RED-LETTER DAY FOR REDMONDSTOWN STUD

Jim Bolger
(Photo : Horsepedia)

GOFFS ORBY SALE
County Kildare, Ireland
3-4 October 2012

The Goffs Orby Sale got off to a strong start Wednesday in Kildare, with healthy increases across the board. A total of 152 yearlings sold for €13,553,500, compared to 175 grossing €10,686,00 in 2011. The average of €89,168 was up by 46% on last year, while the median of €55,000 rose by 31% and the clearance rate was 84%.

The only one happier than sales officials may have been Jim Bolger, who enjoyed a day of days Wednesday when selling three of the leading seven lots, including the €775,000 (US$1,000,186) topper. While Teofilo (Ire) put the maestroof Coolcullen firmly back on the map with his champion-making juvenile exploits six years ago, Bolger came to kill that fall to pay €430,000 for a chestnut he was to name New Approach (Ire) and therest is history.

Yesterday’s opening session at the flagship auction saw the story come full circle, as his Redmondstown Stud was on the other side of the fence as vendor, and fittingly, it was a daughter of New Approach who led the way. A full-sister to this year’s top-ranked 2-year-old Dawn Approach (Ire), who remains unbeaten through two stern tests in the G1 Vincent O’Brien Stakes and G2 Coventry Stakes, the May-foaled bay entered the ring as hip 12 with a weight of expectation on her shoulders and she did not disappoint. After a frantic round of bidding involving Kirsten Rausing, Peter Doyle had the final say before revealing that she is to join her full-sibling at Coolcullen. “I’ve bought her for a group of people who were looking for a potentially top-class filly,” Doyle said. “She fit the bill and she will be going into training with Jim Bolger.”

www.goffs.com

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News

BE A CHAMPION. JOIN THE CHAMPIONS.

EMPERORS PALACE NATIONAL YEARLING SALE
27 - 29 April 2012

Visit the Summerhill team at the National Sales;
Block A, TBA Sales Complex, Gosforth Park.

Enquiries :
Tarryn Liebenberg 27 (0) 83 787 1982
or email tarryn@summerhill.co.za
www.summerhill.co.za

2012 NATIONAL YEARLING SALES SPOTLIGHT

Duke Of Marmalade (USA)
(Photo : Racing NSW)

Emperors Palace National Yearling Sale
TBA Sales Complex, Germiston, South Africa
27 - 29 April 2012

Market-watchers in the racing world would’ve noticed that the session-topper on the first day of Australia’s most prestigious yearling sale in Sydney, was an Encosta De Lago daughter of the highly performed Absolut Glam, at Au$910,000 (in the region of R7,5 million.) It’s been a habit of Summerhill’s in the past six or seven years, to include in our draft the progeny of some of the world’s top stallions, and of course these graduates have included Horse of the Year Igugu (by Galileo), and her conqueror in the R2million Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup, Hollywoodboulevard (by Street Cry). This year’s consignment is no different, punctuated by three stand-outs, one of whom is especially topical today for the fact not only that he’s a colt by Galileo’s outstanding son, Teofilo, but because he’s from a close relative to Absolut Glam, dam of the session-topper.

Teofilo was an unbeaten Champion European Juvenile whose victory over Holy Roman Emperor counts as one of history’s epic duels in England’s juvenile jewel, the Dewhurst Stakes (Gr.1). Teofilo’s first crop successes include his own Dewhurst hero, Parish Hall, propelling him to the top of the freshman sires class’ in Europe last year, an achievement which prompted the Darley advert that he’s already outstripped his illustrious sire, Galileo, in his first year. Teofilo’s haul included a healthy four Stakes winners, among 22 individual winners overall.

Then there’s a daughter from the first Southern Hemisphere-bred crop of the world champion racehorse, Duke Of Marmalade. The “Duke” wasn’t just a champion though, he was bred to be one, a son of the only stallion in history to win sires’ championships in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, Danehill, from the female line of the Emperor of American stallions, A.P. Indy, and our own champion stallion, Al Mufti. But this filly has got more than just a quality sire in her top line; she’s a granddaughter of a famous Melbourne Cup (Gr.1) winner in Jezabeel. She won’t be short of admirers, because she’s a good sort into the bargain. That’s a good reason for any self-respecting South African trainer to have a crack at this one. According to the latest Coolmore propaganda, not all the leading trainers have his first 2 year olds in their yards but most of them do :

Leading trainers in Britain in 2011 :

Trainer	Earnings (£)
Richard Hannon (x4) *	3,485,327
Aidan O’Brien *	2,894,457
Sir Henry Cecil *	2,730,438
John Gosden (x3) *	2,442,259
Mahmood Al Zarooni	1,829,899
Richard Fahey *	1,516,925
Sir Michael Stoute *	1,501,267
Mark Johnston	1,365,628
Kevin Ryan *	1,198,285
William Haggas (x3) *	1,167,428
Mick Channon (x3) *	1,037,688

* denotes “Dukes” in the yard.

Other trainers in Britain :

Trainer
Marco Botti (x3) *	David Elsworth *
Brian Meehan (x2) *	John Quinn *
Kevin Prendergast (x2) *	Michael Bell *
David Wachman (x2) *	David Simcock *
Tommy Stack (x2) *	Elie Lellouche *
Paul Cole (x2) *	Freddie Head *
Dermot Weld *	John Hills *
Sir Mark Prescott *	Jean Beguigne *
David Lanigan *	Alan Jarvis *
Peter Schiergen *

* denotes “Dukes” in the yard.

To top it all, the leading first season sire in Australia right now (and the numero uno by winners on the general Juvenile Sires’ log) is the South American champion Husson, who has already chalked up nine individual winners including a Stakes winner. Like most of our colleagues, we didn’t know much about Husson when we agreed to consign his good looking athletic son, but we took him on trust, because we know the guy who bred him, and besides being a looker, he is a brother to Ill Saggiatore, last year’s KZN Derby (Gr.2) ace.

So besides the usual quality offering from the champions, there’s a touch of class in the exotics on display. Our horses leave the farm this Saturday for their date with destiny. We’ve got a busy old week ahead though, with visits from Dennis Drier, Tony Rivalland, Charles Laird and Mary Liley, and the daily spontaneous bypassers whose curiosity is prickled either by the mystique of the game in general, or out of a specific interest in finding the next champion off the farm.

Enquiries :
Tarryn Liebenberg 27 (0) 83 787 1982
or email tarryn@summerhill.co.za
www.summerhill.co.za

MUCH MORE FAMILY

Hannah Goss aboard Graffiti
(Photo : Cheryl Goss)

“SPEAKING OF TALENT…”

Those who’ve followed these columns over the years, will remember the statement that, unlike most commercial pursuits which tend to be shorter in term when it comes to turning things over, breeding of racehorses is much more of a generational thing. This means that family-building is a prime ingredient in the production of good horses, and it’s no different in the human sphere. Sunday, at the Three Springs showground’s at Treverton College, the Goss’ granddaughter, Hannah, made her show jumping debut aboard her spritely Appaloosa pony, Graffiti. What a day, with five clear rounds, two of which were in the competition stages, including a jump-off against six other competitors. In her first-ever contest against a field of riders ranging between 13 and 20 years, little Hannah (just turned 9) concluded her last round in clear fashion again, to take the third place rosette, beaten only by the clock.

There must be an adventurous spirit tucked away in the family somewhere, as she and Graffiti went into those jumps with a confidence and a verve unusual in a debutant, particularly one of such tender years.

Speaking of young talent, Summerhill’s latest foray into the Magic Millions weanling sales at the Gold Coast was especially enlightening, because it featured the first progeny of some of the world’s best racehorses of recent generations. These included the English Derby and Champion Stakes hero, New Approach; unbeaten two year old Teofilo; Horse of the Year, Duke Of Marmalade; English Derby and Eclipse winner Authorized; Champion three year old and Champion Miler, Henrythenavigator etc. We’ve managed to get our hands on three of them, though for a band of this ilk, ideally you’d have liked one of each. Make a date for next years Emperors Palace National Yearling Sale, and get your hands on one.

Here they are: 

Please click the thumbnails above to enlarge…

For more information please visit :
www.summerhill.co.za

GALILEO : WORLD NUMBER ONE

Click above to watch Golden Lilac winning the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (Gr1)
(Image : RP - Footage : France 3)

GALILEO (IRE)
Sadler’s Wells (USA) - Urban Sea (USA)

Golden Lilac’s impressive win in Sunday’s G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches marked Galileo’s 18th Northern Hemisphere-bred individual Group 1/Grade I winner from six crops of 3-year-olds and up - an average of three G1/GI winners per crop. They consist of 12 G1/GI-winning colts, an average of two per crop, and six G1/GI-winning fillies, an average of one per crop. They have won a total of 33 top-level races among them. They include seven winners of English, Irish, or French 3-year-old Classics (not including the G1 Irish St. Leger and G1 Prix Royal-Oak, of which he has had one 4-year-old winner each), including 2011 one-mile Guineas winners Frankel and Golden Lilac - both, as has been noted extensively, out of Danehill mares.

It’s hard to remember now, but at the beginning of 2004 - just seven short years ago – Sadler’s Wells’ stature as a sire of sires looked problematic. In the Wings, Barathea, the surprising North American success El Prado, and maybe Fort Wood in South Africa represented his best form to that time as a sire of sires. It wasn’t certain that Sadler’s Wells was even going to survive as a significant sire line. Montjeu was about to have his first 2-year-olds race (as were, in what turned out to be a critical positive turning point in Coolmore’s fortunes, Giant’s Causeway and Fusaichi Pegasus (two out of three ain’t bad) and, though the Montjeus had created a positive impression from the time they first sold as foals in late 2002, pretty is as pretty does, as we know. Nobody was climbing out on much of a limb.

By the end of 2005, things were looking up considerably for Sadler’s Wells as a sire of sires, thanks to Montjeu’s first crop which included three Classic winners: Motivator, Hurricane Run, and Scorpion. However, Galileo hadn’t yet made much noise; he didn’t have a black-type winner with his first two-year-olds in 2005, and entered 2006 well down in the second five among 2005 freshman sires by progeny earnings.

That was the last time there were any doubts about him, or the Sadler’s Wells sire line. Nightime won the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas in May 2006 and, by the end of the year, he had added two more 3-year-old G1/GI winners - Sixties Icon in the G1 English St. Leger and Red Rocks in the GI Breeders’ Cup Turf - and had the unbeaten champion 2-year-old in Europe, Teofilo, from his second crop.

Galileo’s stud fee quadrupled, from its low point of €37,500 in 2005 and 2006 to €150,000 for 2007. It’s been “private” ever since, though estimates consistently put the price of buying a season to breed to him as safely over $200,000 every year since 2008. He’s been leading sire in GB/Ire twice (2008 and 2010), and leading sire of 2-year-olds twice (2007 and 2010). Galileo’s six crops include three European champion juveniles: Teofilo (2006), New Approach (2007), and Frankel (2010). New Approach went on to win the 2008 G1 Epsom Derby, and Galileo has sired two winners of the G1 Irish Derby: Soldier of Fortune (2007) and Cape Blanco (2010). Those three Derby winners, along with Nightime and Sixties Icon from his first crop, and Frankel and Golden Lilac from his current (sixth) crop of sophomores, constitute his seven 3-year-old Classic winners. Besides BC Turf winner Red Rocks, his other top horses include two triple Group 1 winners, the colt Rip Van Winkle and the filly Lush Lashes. He already has four Group 1 winners so far among his current crop of 3-year-olds: besides Frankel and Golden Lilac, this crop also includes 2010 2-year-old Group 1 winners Roderic O’Connor and Misty for Me.

When all is said and done - in spite of all the sire analysis and statistics the likes of myself and many others come up with – it’s the horses we can identify as “household names” that set stud fees and sell seasons. Galileo has sired a string of them: unbeaten champion 2-year-olds Teofilo, New Approach (Derby winner), and Frankel (Guineas winner); Rip Van Winkle, Red Rocks, Cape Blanco, Soldier of Fortune, now Golden Lilac, maybe Roderic O’Connor, plus other 2011 Classic contenders, including Seville (2nd G2 Dante, to G1 Derby favorite Carlton House), Together (2nd G1 English 1000 Guineas), and Galikova (half-sister to Goldikova, won G3 Prix Cleopatre, will meet Golden Lilac next month in the G1 Prix de Diane). Voila: that’s why Galileo is the world’s number one sire.

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News