Gollan, Tulloch Lodge, and Porter all make purchases at Goffs London Sale
Queensland’s leading trainer Tony Gollan teamed up with prominent syndicators First Light Racing and emerging bloodstock agent David Skelly to purchase impressive last-start handicap winner Brindavan (Belardo) at Monday’s Goffs London Sale.
The Group 1-winning trainer and syndicator went to £250,000 (approx. AU$518,660) to land the son of Belardo (Lope De Vega), who is currently trained by Sean Woods and looks set to tackle Saturday’s Golden Gate Stakes (1m 2f) at the royal meeting.
Having registered his second career success on his latest outing when scoring by a length in a handicap at Ascot over Saturday’s distance, the three-year-old gelding has a current BHA rating of 90.
“He showed a nice turn of foot to win last time,” Gollan told ANZ News. “The team at First Light Racing found him before we came out here and we thought he may fit into our price point which was like AU$500,000 or less.
“We ended up having to go an extra bit, but he’s a nice horse, it’s a great idea and he looks like one that will really suit Queensland when we get him over to Australia.
“I spoke to the trainer [Sean Woods] and he’s really keen to run on Saturday and is very happy with how the horse is going so I wouldn’t second-guess him.
“I’d love to see him run this weekend and then we’ll get him over to Australia with us to be a nice horse for us. I think he can be competitive this weekend.”
Brindavan is the second foal out of the winning Harbour Watch (Acclamation) mare Cork Harbour, herself a half-sister to Group 2 winner Excellent Result (Shamardal) and Grade 3 scorer Midnight Crossing (Dark Angel).
Gollan added: “We were here to spend in our bracket and he sort of fit the bill and we feel he’s a horse that we can win a few races with from his rating point.”
Five lots later Blandford Bloodstock acted as purchaser for owner Tim Porter, of Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai) fame, to buy Snellen (Expert Eye) for £200,000 (approx. AU$414,930).
Consigned by her trainer Gavin Cromwell’s Danestown House Stables, Snellen was a 12-1 winner of the 2024 Chesham Stakes (Listed, 7f) at Royal Ascot on only her second start.
The daughter of Expert Eye (Acclamation) has won three times since that Listed success, and Blandford’s Stuart Boman was delighted to purchase a filly that was already a winner at the royal meeting.
“We’ve come to the London Sale and we’ve picked up a Royal Ascot winner so no one else has managed to do that so far,” Boman told ANZ News.
“She’s a Chesham Stakes winner, a very honest filly, has been very competitive from her mark and she won recently in Bahrain. She’s very tough and she loves firm ground too.”
Snellen is entered in Wednesday’s Kensington Palace Stakes, a handicap for fillies over the mile distance.
“She will run in the Kensington Palace [Stakes], where I’d say she goes there with a bit of a chance, and then she’ll go to Australia,” Boman said of the 100-rated filly.
“She’s got some good residual value already so there’s not much risk with her really.”
Later in the catalogue Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott went on to purchase a trio of horses in partnership with Johnny McKeever.
Kicking off Tulloch Lodge’s spending spree was Fantazy Man (Shaman), a three-year-old gelding by Shaman (Shamardal) who scored an easy four and three-quarter lengths victory on his most recent outing over a mile and two furlongs at Fairyhouse last month.
Rated 92 by the BHA, that last-start victory made it two wins from his last two outings.
“He has been bought to be running for Gai and Adrian in Australia, he was one of our many picks at this sale but we have been outbid on three or four to be honest,” McKeever told ANZ News.
“He was the first one we managed to connect with at a price we felt comfortable at.
“We’ll go and run on Saturday in the Golden Gates Stakes and Johnny Murtagh [trainer] tells us he’s going to run well so we’ll see. He’s probably more confident than I am!”
Commenting on the competitiveness of the sale as a whole, McKeever said: “The prices have been hot today [Monday]. We felt that was a reasonably good price for that horse, but in the context of how much these horses are costing, it was a little bit more affordable for syndicating in Australia. He’s an improving type and he’s a nice horse.”
McKeever also combined with Tulloch Lodge on two further occasions during the sale, purchasing dual winner and 86-rater Solar Army (Invincible Army) for £200,000 before going to £160,000 (approx. AU$331,940) to acquire Mo Chroi (Galiway) – a last-start maiden winner on just his second outing.
Amo Racing splash £2,000,000 on classy Royal Ascot runner
Amo Racing’s remarkable recruitment drive continued in Kensington Palace Gardens on Monday after the high-class Ghostwriter (Invincible Spirit) topped the Goffs London Sale following a £2,000,000 (approx. AU$4.15 million) bid from Kia Joorabchian, writes James Thomas.
The Group 2 winner and multiple Group 1-placed runner is expected to represent his new owner in the Hardwicke Stakes (Gr 2, 1m 4f) on the concluding day of Royal Ascot on Saturday. Despite the magnitude of his latest seven-figure investment, Joorabchian was in mischievous form after signing the docket.
“To be honest, my son picked this horse out a little while ago and he said ‘We’ve got to buy this!’,” he told the assembled media. “He’s third favourite for the Hardwicke and I think he’s got a chance to go up to Group 1 level, so we’ll see.”
Asked if his son, Maxi, was in attendance, Joorabchian looked in the direction of his bloodstock agent and said: “I haven’t got my son, but I’ve got my adopted son, Alex Elliott! Anyway, he didn’t want to buy it so he doesn’t have any pressure. This one’s on me!”
Ghostwriter previously ran in the colours of Jeff Smith for trainer Clive Cox. The Group 1-winning handler is not currently among Amo’s roster of trainers, but Joorabchian said plans were still to be finalised over where Ghostwriter will be trained.
Ghostwriter did not appear until the August of his two-year-old season but quickly made up for lost time by rattling through a hat-trick of wins in a little over six weeks. An impressive debut success at Newmarket’s July course was backed up by a similarly decisive strike in an Ascot novice event.
His biggest victory came on his third outing when he recorded a length-and-a-quarter success in the Royal Lodge Stakes (Gr 2, 1m). Although he has been unable to add to his juvenile victories at three and four, he has shown consistently high-class form against top opposition.
He came fourth in last year’s English 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) and filled the same position in the Prix du Jockey Club (Gr 1, 2100m). He then twice finished third behind City Of Troy (Justify), first in the Coral-Eclipse (Gr 1, 1m 2f) and again in the International Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2.5f), earning him an official BHA rating of 118.
He hit the same mark on his next two starts, first when beaten just two lengths by Economics (Night Of Thunder) in the Irish Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) and then when a keeping-on fourth behind Soul Rush (Rulership) in the Dubai Turf (Gr 1, 1800m) on his seasonal reappearance this year. He was last seen finishing sixth behind Los Angeles (Camelot) in the Tattersalls Gold Cup (Gr 1, 1m 2.5f).
A total of 19 lots sold from 28 offered for a clearance rate of 68 per cent. Those transactions saw turnover hit £7,720,000 (approx. AU$16,023,940), which was down eight per cent year on year. The average was down 27 per cent £406,315 (approx. AU$843,363), although the median went markedly in the opposite direction at £300,000 (approx. AU$622,692), a 50 per cent gain.