"He was the right one and I feel he would have made a million as a yearling" ... Sheikh Fahad al Thani on his purchase of Galileo from Healing Music. Photo: Paul Rovere
Widden Stud's Nicconi, a winner of two of Australia's toughest group 1 sprints, spearheads the tally of freshman sires to go under the microscope at the biggest yearling sales in Sydney and the Gold Coast early next year.
The son of Bianconi captured both the VRC Lightning Stakes and The Galaxy at Randwick before being syndicated to Widden, a stud renowned for standing star two- and three-year-old sprinters.
Those performances put him in the millionaires club, on a similar level as his half-brother, the four-time group 1 winner Niconero (by Danzero). Both were prepared by David Hayes.
Widden put a $22,000 fee on Nicconi and his popularity plus his potency has resulted in 56 of his yearlings being catalogued for the Magic Millions and the Inglis Classic and Easter sales. He has 30 in the MM sales, 18 in the Classic and eight at Easter.
Nicconi has edged out Arrowfield's Manhattan Rain by two lots. The son of Encosta De Lago was on a service fee of $41,250 as he is a half-brother to Redoute's Choice, which assured him of a great patronage.
He won the group 1 AJC Sires' Produce and recorded group 1 placings in the Cox Plate, Golden Slipper, Champagne Stakes and the Caulfield Guineas. Manhattan Rain has 27 yearlings for the Magic Millions and is well represented at the Easter sale with 24 lots. He has four in the Classic sale.
Duporth, which stands at Kitchwin Hills, has a high profile after his weanlings fetched big prices this year. He is a stunning individual and has 42 lots entered - 15 each at the Gold Coast and Classic sales and 12 at Easter.
Manhattan Rain's stud stablemate All American is in fourth place with 39 lots, ahead of I Am Invincible and Big Brown, which have 37. I Am Invincible, which stood for $11,000 at Yarraman Park, is the cheapest of the stallions mentioned and has the biggest representation of any in the Classic sale with 23 lots.
Like Duporth, I Am Invincible is a stallion with film-star looks, and his progeny have thrown very much to him and look equally as precocious.
The Big Browns are also good-lookers and the stallion's first crop of runners in the northern hemisphere, where he has sired 16 individual winners, has proved a great advertisement for him.
Included in the freshman sires is the Darley-owned Medaglia d'Oro, which stood at $77,000. He entered stud in the US in 2005 and it was five years before Darley shuttled him here. Medaglia d'Oro is the sire of super-filly Rachel Alexandra as well as swag of group 1 winners since, and his crop of yearlings are real aristocrats.
Can't stop the Rock
With the established stallions - and including the Karaka sales - it's Fastnet Rock which is a resounding winner of the most lots catalogued. His numbers total 101 with 36 on the Gold Coast, 15 at Karaka and 50 at Easter. Fastnet Rock's progeny were well accepted by buyers at the big sales this year and it will be a repeat performance next year as the stallion's popularity continues to soar.
Flying Spur has 65 yearlings selling, followed by Snitzel (60), High Chaparral (58), Choisir (57), Encosta De Lago (55), Redoute's Choice and Sebring (54), Northern Meteor (52), Not A Single Doubt (51) and More Than Ready (50) to make up the top 10 of older sires with 50 lots or more.
At Karaka, the evergreen Zabeel has 44 entries and another nine at Easter, while Darci Brahma has 44 catalogued at Karaka.
Foal sale solid
Purchasers of the top-priced duo at the four-day Tattersall's foal sale a week ago were clearly pleased. Dunaden's owner, Sheikh Fahad al Thani of Qatar, paid 500,000 guineas ($847,000) for the sales-topper, which is by the incomparable Galileo from Healing Music.
"He was the right one and I feel he would have made a million as a yearling,'' Sheikh Fahad said. ''I am looking for quality horses and this one had plenty. I looked at him on several occasions and each time he just kept getting better."
Kentucky's David Ingordo signed for an Oasis Dream x Albanova foal for 450,000 gns on behalf of Paul Fudge, owner of Waratah Thoroughbreds in the southern highlands. Ingordo said: "She was a gem. A princess who will hopefully become a queen.''
Fastnet Rock had seven lots average 103,142 gns, including a filly from Piping for 300,000 gns.
And Lope De Vega, which shuttles to Nathan Tinkler's Patinack Farm, had his first crop to the auction ring and seven lots sold, averaging 52,667 gns. A pretty good effort for the son of Shamardal and it augurs strongly for his progeny in the Australian sale rings.
John Ferguson, buying for Sheikh Mohammed, was the biggest spender with 18 lots for 1.76 million gns.
Tatts business
The Tattersall's sales continued this week with the mares session over three days. The activity was solid on day one with the top price being 1.7 million gns for the Sadler's Wells mare Twyla Tharp in foal to Oasis Dream. The mare was bought by Mandore International, which also paid $4 million-plus for mares at last month's Keeneland sales.
Adam Sangster's Swettenham Stud bought Path Of Love for 35,000 gns. She is an unraced mare by More Than Ready, and has a southern hemisphere covering to Invincible Spirit, which is the third leading European stallion this year behind Galileo and Montjeu.
Day two featured a 1.5 million gns buy, Banimpire, going to the bid of Eaton Sales. She is by Holy Roman Emperor and a close relation to Arc winners Detroit and Carnegie.
Coolmore's M.V. Magnier paid 1 million gns for the second-highest lot, Blue Symphony, by Darshaan.
johnhollysenior@yahoo.com.au
No comments:
Post a Comment