Horses linked to John Dance dominated trade at Tattersalls May 2 as eight of the top 10 lots at the Guineas Horses in Training Sale were sold on behalf of the beleaguered owner.
Dance shot to prominence thanks to the exploits of six-time group 1 winner Laurens but has had a spectacular fall from grace after it was revealed in April 2023 that he was being investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority following the discovery of "serious regulatory and operational issues" at his firm WealthTek, which also traded as Vertem Asset Management and Malloch Melville.
WealthTek was duly placed into special administration by the FCA and in September last year the British Horseracing Authority banned horses Dance owned under the banner of Coverdale Stud or Titanium Racing from competing on the track.
Over the two sessions The Castlebridge Consignment sold 52 lots on behalf of Dance-affiliated operations for receipts totaling 1,701,500gns (US$2,256,189, 1gn=US$1.326).
That sum equates to 56% of turnover, which reached 3,016,000gns (US$3,999,216) across the extended two-day Guineas Horses in Training Sale. The Dance lots helped aggregate sales increase by 98% year-on-year, while the average price rose by 26% to 22,675gns (US$30,067). The median was also up 25% at 15,000gns (US$19,890). The clearance rate was 94% as 133 sold from 142 offered.
Jeremy Young came off second best when the Coverdale Stud-owned Kingman filly out of Life of Pi was knocked down to Alex Elliott and Billy Jackson-Stops at 130,000gns May 1, but the owner was back in position Thursday morning and bid the same figure to secure the once-raced Supreme Beauty.
The daughter of No Nay Never is out of Park Bloom, a Galileo full sister to 2012 Epsom Oaks (G1) heroine Was and group winners Amhran Na Bhfiann and Douglas Macarthur. The youngster was bred by Lodge Park Stud and fetched 375,000gns from Dance's Manor House Farm at Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1 in 2022.
Another Book 1 graduate reappearing Thursday was the unraced Twisting Physics. The Dubawi half brother to Tropbeau, who was signed for by Manor House Farm at 1,000,000gns in October 2022, went the way of Alex Cole, racing manager to Jim and Fitri Hay, at 100,000gns.
When asked if he knew anything about Twisting Physics' recent whereabouts, Cole said: "Nothing, the same as the groom that led him up. I got a million-pound yearling for a hundred grand though. Dubawis aren't usually in my price range, only the second-hand ones."
Challenging Market Conditions for Breeze-Up Sale
Topping the breeze-up section of the Tattersalls Guineas Sale was Donovan Bloodstock's King of Change filly from the family of Slade Power. Henry Lascelles tried hard to land the youngster but Oliver St Lawrence, standing beside Bryan Smart, ultimately proved the more determined with a bid of 180,000gns (US$238,680).
The sales-topping filly was pinhooked by Danny O'Donovan and Adam Potts for £20,000 at last year's Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale.
King of Change, whose first crop were conceived at Shadwell's Derrinstown Stud, is standing the current season at Starfield at a fee of just €5,000.
Despite a sprinkling of pinhooking successes, trade was far from plain sailing, with a notable drop in aggregate sales and a clearance rate described as "well below par" by Tattersalls' chairman Edmond Mahony.
Turnover fell by 17% compared to last year's record level, with receipts totaling 4,943,500gns (US$6,555,081). The average price was broadly in line with last year's high at 41,895gns (US$55,553), though the median told a more testing tale by dropping 10% to 27,000gns (US$35,802), having been 30,000gns 12 months ago. Most concerning of all was a clearance rate of 72% as 118 sold from 163 offered, meaning 45 juveniles failed to find a buyer.
The progeny of Tally-Ho Stud's Mehmas occupied two of the top three prices, with the biggest figure generated by a colt from Eddie Linehan's Lackendarra Stables. After signing the 160,000gns docket, agent Billy Jackson-Stops said: "He's for Andrew Balding and Opulence Thoroughbreds. He's by the right sire, obviously, and out of a mare by the right broodmare sire."
The colt is out of the Pivotal mare Raincall, who in turn is out of the Australian group 1 winner Lone Rock. Linehan pinhooked the colt for 55,000gns from the Highclere draft during last year's Book 2.
Mocklershill presented just about the best-bred lot in the catalog in the shape of Alice Springs' son by Quality Road . The Coolmore-bred colt is the fourth foal out of the daughter of Galileo, who won three group 1s during her time at Ballydoyle.
Agent Colm Sharkey signed the docket at 140,000gns. He said: "He's for a Dubai-based client who was pretty keen to get him. He's had the horse earmarked for weeks; he loves the pedigree.
"The horse will ship to Dubai and will get all the time he needs. Being by Quality Road, the dirt pedigree works out there, where he's had success. This is a big strong horse who vetted well, so there aren't many negatives."
Mahony Acknowledges Market Challenges
In his end-of-sale statement, Mahony said: "The clearance rate for the horses in training was a remarkable 94%, yet again demonstrating the sustained global appetite for British and Irish horses in training sold at Tattersalls, and the horses belonging to Coverdale Stud and Titanium Racing were particularly sought after, with buyers from throughout Europe, the Gulf region and Australia all making their presence felt."
He continued: "Nevertheless, the strong and diverse demand that produced the wide-margin record-breaking Guineas Horses in Training Sale was not matched in the breeze-up section of the sale and while the combined turnover for the breeze-up and horses in training is a record, and the breeze-up average and median prices have held up well in relation to last year's record-breaking sale, the clearance rate has been well below par.
"It is clear that there are challenges in the current marketplace, challenges which reflect wider economic realities, but it should also be recognized that competition for quality British and Irish bloodstock remains robust and diverse."
