Arizona Sister Tops Tattersalls October Book 1 Opener

The German bloodstock industry is still basking in the glory of Torquator Tasso 's stunning Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) strike, and another of the country's leading practitioners had cause for celebration at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale on Tuesday as Philipp Stauffenberg topped the opening session with Lot 110, a sister to Arizona  at 825,000 guineas (US$1,176,600).

The daughter of No Nay Never  was making her second appearance at public auction, having been pinhooked by Stauffenberg for €260,000 ($318,597) at Goffs last December, and after early interest from the likes of Ross Doyle and James Horton, matters boiled down to a straight duel between rival camps from Cheveley Park Stud and Juddmonte Farms.

With owner Patricia Thompson in attendance, it was Cheveley Park Stud's long-serving managing director Chris Richardson who struck the decisive blow after a lengthy exchange of six-figure bids.

"She was the one we really wanted," said Thompson. "She's a beautiful filly. We were looking for a filly for the broodmare band and she was first on the shortlist. We will get her broken in and make some plans."

Stauffenberg is no stranger to making his punchy pinhooks pay, but Tuesday's result comfortably eclipsed his previous best at Book 1, which came 12 months ago when he sold a Wootton Bassett  colt to Charlie Gordon-Watson for 600,000 guineas ($811,082).

"I haven't calculated the profit but that's the best result we've ever had in the ring," said Stauffenberg. "She's not a big girl, but she's beautiful. She has size, strength, and a wonderful temperament, I just adore her.

"She was a very good physical as a foal and on top of that she's an outcross for most of the big owner-breeders, and as you saw we ended up with Cheveley Park bidding against Juddmonte.

"Hopefully she will be worth what Cheveley Park has spent on her. It's great to see Mrs. Thompson go on investing in a filly like this for the future. That's very encouraging for the British industry."

The filly was bred by Stephen Sullivan and is the fifth foal out of Lady Ederle, a placed daughter of English Channel   who hails from the family of Dabirsim . As well as producing Coventry Stakes (G2) winner Arizona, who joined the Coolmore stallion roster in 2021, Lady Ederle is also dam of the grade 2-winning Nay Lady Nay .

Juddmonte Looking to Future

It did not take long for Juddmonte to atone for the earlier reversal as just a few lots later the buying team, headed by general manager Simon Mockridge, landed a winning bid of 800,000 guineas ($1,140,940) for the Dubawi  filly (Lot 127) out of Longina  consigned by Newsells Park Stud.

"The No Nay Never was a beautiful filly and we went strong on her, but not strong enough," said Mockridge. "But isn't it wonderful to see Mrs. Thompson here buying a filly like that?

"The Dubawi is a very, very nice filly too. Then as a Dubawi she's a great outcross for our stallions down the line. She's a great, free-moving filly and she showed very well."

The filly's pedigree was also the product of the German breeding industry, being out of a daughter of Monsun  who won the Diana Trial (G2) for Gestut Ittlingen. In turn, Longina is out of German champion 2-year-old Love Academy , while the page traces back to the likes of Lando  and Laccario .

With Juddmonte having lost its founder, Khalid Abdullah, in January there had been some uncertainty over the future direction of the operation. However, Mockridge offered a positive update as he noted that the pursuit of blue-blooded fillies illustrated the Abdullah family's commitment to maintaining the Juddmonte empire.

"The positive news is that Prince Khalid's family wishes to continue to develop Juddmonte so we need to buy some outcross fillies," he said. "That's the reason why we're here. These two fillies fit the bill, but fillies like this are very rare and you have to be competitive.

"It's been a tough year losing Prince Khalid but the family is committed to the stud and to the future. The Prince left a great legacy and we have a great stallion base. Now it's up to us to continue it."

Godolphin's Statement of Intent

Godolphin made a big statement of intent during the early exchanges on Tuesday as, with Sheikh Mohammed himself at Park Paddocks, the operation secured the very first lot into the ring, a Kingman  colt (Lot 1) from Chasemore Farm, at 525,000 guineas ($748,743).

That six-figure purchase was supplemented a short while later with the acquisition of a Lope de Vega  colt (Lot 49) from Whatton Manor Stud at a cost of 725,000 guineas ($1,033,980).

The son of Lope de Vega was bred by St Albans Bloodstock and is the first foal out of God Given , a Nathaniel  half sister to Postponed  who provided Luca Cumani with his final group 1 winner when landing the Premio Lydia Tesio Sisal Matchpoint (G1).

"He moved extremely well, he's very light on his feet, and he behaved very well here," said Godolphin's chief talent scout Anthony Stroud. "He's out of a very good mare from the family of Postponed, whom we know well, and we like Lope de Vega very much."

The result was a personal best for Nottinghamshire-based Whatton Manor, whose Ed Player said, "I'm delighted to have horses nice enough to come to Book 1, we've always aspired to sell here. We're extremely lucky that Andrew Stone of St Albans Bloodstock trusted us with God Given. We had Bianca Nera (God Given's granddam) on the farm a long time ago so it's come full circle.

"I'm absolutely delighted with the price, I could not be happier as it's the most we've ever sold one for. We once sold a Cadeaux Genereux for 650,000 guineas but that was before my time. God Given has a Dubawi colt foal and she's back in foal to Siyouni . The team has done a tremendous job prepping him and they've shown him beautifully here."

Another operation toasting its best result was Andrew Black's Chasemore Farm, who saw Stroud secure the Kingman colt out of the listed-winning Eartha Kitt who brought the curtain up on the blue-chip sale.

"Being the first lot in the ring can be a bit of a poisoned chalice but it was a great result," said Chasemore's farm manager Jack Conroy. "We had a number in our heads that we thought we could realistically get, but after showing for a few days you pick up on the vibe that the right people are interested and that price was well past the figure we'd expected.

"That's the best result we've ever had. We broke our record last year with a lovely Shalaa  colt who made 290,000 guineas ($392,013, to Blandford Bloodstock). He was by the right stallion though, it was a great result and he's gone to a great home. The mare is in foal to Camelot , although she doesn't have a foal at foot, and Tom Dascombe has the Frankel  2-year-old."

Conroy added of the six-figure Kingman colt, "Since he got to the sales he's really manned up and has shown magnificently. We also have a lovely Farhh  colt (Lot 568) coming up in Book 2 who's out of Formidable Kitt (half sister to Eartha Kitt), he's the standout of our draft so hopefully, the family will have a good week next week too."

Eartha Kitt is out of Ceiling Kitty , who carried Black's colors to victory in the Queen Mary Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot.

Magnier's Hat-Trick

Godolphin's arch rivals Coolmore were also in action and collected three lots, two colts and a filly, by the late, great Galileo  at a combined spend of 1,875,000 guineas ($2,674,080). The first, the half brother to Godolphin's Queen's Vase (G2) winner Kemari , was consigned by the Cumani family's Fittocks Stud and fetched 600,000 guineas ($855,706).

The youngster (Lot 101) is out of Koora , a Pivotal  half sister to Rothmans Royals St. Leger (G1) hero Milan , meaning the colt is bred on the same cross as six group 1 winners, including the likes of Hermosa , Hydrangea , Love , and Magical .

"He's an exceptional colt out of a very good mare who's started her breeding career off very well," said Luca Cumani. "In today's market it's a good price. Koora has a Kingman filly foal, unfortunately she didn't get in foal to Wootton Bassett but hopefully, she'll be going to Frankel next year."

Magnier also went to 650,000 guineas ($927,015) for the Galileo colt (Lot 121) out of the dual One Thousand Guineas (G1)-placed Lightning Thunder , who was bred by Christopher Hanbury and sold through New England Stud, and completed his hat-trick with the acquisition of Lot 155, the filly out of QIPCO One Thousand Guineas (G1) winner Miss France  at 625,000 guineas ($891,360).

The filly out of Miss France was offered by The Castlebridge Consignment and bred by the Wildensteins' Dayton Investments. 

The opening session of the three-day auction generated turnover of 25,201,000 guineas ($35,941,100), a 9% year-on-year dip from 2020's corresponding session. The average also slipped by 6% to 210,008 guineas ($299,508), but the consistent, rather than spectacular, nature of trade saw the median rise by 27% to 152,500 guineas ($217,492).

The clearance rate was identical to last year's 78% as 120 of 154 offered lots found a buyer.

Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale continues on Wednesday at 11 a.m. local time.