Dubawi Filly Steals Spotlight at Tattersalls July

All the talk in the buildup to the Tattersalls July Sale had been about the draft of Galileo yearling fillies on offer. But after a frantic spell of bidding July 11, it was a daughter of Galileo's old foe Dubawi who hogged the limelight at Park Paddocks, with Blandford Bloodstock's Tom Goff going to 350,000gns (US$487,857) to secure the lightly raced Award Winning.

The 3-year-old, who was offered by The Castlebridge Consignment on behalf of John Gosden's Clarehaven Stables, won a Wetherby novice stakes before running down the field in the Cheshire Oaks, where she carried the silks of the Coolmore partners and Markus Jooste.

"She's been bought for an Irish client who's been talking about buying a Dubawi mare for a long time," said Goff of the filly, who had fetched 720,000gns ($1,141,636) as a yearling.

"She's got a fantastic page, there's Cozzene in there, and it's wonderful outcross material. Everyone can see what she cost as a yearling, and we've followed her for a while, so we're very pleased to get her."

The blue-blooded filly is out of Hit The Sky, a daughter of Cozzene and Prix Saint-Alary (G1) winner Cerulean Sky, in turn a half sister to Darley Irish Oaks (G1) heroine Moonstone. She is a half sister to four stakes winners, namely group 2-winning Royal Bench and group 3 winners Mayhem and Memphis Tennessee.

Just two lots earlier, Goff had also sent the numbers on the bid board rocketing when going to 320,000gns ($446,040) to secure C'est Ca, a daughter of Galileo and the grade 1 winner A Z Warrior. The 3-year-old, another to run for the Coolmore partners and Jooste, had been signed for at 750,000gns ($1,003,984) as a yearling.

"She's been bought for an American client," said Goff. "The dam won the Frizette, and she's a very nice filly. She's a bit long in the front pasterns, but that comes with the territory with the Sadler's Wells line. She's got a lovely page and she'll be back off to the states.

"I think both mares represented good value. You only have to think back to how strong the December Sale was. Galileo broodmare prospects are in tremendous demand, and Dubawis, if they're not already, are going to be the same."

Galileo Goldmine

A packed Park Paddocks ring looked on as the three yearling fillies by Galileo came under the hammer. Despite being bested in the market, the trio all but lived up to their presale expectations.

The first two of the trio, all of which were offered by The Castlebridge Consignment, went the way of Paul Dunkley's Apple Tree Stud and Federico Barberini, with the filly out of Timbuktu fetching 220,000gns ($306,653) and the daughter of Luas Line bringing a winning bid of 150,000gns ($209,082).

However, stud manager Robert 'Choc' Thornton explained that doubling up on the Galileo yearlings had not been the plan when he and Barberini entered the ring.

"We only intended to buy one, but I stood there with Federico and when we saw the second one making much less than we expected, we couldn't let an opportunity like that go," he said.

"It's all about the broodmare band at Apple Tree," Thornton continued. "Building that is a slow process, and we're taking our time doing things. We've just got the seven mares at the moment, although we have fillies in training and two other yearling fillies who'll join these two in going into training. These two will be raced, and hopefully they'll have a home for life after that."

The best was saved until last among the highly anticipated triumvirate, as Ronald Rauscher went to 300,000gns ($418,163) for the daughter of Galileo and the group 3-winning Danehill mare Milanova, a sister to Holy Roman Emperor.

Goff, who had also made determined plays on the first two Galileo fillies, gave Rauscher most to think about, but the final bid, delivered from the steps by the exit to the ring, was enough to bring John O'Kelly's gavel down.

"It hasn't quite been decided where she'll go into training, but we've got plenty of time to think about that," said Rauscher. "She's still very young, but she's very typical of the family. There are lots of good horses in that family that aren't on the page, like Night Shift and Encosta De Lago.

"I think she has very good paddock value, she handled herself very well at the sale, and she vetted very well. There might not be too many opportunities to buy a filly like this."

Rauscher went on to explain that he has a particular affinity for this family, having spent his formative years in Canada, from where this line takes its roots.

"I'm a bit biased towards the pedigree as it's an old Jean-Louis Levesque family from Canada and I used to work at Windfields, so I had a lot to do with horses like Barachois and La Voyageuse," he said. "She's been bought for a European-based owner who doesn't want to be named."

The trio of Galileo yearlings had all been owned or part-owned by troubled South African retail magnate Jooste, who has been forced to disperse his stock amid a string of accountancy fraud allegations.

At the close of trade on Wednesday, 208 lots had changed hands for turnover of 5,407,000gns ($7,536,682)—a 23% year-on-year drop. The average of 25,995gns ($36,234) was down 17% and the median of 9,000gns ($12,545) was down from 10,000gns 12 months ago. The clearance rate stood at 77%.