'This year we've changed our strategy' - Kia Joorabchian after 4.3m gns Wootton Bassett colt becomes part of 25-yearling haul

“They think it’s all over,” said Alistair Pim as he channelled his inner Kenneth Wolstenholme during the 1966 World Cup Final. And with that, the auctioneer dropped the hammer with a resounding thud at a record-breaking 4,300,000gns. “It is now.”

Not for the first time at Tattersalls this week, it was Kia Joorabchian of Amo Racing who was on target. His latest remarkable seven-figure volley not only consigned Coolmore to the role of underbidder but saw the son of Wootton Bassett and Park Bloom from Lodge Park Stud become the most expensive colt ever sold at Book 1 of the October Yearling Sale.

Fittingly, the dam is a full-sister to Al Naamah, who holds the outright record for the most expensive yearling in this sale’s illustrious history. Lodge Park sold the daughter of Galileo to Al Shaqab Racing for 5,000,000gns in 2013.

It speaks to the depth of this family that the Group 3-placed Al Naamah does not even figure on the catalogue page, with that precious print space reserved for the dam’s full-siblings Was, winner of the Oaks, Group 3 scorer Douglas Macarthur and Curragh Cup victor Amhran Na Bhfiann. The dam is out of Alluring Park, a daughter of champion Park Express and a half-sister to Derby hero New Approach.

Despite the Wootton Bassett colt’s eyecatching price tag, he is not even Joorabchian’s biggest purchase this week, with that title belonging to the Frankel filly out of Aljazzi secured for 4,400,000gns on day one, just minutes before the Amo Racing man went to 2,500,000gns for Alpinista’s highly touted Frankel sister.

Kia Joorabchian: continued to spend big at Tattersalls on Thursday Credit: Laura Green

Joorabchian has already tasted plenty of racing success, with Amo’s distinctive purple colours carried to notable victories by the likes of Bucanero Fuerte, Crypto Force, King Of Steel and Persian Dreamer, while Mojo Star also ran second in Adayar’s Derby. However, the football agent said this week’s sales ring statement of intent represented a new direction designed to take Amo Racing to even greater heights.

“We had a lot of stock that is good, but for us to go to the next level we’re going to have to target the best,” he said.

“So we’ve targeted two sales, Keeneland and Tatts Book 1 and 2. Every member of my team, when they saw that horse, they all said we can’t leave without him, so we decided we weren’t going to leave without him. This colt and the Frankel fillies were our main targets and we managed to hit all three, so we’re very happy.”

Joorabchian has been in the thick of the action from the off this week and has engaged the established superpowers in some compelling bidding tussles. By close of play, Amo Racing’s 25 Book 1 purchases, which featured eight recruits with partners including Al Shaqab and Valmont, totalled a colossal 22,940,000gns. Amo on its own signed for 17 lots at an outlay of 19,575,000gns.

Relive all the news from Thursday's third and final session of the Tattersalls Book 1 Sale with Kitty Trice's blog

Asked whether he was able to enjoy this stage of the process, he said: “Who enjoys spending that kind of money? But you have to do it. We’re trying to buy the best stock, that’s all we’re trying to do. We can’t compete unless we’re trying to get the best stock. How do you compete otherwise? It’s very hard. We’ve been trying for the last few years but outwitting these people is very hard.”

He continued: “We’ve run the stats, and if you look at all the Group 1s in, say, the last four years, almost all the winners are either homebreds or extremely well bred. Of course you get the odd Vandeek or Perfect Power, but if we really want to develop and get to the next level, your stallions and your mares have got to be strong. We’d spent the money [previously] but we didn’t have that strength. This year we’ve changed our strategy and decided we needed to have that strength in pedigree.”

Despite the magnitude of his investments, which have had a pivotal part to play in the unprecedented strength of this year’s Book 1 market, Joorabchian could not resist a bit of mischievous humour. In summing up Amo Racing’s involvement this week, he said: “Our team has a strategy; we’ve spoken about it, sat around and gone through the catalogue, and every member of the team has been involved and given their opinions. We came here with a shortlist and we’re going for it . . . so everyone’s neck is on the line!”

Alex Elliott: "If you were going to paint a racehorse, that's as close to perfection as you can get"Credit: Laura Green

Bloodstock agent Alex Elliott has been a key figure in Amo’s buying mission and, unsurprisingly, gave the Wootton Bassett colt, who will be trained by Karl Burke, the highest praise. 

“If you were going to paint a racehorse, that’s as close to perfection as you can get,” he said.

“From the top to the bottom, from the farm he came from, the amount of time and money and love that the Burns family have put into that page, it’s just phenomenal. To get a physical like that is a lifetime achievement for anybody. For us to be able to buy into that, it’s phenomenal that Kia has done that because you don’t really find people that can do that.

“When I first showed Kia the horse, there was myself, Ben McElroy and Robson Aguiar, it doesn’t take a genius to find that horse, but we all said you can’t get better than that. I said to Kia, ‘You’ve been second in two Derbys, that is a horse that can take you one place better.’”

Elliott added: “If he can run to how he looks, he’s going to have a spot in a stallion shed one day. It was always going to take that [price] because Coolmore weren’t going to let that horse out of their sight. To beat them, when they’re the best in the game, I think what Kia is doing is refreshing. It feels like it’s reinvigorated the whole thing.

"I feel very honoured to be a small part of the whole process. Thankfully Kia has faith in his team and I hope these men get rewarded for what they’re doing because we’re trying to buy the best stock, and at the end of the day we’re just doing our jobs. Hopefully, everybody is doing the right job.”

Lodge Park’s Jamie Burns, who was on the end of the lead rein when the colt took his turn in the ring, said: “He’s a beautiful horse and the family has always done us well. Hopefully, he will be the next one to enhance the pedigree. I wasn’t expecting that!

"I wasn’t really thinking when it went over four million, emotion took over, it was surreal. I’m coming down from the clouds a bit now but it was all pretty special.

A proud James Burns with the Wootton Bassett colt in the ringCredit: Laura Green

“He’s been busy all week and has never turned a hair once. We’ve bred four generations on this colt’s page, and we also had Park Appeal, who’s Wootton Bassett's pedigree too.”

The Wootton Bassett colt was far from the end of the Amo action on day three as the team also went to 2,900,000gns for a Camelot filly out of Sense Of Style from Camas Park Stud. The youngster not only shares her sire with Arc heroine Bluestocking but her Group 3-placed dam is also a half-sister to the four-time Group 1-winning Luxembourg, who is also by Camelot.

“It’s a strong market, she’s a beautiful filly and when you get two to tango you can get two to tango,” said Ben Sangster, the delighted breeder of the seven-figure youngster.

“The family has been really good to me. I hope she goes to a nice home and lives up to their expectations. I’m a bit gobsmacked. This is rather amazing. I think everything that’s gone on this week has exceeded expectations. I didn’t really have a figure in my mind, but it certainly wasn’t that, put it that way!”

New high marks posted in aggregate, average and median figures told the tale of a Book 1 for the ages. Turnover for the three days hit a jaw-dropping 127,823,000gns, a 34 per cent year-on-year gain. 

The average price rose by a whopping 52 per cent to 370,500gns, while the median went up by 39 points to 250,000gns, having been 180,000gns 12 months ago. The clearance rate was 89 per cent as 345 lots sold from 393 offered. And all this was achieved despite a smaller catalogue resulting in 77 fewer lots being offered and 46 less transactions.

Trade on day three reached scarcely believable levels, with turnover for the session growing by 54 per cent to 44,760,000gns. The average was the highest for the three days at 403,245gns, an 84 per cent increase, while the median went up by 48 per cent to 230,000gns. The clearance rate was 84 per cent as 111 yearlings sold from 132 offered lots. 

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