Sons of shuttle stalwart Exceed excel at Tattersalls Ireland's Sapphire Sale

Exceed And Excel's shuttling days may be over but Darley's Group 1 winner with a remarkable constitution has left quite a legacy in the northern hemisphere and that was clearly evident at Tattersalls Ireland on Friday, with the progeny of his sons topping both the foal and yearling sections of the Sapphire Sale.

It's very much stating the obvious that being a half-sibling to a Group 1 winner adds a certain cachet to a horse and Archway Stud's Cotai Glory colt definitely had that. His older half-sister is the Matron Stakes winner Champers Elysees, by Elzaam, from another branch of the Danehill line, and that connection brought people to the stable door but the colt himself kept them interested.

Consigned by Railstown Stud, the bay with an active walk is a half-brother to four winners and his dam, La Cuvee, is a Mark Of Esteem half-sister to the Group 3 Premio Bagutta winner She Bat, herself the dam of three stakes winners and Group 2 third She Basic.

Premiere Cuvee is also a half-sister to the Listed winner Cask and out of Premiere Cuvee, the Group 3 Goldene Peitsche winner and German champion older mare.

John Foley, who has developed an excellent reputation as a pinhooker, was the successful bidder with the hammer coming down at €37,000.

"He's a lovely foal and a half-brother to a Group 1 winner," said Foley, who signed as GHS Bloodstock. "Cotai Glory is the sire of a Group 1 winner and a commercial stallion. 

"We will see how he goes but at this stage he looks like one for the earlier yearling sales, so he could come back here. Hopefully he will be lucky."

That Group 1 winner is The Platinum Queen, successful in last year's Prix de l'Abbaye as a two-year-old for Richard Fahey and Middleham Park. 

Cotai Glory won the Molecomb Stakes and the World Trophy, both Group 3 contests, and he was placed in the Nunthorpe and King's Stand Stakes before retiring to Tally-Ho Stud.

Breeder Karl Bowen was quick to praise Francis Quinn for the sales success of his Cotai Glory colt: 

"I am absolutely thrilled, just delighted with that," he said. "He's a nice foal with a good walk and well put together but that's what you would expect from a Cotai Glory foal. 

"Francis Quinn and the team at Railstown do a fantastic job and I am delighted with the result. I am going home a happy man and we can pay a few bills now!"

Murphy stocks up for next year

After a lifetime working around the globe, collecting victories and champion trainer titles in Macau and Malaysia, Danny Murphy returned home five years ago. He took up a position with Kieran Cotter, reacquainting himself with racing in the land of his birth and the pair struck up a fruitful relationship.

Group 2 Challenge Stakes winner Matilda Picotte, who was best of the rest behind Mawj and Tahiyra in the 1,000 Guineas, provided a glittering highlight of his time in Laois with Cotter, but the time had come for Murphy to go it alone and he was granted his Irish training licence mere weeks ago.

His Irish training career began in a blaze of glory with Dun Na Sead's victory in the Group 3 Pat Smullen Mercury Stakes at Dundalk and the Starspangledbanner filly is one of four individual winners he has sent out from his yard at Rossmore Cottage on the Curragh, since going solo.

The Bungle Inthejungle colt who made €28,000 to flying trainer Danny MurphyCredit: www.healyracing.ie

The desire to keep that momentum going was behind his detour to Tattersalls Ireland on his way to Dundalk, where he saddled a couple of runners under lights on Friday night.

He purchased the most expensive yearling in the sale, a €28,000 son of Bungle Inthejungle, consigned by Rathasker Stud, where the Burns family stand the sire of Nunthorpe winner Winter Power.

"We have started off really well, and we wanted an early two-year-old type and we have had a bit of luck with a Bungle before," said Murphy. "We gave a bit more than planned, I kept walking away but got drawn back in! This is a real two-year-old and he will be owned by Damien Moore, who asked me to buy him one."

The chestnut is a Rathasker homebred and a half-brother of Balthassar, a multiple winner in Italy by Gregorian. Their dam Mordoree comes from a famous Moyglare Stud family; she is a Mayson half-sister to the Listed Prix Six Perfections winner Tigrilla, by Clodovil, and they are out of Lisieux Orchid.

That daughter of Sadler's Wells was bred by Moyglare Stud out of Clear Issue, a half-sister to Grade 1 Meadowlands Handicap winner Twilight Agenda, who was also runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Classic. She is also a half-sister to the Grade 3-placed Market Slide, dam of Refuse To Bend, whose four Group 1 wins include the 2,000 Guineas and Eclipse. Market Slide's other Group 1-winning son is Media Puzzle, the Melbourne Cup hero.

The only other yearling in the Sapphire Sale by Bungle Inthejungle was bought by Ian Moran - New Approach Investments for €13,000 from Sean McClean.

First impressions count

Cotai Glory and Bungle Inthejungle are well-known but the foal section of the Sapphire Sale offers the stallions with their first foals a debut chance to grab buyers' attention and garner some headlines.

Three such sires made the most of that opportunity on Friday, with the sale of the top Nando Parrado filly a notable one, not just for the price fetched by the foal.

Paul and Marie McCartan have always backed Nando Parrado from purchasing him as a foal, to putting him into training when yearling buyers failed to appreciate him, even extending to breeding his first foal with the arrival of a filly at Ballyphilip Stud last January.

The Nando Parrado colt who was sold by Olive O'Connor to Ballyphilip Stud for €24,000Credit: www.healyracing.ie

That support for their Coventry Stakes winner continued at Tattersalls Ireland on Friday and it was a poetic piece of symmetry which saw them buy the first Nando Parrado foal to come under the hammer.

Offered by Olive O'Connor, the March-born bay is a three-parts brother to a pair of winners by Nando Parrado's sire Kodiac. His dam Caterina Di Cesi is a proven producer of winners, with six out of seven so far. A winner in Italy and a half-sister to the Queen Mary and Molecomb Stakes winner Risky, she is by Cape Town, a son of Desert Style who won the Free Handicap and was third to Bachir and Giant's Causeway in the Irish 2,000 Guineas.

Her Nando Parrado colt was knocked down to Ballyphilip Stud for €24,000. 

Trained by Clive Cox, Nando Parrado showed that his 150-1 Royal Ascot success was not a fluke when adding Group 1 placings to his resume later in the season. He was runner-up in both the Prix Morny (to Campanelle) and the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, behind Sealiway. Nando Parrado retired to the Irish National Stud in 2022, where he stands for €6,000.

Perfect start for Alkumait

Capital Stud's young sire Alkumait was another facing the first sales ring exam of his career and the initial results will provide encouragement for the team at Ger O'Neill's Kilkenny farm.

His best on Friday came from the Railstown Stud draft which also contained the sale-topping Cotai Glory colt, with Paul Harley going to €22,000 for the bay filly out of Atlanteia.

"She has been purchased for a client for resale," reported Harley. "She will stay in Ireland and hopefully will come back here next September. She is a really nice type and I like the Alkumaits that I have seen." 

The late March foal is a half-sister to Curzon Queen, a three-year-old by Fast Company who was third at Dundalk last month for Kieran Cotter. Their dam is an unraced Duke Of Marmalade sister to Baden-Baden Group 3 winner Ayaar, by Rock Of Gibraltar.

Alkumait's foals made a good first impression at Fairyhouse topped by this filly from Railstown StudCredit: www.healyracing.ie

Her second dam, Teide Lady, is a winning Nashwan half-sister to Hatta Fort, who won the Group 2 Superlative Stakes, and the Group 3 winners Spirit Of Appin and Blue Bayou. She is also a half-sister to Raskutani, dam of Geoffrey Freer Stakes winner Agent Murphy and the Listed winners Global Heat and Media Storm. It is the Hascombe and Valiant family of EP Taylor Stakes winner Miss Keller and Harbour Law, the St Leger winner by Lawman.

Alkumait was bred by Whitsbury Manor Stud and made 150,000gns as a foal to West Park Farm before being sold by Baroda Stud to Shadwell for 220,000gns. The Group 2 Mill Reef winner stands for €5,000 at Capital Stud and is a Showcasing half-brother to this year's 2,000 Guineas winner Chaldean, who won the Dewhurst, Champagne and Acomb Stakes at two for Andrew Balding.

Jerry Horan, who purchased a Ghaiyyath filly foal for €26,000 from Castledillon Stud who is closely related to this season's Listed Premio Estate winner Arabian Legend by Night Of Thunder, is part of the team behind Alkumait and he was more than satisfied with how the stallion's first sale had gone, as all seven foals to be offered were sold.

"We are very pleased with the first foals by Alkumait," he remarked. "A 100 per cent clearance rate is always nice but, more importantly, they have gone to good homes. They look sharp, two-year-old types, which is exactly what you'd be hoping for and have been bought by some good judges."

Dempsey a believer

Kodiac's Flying Childers Stakes winner Ubettabelieveit had just one representative of his first crop in the Sapphire Sale catalogue, but that was all Mickley Stud's young sire needed to make an impression.

Lotus Bloodstock consigned the colt who is the second foal out of Greek Oasis, a daughter of Oasis Dream, and Sarah Dempsey was listed as the buyer at €20,000. 

She said: "I'm happy to get him and to support the sire. He's a nice foal from the first crop of a good horse and he has been bought for resale, hopefully to come back here next year."

Greek Oasis was second over ten furlongs at Chelmsford for Chris Wall and is out of Greek Goddess, a Galileo full-sister to Iberia who was second in the Killavullan Stakes and third in the Royal Lodge. Their dam, Beauty Bright, won the Group 3 Renaissance Stakes and was third in the Lowther for Aidan O'Brien and Coolmore. The family traces back to Piquetnol, second in the Prix Marcel Boussac and a full-sister to Chimes Of Freedom.

Ubettabelieveit was bred by Derek and Gay Veitch at Ringfort Stud and is a half-brother to Group 3 winners Harlem Shake and Tropical Paradise, and to the Listed winner Shenanigans, out of the Mujadil mare Ladylishandra. He stands at Mickley Stud for £5,000.

Statistics

The end of sale statistics presented a mixed bag, with the positives being the 13 per cent rise in the average and the median holding steady. The negative was the clearance rate of 42 per cent, with just 79 of the 187 foals, yearlings and mares who went through the ring actually selling. 

The 2023 Sapphire Sale recorded turnover of €533,100, with an average price of €6,748 and a median of €4,000.

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