GB: Alcohol Free, sold for 5.4 million guineas on Tuesday at Tattersalls, is set to race on in Australia where the four-time G1 winner will join the training partnership of Sydney legend Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott.
Waterhouse is already eyeing next year’s running of the Everest, the world’s richest turf race, for the four-year-old, who became the second-highest-priced horse ever sold at a European auction during a remarkable day’s trading at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale in Newmarket.
During what was to become the highest-grossing single day’s trading in European auction history, a total of 11 lots realised one million guineas or more – ten of them during the second part of the inaugural ‘Sceptre Sessions’, resulting in turnover of 54 million guineas.
The previous record of 49,545,000 guineas was set at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale earlier this autumn.
The second part of the ‘Sceptre Sessions’ saw the 49 sold lots realise a total of 37,637,000 guineas, taking the two-day total for the new December Mares Sale initiative to 45,907,000 guineas at an average of 646,577 guineas.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Waterhouse is eyeing the Everest next year for Alcohol Free, set to race on after being knocked down to BBA Ireland’s Michael Donohoe on behalf of Yulong Investments. “She is the real deal,” said Waterhouse, speaking to the Herald.
“She is the queen coming to Australia,” Waterhouse added. “I’m a great believer in waiting until they are in your stable when you are seeing them day in, day out before making plans but it’s very exciting.
“She is a beautiful mare and very lightly raced. She is the best female to come to Australia ever. She won the July Cup, which is 1200m and a very testing 1200m, so The Everest would be one race you think of straight away.”
Alcohol Free the cynosure of all eyes in sales ring
The daughter of No Nay Never, who raced in Europe for owner Jeff Smith and trainer Andrew Balding, was the star attraction as she entered a sales ring that was standing room only for the Sceptre Sessions.
Australian owner-breeder Michael Sherrin, standing alongside agent Jim Clarke, opened the bidding at 1,000,000 guineas before Blandford Bloodstock’s Richard Brown, BBA Ireland’s Donohoe and Coolmore’s MV Magnier joined the fray.
As bidding soared past 4,000,000 guineas it became a direct head-to-head duel between Donohoe and Magnier with Donohoe, sitting alongside Yulong premier Yuesheng Zhang, prevailing with a bid of 5,400,000 guineas.
"She vetted extremely well and clean for a filly with some miles on the clock,” commented Donohoe after Tuesday’s sale.
“My vet was super happy with her,” he added. “There is a lot of money to win in Australia – I think 87 races this year are worth a million plus so we hope to recoup a lot of what we paid for her, and add a bit more too.
“She is a filly with speed for six furlongs but stayed a mile, so there will be a lot of options for her. Andrew Balding and the team did a great job, she looked very fresh. I went to see her last week at Kingsclere. She will make a lovely broodmare in time, she has the physique and the pedigree. It is a family I know well as I bought the dam for Yulong Investments last year, and she has a lovely Lope De Vega foal at foot and is in-foal to Lucky Vega."
He added: “She will probably race for a season and then be covered, and we will probably send her to Frankel. So we will decide whether we cover on northern or southern hemisphere time, but obviously Frankel is an exceptional sire and is doing it in both hemispheres.”
Of bidding to over five million guineas, Donohoe laughed and said: “It was pretty cool! But to be honest I was born in an auction ring at Goresbridge and am used to all the theatre.
“Those blue hen fillies who come off the track, they are collectors' items. They don't come on the market, like a Picasso, and if they do come on the market, you just have to value them and we had a figure in our head. I suppose I was bidding pretty strongly so I guess it indicated there was a bit more petrol in the tank.”
Saffron Beach is Saudi Cup-bound after being sold for 3.6m gns
Dual G1 winner Saffron Beach is set for the Saudi Cup after she was knocked down for 3,600,000 guineas to Najd Stud’s Saad Bin Mishraf, who saw off a determined effort from Northern Farm’s Shunsuke Yoshida after Badgers Bloodstock’s Grant Pritchard-Gordon had made much of the early running.
“She is for the Saudi Cup,” said Bin Mishraf. “Inshallah she will go to the Saudi Cup, Inshallah she will win it! She has good breeding from the dam's side to act on the dirt, and we like her physically. We thought she would not make that much. We will see about plans after."
Saffron Beach will stay part of the Jane Chapple-Hyam team. “I am thrilled and very excited,” said the trainer. “It is a big honour, we have got a good winter to look forward to.
“I think going around the ring she was waiting for the saddle, she was giving a few bops with her backend! She is in good order, she is tough, I believe she will get the nine furlongs in Saudi, you never know about the surface but we will give it a go."
"I think we will have a little rest, and then build her up and get her ready,” Chapple-Hyam added. “I will have to do a very good racecourse gallop with her. When I sent her to Dubai World Cup meeting I felt that, although we ran fourth and went well, the ones who finished in front and had had a run, I am aware of that.”
Godolphin strike for Tranquil Lady at 2.7m gns
The Tattersalls December Mares Sale is regarded as the world’s most international sale and this was reflected in both the global appeal of Tranquil Lady’s pedigree and the array of bidders who attempted to secure the G3-winning filly.
In the end, it was Anthony Stroud who won out with a bid of 2,700,000 guineas of behalf of Godolphin. “She is a really nice filly and can either go into training or go to see Dubawi,” said Stroud.
“We will discuss and will come to a plan, and obviously if she goes into training it will be with Charlie Appleby and for Godolphin. We will see where we are at as there is more racing in her and she is only three. Charlie came up and looked at her.”
Ville de Grace to Lordship Stud for two million
Archangel Gabriel was the star of the opening day of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale when she topped proceedings at 800,000gns and her Group-winning daughter Ville De Grace lit up proceedings on Tuesday evening, attracting bids from all corners of the ring. Lordship Stud’s Trevor and Tom Harris secured the daughter of Le Havre for 2,000,000 guineas.
Following the purchase, Tom Harris commented: "We loved her, she was our pick of the sale. Beautiful, athletic, a very good race filly and she is an outcross so she can be mated to all of the top stallions.
“It is very difficult to buy in this market, as owner-breeders we are trying to invest in new blood for the farm and for something like her to come and breed for us is a long-term plan and an investment in the future. We are over the moon.
"It was a little bit more than we were initially going to pay, but it is so competitive and you go so far selecting the ones you like … it was a bit more, probably a lot more!"
Magnier buys Derby winner’s dam
MV Magnier secured Desert Berry, the dam of this year’s Derby winner Desert Crown, for 1,900,000 guineas. The 13-year-old Green Desert mare was offered carrying a full-sibling to the Derby winner and was consigned by her owner Gary Robinson’s Strawberry Fields Stud.
“At the end of the day she has bred a Derby winner and from our point of view the Derby is everything, the most important stallion making race, the Holy Grail of racing,” said Magnier.
“She has bred a Derby winner, is carrying a full-sibling to a Derby winner and is a very good mare. We have no plans as yet, but there are a lot of stallions that we could pick, any of the sons of Galileo, there are plenty of options. I heard that Desert Crown is in good form and is going to run next year.”
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