Fort Myers Headlines Inaugural Tattersalls August Sale

The inaugural Tattersalls August Sale will take place at Park Paddocks in Newmarket Aug. 24-26, and the three-day auction attracted 774 initial entries plus an additional wildcard. 

With last year's Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Gimcrack Stakes (G2) and Pommery Champagne Stakes (G2) scorer Threat among 167 withdrawn lots, top billing might instead fall to the regally bred listed scorer Fort Myers (Lot 387), one of five lots from Aidan O'Brien's Ballydoyle Stables. 

The 3-year-old War Front  colt clocked up plenty of mileage in eight starts as a juvenile, when he landed the listed BoyleSports Irish E.B.F. Star Appeal Stakes under lights at Dundalk. 

Fort Myers was also third in the GAIN Railway Stakes (G2) and a highly respectable seventh in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Presented by Coolmore America (G1T) at Santa Anita Park when beaten less than three lengths. 

This year he has contested the Tattersalls Irish Two Thousand Guineas (G1) and Prix du Jockey Club (G1) and finished third in the Green Room Meld Stakes (G3) at Leopardstown over nine furlongs on his most recent start.

The Coolmore homebred is out of the Etihad Airways Irish One Thousand Guineas (G1) heroine Marvellous, one of five group 1 performers out of You'resothrilling, along with Gleneagles and Vatican City. 

Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cherry Hinton Stakes (G2) scorer You'resothrilling is herself a Storm Cat full sister to Giant's Causeway. 

Another standout lot is fellow stakes scorer Surf Dancer (Lot 706), one of six lots from William Haggas' Somerville Lodge. 

Surf Dancer was bought by his owners, China Horse Club and Ballylinch Stud, for €260,000 (US$301,028) at the Goffs Orby Sale and won a valuable juvenile race at Chelmsford at 2 and the listed William Hill King Charles II Stakes at York in July. 

The 3-year-old Lope de Vega colt has an attractive pedigree as a son of the listed-winning Invincible Spirit mare Beach Belle, whose own dam is group 1-placed Beach Bunny. 

Consignments from Juddmonte Farms always rank among the highlights at this type of sale, Prince Khalid Abdullah's operation having sold the top-priced colt Jewel House for 215,000 guineas ($290,857) at the 2017 July Sale. 

Among the Juddmonte jewels on offer this week are the group-placed Dawn Approach colt Georgeville (Lot 436) and the smartly bred fillies Narrate (Lot 442) and Sophistry (Lot 445).

There are clues in the pedigree of dual winner Georgeville to suggest he may have more wins left in him, as he is out of dual group 3 winner Big Break, a Dansili full sister to Keeneland Royal Whip Stakes (G2) scorer Famous Name.

The latter was known as the ATM machine in Dermot Weld's yard for winning 21 races—all stakes races bar his maiden win—and placing in a further 13 races in 38 starts. 

Of the 3-year-old fillies, Narrate is a Dansili full sister to stakes scorers Runnymede and Stipulate and descends from Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (G1) heroine All At Sea, while Sophistry is a Make Believe half sister to group 1-winning juvenile Epicuris and from the family of Dubai Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (French One Thousand Guineas, G1) heroine Matiara. 

The largest draft comes from The Castlebridge Consignment with 73 lots headed up by recent listed winner Maystar (Lot 360), a 3-year-old son of Mayson with a peak Racing Post Rating of 102. 

The same vendor also offers three-time winner and 94-rated To Nathaniel (Lot 682), a 3-year-old Nathaniel colt out of the winning Sea The Stars mare Too The Stars, meaning he is inbred 3x3 to Urban Sea. 

The latest addition to the auction is the Archie Watson-trained Ocean Star (Lot 199A), a 2-year-old Adaay filly who broke her maiden by a resounding 11 lengths on her latest start after being stepped up to seven furlongs, and she too features among the Castlebridge draft. 

Ocean Star was bred by John Banahan out of the New Approach mare Miss Wicklow and hails from the same family as Northern Dancer Turf Stakes (G1T) winner Forte Dei Marmi and Epsom Oaks (G1) and Darley Irish Oaks (G1) placegetter Harlequeen.

"The COVID-related circumstances surrounding the decision to introduce a Tattersalls August Sale are well documented, and we've been hugely encouraged by both the quality and quantity of entries," Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony said. "Originally penciled in for two days, we've extended the sale to three days to accommodate the number of entries, and the catalog has the strength and depth that will appeal to a wide cross section of buyers, both domestic and further afield.

"Despite the current challenges, our recent July Sale achieved a phenomenal 96% clearance rate, which demonstrates the enduring appeal of sales of this nature at Tattersalls, and we've already received extremely positive feedback from our myriad overseas markets."