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

Interest on day one of the Tattersalls Guineas Horses-in-Training Sale centred around the lots being offered on behalf of Coverdale Stud and Titanium Racing Club, operations linked to the beleaguered owner John Dance. 

Dance’s company WealthTek LLP, which also operated under the banner of Vertem Asset Management and Malloch Melville, was put into special administration by the Financial Conduct Authority in April 2023 following the discovery of “serious regulatory and operational issues”. 

The most sought after offering was the unraced juvenile Kingman half-sister to Ripon Champion Two-Year-Old Trophy scorer Bahrain Pride. After a protracted round of bidding the hammer fell in favour of agents Alex Elliott and Billy Jackson-Stops at 130,000gns. 

Horses associated with Dance have been banned from running by the BHA since September last year, meaning all lots were offered out of training, while the nine two-year-olds that came under the hammer on Wednesday are believed to be unbroken. 

Expanding on the unusual circumstances, Elliott said: “I didn’t really know what to expect when I went to look at these horses, but her quality just shone through. We didn’t know what these horses would cost and they were hard to value because we didn’t know who would be here. We were happy to get her for what we paid though because the stallion stands for £125,000 and she’s a three-parts sister to a Listed winner from a deep pedigree. 

Alex Elliott: "She’ll go to Andrew Balding and she'll get all the time in the world now"Credit: Laura Green

“She vetted perfectly but these horses haven’t had a great preparation just because of the circumstances. You couldn’t rush her because these horses have just been out on grass, basically. As far as I know they went on the walker only a month ago. She’s done herself well just through her innate quality. These horses are very soft so she’ll be given a lot of time before going into a training regime.”

He continued: “Even if she doesn’t run this year that’s fine, we’ll just worry about her first and foremost. I’d have loved to have bought her eight months ago because we could have been dreaming of June, but she’ll go to Andrew Balding and she'll get all the time in the world now. She’s got good residual value and all she can do is improve.”

This is not the first time Elliott and Jackson-Stops have combined on behalf of their respective clients. On the owners the pair were acting on behalf of, Elliott said: “She’s been bought for Valmont and Michael Blencowe. We bought six yearlings in partnership last year; two that went to George Scott, two that went to Andrew Balding and two that went to Ralph Beckett. Unfortunately one of them got hurt so we were keen to replace that one.” 

The filly was bred under the banner of Coverdale Stud in 2021 when her sire stood for £150,000. All Dance-owned lots were offered by The Castlebridge Consignment. 

Just two lots later the two-year-old Lope De Vega colt out of Mighty Spirit was knocked down to Jason Singh, taking instructions on the phone, at 52,000gns. Tattersalls’ marketing manager was acting on behalf of BBA Ireland’s Patrick Cooper, who indicated the colt would head into training with Jessica Harrington. 

The Lope De Vega colt out of Mighty Spirit is heading into training with Jessica Harrington after selling to BBA Ireland’s Patrick CooperCredit: Laura Green

Mighty Spirit raced in Dance’s own colours, winning a Catterick novice stakes at two and also running second to Good Vibes in the Listed Marygate Stakes. The daughter of Acclamation was signed for by John and Jess Dance at £42,000 at the 2018 Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale. Her colt was bred in 2021 when Lope De Vega’s fee was €125,000. 

The New Bay filly out of Aim To Please, a £340,000 Dance purchase in 2017, was knocked down to JS Bloodstock and Hasmonean Racing at 39,000gns, while Mark Walford went to 38,000gns for the Mehmas filly out of the Listed-winning Joyful Hope. 

The 29 lots offered on behalf of Dance-affiliated entities generated receipts totalling 567,500gns, 59 per cent of the session’s aggregate sales, which reached 968,500gns. The average price from the evening session was 14,674gns, while the median was 12,000gns. The clearance rate was 92 per cent as 66 lots sold from 72 offered.

There was no comparable session in 2023, making year-on-year comparisons redundant. 

Pompey back in purchasing mode

The Pompey Ventures syndicate have been active at a number of recent sales and continued their recruitment drive with the 36,000gns purchase of Disco Spirit, an unraced three-year-old son of Acclamation offered on behalf of Dance’s Coverdale Stud. The docket was signed with Sam Haggas’s Hurworth Bloodstock. 

Disco Spirit last appeared on the public market during Book 2 of the October Yearling Sale in 2022, when he was knocked down to Dance’s Manor House Farm at 150,000gns. 

The Pompey Ventures team will be hoping to maintain their run of form that has seen Media Shooter and Oliver Show grace the winner's enclosure of late. 

“This horse is going to George Boughey after the great job he’s done with Oliver Show,” said syndicate founder Owen Haly. “We liked him as a physical and we’re probably getting a bit of value given the unknowns around the John Dance horses. 

The Acclamation colt who will go to George Boughey after selling to the Pompey VenturesCredit: Laura Green

“We went and had a look at him and George liked him so we’re happy to get him. We don’t know an awful lot about him and what he’s been doing but we liked his condition and he’ll go straight to George’s from here and we’ll let him work away. Hopefully, George can work his magic.” 

Pompey Ventures also secured three lots at last week’s Doncaster Breeze-Up Sale, with the trio costing a combined £128,000. Prior to that they struck at 17,000gns, for Mulciber during the March Sale. 

On the backstory to the syndicate, Haly said: “It was started by myself and Ned Sangster and our first group of purchases were at last year’s Autumn Horses-in-Training Sale. We picked up Media Shooter and Oliver Show and they’ve been great servants over the winter. Media Shooter has nearly won what we paid for him in prize-money already and Oliver Show has been a bit of a project but George has done a great job with him.

“The whole aim was to get younger people into ownership and I’d say a vast amount of our shareholders are under the age of 35. We offer shares that go from two per cent up to 50 per cent.” 

Expanding on the group’s approach to sourcing stock, Haly said: “With buying yearlings and breeze-up horses there are more unknowns, but we’ve always liked trying to find horses with form we think we can improve and looking for angles. It’s a big game of opinions so we’re looking for things other people might not see.” 

Owen Haly: "His pedigree and that surname speaks for itself in racing"Credit: Laura Green

“I’m a working class lad and my first racing memory was Royal Ascot in 2015 with a couple of mates. Ever since then I’ve been a form student. I met Ned through a mutual friend and his pedigree and that surname speaks for itself in racing.” 

In keeping with their aim of appealing to a younger generation of owners, the syndicate recently tweeted a photo of its members with the caption of “Not a grey hair in sight.” 

When asked if this was an official policy or mere coincidence, Haly laughed and said: “We do accept people with grey hair!” 

The other lot to break the 30,000gns mark during the first two hours of selling was Chuchuwa, another to be offered on behalf of Dance’s Coverdale Stud. The unraced daughter of Bated Breath, who last changed hands for £120,000 when signed for by Manor House Farm, went the way of Charlie Fellowes Racing and Charlie Gordon-Watson Bloodstock at 32,000gns. 

The Guineas Sale continues on Thursday at 9.30am, with a session of horses-in-training including around 25 more lots being offered on behalf of Dance. These include the unraced First Ambition, the son of Invincible Spirit and the owner’s six-time Group 1 winner Laurens. 

The horses-in-training section will be followed by around 175 lots from the Guineas Breeze-Up Sale. The juveniles were put through their paces on Wednesday morning, when the fastest two-furlong splits were clocked by Lot 322, a filly by King Of Change offered by Donovan Bloodstock, according to times seen by the Racing Post.

The same consignor enjoyed a memorable day with another by the Starfield Stud stallion when Alex Elliott went to £28,000 for the filly out of Evie Speed on behalf of Amo Racing during last week’s Doncaster Breeze-Up Sale. 

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