Another Record Set on Final Day of Tattersalls July

Recent Royal Ascot winner Quai de Bethune (FR) smashed the Tattersalls July Sale record when selling for 775,000 guineas (US$1,108,250, 1 guinea=US$1.43) late in the third and final session of the three-day sale that wrapped July 10. A host of interested parties took up position inside the Park Paddocks auditorium when Andrew Balding's Kingsclere Training Stables presented the son of Persian King (IRE), including the Wathnan Racing buying team of Olly Tait, Richard Brown, and Case Clay. After a mazy round of bidding that featured a heavy online involvement, the business end was fought out between Brown, who sat in his usual position on the stairs to the left of the rostrum, and Dr. Khaled Salami, stationed on the opposite side of the ring. Salami proved a persistent rival, but ultimately gave best when Brown signaled the decisive 25,000 guineas raise with a subtle nod of the head. Quai de Bethune has won two of his six starts for Balding and owners Gary Gillies and Team Valor, with the latter buying into the colt ahead of his breakthrough success in a mile maiden at Kempton in late January. He wasn't disgraced in warm company subsequently, including in the class 2 handicap London Gold Cup, and showed a chunk of improvement to claim the non-black-type Golden Gates Stakes at Royal Ascot last time out. The 12-1 shot ended up in rear after an untidy start but made sustained headway from over furlongs out and, once in the clear, charged home under Oisin Murphy to collar favorite Seraph Gabriel close home. That effort was given a Racing Post Rating of 107. Tait confirmed that Quai de Bethune would be added to the increasingly powerful stable being assembled by Wathnan Racing, the banner under which the Emir of Qatar competes. "The horse won at Royal Ascot, and didn't have the smoothest passage but found a way to win," Brown said. "What can you say, it's not very often a Royal Ascot winner comes on the market. He's still relatively lightly raced and it looks like the plan will be to send him back to Andrew. We'll give him a break now and then maybe onto a Middle Eastern campaign. You've got to buy them first, though. We hope he's got a good future, we'll just see where that is." On the price, which surpassed the previous record of 550,000 guineas that was set by Badgers Bloodstock for Calyx's sister a little more than 24 hours earlier, Brown added: "It was probably stronger than I thought but there was a very persistent underbidder and, like I say, it's rare that a Royal Ascot winner comes to auction straight after a victory. It was never going to be easy to buy him, but it was probably stronger than I thought." Bred in France by Ecurie X, Quai de Bethune is from the first crop of Persian King and out of Edavanna, a daughter of Wootton Bassett (GB) from the Aga Khan family of Ervedya and her high-class son Erevann. Quai de Bethune was making his second appearance at the sales after Richard Venn Bloodstock and Gary Gillies signed at €75,000 at the BBAG Yearling Sale in 2023. After three days of selling, Tattersalls reported 564 lots sold from 639 offered, producing total sales of 16,928,700 guineas (US$24,208,041), a 22% increase from last year when 540 lots sold from 600 offered. This year's clearance rate was 88%. Average price increased 17% year-over-year to 30,015 guineas (US$42,921), and median was up 36% to 15,000 guineas (US$21,450).