Soldier receives a six-figure salute as St Lawrence strikes at 380,000gns

A six-figure showdown between Oliver St Lawrence and Saudi Arabian owner Khalid Mishref resulted in Salute The Soldier topping trade during the third leg of the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale on Wednesday, with St Lawrence winning the battle for the 109-rated son of Sepoy at 380,000gns.

The rival bidders locked horns at the back of the auditorium as evening set in at Park Paddocks, with an increase of 5,000gns sealing the deal for the agent.

"The auctioneer did well to get another bid out of us as we definitely weren't going any further," quipped St Lawrence.

View full Autumn Horses in Training Sale results and stats

"He's a nice type of horse who seems to go on firm ground so should suit the Middle East. He's been bought by Fawzi Nass, who'll train the horse himself, although I don't know whether the horse will go to Bahrain or Dubai."

Offered by Beechdown Farm Stables, Salute The Soldier has won four times for Clive Cox and has been placed a further seven times.

Oliver St Lawrence: 'The auctioneer did well to get another bid out of us'Credit: Laura Green

He achieved his career-high Racing Post Rating of 109 when winning a valuable Ascot handicap on his penultimate outing and was last seen adding black type to his record when third to Tabarrak in a Newbury Listed event over seven furlongs.

"He's a horse Fawzi has been following for a while," added St Lawrence. "Clive's a good trainer and has been bringing the horse along nicely and taken great care of him."

St Lawrence has signed for 18 lots across the three days of trade, with Salute The Soldier his priciest purchase and his cheapest being the 1,500gns Global Challenger.

"There's been a bit of a lack of horses after the usual large amount of withdrawals, which has been the same for the last few years," he said when asked about this week's market.

"That's meant the nicer horses have been tougher to buy so I'd say trade has been pretty good. I've been buying for places like Greece, Pakistan and Hungary and trade at the bottom end has seemed strong too."

AUTUMN HORSES IN TRAINING STATS: DAY THREE

Offered305 lots
Sold270 (89 per cent)
Aggregate8,206,000gns (down 21 per cent year-on-year)
Average30,395gns (down 18 per cent)
Median16,500gns (down 18 per cent)

Mishref makes amends

Mishref may have filled the role of underbidder on the session-topper, but he enjoyed better fortunes earlier in the day, notably when he picked up the rapidly progressive Dramatic Device, who will now head to Saudi Arabia after the owner and bloodstock agent Paul Harley struck the winning bid of 220,000gns.

The four-year-old son of Dansili rattled off a hat-trick for Chris Wall, having joined the trainer's Induna Stables after he was purchased by Durcan Bloodstock for just 20,000gns back in February.

His winning run has seen his official rating rise to 93, with his latest success having come in a 0-100 handicap at Newmarket last month.

Just three lots before Dramatic Device jumped to the top of the list of prices, Mishref and Harley also landed Rock The Cradle at 200,000gns when the improving sort was offered by Ed Vaughan's Machell Place Stables.

"They'll both go well in Saudi Arabia," said Mishref. "I like both as individuals and I think they'll go on the dirt surface in Saudi. Dansili [the sire of Dramatic Device] has a good record there. I hope Rock The Cradle will run in the King's Cup and then go on to the Saudi Cup. My son will train both horses."

Khalid Mishref: busy buying horses to race in Saudi ArabiaCredit: Laura Green

Expanding on how he and Harley tackle such a mammoth catalogue, Mishref said: "Paul finds the horses in the catalogue and then we work as a team inspecting horses at the sale."

Much like Dramatic Device, Rock The Cradle's price also showed a steep upward trend, with the three-year-old son of Ruler Of The World having been purchased as a yearling by Paul Moroney for 25,000gns at Book 2 in 2017.

Among those watching on as the dual winner, who readily landed a Yarmouth handicap on his latest outing, came under the hammer was part-owner and Tattersalls marketing manager Jason Singh.

"All the kudos goes to the purchaser, Paul Moroney, and the trainer, Ed Vaughan," said Singh. "They both did a great job of buying this horse given he was by a stallion who wasn't fashionable. He's been nothing but a star from the day he entered the stable."

The free-spending Mishref was also busy outside of the ring, as he added the talented stayer Mekong to his string in a private deal at 400,000gns, less than 24 hours after the son of Frankel was bought in for 425,000gns.

Just last week it was announced that Mishref had bought into Phoenix Thoroughbreds' Saudi Cup contender Gronkowski, who was last seen going down by just a nose to Thunder Snow in this year's Dubai World Cup.

O'Keeffe makes the Quantum leap

A burgeoning partnership between Jedd O'Keeffe and the mysteriously named ownership group Quantum was cemented at Tattersalls as the talented North Yorkshire trainer secured the useful middle-distance performer Kiefer at 210,000gns.

Bred and owned by Aston House Stud, the three-year-old son of Pour Moi had been on a steady upward curve prior to disappointing on his final start for Eve Johnson Houghton, having improved from an official rating of 75 to 88 over just three runs during the summer.

The half-brother to Luca Cumani's Geelong Cup scorer and Melbourne Cup runner-up Bauer caught the attention of a host of interested parties, including southern hemisphere-based agent Paul Moroney, but after a determined round of bidding the ghostly grey was knocked down to O'Keeffe, who stood in the bidders' area with his son, Jonny.

Kiefer parades in front of Jedd O'Keeffe (on the phone) in the Park Paddocks ringCredit: Laura Green

"I didn't quite realise the owners were keen to that extent!" said O'Keeffe, who was taking instructions on the phone throughout the bidding. "It's very exciting though, we've had a good year for Quantum and I'm just very lucky that they're supporting me and buying some nice horses. I hope I can reward the people involved."

The ownership group has had five winners in 2019, all of which were trained by O'Keeffe, including impressive York victor Starcaster and the smart handicapper Jazeel. The trainer went on to expand on the names behind the syndicate and their methodology at the sales.

"The syndicate is managed by Jonathan Ramsden, Jack's son and Linda's stepson; there's various clients involved, some of whom I haven't actually met," said O'Keeffe. "Jonathan is the brains behind the syndicate, he identifies horses with the right kind of profile and I do the physical side of things and between us we try and get them bought."

Jedd O'Keeffe: ' I'm just very lucky that they're supporting me'Credit: Laura Green

The combination of Kiefer's form and the stamina in his pedigree suggests he could well make up into a candidate for races like the Ebor in future, but his new trainer said no grand plans had been put in place just yet.

"There's no special aim with this horse right now but we'll be looking at some nice races and hoping he can take us to some exciting places," said O'Keeffe. "I loved the horse and he came highly recommended by Eve so I just feel very fortunate to have got him."

Kiefer formed part of a seven-lot haul acquired by Quantum and O'Keeffe, with those purchases bringing total receipts of 482,000gns. Also among that number are Tavus, bought for 105,000gns on Tuesday, and Turn To Rock, who was bought from Ed Walker for 32,000gns on Wednesday.

"He's more of a fun horse - we haven't made a plan yet but he may go on the all-weather imminently or we may start off at the start of the next turf season," O'Keeffe said of Turn To Rock.

Later in the session O'Keeffe and Quantum turned sellers as they offloaded Jazeel to Oliver St Lawrence at 160,000gns.

Doyle dips in early

The first significant purchase of the session came from Peter Doyle, who secured the winning two-year-old Revestar from his position in the front row of the auditorium with a bid of 140,000gns.

The son of Sea The Stars, who was signed for by John Hammond at €35,000 at last year's Goffs Orby Sale, made two starts for Simon Crisford and opened his account at the second time of asking when taking a Lingfield maiden last month.

Doyle said: "He's been bought for a man who wishes to remain anonymous at the minute. He'll head out to the Middle East shortly though. He's a very nice horse, good-looking and a great mover. He came highly recommended by Simon Crisford."

The Autumn Horses in Training Sale concludes on Thursday, with the session starting at 9.30am.

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