Saffron Beach to Saudi Cup After 3,600,000 Guineas Sale

Two-time group 1 winner Saffron Beach  is bound for the Saudi Cup (G1) after being sold to Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Abdulaziz's Najd Stud for 3,600,000 guineas ($4,520,718) Nov. 29 during Day Two of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale. The filly is set to remain with trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam ahead of her international target.

Grant Pritchard-Gordon of Badgers Bloodstock went to 2,900,000 guineas, but it was Shunsuke Yoshida of Northern Farm, who appeared to have sealed the deal before a final 100,000 guineas increase after a lengthy deliberation, who filled the role of underbidder to Najd Stud representative Saad bin Mishraf.

"It's a big thrill and a big honor and we've got a good winter to look forward to," said Chapple-Hyam. "I think she was waiting for the saddle to go on as she was giving a few bops out in the parade ring. She's in good order and she's tough and I believe she'll get the nine furlongs out in Saudi. You never know about the surface (dirt), but we'll give it a go."

She was offered with an entry in the Hong Kong Mile (G1), which is worth $4 million to the winner, but Chapple-Hyam suggested the Saudi Cup would now be the primary target.

"She'll have a little rest now and then we'll get her ready," she said. "I'll have to do a very good racecourse gallop with her, as when I sent her to the Dubai World Cup meeting, even though we ran well in fourth, all of the ones in front of us had had a run, so I'm aware of that."

The trainer added: "If Northern Farm had got her, she'd have gone to stud, but with these owners buying her I get one more dance—and it's a big dance! I'm thrilled, it's going to be great."

Saffron Beach's race record was capped by victory in a brace of top-level events, namely the Kingdom Of Bahrain Sun Chariot Stakes (G1) at 3 and the Prix Rothschild (G1) at 4. She won four other times besides those triumphs, and her 3 1/2-length romp in this year's Duke of Cambridge Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot was her best display on Racing Post Ratings, with the performance awarded a mark of 121.

She was making a belated second appearance at public auction, as she was initially pinhooked by Liam Norris of Norris/Huntingdon at 55,000 guineas ($73,851) during the 2018 December Foal Sale.

The intention of the partnership behind her was to bring her back to market the following year, but after suffering a minor injury she was withdrawn from Book 2 and then the December Yearling Sale. She also missed the 2020 July Sale when she was entered as an unraced 2-year-old.

What may have seemed like a calamity at the time turned into a significant slice of good fortune as owner Ben Sangster, whose son Ollie later joined the partnership, and James Wigan sent her into training with Chapple-Hyam, and she wasted little time in revealing her talents. She won twice at 2, including in the Godolphin Lifetime Care Oh So Sharp Stakes (G3), and finished second to Mother Earth in the QIPCO One Thousand Guineas (G1) on her second outing at 3.

Saffron Beach gained her third victory in the Betway Atalanta Stakes (G3) before landing her first top-level success with a three-length rout in the Sun Chariot, when she comfortably reversed the form with Mother Earth and also had subsequent two-time group 1 winner Dreamloper  back in third.

Bred by the China Horse Club, Saffron Beach is from the debut crop of Ballylinch Stud's rising star sire New Bay . She has been a real flagbearer for the son of Dubawi, who will stand the 2023 breeding season at a career-high fee of €75,000, up from the introductory price of €20,000 at which Saffron Beach was bred.

She is the second foal out of Falling Petals, a daughter of Raven's Pass who won a Lingfield maiden for John Gosden in the colors of Princess Haya. Falling Petals is out of the listed-placed Infinite Spirit, which makes her a sibling to seven winners, including Middle Park Stakes third Huntdown. Another sibling, the unraced Continua, is the dam of Molecomb Stakes scorer and Tally-Ho Stud stallion Cotai Glory.