‘He’s a colt with progressive form’ - Classic aspirations abound as Baridi tops February Sale closer at 100,000gns

Bloodstock agent Alessandro Marconi continued his February Sale spree at Tattersalls on Friday, where his haul was headed by the sole six-figure lot on the day.

Baridi ran twice for trainer Stuart Williams and highlighted his talent by winning a mile maiden at Lingfield on his latest outing. That performance, given a Racing Post Rating (RPR) of 68, prompted Marconi to bid 100,000gns for the son of Sergei Prokofiev when presented by Robbie Mills’ RMM Bloodstock. 

“I have a soft spot for the sire but I couldn’t afford any of them as yearlings, but I prefer to get something that has already shown a bit of quality,” said Marconi. “He’s a lovely horse and hopefully he’ll train on. He came highly recommended by Stuart Williams. I thought I was only going to spend half of that price initially, but when we went around all of them he was the clear pick of the day.” 

Baridi, who was bred by Moyns Park Stud, was changing hands at public auction at the third time of asking. He was retained by his vendor at just 8,000gns at Book 3 of the October Yearling Sale in 2023 and then went unsold at 48,000gns at the following year’s July Sale. 

The session-topping colt was one of a dozen lots Marconi purchased on the day, a tally that took his February Sale total to 29. “I hoped 30 would be enough,” he said. “I was very discrete in the July Sale last year and walked away with 28 horses bought under different names, but this time I thought I needed to promote myself a little!” 

Earlier in the day Marconi bid 46,000gns for the Jamie Railton-consigned Stage Winner. The three-year-old son of Zoustar brought an important update to the table having broken his maiden by two lengths at Lingfield on the latest of three starts for George Boughey and Qatar Racing. 

“He’s a colt with progressive form,” said Marconi. “I had a few clients, including some from Italy, who wanted to be active on a colt with this profile and level of form. Obviously his last race was a big incentive because now his rating means he has the level of form for every Classic race in Italy. That sort of money was what I expected to pay, albeit that was on the higher end, but so far he’s been bought on spec.”

Alessandro Marconi continued his spending spree at the February Sale going to 100,000gns for Baridi Credit: Laura Green

Marconi offered a somewhat philosophical explanation as he expanded on the thinking behind targeting the February Sale.

“Horses are made by the workforce and land,” he said. “God is not making any more land, and the workforce is expensive. Finding staff is a struggle everywhere, so when you think about what people were investing at Book 1, Book 2 and Book 3, and given all the guesswork that goes into buying yearlings, it can be better to buy horses who have been proven in Britain because, hopefully, that form will translate very well when they run in another country.”

He added: “This is the cheapest sale of the year and is the only sale that, at every level of the market, gives you access to the sort of horse that can actually give you a chance to win races.”

On day one Marconi, the sale’s leading buyer whose haul generated receipts totalling 833,500gns, indicated his purchases would be spread between clients and trainers throughout Europe and the Middle East. 

Wanderlust on Classic trail 

Wanderlust is another who looks set for a Classic campaign on the continent after Spanish bloodstock agent Rafael Rojano signed his Stamina Turf brand on the 62,000gns docket. The three-year-old son of Soldier Hollow reached the podium on all three starts for Marco Botti, and was last seen finishing runner-up over a mile at Southwell a week before coming under the hammer. His best effort on the figure came on debut when awarded an RPR of 77 for finishing third in the Wolverhampton novice stakes won by Merchant. 

“The client has a good bunch of three-year-olds but we’re missing a potential [Spanish] Derby horse,” said Rojano. “We had a few on our list here and yesterday we missed out on the Frankel colt that Juddmonte sold to Mr Marconi [90,000gns Modernise]. It’s a very demanding market but this horse was the obvious choice today and now we’ll just hope for some luck. 

“He’ll go into training with Sandro Tsereteli in Madrid and we’ll look forward to a Classic campaign. The owner [Arturo San Jose] has four or five three-year-olds for this year, three of them won at two so he has a good season ahead, but we were just missing a 12 furlong horse.” 

The late show with Colbert 

A late bid saw the lightly raced Sorbus knocked down to Emma Colbert of Colbert Stud at 60,000gns. Consigned by Ed Walker Racing on behalf of Rockcliffe Stud, the three-year-old daughter of Night Of Thunder shed her maiden tag at the second time of asking when making virtually all the running over a mile at Kempton. 

Rafael Rojano, Sandro Tseretelli and Arturo San Jose are looking at the Madrid Derby for new purchase Wanderlust Credit: Laura Green

Colbert is building up a boutique broodmare band just up the road from Tattersalls in the village of Dullingham Ley, but said that Sorbus could look to enhance her race record before beginning her paddocks career. 

“We’re a new stud and the plan is to breed from her eventually, but I think she’ll go back into training first,” said Colbert. “She’s fit and she’s ready to go so I think she’ll do a little bit more this year before coming back to our stud for breeding. She’s got a great walk and a fantastic character and I think she’s got more to come. We’re excited about her.” 

Colbert currently has eight mares and one horse in training, namely the George Scott-trained Zubaru who was second in a Newmarket novice stakes on debut at two. 

She said no training plans had been made for Sorbus, but expanded on the make up of her operation by saying: “We bought the stud a couple of years ago and we’re hoping to breed some nice horses. We’re aiming to have around 20 mares, we have eight right now and we’re hoping to purchase some more in the next few years and build things up. 

"We don’t want too many, we want to keep it boutique and have the highest quality we can. We’ll breed commercially and we’d like to retain a few to run as well. I used to breed dressage horses so this is a new venture for me and one I’m very excited about.” 

Edmunds turns talent spotter 

Jockey Lewis Edmunds swapped the saddle for the sales ring on Friday when helping the Mayflower Racing Club secure the progressive Everyoneknowsadave at 30,000gns. The three-year-old son of Kodiac won two races for trainer Amy Murphy, and few would have a better insight into the talent Everyoneknowsadave possesses than Edmunds as he was on board for both successes. 

“After he won his last race I said to Amy that I thought he was quite a nice horse, and she said he was in the sales so if I could find an owner for him, I’d know where to find him,” said Edmunds. “We brought [owner] Tony Hession to have a look at him and he liked him. I spoke to Amy again before the sale and thankfully she was good enough to let us take him.” 

Jockey Lewis Edmunds is delighted to have secured Everyoneknowsadave at the Tattersalls February Sale Credit: Laura Green

Edmunds continued: “He’ll go into training with my wife, Jessica Macey. We’ve known Amy and Lemos [De Souza, Murphy’s husband and assistant trainer] for quite a while now and it’s good to get one off them. Knowing the horse from the track can only help, any advantage is a good one! 

“He’s rated 74 now and when I rode him I thought he had the potential to get to the high 70s or even around the 80 mark. At that level there’ll be plenty of races for him at the likes of Doncaster, which is near us and gives the owners some days out. We just want him to be a good fun horse and consistent for the owner. I don’t think there’s anything we need to do to improve him, he feels like he’s an improving three-year-old anyway. He’s got low mileage so as long as we can maintain the form he’s in I think he can give us a lot of fun.” 

Edmunds said he has not made a habit of playing bloodstock agent, but with boxes to be filled he said he and Macey were on the lookout for other new recruits. 

“We always try to buy a couple of yearlings but we’ve not done much at the horses-in-training sales really,” he said. “We have a lot of owners who breed their own horses as well, but we’ve still got a few more to get for the year so we’ll see what happens. I always think it’s tough at the sales, especially when you have to stick to a budget. There’s plenty of horses you take a liking to that make so much money you end up thinking it’s a waste of time being here!” 

Statistics

The key market indices on day two may not have shown the kind of sizeable year-on-year increase witnessed on day one, but the consensus among those on the ground was that trade was particularly solid for the level of stock on offer. 

From 126 lots offered on Friday, 105 sold for a clearance rate of 83 per cent. Aggregate sales reached 1,440,000gns, which was down only fractionally on the figure of 1,456,000gns 12 months ago. The average price for the session was down six per cent at 13,714gns, while the median was identical to day two in 2025 at 8,000gns. 

Emma Colbert added Sorbus to her string at Tattersalls on Friday Credit: Laura Green

Those results contributed to a 38 per cent year-on-year increase in February Sale spending at 3,949,500gns. The average price was up 26 per cent at 18,034gns, and the median rose by 52 per cent to 11,000gns. All told the clearance rate was a healthy 85 per cent as 219 sold from 257 lots offered. 

Chairman's statement

In his end-of-sale statement, Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony said: “The Tattersalls February Sale is firmly established as Europe’s premier midwinter sale and this year’s renewal saw significant year-on-year increases in turnover, average and median as well as a clearance rate above 85 per cent. These figures represent a positive start to 2025 after last year’s record-breaking Tattersalls sales season and we have welcomed a typically diverse group of buyers, both domestic and from overseas, to Park Paddocks.

“Racecourse success is always a key driver of demand and the Tattersalls February Sale enjoyed a remarkable year in 2024 with Classic winners Los Angeles and Metropolitan and Group 1 winner Facteur Cheval all out of fillies purchased at past renewals of the sale. Their dams all came from large owner-breeder operations and so it was no surprise that the sale-leading consignment from Godolphin was as ever in great demand, with their draft of 36 fillies and horses in and out of training realising almost 1,400,000gns.

“The sale also featured the inaugural Retraining of Racehorses Showcase and the ever-popular Stallion Parade, and it was hugely enjoyable to have such a large crowd in the sale ring to see former stars of the turf looking so well in their second careers. We now look forward to the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale, which has consistently produced Group 1 winners in recent renewals including Hotazhell, who looks an exciting Classic contender.” 

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