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Maximum sire power
The Tattersalls October Yearling sale is the one buyers, consignors, and the whole breeding industry looks forward to. By Bill Oppenheim
Dubawi
Frankel I n the world’s nearly $1-billion auction yearling market, two sales stand out as the top yearling sales on the planet: in North America, Keeneland September Book 1 (2018 average: $363,780), and in Europe, Tattersalls’ October Book 1 (2018 average: 271,691 guineas, which was then $373,575).
The last two editions of Tattersalls’ flagship October 1 yearling sale have seen records smashed. In 2017 the sale scaled the 100-million guinea mark for the first time, when 349 yearlings grossed 102,290,000 gns, an average of 293,095 gns. With 392 yearlings sold in last year’s edition, a new record gross – for the seventh consecutive year - of 106,503,000 gns was achieved. The 2018 average of 271,691 gns was a seven per cent drop from the 2017 record but still well above all previous years.
Sire power is the key to any yearling sale, and the 2019 edition of Tattersalls’ October Book 1 possesses maximum sire power. There are 23 yearlings catalogued by the world’s number one sire, Galileo, and 29 by the world’s number two sire, Dubawi; those two alone account for almost ten per cent of the catalogue of 552 yearlings. But there are plenty more top prospects, too.
Juddmonte Farms stands probably the two top young sires in Europe; there are 40 yearlings in the book by the mighty Frankel, the best young stallion in the world, and 41 by Kingman, who has made a sensational start at stud himself. Then there are 31 yearlings by Sea The Stars, which adds up to 164 yearlings – 30 per cent of the catalogue - by Europe’s top five sires. That is sire power in spades.
Then there are another 151 yearlings by other top proven sires like Dark Angel (30), Lope De Vega (25), the venerable Invincible Spirit (17), top French sire Siyouni (14) and Fastnet Rock (13), as well as eight each by Shamardal and Juddmonte’s Dansili, plus the young Coolmore trio of
Golden Horn
Camelot (15), No Nay Never (12), and Australia (9). In total there are 315 yearlings – well over half the catalogue – by 15 top proven European sires. It’s a formidable collection.
On the whole it’s the top proven sires which dominate the market, but invariably the new crop of sires attracts much attention. Last year three European sires with their first yearlings were very prominent in the market, and all are back with strong representation from their second crops: Shadwell’s Muhaarar (15 in October Book 1 this year), Darley’s Golden Horn (11) and Coolmore’s Gleneagles (9). All three went to stud for £30,000 or more, which is higher than the highest first-year yearling sire this year, France’s Haras de Bouquetot’s Shalaa, who was a dual 6-furlong Gr.1 winner as a two-yearold (Prix Morny, Middle Park Stakes) by sire of sires Invincible Spirit. Shalaa, who went to stud for €27,500 and was down to €22,000 in 2019, was the highest-priced retirement to stud in Europe in 2017, and has six catalogued in October Book 1.
There are 42 yearlings in the sale by seven sires with their first two-year-olds, including two by the 2015 American Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, besides the 35 by last year’s ‘big three’, as well as three by Night of Thunder, who is himself off to a hot start at stud. There are 53 yearlings by 17 different first-year sires, which averages out to just three each. The highest representation is 11 by Derrinstown Stud’s Awtaad, the 2016 Gr.1 Irish 2000 Guineas winner by Cape Cross, also sire of Sea The Stars and Golden Horn. Besides Shalaa, there are also six by Kildangan Stud’s Belardo, the 2014 Gr.1 Dewhurst Stakes winner from Lope De Vega’s first crop, and five by Territories, another Kildangan sire and another by Invincible Spirit; he won the Gr.1 Prix Jean Prat and was second in three other Group 1 races, including to Gleneagles in the 2015 English 2000 Guineas. There are also yearlings by two first-year yearling sires standing in America: two by Air Force Blue, triple Gr.1 winner and European Champion two-year-old of 2015; and three by Flintshire, who won five Gr.1s, placed in ten more, and earned over $9.5-million racing for Juddmonte.
Of course, it’s not all about the sires – though we start with sires as the organizing principle, both because they have so many foals to talk about compared to mares, and also because the sire is the beginning point when assessing a pedigree’s value. But it’s hardly irrelevant that the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1 includes full- or half-siblings to no fewer than 59 Classic/Gr.1 winners and a massive 243 Black-Type winners produced by the dams of the 522 yearlings. It’s the bellwether European yearling sale, the one buyers, consignors, and in fact the whole breeding industry looks forward to, as Tattersalls’ October Book 1 defines the top of the European breeding market. Gleneagles
