John Dance spending spree headlined by £120,000 Dark Angel colt at Premier Sale

John Dance was busy stocking up ahead of his Manor House Stud training operation opening for business with James Horton, who will hold the licence at the Middleham property, and bloodstock agent Ed Sackville walking away from day one of the Goffs UK Premier Sale in Doncaster having signed for the £120,000 top lot.

Consigned by Yeomanstown Stud, the session-topping colt is a son of Dark Angel and the Listed-winning Elusive Pimpernel mare Elusive Beauty. Horton and Sackville were busy throughout the session and also secured a £95,000 Showcasing filly out of Girls Talk and later added a Havana Gold colt in a private sale at £40,000, both of whom were consigned by Lynn Lodge Stud.

The three acquisitions meant Manor House Stud's day one spend clocked in at £255,000.

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"We're looking for horses by proven sires and these are good-actioned, racy horses and we all liked them as a team," said Horton. "We're looking for horses we think will be early and hopefully that's what we've bought and we can get going with them early next year. All of these horses fit that brief and we're looking forward to getting on with them."

Dance is no stranger to success when buying at the Premier Sale, having landed his flagship horse Laurens, who went on to win no less than six Group 1s, when bidding £220,000 for the daughter of Siyouni alongside Daniel Creighton in 2016.

James Horton (right) signs for the session-topping Dark Angel colt at £120,000Credit: Sarah Farnsworth

While Horton has cut his teeth as assistant to Sir Michael Stoute, he has found time away from his duties at Freemason Lodge Stables to get involved in the sales scene before, and said he was relishing sourcing the raw materials for the next stage of his career.

"I've been doing the sales for a few years now and it's always interesting, and it's fascinating seeing stock by all the new sires," he said. "It's an exciting time of year and Ed Sackville and Dan Creighton have been helping me hugely."

The session yielded solid, if somewhat unspectacular, trade, with 178 lots changing hands at a clearance rate of 87 per cent. In turn those transactions generated turnover of £7,007,500, an average of £39,368, up eight per cent year on year, and a median of £32,000, which was up ten per cent.

Mehmas mania

One of the day's big talking horses was the Mehmas colt out of Interweave consigned by Shinglis Stud, and the strapping chestnut lived up to his billing when bringing a final bid of £115,000 from Billy Jackson-Stops, who was sat in the front row of the auditorium while surrounded by the colt's new owners.

"He's been bought for Sheikh Abdullah Almalek Alsabah," said Jackson-Stops. "They're great guys and have been buying a few horses lately and wanted to start a relationship with Andrew Balding.

Shinglis Stud's colt by Mehmas realises £115,000 to Sheikh Abdullah Almalek AlsabahCredit: Sarah Farnsworth

"I've helped Andrew at the sales for a couple of years and this is one of a very small number of horses we had on our shortlist for these guys, so they were keen to get him.

"Although he's not got the deepest pedigree he's an absolutely cracking physical and is by a sire who's really upgrading his mares so hopefully he's lucky for them. He looks like he should be early enough and he's certainly going to the right trainer."

Although the colt's pedigree is light enough under the first two dams, his page contains a couple of big talents further back, most notably 2004 Lowther Stakes scorer Soar, who is now the dam of the Group 2-placed Konchek.

Elliott in action

Another lot by Mehmas broke the six-figure barrier when Alex Elliott went to £100,000 for the filly out of Fainleog offered by Tally-Ho Stud.

The agent said: "She's the one horse I wanted to buy today, although I don't have a very long list, tomorrow's is longer. We all know about Mehmas and she looks like an Ascot type of filly. She vetted very well and she's going to go to Archie Watson; he's a very good operator and my client wanted to support him."

The filly is out of the Listed-placed Fainleog, whose siblings include the Listed scorer The Reaper. Elliott said he held Royal Ascot ambitions for his purchase, but noted that Mehmas's recent success across the Atlantic with Going Global winning the Del Mar Oaks meant she possessed significant resale value should she fall short of his aspirations.

"Even if she just misses she's going to have good resale value to the States because after Going Global winning a Grade 1 they're all going mad for Mehmas. Even if she gets placed in a maiden here she's worth double what we paid for her today. But I've come here trying to buy Ascot horses and hopefully she's one of them."

St Lawrence strikes Gold

Tweenhills' Havana Gold has enjoyed a resurgent season on the track with 21 two-year-old winners across Europe, and the son of Teofilo enjoyed a notable result in the ring too when Oliver St Lawrence went to £105,000 for the colt out of Golden Spell consigned by Baroda Stud.

"It's the age-old thing in that we loved him from the minute we saw him," said St Lawrence after getting the better of Mick Murphy. "He's a lovely individual and a great first foal, we thought he stood out as one of the nicest horses here today.

The colt is out Golden Spell, a three-time winner and Listed-placed performer from the debut crop of Al Kazeem. St Lawrence continued: "He's a real stocky type and there's a bit of Dubawi about him coming through from Al Kazeem.

"It was very noticeable that a lot of the trainers were pulling him out of the parade ring to stand him up. The trainer is still to be decided upon but he's been bought for Fawzi Nass."

Longways Stables hoping for repeat success

Mick Murphy and Sarah O'Connell of Longways Stables have already enjoyed one punchy pinhooking touch with a daughter of Kingman, having transformed Listed-winning Queen Of Love from €125,000 yearling into a €650,000 two-year-old.

And the couple will be hoping to repeat the trick with their latest acquisition having paid £100,000 for the Kingman filly consigned by Whatton Manor Stud. The January-born youngster boasted one of the catalogue's more eye-catching pages, as she is the second foal out of Daban, winner of the Nell Gwyn Stakes and third to Winter in the 2017 1,000 Guineas.

Daban was sourced for her racing owner Abdullah Saeed Al Naboodah by Blandford Bloodstock at 260,000gns from the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale, and Murphy confirmed her Kingman filly would also be pointed towards the two-year-old sales.

Mick Murphy of Longways Stables signs the docket for the Kingman filly out of DabanCredit: Sarah Farnsworth

"She's been bought to go breezing," said Murphy. "She's a handy filly, a little on the small side, but she looks like she'll be quick and I remember her mother well from when she breezed, Katie McGivern breezed her.

"We've had great success with a Kingman filly before in Queen Of Love and we've been very lucky with fillies generally with Queen Of Love and Al Raya as well. And with her pedigree there's a bit of upside to her beyond racing."

When asked if he planned to maintain his usual levels of investment in yearlings for the Longways breeze-up programme, Murphy said: "My wife says no, but yes! We'll probably buy a couple of pricey ones for next year and we've bought a few today already. We'll probably aim to have 20 breezers for next year, which is a little less than this year when we had 25."

McKeever and Hills combine

Johnny McKeever and Charlie and Barry Hills combined to secure five lots across the session at a combined outlay of £280,000, with the partnership's haul headed by the £100,000 Acclamation colt out of Dukinta, another to emerge from the sought after Lynn Lodge Stud draft.

Shortly before that six-figure play the McKeever-Hills axis also struck for the Kodiac half-sister to the Listed-placed Lexington Grace at £90,000 when the filly was offered by Tally-Ho Stud.

"We've done some work together and Charlie very kindly asked me to do some selecting for him so I'm just here helping him out," said McKeever on the pair's exploits together. "The colt is a good old-fashioned Donny yearling, exactly what you come here to buy - a two-year-old winner, hopefully!"

He added of the Kodiac filly: "I absolutely loved her, I thought she's a Queen Mary type of filly. She's a real sharp type by a great sire and with a bit of pedigree so there's something to fall back on in the page."

Doyle seeing Stars

Lynn Lodge Stud's Eddie O'Leary has a bit of an affinity with the progeny of Starspangledbanner, having breezed the sire's Group 1-winning son The Wow Signal back in 2014.

And the County Westmeath farm enjoyed another good result courtesy of the Coolmore stallion when Ross Doyle saw off Ed Sackville with a bid of £90,000 to secure the Lynn Lodge-bred colt out of Beach Wedding during the early stages of the session.

"He looks like a typical Doncaster horse, exactly what you come here to buy," said Doyle. "He comes from a great home and is by a very good stallion who's had a brilliant season. Starspangledbanner is a very solid horse and has probably had his best year this season, so hopefully this fella can help him continue that run. He's been bought on spec for Richard Hannon."

Beach Wedding was trained by Johnny Murtagh for Wendy O'Leary, for whom she won three races and gained valuable black type when third in a Listed contest at Dundalk. The dam, who was bought as a two-year-old by Mags O'Toole at 21,000gns, traces her page back to Cheveley Park Stakes heroine Pass The Peace.

Starspangledbanner has enjoyed another fine year on the track, having sired leading juveniles Castle Star and Hermana Estrella, while the Joseph O'Brien-trained State Of Rest became the sire's third top-flight winner when landing the Saratoga Derby.

The Goffs UK Premier Sale continues on Wednesday at 10am.

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