Top-level plans for July Flower as De Bromhead goes to £350,000 for Grade 1 winner at the Goffs UK Summer Sale

At any normal Doncaster horses-in-training sale a £350,000 transaction would be headline news, but in the event the classy French import July Flower had to settle for second top lot honours behind the record-breaking Regent’s Stroll. 

Harry Fowler was ringside when Mill House Stud presented July Flower on behalf of owner Caolan Woods. After clashing with an unidentified online participant, Fowler struck the decisive six-figure bid on behalf of Henry de Bromhead. 

With pedigree and performance, the five-year-old daughter of Pastorius rates an exciting breeding prospect in due course, but when asked whether July Flower would continue her racing career before retiring to the paddocks, De Bromhead said: “Absolutely.” 

The trainer, who wasn’t in attendance in Doncaster, continued: “She’s a Grade 1 mare and her form is very strong so we hope to target all those good mares races next season. She’s a Grade 1 winner and Grade 1-placed, so she’ll always have a good value as a broodmare too, but we’re just happy to get her. She’s been bought for a client in the yard.” 

July Flower won four races for Chantilly-based trainer Mickael Seror, most notably the Prix Jacques de Vienne, a Grade 1 bumper for AQPS-bred three-year-olds held at Fontainebleau. She also won a bumper at Durtal as well as two hurdle races at Auteuil. 

Henry de Bromhead: "She’s a Grade 1 winner and Grade 1-placed, so she’ll always have a good value as a broodmare"Credit: Alan Crowhurst

She was also second to Losange Bleu in the Grade 1 Prix Renaud du Vivier, and gave best to that same rival in the French Champion Hurdle in which she finished third, just a length and a quarter behind runner-up Hewick. 

Those efforts are underpinned by a solid French black-type pedigree as her dam, the winning Astarabad mare Aurelle D'Arthel, is a sibling to the Listed-winning chasers Enjeu D'Arthel and Jardin D'Arthel.

“She was a proper queen, she’s absolutely lovely,” said Mill House Stud’s Juliet Minton. “Hopefully she’s very lucky for Henry and whoever her new owner is. We met her here so didn’t know much about her but she’s been a pleasure to do anything with. She’s only five so her future’s in front of her. She’s got a lovely pedigree to back it up as a broodmare and she’ll probably always be worth this because of that residual value. Hopefully she wins it back in prize-money first!” 

Reflecting on a day that saw Mill House Stud sell 13 lots for £2,251,500, Minton said: “It’s been an unbelievable day. All thanks to Chris Giles for entrusting us with his horses. They’ve been with us a couple of weeks and arrived looking great. They’ve been a pleasure to have around the place. 

“They all sold extremely well, but then they were a real quality bunch of horses. You never get a draft of horses like that as they’ve all got their futures in front of them. Hopefully we’ll see Chris’s colours back on the racecourse before too long because we hate losing people like him from the game.”

Read more

Paul Nicholls' exciting bumper winner Regent's Stroll sells for £660,000 to become most expensive jumps horse sold at public auction