Dragon Symbol's Havana Grey half-brother fetches 250,000gns at December Foals

Fresh from snaring the €550,000 top lot at Goffs last week, high-rolling pinhooker Philipp Stauffenberg continued his hunt for blue-chip yearling prospects by going to 250,000gns for the Havana Grey half-brother to Dragon Symbol on day two of the Tattersalls December Foal Sale on Thursday.

The colt is arguably unlucky not to be a sibling to a Group 1 winner after Dragon Symbol finished first past the post in last year’s Commonwealth Cup, only to be placed second in the stewards’ room after drifting right in the closing stages.

The son of Cable Bay’s five victories do not include a black-type race but his Ascot effort was followed by a runner-up performance in the July Cup and a third in the Nunthorpe Stakes.

“I thought he’s a racy-looking horse and his half-brother should be a Group 1 winner,” said Stauffenberg. “I just loved him and he was the one I wanted to have today, which is why I bought him!

"I liked Havana Grey’s first crop, I didn’t buy one but he’s proven he’s capable of producing a good horse and hopefully he will go on now.”

Stauffenberg spent €1,113,000 on six foals at Goffs, headed by the Kingman half-brother to Skitter Scatter. When asked if he expected to be adding to his haul during the headline session at Tattersalls on Friday, he replied with a smile: “I don’t know, but it’s a pretty small shortlist!”

Philipp Stauffenberg: 'His half-brother should be a Group 1 winner'Credit: Alisha Meeder

The son of Havana Grey was bred and offered by Whitsbury Manor Stud, who have enjoyed plenty of racing and sales highlights with resident stallion Havana Grey. The Group 1-winning son of Havana Gold has had his fee upped to £18,500 for 2023 on the back of his first two-year-olds including 40 European winners, among which are 13 black-type performers.

“It sounds so boring with these nice ones but they don’t just pop out of nowhere, he’s been nice all the way along,” said Whitsbury Manor director Ed Harper. “He’s probably a bigger model than Dragon Symbol and the mare keeps throwing lovely stock.

“It’s a family we’ve done well with and we’ve had it for a long time as Dad bought [granddam] Good Enough in America probably 25 years ago. She was the most expensive mare he’d bought at that time, she was two hundred and something [thousand] and when you have less than no money it was a lot. It was also a gamble to send a nice mare to Havana Grey in his third crop but it’s worked.”

Reflecting on the year watching the rise and rise of Havana Grey, Harper continued: “It does make strolling around the fields at home a lot more satisfying. We’ve had it go the other way and the aftermath of a disastrous first season with a stallion, I cannot tell you how much of a kick in the wotsits that is! But walking around seeing mares in foal to Havana Grey and his stock on the ground makes a Sunday afternoon stroll pretty special.”

Doyle maintains Mehmas connection

A crowd of prospective purchasers followed Rossenarra Stud’s Mehmas colt out of Heavenly River into the ring but it was Peter and Ross Doyle, sitting in the seats opposite the rostrum, who brought the gavel down at 240,000gns.

The colt is a brother to Quattroelle, a member of Mehmas’s debut crop who was a vendor buyback at just €10,000 as a yearling but went on to win the Listed Blue Norther Stakes for Jeff Mullins and Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal.

The page underwent a further upgrade this year courtesy of Heavenly River’s half-sister Katie's Diamond, who bred Queen Mary Stakes winner and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint runner-up Dramatised.

Ross Doyle: 'The most important thing, as always, is the physical'Credit: Alisha Meeder

“The most important thing, as always, is the physical,” said Ross Doyle, who signed on behalf of an undisclosed client. “It’s a huge bonus that he’s by Mehmas and he comes from a great nursery at Rossenarra Stud.

"Obviously he’s very closely related to a good filly too and I just thought he was an absolute standout. Mehmas has been very lucky for a lot of people, including ourselves as we bought him at the breeze-ups and this year we’ve had Persian Force for Amo Racing.

“This colt had a bit more strength to him, he’s naturally very strong and he’s got a nice, deep girth on him. He behaved himself for every show and was a true pro, which is probably Mehmas’s influence coming through again. I knew all the right people would be on him but our client was very keen to get a good Mehmas. I think the long-term plan will be to race him.”

The 240,000gns Mehmas colt in the Tattersalls ringCredit: Laura Green

Heavenly River, a placed daughter of Stormy River, joined the Rossenarra broodmare band at a cost of just 5,000gns in 2015.

Explaining the background to the savvy purchase, Rossenarra’s John McEnery said: “I had to go home to Ireland and left my nephew, Billy, to look at a few pedigrees and he picked her up. She was a maiden mare and we bought her out of Karl Burke's yard.

“We’ve always liked the foals by Mehmas and we'd had a bit of luck with Dark Angel. I thought the first year he was too expensive at €12,500 and then I got caught for €25,000 last year!”

Inbreeding catches Foley’s eye

New Bay is firmly established as one of the most promising young sires around and his upgraded standing among the stallion ranks was reflected in the price of the colt out of Moorside from Norelands Stud who went the way of Joe Foley at 150,000gns.

The dam was second in the Cheshire Oaks and Foley noted that the colt’s female line was equally appealing as the sire as the Juddmonte-bred Moorside is out of a winning sister to Zafonic and Zamindar.

The New Bay colt out of Moorside who sold to Joe Foley for 150,000gnsCredit: Alisha Meeder

“He’s by an exciting and emerging sire,” said Foley. “We have a very nice two-year-old by him called Overrule who won very impressively for Karl Burke. This colt is very interestingly bred as he’s 4x3 to Zaizafon and 4x3 to Gone West.

"The mother is by Champs Elysees but there’s a lot of speed in his make-up and physically he looks a fast horse. He’s a beautiful active colt with a great attitude. He’s the one we focused on for today. He’s a racing prospect for Clipper.

“The Invincible Spirit [two-year-old half-brother] was bought by Mick Kinane for the Hong Kong Jockey Club and they tell me he’s really highly regarded and a very good judge, David Bowe, bought last year’s foal [by Invincible Spirit], he’s nice also and is owned by Jeff Smith and is going to Andrew Balding and they love him, so the mare’s first two foals look very promising.”

Ghaiyyath gaining momentum

With three Group 1 winners on his record New Bay is among the key players in Dubawi’s emergence as a sire of sires. Ghaiyyath, another son of Dubawi, may still be 18 months away from fielding his first runners, but his debut crop foals certainly have their fans at the sales as the Kildangan Stud resident had three more six-figure lots on Thursday.

The priciest of the bunch was knocked down to John Cullinan, who went to 240,000gns for the half-brother to the Group 3-placed Harrow offered by Kellsgrange Stud.

“We were keen to buy a Ghaiyyath,” said Cullinan. “He’s one of the stallions who’s been on our mind as a first-crop sire. He looks to have very good stock, he was a brilliant racehorse and was the highest-rated racehorse in the world for a time and is by a sire of sires.

“This is a lovely individual who vetted very well. We were at full stretch at that price but nice horses are always hard to come by. You have to pay a bit more for the ones you want. We will try and keep him safe and keep him out of trouble and come back to one of the premier sales back here, but we will worry about that in a few months' time.”

Cullinan also gave his perspective on risking such a significant sum in the pursuit of pinhooking profit, saying: “You’re up against the smartest people in the world at this job. There aren’t many jobs that you can say that about when you get out of bed in the morning. The first thing is to find the horses and the second is to buy them.

“That is a big throw for us, the biggest we have ever given for a foal. We have a small list today and a smaller list tomorrow so we thought we'd better get stuck into today!"

Earlier in the day the filly out of the Listed-placed Shenoya brought 130,000gns from Tally-Ho Stud when offered by Ringfort Stud.

“We bought the mare privately,” said Ringfort’s Derek Veitch. “This filly has always been a good walker and is a lovely sort. We thought Ghaiyyath would suit the mare physically – he’s a big scopey stallion and would suit a smallish mare. We’re delighted with that price.”

Peter and Ross Doyle secured the day’s other six-figure Ghaiyyath when going to 110,000gns for the colt out of Stella D'Italia from Yellowford Farm. The dam, a daughter of Sea The Stars, is out of Ragsah, a Group 3-placed half-sister to Dubawi’s sire Dubai Millennium.

Ghaiyyath covered a debut book of 138 mares at a fee of €30,000 in 2021 and five of those have now brought a six-figure price, including the €185,000 colt who topped day two of the recent Goffs November Sale when bought by Pier House Stud.

Another for Natton House

There has been plenty for the Natton House Thoroughbreds team to toast at this year’s December Foal Sale as Julie Wood went to 46,000gns for the operation’s Without Parole colt on day one, while Yeomanstown Stud helped the Gloucestershire nursery sell its first six-figure homebred when going to 100,000gns for the son of Showcasing and Parliament House.

The Showcasing colt out of Parliament House takes his turn in the ringCredit: Alisha Meeder

The dam, a daughter of Slade Power and the Cheveley Park Stakes scorer Embassy, who in turn is out of the champion Pass The Peace, was picked up for just 22,000gns at the 2019 February Sale. She has now generated 172,000gns in December Foal Sale receipts as her first offspring was bought by Hillwood Bloodstock and Richard Knight for 72,000gns 12 months ago.

“We bought the mare as a two-year-old from Godolphin for 22,000gns here at the February Sale," said Natton House’s Chris Dudfield. "She was tiny, only about 14.3 hands, but she’s grown well since and her first two Showcasings have been beautiful foals. Last year's foal made 72,000gns, this horse was even nicer and some of the lads said he is flawless, he’s just a beautiful, beautiful horse.”

Expanding on what appealed about Parliament House, Dudfield said: “She’s got an amazing pedigree; there are ten Group 1 winners on the page and three champions – why wouldn't you want to own her? She’s back in foal to Showcasing, we have breeding rights in him and we bought her specifically to go to him. It’s a fantastic result for us. We’re thrilled and the girls have worked so hard.”

Yeomanstown also snapped up the second 100,000gns lot of the day when bringing the gavel down on Tweenhills Farm and Stud’s New Bay colt out of Listed winner Strawberry Martini.

Tweenhills’ David Redvers said: “The stallion has worked out really well for us as we paid €20,000 for the nomination. Strawberry Martini is quite a stout Mount Nelson mare and New Bay gives his progeny a bit of 'energy', which I like. This colt has a good outlook and action and captured the attention of some big buyers. It’s a nice result.”

Plans fluid for Sir Erec sibling

Among the catalogue’s more eyecatching pages was the Camelot brother to ill-fated Grade 1-winning hurdler Sir Erec, who was offered by GCE Farm through Yellowford Farm. Agent Jeremy Brummitt brought the hammer down with a bid of 90,000gns.

“He walks like all the good Montjeus walk: effortlessly,” said Brummitt. “I thought he had a lovely attitude, he’s a full-brother to a very good horse and I don’t think it’s necessary to assume that he will be as immature or need such a long trip as Sir Erec. I don’t know what I’m going to do with him yet.”

Brummitt was sporting a jacket emblazoned with the name ‘The Strad’ in honour of champion stayer Stradivarius, who is settling into life as a stallion at The National Stud. As well as his hurdling exploits, Sir Erec also finished third to Stradivarius in the British Champions Long Distance Cup on his final outing before switching from Aidan O’Brien to the trainer’s son, Joseph.

On Thursday, 223 lots of 274 offered found a buyer for a clearance rate of 81 per cent, and for aggregate turnover of 9,449,000gns. The average of 42,372gns was eight per cent up on day two in 2021, while the median of 32,000gns was seven per cent higher.

The December Foal Sale continues on Friday at 10am, with a Kingman half-sister to Dewhurst Stakes hero Chaldean among the lots on offer.

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