Dance lots dominate as beleaguered owner's stock fetch 1,701,500gns at Guineas Horses in Training Sale

Horses linked to John Dance dominated trade at Tattersalls on Thursday as eight of the top ten lots at the Guineas Horses in Training Sale were sold on behalf of the beleaguered owner. 

Dance shot to prominence thanks to the exploits of six-time Group 1 winner Laurens but has had a spectacular fall from grace after it was revealed in April 2023 that he was being investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) following the discovery of “serious regulatory and operational issues” at his firm WealthTek LLP, which also traded as Vertem Asset Management and Malloch Melville. 

WealthTek LLP was duly placed into special administration by the FCA and in September last year the BHA banned horses Dance owned under the banner of Coverdale Stud or Titanium Racing from competing on the track.

Dance has had assets frozen up to the value of £40 million, while investigations into WealthTek’s accounts suggested a “potential shortfall” of £81.4m in funds held on its clients’ behalf.

Over the two sessions The Castlebridge Consignment sold 52 lots on behalf of Dance-affiliated operations for receipts totalling 1,701,500gns. 

That sum equates to 56 per cent of turnover, which reached 3,016,000gns across the extended two-day Guineas Horses in Training Sale. The Dance lots helped aggregate sales increase by 98 per cent year-on-year, while the average price rose by 26 per cent to 22,675gns. The median was also up 25 per cent at 15,000gns. The clearance rate was 94 per cent as 133 sold from 142 offered. 

Mick Appleby: "We haven’t made a plan yet but we’ll probably put her into training and see how she goes"Credit: Laura Green

Commenting on the dispersal of stock linked to Dance, Castlebridge director Andrew Mead said: “We’re very satisfied with the sale of the John Dance horses. We acted as a liaison between John Dance and the FCA, and we had a 100 per cent clearance rate from what we offered. Thanks must go to various other service providers such as the vets and transporters, who were key in getting the stock to Tattersalls and contributed to a successful sale.” 

Jeremy Young came off second best when the Coverdale Stud-owned Kingman filly out of Life Of Pi was knocked down to Alex Elliott and Billy Jackson-Stops at 130,000gns on Wednesday evening, but the owner was back in position on Thursday morning and bid the same figure to secure the once-raced Supreme Beauty. 

The daughter of No Nay Never is out of Park Bloom, a Galileo sister to Oaks heroine Was and her Group-winning siblings Amhran Na Bhfiann and Douglas Macarthur. The youngster was bred by Lodge Park Stud and fetched 375,000gns from Dance's Manor House Farm at Book 1 in 2022. 

Supreme Beauty debuted for James Horton with a promising third at Beverley, and is set to continue her racing career with trainer Mick Appleby, who sat beside his client at the back of the auditorium. 

“We haven’t made a plan yet but we’ll probably put her into training and see how she goes,” said Appleby. “If we don’t think she’s going to be top class then we’ll probably just breed from her. She’s a nice filly, though, and the owners will breed from her eventually either way.” 

When asked if he already had breeding interests, Young said: “Not yet!” 

Twisting Physics: Dubawi half-brother to Tropbeau sold to Alex Cole Credit: Laura Green

Another Book 1 graduate reappearing on Thursday was the unraced Twisting Physics. The Dubawi half-brother to Tropbeau, who was signed for by Manor House Farm at 1,000,000gns in October 2022, went the way of Alex Cole, racing manager to Jim and Fitri Hay, at 100,000gns. 

“He’ll go to Whatcombe, but obviously Dubawis do well in Dubai, so if all else fails that’s where we can go,” said Cole, standing besides the father and son training duo of Paul and Oliver Cole.

When asked if he knew anything about Twisting Physics’ recent whereabouts, Cole said: “Nothing, the same as the groom that led him up. I got a million-pound yearling for a hundred grand though. Dubawis aren’t usually in my price range, only the second-hand ones.” 

Chilli Zing, a half-brother to 2,000 Guineas winner Poetic Flare, realised 300,000gns the year after that Classic success. The unraced son of Magna Grecia was knocked down to trainer Phil Kirby for 100,000gns on Thursday. 

“I looked at these horses before the sale and he was my pick of all of them,” said Kirby. “He’s a lovely horse to look forward to. Obviously he was an expensive youngster but he probably wouldn’t have made a two-year-old anyway, so someone’s spent a year looking after him for us, basically. 

“I loved him as a type and he’s got a nice page but we’ll just see what he’s like when we get home. He’s been bought for James and Susan Cookson, who lost a nice horse recently, so we were looking for another one. Hopefully he’s a nice horse for them.” 

That same edition of Book 1 saw Manor House Farm bid 190,000gns for the Le Havre filly out of Elle Maxima offered by Kildaragh Stud. Roderic Kavanagh went to 72,000gns to bring the unraced filly, subsequently named Fleeting Moment, back into the Kildaragh fold. 

Fleeting Moment: the Le Havre filly out of Elle Maxima will head back to James HortonCredit: Laura Green

“We obviously bred her and were always very fond of her,” said Kavanagh. “She’s still an untouched product and the plan is to send her back to James Horton, who had her originally. He knows everything about her so it makes sense. The mare has some lovely progeny coming through. She has a lovely Pinatubo yearling and an Australia foal at foot so hopefully we can manage the progeny. The hope would be to win a maiden with this filly and maybe get a bit of black-type. That would be lovely.” 

Another of the draft’s eyecatching lots was First Ambition, the first foal out Dance’s multiple Group 1 winner Laurens. The unraced three-year-old son of Invincible Spirit was knocked down to Harriet Jones at 42,000gns. 

“I used to work for Karl Burke so I had an involvement with Laurens, so it’s nice to have her first offspring,” said Jones, who secured the colt on behalf of an undisclosed client. “We’re not too sure about immediate plans but he looks like a horse who might need a bit of time. We’ll give him all the time he needs but he’ll definitely go into training. Hopefully he can do as well as Laurens did. He’s got quite a lot of Laurens about him in the way he walks and he looks like he’s got a great mind, just like his mum.” 

Jones added: “Laurens had a real powerful presence, as he does, so let’s hope he can bring some of that to the track. This is an unusual situation but in a way it’s nice they’re all here now and they can restart their careers, which have all been put on hold. It’s good that these horses can head into training and do what they should be doing.” 

The priciest lot away from the Dance horses was Thunder Blue, who was presented by Baroda Stud on behalf of Amo Racing. The son of Blue Point won one of nine starts for Dominic Ffrench Davis and was also fourth to Jasour in the Group 2 July Stakes. He will continue his career with Jamie Osborne after the trainer landed a successful bid of 110,000gns. 

“He’s been bought for Ian and Claire Barratt of Barratt Racing,” said Osborne. “I’m hoping to have runners for them every day at Royal Ascot, they have a box there so we’re prioritising that meeting. We’re trying to give them as much entertainment as possible so this horse will go straight to the Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes. Who knows what he can do after that, but at the moment we’re working back from the Friday of Royal Ascot.”

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John Dance-affiliated lots bring 567,500gns as six-figure filly holds sway