52,000gns Ardad breeding right sells to Ed Player at the Tattersalls Online Sale

A wildcard breeding right to leading first-season sire Ardad topped the lots at the Tattersalls Online Sale on Tuesday, when making 52,000gns to Whatton Manor Stud's Ed Player.

The Tally-Ho-bred son of Kodiac, a winner of the Windsor Castle and Flying Childers Stakes for John Gosden in 2016, has made an exceptional start to his second career with 13 individual winners from 29 runners to date.

Those winners have been topped by Norfolk Stakes scorer Perfect Power and Coventry Stakes third Vintage Clarets, the former defeating last weekend's Railway Stakes winner Go Bears Go by a head at Royal Ascot.

Player said: "Like everybody else I've been very impressed with how Ardad has been getting on. I've been following him closely and we have a number by him on the farm, they're all really nice, sharp, strong types. One of them won his maiden the other day by four lengths.

"To have a Norfolk Stakes winner and a third in the Coventry at Royal Ascot in your first season is incredible. In England we're crying out for a speed stallion like Ardad and I'm delighted to be involved in the story.

"He's clearly upgrading his mares, and when he gets better mares he could be very exciting."

Ardad: Overbury Stud's first-crop sire has sired 13 individual winners to dateCredit: Overbury Stud

Based at Overbury Stud in Gloucestershire, seven-year-old Ardad stood at a fee of £4,000 for 2021 and covered a strong book of 152 mares this term.

Overbury Stud manager Simon Sweeting said: "I’m delighted that the breeding right has been bought by as successful a commercial breeder as Whatton Manor Stud. It's a tremendous endorsement of what Ardad’s first crop have achieved so far."

The breeding right was the first such to be offered at an online sale in Britain or Ireland. Overall, 29 lots sold at Tuesday's auction for a total of 274,300gns, an average of 9,459gns and a median of 4,200gns.

Winning point-to-pointer Sir Jackschiaparel was one of the more notable offerings and was knocked down to Dorset trainer Richenda Ford for 29,000gns.

The five-year-old son of Overbury sire Schiaparelli - responsible for the likes of Stayers' Hurdle runner-up Ronald Pump and Martin Pipe scorer Indefatigable - finished seventh in a Navan maiden hurdle but then struck for Ellmarie Holden by three lengths in a Fairyhouse point in April.

He is out of the winning bumper mare Royal Moll and hails from a family that includes Ryanair Gold Cup Novice Chase winner Kylemore Lough and the high-class staying novice chaser Ottowa.

Ford said: "I liked the way he won his point, and I’m familiar with his consignors so am confident he's got plenty of promise. He’ll come back to the yard and have an easy few weeks before running under rules. We may start him off in a bumper in the next couple of months."

Bred by Harry Fowler, Sir Jackschiaparel was an €8,000 purchase by Michael Shefflin and Paul Holden from the Tattersalls Ireland May Store in 2019.

Trainers Nick Alexander, Grant Tuer and Richard Rowe were also among the buyers.

Alexander snapped up Seaforth Mancy, who was third in a Tramore bumper this month, for 23,000gns, Tuer bought York Listed winner Tommy Taylor for 14,500gns, while Rowe teamed up with Aidan Kennedy to snare recent Grennan point-to-point winner Kicks And Ale for 23,000gns.

No luck for Slievebrook

Slievebrook House Stud's Queens Carriage, a three-time winning daughter of last year's first-season sire sensation Mehmas, reached 105,000gns but was bought back by her vendor.

The recent Scurry Stakes fourth is the eighth foal out of the winning Mimiteh - a Maria's Mon half-sister to Cheveley Park Stakes scorer Rosdhu Queen - and is a half-sister to three winners, including the stakes-placed Kodiac colt King's Field, a three-time winner for Joseph O'Brien.

Slievebrook House's twice-raced Aclaim colt Shoebox King made it to 70,000gns but, again, was bought back by his vendor. The juvenile was second on his most recent start at Fairyhouse.

Statement

Reflecting on the sale, Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony said: “Tattersalls Online has quickly established itself as Europe’s leading online platform and the catalogue for the Tattersalls Online Sale was the largest yet, reflecting the confidence that both vendors and buyers have in our online product.

"We were delighted to be the first online platform in Britain or Ireland to host the sale of a breeding right, and we're confident the sale of the breeding right to Ardad will be the first of many that we offer on Tattersalls Online.”