Kodiac colt fuels dreams for Loughnane after 525,000gns Craven Sale transfer

Buyers were quick out of the blocks during day one of the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale as 6,311,000gns was traded during a lively session of selling. The biggest bid came from up-and-coming trainer David Loughnane, who saw off Oliver St Lawrence at 525,000gns to secure the Kodiac colt out of No Lippy bred and breezed by Tally-Ho Stud.

Prior to lighting up the Park Paddocks ring the colt had scorched the Newmarket turf when putting in the second-fastest presale workout. Loughnane enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2021 with stars like Go Bears Go and Hello You winning major two-year-old prizes, and the trainer said he hopes his latest acquisition will help take his career to new heights.

"I liked everything about him," said Loughnane. "He's a lovely animal, very well balanced and he did an exceptional breeze. He was the second quickest of the lot and he looks like an out-and-out Royal Ascot two-year-old. He's got a good pedigree too, his dam was a very good two-year-old for Mark Johnston and the sire speaks for himself. He comes from a very good home at Tally-Ho Stud too, they're always very well prepared."

David Loughnane: 'It's nice to be able to compete at the top level'Credit: Laura Green

Loughnane, who signed alongside the name OMNI Horse, continued: "He's been bought for a new syndicate. I didn't think we'd have to go that far but I knew he wasn't going to be cheap. Thankfully we have owners who are willing to back us. It's nice to be able to compete at the top level, whether that's in the sales ring or on the track. Hopefully this horse will allow us to do both."

The sale of the Kodiac colt capped another productive evening at Tattersalls for Tally-Ho Stud, as the O'Callaghan family's operation sourced the dam, a daughter of Oasis Dream who won three races, for just 20,000gns at the December Mares Sale in 2018.

No Lippy possesses a pedigree packed with precocious speed as she is a sister to Listed-winning sprinter Polybius and a half-sister to the Niarchos family's Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac heroine Albigna. She produced a Mehmas filly last year before returning to Kodiac.

The name OMNI Horse also appeared besides the Tasleet filly out of Royal Blush who went the way of Kerri Radcliffe at 200,000gns when offered by Aguiar Bloodstock. The 75,000gns pinhook is a sibling to four winners, including the Group 3-placed A Momentofmadness.

Durcan takes aim with War Front colt

Loughnane was not the only young trainer to secure an exciting recruit during the Craven Sale's opening session, as Newmarket resident Joseph Parr can look forward to guiding the career of the War Front colt out of Pine Needles after Ted Durcan landed the promising prospect at 425,000gns.

"He's from a marvellous stable and he's a smashing-looking horse," said Durcan. "He had a small medical hiccup this morning but it was nothing major and our vets were happy with him so he's going into training with Joseph Parr in Newmarket. He's been bought for Oliver Harris. He was an obvious one but I'm afraid sometimes you have to pay for those."

Ted Durcan: 'He was an obvious one but I'm afraid sometimes you have to pay for those'Credit: Laura Green

The War Front colt was offered by Norman Williamson's Oak Tree Farm, the source of unbeaten dual Group 1 winner Native Trail. The champion two-year-old is not the only star to graduate from the Oak Tree academy, as Williamson also produced Preakness Stakes hero War Of Will, who shares his sire with Tuesday's six-figure colt.

The youngster went unsold at $170,000 when offered at Keeneland in September, and Williamson explained that agent Mark McStay provided some crucial assistance in sourcing the horse as a yearling.

"I have to give Mark McStay a mention as he knew I'd had luck with War Of Will and he told me there was a War Front colt who hadn't been sold," said Williamson. "Tim Hyde jnr went out and took videos of the horse and we got him bought, but we wouldn't have got to him without Mark.

Lot 39: the War Front colt out of Pine Needles sells for 425,000gnsCredit: Laura Green

"He's a beautiful horse and his breeze was beautiful, so let's hope he's a racehorse. We're delighted as it's a great price. He's very similar to War Of Will in terms of action and attitude, he's always fresh and happy with life, which is interesting. If he's as good we'll be more than happy."

The ten-year-old Pine Needles, a Grade 3-placed daughter of Giant's Causeway, has had just one runner from four foals of racing age but has plenty to recommend her on pedigree. She is a sibling to four stakes performers and out of Meridiana, winner of the 2003 Italian Oaks. There is some strong German blood further back in the family, with German Oaks heroine Miss Yoda among the names that jump off the page.

Godolphin go again

Godolphin bought just one horse at last year's Craven Sale, a son of Oasis Dream who turned out to be none other than Native Trail. The operation will be hoping to repeat the trick having signed for just the solitary lot, also by Oasis Dream, at 310,000gns during Tuesday's session.

The colt in question was offered by Brown Island Stables and is out of Queimada, an unraced Dansili half-sister to German champion Querari, who is also by Oasis Dream, and the Grade 2-winning Quidura. The well-related colt was another successful pinhook for Brown Island's Johnny Collins, who gave €58,000 for the youngster at BBAG.

"He was a beautiful yearling with a great walk, he was one of those I was surprised that I got to buy to be honest," said Collins. "He's been a lovely horse all the way through. He's shown us a lot of speed but if you go through his pedigree he's probably bred to get a mile or a mile plus, but I'll let Charlie Appleby be the judge of that!"

Mehmas mania

It was during the 2016 Craven Sale that Peter and Ross Doyle unearthed the two-year-old Mehmas. The son of Acclamation went on to land the July and Richmond Stakes before embarking on a successful stallion career at Tally-Ho Stud, and the story came full circle on Tuesday when the Doyles secured a well-bred daughter of the sire sensation at 300,000gns.

Another offered by Tally-Ho Stud, who finished the session as leading vendor with aggregate sales of 1,182,000gns for five sold, the filly is a half-sister to two winners, most notably Ebro River who gave Galileo Gold a first Group 1 success in last year's Phoenix Stakes.

"It's Mehmas again," said Ross Doyle. "He's been very good to a lot of people, including ourselves and the Hannons, over the years. We bought him as a breeze-up horse here from John [Cullinan] and Roger [Marley] and obviously he's done so well for Tally-Ho, so we're huge fans, as is Richard Hannon.

Ross Doyle: member of the Mehmas fan clubCredit: Laura Green

"We thought this filly looked like she'd do what it says on the tin, she looks like a real two-year-old and obviously has a very good pedigree. There's a lot of speed back in the pedigree too with Slade Power in there and she comes from one of the best homes in the game, so there are a lot of positives.

"Breeding will be the long term plan but if she can run as quick as she looks then hopefully she'll pick up a bit of black type along the way."

Doyle wasn't done for the day as a few lots later he went to 400,000gns for the Zoustar filly out of Saccharose offered by Aguiar Bloodstock. "She's outstanding and I've not seen a filly like that for a long time," said the agent.

"She's an unbelievable individual who breezed well and comes highly recommended from a very good home. We've one or two Zoustars in Richard's that he likes and obviously he's a sire sensation down under."

The filly, who is out of a daughter of Flame Of Tara Stakes winner Spinacre, was pinhooked by Midland Equine at €75,000 at the Arqana August Sale.

Blandford return to source of success

There have been few more potent partnerships at the breeze-ups than Blandford Bloodstock and Tally-Ho Stud, with the Newmarket-based agency having secured the likes of Dream Ahead, Ardad and Perfect Power from the County Westmeath nursery.

The pair renewed their association during the early stages of Tuesday's session when Richard Brown went to 225,000gns for Tally-Ho's Night Of Thunder colt out of Letterfromamerica, a winning daughter of Ghostzapper from the family of Keen Hunter.

"There's a long history building between Blandford and Tally-Ho that goes back many years and we've gone back to the source of a lot of success, horses like Dream Ahead, Ardad, Perfect Power," said Brown. "And I think Umm Kulthum could be a really good filly this year too.

"This colt did a fantastic breeze and I'm a huge fan of the stallion, he's really set to launch up to another level. He's was in early, which gave me a chance to get him, and he's one of the colts we really wanted. I don't know who he's going to be trained by but I'm sure there'll be a lot of people who'd be very happy to have him."

The Night Of Thunder colt proved a particularly successful pinhook for Tally-Ho, as the operation picked the youngster up as a foal at Goffs at a cost of €77,000.

Seemar gets in early

Proceedings got off to a rapid start when only the second lot into the ring, a colt from the debut crop of Coolmore's Saxon Warrior, drew a final bid of 210,000gns from Dubai-based trainer Satish Seemar, who was seated at the back row of the auditorium.

Offered by Brown Island Stables, the colt left connections with a tidy profit as he had been sourced from the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale at a cost of €45,000. The February born youngster is the first foal out of Kinaesthesia, a daughter of Sea The Stars who won a Nottingham maiden for Ralph Beckett and Kirsten Rausing.

In turn Kinaesthesia is out of Kinetica, who descends from the family of Rausing's Group 1 winner Madame Chiang. The six-figure colt is one of 111 juveniles in the debut crop of Saxon Warrior, the son of Japanese sensation Deep Impact who is best remembered for winning the 2018 2,000 Guineas.

"We were happy to find one right at the beginning of the sale!" said Seemar. "It kind of makes our job easier. He has been bought for one of our regular clients who's back in Dubai who has a liking for Japanese breeding. This horse is a very impressive individual, he breezed very nicely and he passed the vet."

The trainer added he was open minded about whether the colt would race on dirt or turf, saying: "With the two-year-olds they haven't started anywhere so they have no preconceived ideas in their heads about what they like or not, so once you put them in a certain situation hopefully they'll be ok. That's the theory we go by anyway."

Seemar has done well out of his breeze-up sale raids on both sides of the Atlantic, something he said has been important in helping to grow the two-year-old racing scene in Dubai. He said: "We're very serious about the two-year-olds now and we bought six at the Goffs Breeze-Up Sale in Dubai earlier in the month.

"We've been working hard at the breeze-ups for the last five or six years because if you don't bring those horses in, the racing programme never improves. But when the racing secretary sees more horses in the country they have to make the races, so we had to bully them that way!"

The session saw turnover hit 6,311,000gns, a three per cent dip on the corresponding figure from last year's sale, although that change only reflects that more horses were sold 12 months ago, with 65 changing hands in 2021 and 52 selling on Tuesday for a clearance rate of 78 per cent.

The average price went up by 22 per cent year-on-year to 121,365gns, while the median rose by eight per cent to 86,000gns, having been 80,000gns on day one in 2021. The Craven Sale continues on Wednesday at 5.30.

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