'There’s a lot more to come' - Wathnan adds to growing strength with 500,000gns Tattersalls top lot Dark Trooper

Wathnan Racing continued to add new recruits to their increasingly powerful Qatar-bound string when Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock bid 500,000gns for the improving sprinter Dark Trooper midway through day three of the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale. 

The Yeomanstown Stud-bred son of Dark Angel won six of his 14 starts for trainer Ed Walker and owner Chi Un Fred Ma, with four of those successes coming consecutively this season. The most recent of those came on his penultimate outing in a Class 2 6f handicap at Ascot, with the half-length victory over Redemption Time awarded a Racing Post Rating (RPR) of 111. 

He was last seen finishing sixth, beaten two lengths after being denied a clear run, in the Group 3 Bengough Stakes. 

“The idea is to buy quality over quantity, that’s the message from Qatar to Olly Tait, to me and Ali Al Kubaisi, who’s working the sales with me,” said Brown. “This horse has been on the radar for most of the year because Al Donald, who bought and managed him, and Ed Walker, who trained him, have been trying to get me to buy him because they said there’s a lot more to come.” 

Dark Trooper is a brother to the Listed-winning Fantasy Lady and out of a sibling to Prix de l'Opera winner Kinnaird, who in turn bred three black-type performers, including the high-class Berkshire, and the dam of Ivawood. His efforts on the racecourse have seen his value appreciate markedly since his previous visit to the sales as he was unearthed from Book 2 by Alastair Donald at 60,000gns. 

“He won a very competitive Ascot handicap on quick ground and then was unlucky in the Bengough,” continued Brown. “He’s an interesting horse and will go to Qatar. There’s a programme for him in that part of the world, but he’s the sort of horse who could come to Europe too. He’s a gelding so can run on for a number of seasons and he’ll be trained by Alban de Mieulle.” 

Wathnan Racing have been rewarded for giving their horses a bold international campaign, a strategy that Brown highlighted with Bolthole, a 130,000gns purchase at last year’s Autumn Horses in Training Sale. 

“Wathnan purchased Bolthole at this sale last year and the horse went on to do very well in Qatar before he came back to France,” said Brown. “He’s won two Listed races and finished second in a couple of Group 3s this summer.” 

The session’s second top lot came much later in the piece when Saudi Arabian owner Mubarak Al-Ruwis went to 425,000gns to secure four-time winner Sea The Casper. 

Sea The Casper takes his turn in the ring on WednesdayCredit: Alisha Meeder

Offered by Barton Sales on behalf of Simon and Ed Crisford’s Gainsborough Thoroughbreds, the four-year-old son of Sea The Stars was catalogued as having won four races but added black type to his profile when he finished a neck second to Piz Badile in the Listed Diamond Stakes at Dundalk last time out. 

“He will ship straight to Saudi,” said a spokesman for Al-Ruwis. “We have two horses already in Saudi, we need quality horses for the big Saudi Cup meeting. We think this horse could be a champion.” 

Juddmonte jewels

The ever-popular Juddmonte consignment had bidders flooding into the ring as the 14-strong draft generated receipts totalling 1,398,000gns. However, the priciest of the bunch was knocked down to Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland, who wasn’t present in the auditorium but got the better of Adam Potts with an online bid of 320,000gns. 

The animal in his crosshairs was Halfway Line, who heads to Philip D'Amato having been sourced in tandem with Niall Dalton’s Stakes Horses operation. The three-year-old son of Zoffany won three of six starts in France for Francis Graffard and added black type to his record with a runner-up effort in the Listed Prix Matchem last time out. 

“I’ve left the sale ground and so it worked well for me to bid online,” Donohoe said by phone a short while after the hammer fell. “The horse has been bought in conjunction with Niall Dalton of Stakes Horses to go to California. He’s for a new client with trainer Phil D'Amato, who has had a good bit of success training European horses.

Halfway Line sells to BBA Ireland for 320,000gnsCredit: Alisha Meeder

“Halfway Line was recommended by his former trainer, as well as Barry Mahon of Juddmonte. He should suit California; he’s progressive, he goes on firm, he has a turn of foot, all the attributes you need.”

Aussie action

Johnny McKeever picked up where he left off on Tuesday with the 300,000gns acquisition of Royal Patronage on behalf of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott. 

The son of Wootton Bassett has already been on his travels, as he won the Acomb and Royal Lodge Stakes during a productive juvenile campaign with Mark Johnston before he transferred to the US stable of Graham Motion midway through his three-year-old season. He added a fourth victory to his record at Keeneland earlier this year. He was offered in Newmarket by WH Bloodstock. 

“Not only is he a beautiful type and with the form in the book, but he rated very highly for us and I think he’ll adapt very well to Australia,” said Claudia Miller, bloodstock manager to the Waterhouse and Bott stable. “He had good form as a two-year-old and as a four-year-old. He’s very sound so we’ll get him into the system and get him going.” 

Royal Patronage was hammered down for 300,000gns at Tattersalls on WednesdayCredit: Alisha Meeder

Miller added: “Wootton Bassett is a stallion that we’ve been looking at for a while as he’s been very successful in Europe and they’ll start to sell down under shortly, so it’s great to get one in the stable.” 

Less than 24 hours earlier McKeever also secured the progressive Balance Play at 575,000gns and the 280,000gns Bear On The Loose for the same Australian training partnership. 

The head of the market continued to be dominated by southern hemisphere buyers as the Australian operation Domeland also made its presence felt by securing the improving Urban Outlook at 280,000gns. 

The Kingsclere Stud homebred changed hands with an RPR of 95 having won three of seven starts for Andrew Balding. The son of Cityscape won at Lingfield, Chester and Haydock, and was last seen finishing runner-up over a mile and six furlongs at York. 

“We’ve bought him to race on in Australia,” said Sara Ryan, Domeland’s private trainer. “He wasn’t on the initial list but when we saw him he struck us; he just has a great presence. He has a nice record and I think there’s a lot of improvement in him. We’re looking for distance horses.” 

Urban Outlook went to Domeland for 280,000gnsCredit: Alisha Meeder

Later in the session Domeland’s managing director King Cheng went to 240,000gns for Humanity, a dual winner by Roaring Lion who was consigned by Jamie Railton on behalf of Qatar Racing. The three-year-old had doubled his tally since the catalogue was released, with his six-length Kempton success given an RPR of 103. 

“We’re looking for extremely sound horses that we can compete in the staying races in Australia,” said Cheng. “Obviously we’re a private stable but we’re looking to grow and compete with some of the bigger trainers. We’re all after the same horses so it’s been competitive, but we’re glad to have picked up a few. 

“We think there’s a lot of improvement to come from the horses we bought so we expect them to be progressive. We have about 50 horses in training and a couple of mares too, but they’re mostly our own racemares who have retired.”

Mixed feelings after Darcy brings 280,000gns 

Rarely does a session at Tattersalls go by without Najd Stud making a splash and the Saudi Arabian outfit duly went to 280,000gns for Jack Darcy, who was offered as a wildcard entry by Barton Sales. The four-year-old son of Gleneagles cost Oliver and Paul Cole just 24,000gns at Book 3 in 2020 but went on to win three races and £193,958 in prize-money. 

His biggest success came earlier this year when he landed the Group 2 Grand Prix de Deauville, although it was his next effort, when runner-up to Horizon Dore in the Prix Dollar, that saw him hit a peak RPR of 116. Oliver Cole was on hand to see Jack Darcy sell, and the younger member of the training partnership described the transaction as “bittersweet”. 

Jack Darcy: became the latest Najd Stud recruit at 280,000gnsCredit: Alisha Meeder

“It’s one of those things,” said Cole. “He’s a very good horse, I think he’s a Group 1 horse in the making, so I’m gutted. Quite honestly I couldn’t care less about the price, I’d prefer to keep him, but owners have their own agendas and they have to do what they want to do. If you’re comparing the price to keeping him I’d definitely prefer to keep him. It’s bittersweet.” 

Coleman breaks the circuit

Agent Matt Coleman secured the session’s most expensive National Hunt recruit after going to 260,000gns for Circuit Breaker. A dual winner for Ralph Beckett and Jeff Smith, the three-year-old achieved a peak RPR of 94 when runner-up to Urban Outlook at Haydock last time out. 

“I’ve bought him for Jonjo O’Neill,” said Coleman. “We’ve put together a syndicate [named Tanzanite] of his owners to buy some horses; we’ve bought two so far and he’s the third. 

“The first runner for the group was Mt Fugi Park, who won at Ffos Las the other day. I’ve bought them two out-and-out National Hunt chasing types, so we thought the third should have a bit of a different profile. We came trying to find a juvenile hurdler and he was the one we focused on.” 

The three-year-old son of Nathaniel has a pedigree packed with Littleton Stud celebrities as he is out of a winning sibling to Smith’s Juddmonte International winner Arabian Queen. 

Circuit Breaker: 'National Hunt stamp' was bought for 260,000gnsCredit: Alisha Meeder

“I actually said to Ralph that if you saw this horse in a yearling sale you’d never believe he’d run as a three-year-old because he’s a big, National Hunt stamp of a horse,” added Coleman. 

“To do what he’s done on the Flat can only be a good sign. Hopefully he won’t just be a juvenile hurdler, the hope is he’ll have a future beyond that. We considered Golden Move on day one [bought by Tom Malone and Paul Nicholls for 215,000gns] but we only had one to buy so we decided to wait for him instead.”

The other National Hunt agent to get involved at the top of the market was Ed Bailey, who went to 200,000gns for Campaign Trail. The three-time winner was offered by Jamie Railton and signed for alongside Peter Kerr Syndicates.

The third of five sessions saw 277 lots offered and 246 sell at a clip of 89 per cent. Turnover was 11,869,000gns, which was down 12 per cent year-on-year. The average went up five per cent compared to the corresponding session in 2022 at 48,248gns, while the median was down two points at 23,500gns, having been 24,000gns 12 months ago.

The Autumn Horses in Training Sale continues on Thursday at 9.30am.

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