A 2-year-old named after the Spanish word for acorn grew into a mighty price at Tattersalls Oct. 30 as wildcard entry La Bellota topped Day 3 of the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale at 425,000 guineas (US$578,000, 1 guinea=US$1.36).
Agent Tom Biggs was unable to shed any light on future plans having struck the winning bid on behalf of his colleague Richard Brown. The Blandford Bloodstock man was not at Park Paddocks when the session topper passed through the ring, having boarded a flight to the United States to watch his Wathnan Racing purchases Aesterius and Shareholder tackle the Breeders' Cup.
La Bellota was offered as a wildcard entry by John Ryan, who saddled the son of Mehmas to shed his maiden tag in the Prospect Stakes Oct. 26.
"He's probably the best independently owned 2-year-old on the market," said Ryan. "To be honest, it's bittersweet and it's sad to lose him. At the end of the day we bought him for what we bought him for and sold him for what we sold him for.
"You'd love to have him in your yard because he's an absolute superstar. He's a very special horse and I think he'll do very special things."
Juddmonte Draft to the Fore
The buying team from Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Abdulaziz's Najd Stud scooped the top two lots from the Juddmonte draft, first going to 260,000 guineas for Task Force before spending 380,000 guineas on the very next lot, Amphius.
Those purchases took the Saudi Arabian operation's haul to 13, with representatives Saud Al Qahtani, Saad Al Mishraf, and Nico Archdale of Archdale Bloodstock contributing 1,529,000 guineas to turnover.
"They'll go to Saudi for the King's Cup, both will go for that race," said Al Qahtani after signing for Amphius and Task Force.
"Juddmonte is the best breeder in global racing and both are by top-class stallions and have very good form. We didn't expect to have to go so far, but when you're looking for good-quality horses, the competition will always be strong, and when you find a good horse that you want, you should go for it."
All told Juddmonte sold 18 lots for a combined 1.5 million guineas.
Hawk Power Leads Godolphin Draft Day 3
Stuart Boman of Blandford Bloodstock and Australia-based trainer Annabel Neasham have combined on three lots this week for an outlay of 640,000 guineas. The hat trick was brought up Wednesday with the 300,000-guinea signing of Hawk Power from Godolphin.
The homebred son of Gleneagles won two of nine races for Andre Fabre, victories that came at Chantilly and Deauville. He was last seen finishing third in the Prix le Fabuleux won by Fast Tracker.
Hawk Power was one of 44 lots sold by Godolphin at the Autumn Horses in Training Sale, a draft which generated receipts worth 1,117,500 guineas.
The sale's third day saw 264 lots sold for a gross of 9,935,000 guineas (US$13,511,600) with an average of 43,129 guineas (US$58,655) and median of 22,000 guineas (US$29,920). Twenty-eight lots failed to sell, accounting for a 90% clearance rate.
The Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale continues Oct. 31 at 9:30 a.m. local time.
