Shadwell Scores Dark Angel Filly at Tattersalls Book 2

Record-priced lots were like London buses at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Oct. 14, as no sooner had Coolmore gone to 900,000 guineas (US$1,193,728) for a son of No Nay Never, then Angus Gold struck a winning bid of 1.05 million guineas ($1,392,683) for a well-related daughter of Dark Angel (Lot 767) who will now carry the famous colors of Hamdan Al Maktoum.

An opening offer of 100,000 guineas gave little indication of the record-setting territory the Ballyhimikin Stud-consigned lot was headed for, but, after a protracted round of bidding between Gold and Kevin Ryan the filly became the first ever seven-figure yearling to be sold at Book 2.

The result provided yet another huge slice of sales ring success for Trevor Stewart's famed Cassandra Go family, as the filly is a granddaughter of his great mare via her daughter Allez Alaia, whose first foal, Allez Sophia, added more weight to the page, winning her maiden since the catalog's publication.

"It's the most amazing family that just goes on and on," said a delighted Stewart. "She's the most lovely filly but we had a few Dark Angels here last week as well and we felt it was best to split them up and let her stand out. She went way above expectations, though."

Stewart has seen other yearlings from this family fetch seven-figure sums in the Tattersalls ring, with Fantasy sold to Coolmore for 1.6 million guineas ($2,225,328) in 2017 and Chess Master bought by John Ferguson for 1.7 million guineas ($2,873,315) in 2014.

"I have plenty out of the family, including the half sister who is now a winner," Stewart continued. "And then I have the 2-year-old out of Tickled Pink and a yearling filly by Gleneagles out of Cassandra Go who is going to Ger Lyons, so something had to be released. Although at lunchtime I was really thinking that I shouldn't be selling her.

"She will probably be the last filly to be released from Ballyhimikin. Coolmore have several from the mare, including Halfway To Heaven and Fantasy. Now Shadwell are lucky enough to buy into it too."

Stewart was not the only one shocked by the Dark Angel filly's price, with Gold himself expressing surprise at how determined the Sheikh had proved in his pursuit of the session-topper.

"No, no I did not," was his response when asked if he'd expected the filly to fetch such a price. "But Sheikh Hamdan saw her this morning and obviously liked her very much. That pedigree is so strong, the 2-year-old has won now too, so if she could just win a couple of races she's worth it to get into that family going forward."

Gold revealed he had been on the phone to his employer during the bidding, and added: "I promise you I wouldn't have bid that much off my own back."

Allez Alaia does not have a foal on the ground but is back in foal to Galileo. As for Cassandra Go, she has a colt foal by Churchill and is in foal to Saxon Warrior.

King's Stand (G2) and Tripleprint Temple Stakes (G2) heroine Cassandra Go has excelled since retiring to the paddocks, with her eight winners led by Boylesports Irish One Thousand Guineas (G1) heroine Halfway To Heaven, herself the dam of Magical, Rhododendron, and Flying The Flag.

Other daughters include the Connaught Access Flooring Abernant Stakes (G3) winner Tickled Pink and Evie Stockwell's Theann (GB), winner of the Cuisine de France Summer Stakes (G3) and also the dam of Photo Call and Land Force.

King Power Land Palace Pier Sibling

Big prices continued to come well into the evening, including when Alastair Donald went to 300,000 guineas ($397,910) for the Camelot half brother (Lot 803) to Palace Pier offered by Highclere Stud.

Few, if any, lots boasted as eye-catching an update, as his Kingman half brother is listed as unraced in the catalog but had since recorded two bloodless successes at Sandown to announce himself as one of the most exciting juveniles of the season.

"I've waited all day for him as he was the only one on our list," said Donald, who secured the colt on behalf of King Power Racing. "We were very keen on his half brother, Palace Pier, last year but missed out on him.

"He's obviously turned out to be a good horse and this colt is very elegant and athletic. Looking around at the prices today I wasn't confident of getting him so I'm glad it's been worth the wait."

The colt was bred by Highclere Stud in partnership with the late Duke of Roxburghe's Floors Stud out of the unraced Beach Frolic, a half sister to Betfred Dante Stakes (G2) winner Bonfire and Tattersalls Musidora Stakes (G3) winner Joviality.

The sale came at the end of a good day for Camelot, as the son of Montjeu sired three winners—Arthur's Kingdom, King Pellinor, and Pasley—at Gowran. 

Mains Powers Up

Philippa Mains' purchase of an Australia colt (Lot 610) out of Sophie Germain from Galbertstown Stud topped the market for much of the day, after the agent got the better of a six-figure tussle with Blandford Bloodstock's Richard Brown at 300,000 guineas ($397,910).

A sizeable model despite being a mid-May foal, the colt is a half brother to Lanwades Stud Ridgewood Pearl Stakes (G2) scorer Creggs Pipes, and received a notable pedigree update less than 24 hours before he came under the hammer when his half sister, Silver Spear, ran third to the impressive Tango in the listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Legacy Stakes at the Curragh.

"He'll go to Jessica Harrington for Jon Kelly," said Mains. "He's a cracking horse. The half sister was listed-placed yesterday so the mare looks to be producing good stock."

Bred by John Hayes, the youngster is the fourth foal out of the unraced Indian Ridge mare, who was sourced by the breeder as a foal for €25,000 at Goffs in 2007.

Whatton Manor's Winning Streak

Whatton Manor Stud looked set for a busy few days with a 22-strong Book 2 draft, and the Player family's operation got the week off to a fine start with a double whammy of six-figure lots early on in Monday's session.

The pricier of the pair was the Kingman colt (Lot 639) out of Sunsemperchi, who went the way of Shadwell after Sheikh Hamdan's racing manager Angus Gold saw off Coolmore's M.V. Magnier at 280,000 guineas ($371,383).

That sum represented a chunky return on the 85,000 guineas ($114,133) FAH Bloodstock parted with to secure the well-related colt during last year's December Foal Sale.

"We were very lucky to buy him last year, we didn't think we'd be able to afford him," said Whatton Manor's Ed Player. "The stallion has carried all before him this year and it's such a current family; there have been some nice updates with Star Terms winning a group race. We just hope he's a good horse for Sheikh Hamdan, who's a big supporter of the sale."

The colt wouldn't have looked out of place in Book 1, but Player said he had opted to stick with the familiar territory of Book 2.

"Book 2 has been very good to us, we love coming here—it's sort of our territory," he said. "We could have been in Book 1 but we, historically speaking, do better here and we'd rather shine in this book. There were so many nice horses last week. We always thought he was a bloody nice horse."

Earlier in the day the stud offered a Sea The Stars colt (Lot 581) out of Fred Darling Stakes runner-up Sharnberry, who went the way of Tom Goff of Blandford Bloodstock for 260,000 guineas ($344,855).

"We thought he'd sell well but never expected him to make that kind of money," Player said of the colt, who was bred by St. Albans Bloodstock. "Obviously Sea The Stars is an outstanding stallion and he's out of a good black-type mare too."

While the Kingman colt was pinhooked at last year's foal sales, Player explained that, as the dam resides at Whatton Manor, the son of Sea The Stars had been with the stud from the word go.

"We've had him right the way through and he's a beautiful mover who has done very well over the past few months," said Player. "He's thrived and has developed really well. Watching him walk round up here, you could see how well he'd done. He's behaved very well up here too."

Goff, who saw off the attentions of William Haggas and Ross Doyle, said of his purchase: "He's a lovely, classy horse, a great representative of both Sea The Stars and his damsire, Shamardal. He's from a great farm and he goes into training with John Gosden. He's a rangy horse who'll be more of a 3-year-old type."

Of the 249 horses offered, 205 were sold for a clearance rate of 82%. Total receipts for Monday's session came to 16,064,500 guineas ($21,340,541). The average was 78,365 guineas ($103,595), up 3% over last year, and the median was 55,000 guineas ($72,950). 

Book 2 continues on Tuesday at 10am local time.