-old BBAG Yearling Sale graduates Classic Lord, a son of Lord Of England bought by Richard Venn and his trainer Andrew Balding for €20,000, and Timeless Soul, a Roger Varian-trained Night Of Thunder filly bought by Alex Elliott for €85,000, in the near future they would be rewarded with handsome profits too.

Not all of the lots at today’s sale in Baden-Baden will be available at knock-down prices that leave plenty of room for profit, though, and German breeders deserve to be well paid for parting with some of the cream of their crop.

Leading international sires such as Acclamation, Exceed And Excel, Frankel, Lope De Vega, Showcasing and Siyouni are represented in the catalogue alongside top domestic names including Adlerflug, Areion, Isfahan, Lord Of England and Soldier Hollow, as well as British-based German expat Sea The Moon.

Particularly eye-catching are the four well-bred daughters of Sea The Moon's sire Sea The Stars on offer – the filly out of Prix Marcel Boussac runner-up Topaze Blanche (lot 50), the half-sister to German Derby winners Weltstar and Windstoss (54), the half-sister to champion sprinter Julio (188) and the full-sister to German Oaks heroine Miss Yoda (192).

Today’s BBAG Yearling Sale is certain to contain several superstars, and no doubt also a fair few a little below that level who will still be traded for big profits – perhaps at future editions of the upwardly mobile Tattersalls August Sale.

Get involved!

Any observations on the sales scene or the racing action? Share them with other Good Morning Bloodstock readers by emailing gmb@racingpost.com

Must-read story

“Shantou was not a big horse but made up for this with his bulk – he was like a little bull. He was a very confident horse, almost cocksure of himself,” writes Burgage Stud’s Victor Connolly as he pays tribute to his stalwart sire Shantou, who died on Wednesday aged 28. Read more here.

Pedigree pick

Two siblings to brilliant sprinters are set to make their debuts today.

The Andrew Balding-trained Roseberry Topping, a Mayson half-sister to ‘Budapest Bullet’ Overdose who was bred by Whatton Manor Stud and will carry the Hot To Trot Racing silks, contests the 6f two-year-old novice stakes at Ascot (1.20).

The War Front gelding Alrehb, meanwhile, is clearly neither as precocious nor pacey as his half-brother Muhaarar as he is making a belated first start for Charlie Hills at the age of four in a mile novice stakes at Newcastle (2.10).

If you’re looking for something a little more under the radar, though, how about City Streak in the two-year-old novice stakes over a mile at Kempton (5.45)? The Andrew Balding-trained gelding is a Cityscape half-brother to last month’s narrowly beaten Ebor runner-up Quickthorn, and although it’s a family that gets better with age, it might be dangerous to overlook him entirely. One half-sister, Lady Percival, won over six furlongs at two, and another, Belated Breath, was a talented sprinter. Their dam Daffydowndilly, by champion two-year-old Oasis Dream, also showed smart form as a juvenile.

Essential stats

Broodmare sire tables are often populated by stallions who have retired or died, but one name who is still in service and often rides high in these statistics is Oasis Dream. He is in fifth place this season behind only Galileo, Dansili, Danehill Dancer and Montjeu by earnings of maternal grandchildren, to which the aforementioned Quickthorn is the leading contributor.

View the tables here.

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Good Morning Bloodstock is our latest email newsletter. Martin Stevens, a doyen among bloodstock journalists, provides his take and insight on the biggest stories every morning from Monday to Friday