Destined to join the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable, three-year-old colt DELIUS eclipsed the record for the highest priced lot ever sold at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale when selling for 1,300,000 guineas as strong trade continued on the second day of the sale, with seven lots selling for 300,000 guineas or more.
Record 1,300,000 Guineas for Delius
The Group 3 winner and Group 1 placed three-year-old DELIUS stood out as an exceptionally exciting wildcard entry to the sale from Coolmore and duly broke records in the sales ring when sold for 1,300,000 guineas to De Burgh Equine / McKeever Bloodstock / Go Bloodstock / Waterhouse / Bott Racing, the highest priced horse ever achieved at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale.
An opening bid of 500,000 guineas set the tone for proceedings with bloodstock agents Alastair Donald and Guy Mulcaster among those involved in the early exchanges, but bidding was eventually narrowed down to an online bidder and the above group, with Hubie de Burgh offering the successful bid.
"It is a joint venture," said de Burgh. "It is for Sir Owen Glenn's Go Bloodstock, who has had some good horses including Lady Of Camelot trained by Gai. He wants a Cup horse, and Gai did as well, so this joint venture came together."
Of the three-year-old colt, bred by David and Trish Brown of Furnace Mill Stud and purchased by MV Magnier for 675,000 guineas at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale, De Burgh said:
"What can I say about him? He is a son of Frankel, he is Timeform rated 118, he has raced six times, he has won over 1m2f and 1m4f and he has a perfect profile for Australia. His only slight disappointing run was in the Arc when he hated the ground.
"It is a lot of money, but that is what this sort of horse costs. We have been trying to buy this horse for a long time and I had Stevie O'Connor, Sir Owen's racing manager, on the phone and he was quick to come back with the bids. It was going to be hard to buy the horse on our own as it is a lot of money, so by joining up with Gai and us all getting involved it has given us this opportunity."
Trained by Jean-Claude Rouget for Magnier, Smith, Tabor and Westerberg, the son of FRANKEL won the Group 3 Prix du Lys and placed third in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris and second in the Group 2 Prix Niel, before running with credit in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
Caviar Heights to Hurworth Bloodstock for 520,000 Guineas
The second highest price of the day proved something of a rarity when secured by Hurworth Bloodstock, with Sam Haggas revealing that CAVIAR HEIGHTS was set to join the William Haggas team at Somerville Lodge rather than bound overseas. The son of SEA THE STARS was offered by Karl Burke’s Spigot Lodge Stables on behalf of owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum and realised 520,000 guineas.
"He is staying in Newmarket and going to my parents," said Sam Haggas. "He is for some existing owners in the yard, who have been great supporters of my parents and I, it is a great result.
"I hope the horse can develop into an international campaigner, my parents have had a lot of success taking horses to Sydney for the Autumn Carnival and I hope he can develop into that sort of horse, that would be the dream. He has been on my radar since the spring and his first run in the Fielden Stakes behind Jayarebe, with Ambiente Friendly a place behind him. He went onto win the Lingfield Derby Trial and was placed in two Derbys.
"Caviar Heights then put in a massive performance when he won the Newmarket Stakes. It was so impressive, especially on the clock. He beat a very good yardstick in Sayedaty Sadaty and beat him well, and that horse went on to hold up the form when running to a similar level in the Derby. The Derby has some very good form lines this year, it looks a strong Derby."
Haggas added: "I am hoping that this horse can get back to that level of form, and if he can, they can have a lot of fun with him."
Waller Strikes for Hutchence at 460,000 Guineas
Imperium Sales topped the 2023 Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale with BALANCE PLAY on their consigning debut and were to the fore again this year with the three-year-old HUTCHENCE knocked down at 460,000 guineas to Guy Mulcaster on behalf of Chris Waller Racing.
"He came highly recommended from the Beckett stable, we thought he had good form and we like the horse," said Mulcaster. "He has probably done it all on one preparation, so I think there is a little bit of juice still left in the lemon! We will take him home, poke along and see how we go.
"We won't be in any mad rush, he has done it all in such little time - I think he will keep finishing and will appreciate the sun on his back! I thought he would make that sort of money, it has been hard to buy this week."
Trained by Ralph Beckett for Valmont, the three-year-old has now won three races from nine starts culminating in a four-length success on his most recent start at Ascot and was offered with a Timeform rating of 107. Bred by Gerhard Schoeningh, HUTCHENCE was purchased at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale by Alex Elliott from Fittocks Stud for 310,000 guineas.
His new trainer Chris Waller would no doubt have been familiar with HUTCHENCE’s older half-brother BEST OF DAYS, who won the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes when trained in Britain before claiming three further Group victories in Australia including the Group 1 Cantala Stakes.
Mr Monaco Australia Bound at 410,000 Guineas
Imperium Sales enjoyed another spectacular result with the next lot in the ring with MR MONACO joining the multitude of horses bound for Australia when secured for 410,000 guineas by Will Bourne on behalf of Astute Bloodstock and Ciaron Maher, having seen off a determined effort by Johnny McKeever and Claudia Fitzgerald representing the Waterhouse/Bott Stable. Offered on behalf of the Obank Partnership, the progressive three-year-old was beaten just a nose on his most recent start over 1m2f for Ralph Beckett, earning an official rating of 98.
HUTCHENCE and MR MONACO were sandwiched by two further six figures lots for Imperium Sales with KING OF BEARS and BLACK RUN selling for 200,000 guineas and 240,000 guineas respectively, and Imperium’s Alex Elliott commented:
"They are four super horses, Mr Monaco was above where I thought he would be but when I saw Claudia lock up with Will Bourne I could see the horse making a good price.
"It is a great price for Hutchence, I think he is a very good horse. He is just getting it together – he was a late foal and a late developer. He was very immature, but he has slowly got it all together. Ralph was very sweet on him and I think he could be a Cup horse next year."
Atlantic Coast to Henry Dwyer for 340,000 Guineas
Australian trainer Henry Dwyer has enjoyed a successful summer in Britain with the exploits of star sprinter ASFOORA and added another high class horse to his string in Group 3 winner ATLANTIC COAST, bought for 340,000 guineas with Sam Haggas’ Hurworth Bloodstock.
Consigned by Baroda Stud on behalf of Joseph O’Brien’s Carriganog Racing, the three-year-old KODIAC colt won the Group 3 Killavullan Stakes at two and claimed the Listed Prix Matchen on his most recent start.
His form has come mainly at 7f and a mile, and his new trainer commented: "We generally come over here to look for horses who are going to get 1m4f and up to 2m, but he is just such a lovely horse and we think that his form over a mile and 7f will stretch out to 1m2f in Australia.
"He is just a lovely physical, he has a lovely head on him. Kodiacs have done well in Australia and Joseph [O'Brien] has trained him well. For a horse who has had a bit of racing at three and a bit of travelling, he looks in such good order, a beautiful nature to him. We are so pleased to have him and be able to take him back to Australia, he is going to be a great bit of fun."
Of plans Dwyer revealed: "We will just get him back, he will be an Autumn Carnival horse and given that he is a Stakes winner and his rating is high enough we have got to pick our races a little bit. He will be a Melbourne Autumn Carnival type, or maybe Adelaide. He goes on top of the ground as well as with cut in the ground too, so he might be a Brisbane winter horse - they get soft tracks there, which he likes.
"He is a ready-made horse to land in Australia and get to the Stakes races with. We sent out an Expression Of Interest form to our owners before we came over, we had some good interest so we have a lot of owners ready to go for a horse like this. Hopefully some more will jump on too - don't anyone be afraid to take a look at the website!"
The Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale continues at 9.30am on Wednesday, 30th October.
