Pinatubo Colt Tops Strong Renewal of Tattersalls December Yearling Sale

A PINATUBO colt was the top lot at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale at 200,000 guineas in a sale that saw a record 13 lots realise 100,000 guineas or more. The average was also a record, whilst the turnover has been bettered only once.

Washbourn Lands Pinatubo Colt for 200,000 Guineas  

Prominent owner Clive Washbourn is never one to disappoint in the sales ring and he drew a round of applause after securing the PINATUBO colt for 200,000 guineas, having jumped the price from 170,000 guineas along with a call of “show us your money”, followed by a “get in!” when the hammer came down. The underbidders for the Lynn Lodge Stud consigned colt were Richard Hannon and Anthony Stroud.  

Washbourn commented: "This colt looked a little bit underdone at the last sale, but these Pinatubos look like middle-weight fighters! I did not think I might get him, Laura, my lovely girlfriend, was supposed to be keeping me under control here. I am a small insignificant owner who has had seven or eight Group winners but I have a brilliant pedigree man, I also have my own rules, and then I have a brilliant trainer.  

"This colt for us has a four-star rating, as near to Thundering Blue as we have had. I sent David up and whilst I was driving up from London I got a call, and he said 'God this colt is beautiful' so that was it, number one target.  

"If anyone is going to train a colt to be a Group 1 winner for me it is David, I love David. He is a real horseman and Coombelands where he trains is so quiet and so calm. And we have had some finish to this flat season.  

"The sales are very quiet, I am quite loud, but I love the theatre of it all. Laura has just said I am never allowed to come to the sales again!" 

Mohaather Colt to Quirke Bloodstock for 175,000 Guineas  

The second top priced lot of the day was the MOHAATHER colt out of the Listed placed NO NAY NEVER mare JM JACKSON who was knocked down to Conor Quirke for 175,000 guineas on behalf of RP Racing after seeing off underbidder Anthony Stroud.    

Quirke commented: "We saw him early doors, he stands out here and hopefully it will work out. He is out of a fast two-year-old, there was a lot of No Nay Never about him, hopefully he will be fast - I think he will be sharp, the stock by the stallion look to be the business. He is for RP Racing and he will go to Mick Appleby."  

Quirke will be hoping he can follow in the hoofprints of BIG EVS, who he purchased last spring, and who hit the heights this season when he travelled to the US and came home victorious in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.  

Reflecting on BIG EVS: "Hopefully he is not a horse of a lifetime and we can find the next one! To have come off the ropes in the Nunthorpe and deliver two of his best performances leaves us very excited for next year. Fair play to the owners, they are restocking and getting stuck in for next year. I am very grateful for the opportunity. Hopefully these horses can deliver on the track."  

Consignor Derek Veitch and daughter Stephanie of Ringfort Stud were delighted with the price.   "We bought the colt's mare JM Jackson as we'd had had her full-sister Singforthemoment as a foal to prep at the yearling sales," said the breeder. "She had been bought as foal by John Kilbride, who is Stephanie's husband. John had also bought JM Jackson as a yearling and she raced with Mark Johnston, and then we bought her as a mare. It is all quite involved!"  

Stephanie added: "He has far exceeded our price thoughts – Conor opened up the bidding at 50,000 guineas and finished it off, we are very thankful to him. The mare is actually owned in partnership, Dad is the main partner but all the women in the family have ten percent shares. We are the 'silent partners', but we do give Dad a lot of grief behind closed doors!"  

Veitch smiled: "The ownership included Stephanie and Victoria my daughters, my daughter-in-law Judith and my wife Gay and they put me under a lot of pressure... I reluctantly allow them!" 

Brother to Tropbeau Headed to Andre Fabre  

Bloodstock agent Anthony Stroud secured the SHOWCASING colt consigned by Folland-Bowen Bloodstock out of the DANSILI mare FRANGIPANNI for 170,000 guineas. The March-born bay is an own-brother to TROPBEAU, winner of the Group 2 Prix du Calvados and second in the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest. TROPBEAU was trained by Andre Fabre and Stroud confirmed that Fabre’s Chantilly yard will be the training destination for her younger brother.  

It is a family well known to Stroud - in 2014 he bought the two-time winning mare FRANGIPANNI, a daughter of the Group 1 July Cup winner FRIZZANTE, for breeder Lord Margadale.

"This colt will be going to Andre Fabre," said Stroud. "He comes from a good nursery, he is an athletic horse and I liked him - he looks an earlyish sort and we like Showcasing. Frangipanni is a strong, well-made and attractive mare."  

Folland-Bowen Bloodstock, which is run by run by Natalie Folland and Matthew Bowen, is based at Lord Margadale's Fonthill Estate and this is the best result in the Tattersalls sale ring yet for the young organisation. The underbidder was trainer Richard Hannon, stood alongside bloodstock agent Ross Doyle.  

James Tate Secures Sea The Stars Colt for 150,000 Guineas  

The Tattersalls December Yearling Sale got off to a brisk start with lot 9, the son of SEA THE STARS out of the Listed winning PIVOTAL mare PIROUETTE, knocked down to trainer James Tate on behalf of Rabbah Bloodstock for 150,000 guineas.    

"He is a lovely big horse, his dam was a good racemare and Sea The Stars needs no introduction. He is a lovely physical and I am delighted to get him," said Tate of the WH Bloodstock consigned colt.    

The Listed winning PIROUETTE was placed a further five times in Listed races and was also third in the Group 3 Chartwell Fillies Stakes. She is a half-sister to the Grade 2 San Clemente Handicap winner PASSIFIED from the family of European Champion three-year-old filly IN THE GROOVE.

The four-day Tattersalls December Foal Sale starts tomorrow, Tuesday 28th November at 10am with Thursday, 30th November designated as a viewing day.