A broad cross section of buyers gathered at Tattersalls Nov. 27 as the December Foal Sale went through the gears. Among the crowd of pinhookers and end users was professional footballer Ryan Kent, who capped his latest trip to Park Paddocks by securing a 200,000-guinea (US$266,000, 1 guinea=US$1.33) Mehmas filly bred by Michael O'Leary's Plantation Stud.
Kent, who is out of contract having left Fenerbahce by mutual consent in October, was bidding through agent Daniel Creighton of Creighton Schwartz Bloodstock. Kirsty Spence also signed the six-figure docket.
The filly is out of the listed-winning Natalie's Joy, a daughter of Lope de Vega who was added to the Plantation broodmare band at a cost of 300,000 guineas back in 2021. The pedigree goes back to the 1995 European champion 2-year-old filly Blue Duster.
Kent deferred media duties to Creighton, who said: "She's been bought to race. Obviously Mehmas is flying this year and she's out of a Lope de Vega mare, which is the same cross as Persian Force and Gubbass. That's worked before and she's out of a black-type mare too. She's a lovely physical, a nice, well-grown filly, so it made a lot of sense."
Mehmas recently broke the world record for 2-year-old winners in a single season. The Tally-Ho Stud stallion has 66 European juvenile winners to his name in 2024, including the elite scorers Magnum Force, Scorthy Champ, and Vertical Blue, the latter of whom is due to be offered at Tattersalls next week.
Amo On Target
The purchaser of the session topper was not the only football professional to get involved at the head of the market. Amo Racing's Kia Joorabchian, who oversees a rapidly expanding bloodstock portfolio alongside his day job as a player agent, entered the fray with the acquisition of the Havana Grey filly out of Roxie Lott from Whitsbury Manor Stud for 170,000 guineas.
The February-born filly is a sibling to two winners, most notably her Havana Grey brother Holguin, whose record includes a listed victory at Chester and a close fourth to Angel Bleu in the Celebration Mile Stakes (G2).
"She's been bought for Amo Racing," said agent Alex Elliott, who signed the name Abercorn Investments on the ticket. "She was our pick of the day from the fillies, and obviously it's important to get some fillies into the operation. Havana Grey is an exceptional stallion and this filly is a full sister to a very good horse. Kia's had some great luck with Havana Grey, as have most people, and she fits into that early program. She was bought for a very fair price given what Havana Grey is going to stand for next year. I thought it made a lot of sense."
Amo Racing created a major stir at the yearling sales, most notably when signing for 25 lots at an outlay of 22.94 million guineas during a bumper renewal of Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1. Elliott said the operation was conscious of spreading its investment throughout the market, and highlighted that its involvement in last year's foal sales had already been made to look like a shrewd move given the strength of yearling trade.
Metrics
Trade on Day 2 proved much more solid than Day 1, as had been widely expected in the graded catalog.
The 10-hour session saw 249 foals offered and 204 found a buyer at a healthy clip of 82%. Turnover was up 8% year-on-year at 8,996,000 guineas (US$11,964,680), while the average price rose by 7% to 44,098 guineas (US$58,650).
The median is often the most representative barometer of market health and this metric showed the day's biggest gain, up 10% to 34,000 guineas (US$45,220), having been 31,000 guineas 12 months ago.
The December Foal Sale continues Nov. 28 with the headline session that features the likes of 2023 Two Thousand Guineas (G1) winner Chaldean's full sister.
