Hipodromos y caballos - Racetracks and horses BloodStockReview2013 | Page 66
66 1
B R E E D I N G-S T O C K S A L E S
Record-breaker Immortal Verse
hits right note at 4,700,000gns
fRANKEL FACTOR AND HIGH-LEVEL DISPERSAL PAVE WAY FOR NEW HIGH MARKS AT tATTERSALLS AND
gOFFS WHILE bREEDERS’ cUP STARS LIGHT UP THE ACTION IN kENTUCKY by Sophia Barnett
TATTERSALLS DECEMBER
As a climax to a record-breaking year at Park
Paddocks, the Tattersalls December Breeding
Stock Sale saw the European record broken
for a broodmare when the hammer fell on
dual Group 1 winner Immortal Verse at
4,700,000gns.
Purchased by Adrian Nicoll of BBA
Ireland for Coolmore, Immortal Verse
surpassed by 100,000gns the sum paid
for Magical Romance in 2006. In foal to
Dansili, Coronation Stakes and Prix Jacques
le Marois heroine Immortal Verse was one
of five mares to breach the million-guinea
barrier during the four-day breeding-stock
section of the auction.
Of the ten mares offered in foal to the
mighty Frankel, it was unsurprisingly the
Oaks winner Dancing Rain who drew
the most attention. In a sales ring packed
more fully than many could remember, the
daughter of Danehill Dancer was fought over
by Grant Pritchard-Gordon, David Minton
and Rob Speers before John Ferguson
purchased her for Sheikh Mohammed with
a single winning bid of 4,000,000gns.
The Frankel factor was also at play in the
purchase of the Group-winning Dansili mare
Dream Peace. Although not yet at stud, the
mare was purchased for 2,700,000gns by
Hugo Lascelles with the intention of covering
her with the great champion in the spring.
Coolmore were also in action via agent
Stephen Hillen, securing the Cheveley
Park Stakes heroine Rosdhu Queen for
2,100,000gns, while another young
Group-winning filly, Purr Along, became the
fifth lot of the week to make seven figures
when purchased by a partnership between
Newsells Park Stud and Sheikh Fahad Al
Thani for 1,000,000gns.
Returns soared across the board for the
four-day mares’ segment, with the aggregate
of 62,997,700gns an increase of more than
43 per cent on last year and the highest
aggregate achieved since the pre-recession
sale of 2007. The average of 87,497gns was
a rise of nearly 52 per cent and the median
gained 47.4 per cent to 28,000gns.
As ever, a hugely international buying
bench assisted in the production of those
record figures alongside strong domestic
support, and buyers from Australia, America
and Chile were among those who made
significant purchases.
The foal sale was capped by a Dubawi
filly out of the Group winner High Heeled
who was purchased by John Ferguson for
450,000gns. Fillies accounted for the top
three prices during the four-day foal sale,
with the highest-priced colt being the
son of Galileo out of Irish 1,000 Guineas
winner Saoire, purchased for 325,000gns
by Blandford Bloodstock.
FASIG-TIPTON KENTUCKY
NOVEMBER
This daughter of Dubawi and Group 3
winner High Heeled topped the Tattersalls
December Foal Sale at 450,000gns
Fasig-Tipton had a hard act to follow this
year after last year’s sale-topping price of
$10 million for 2011 Horse of the Year
Havre De Grace at the company’s Kentucky
November breeding-stock sale.
That price may not have been matched,
but the company still saw 24 horses
sell for seven-figure sums. They were
headed by the superbly bred Galileo mare
Betterbetterbetter, who was offered in foal
to red-hot Kentucky sire War Front. The
four-year-old was purchased for $5.2m by
Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm, which
was also responsible for the purchase of
Havre De Grace.
The four-year-old’s sole win came in a K
racingpost.com/bloodstock