Fireworks lit up the bid board late during the April 23 session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale as a European offering of strong interest made its way in the sales ring. Consigned as Hip 1209, the Ireland-bred son of Juddmonte superstar Frankel —the only horse in the sale by the stallion—was purchased by Hubert Guy Bloodstock for $535,000.
"I bought him for a partnership of mainly French people," said Guy. "He is going to go back to France and race on the grass. Which he is made for. He is bred to be a mile or a mile and a quarter horse, but the breeze impressed me so much that I called a few guys to race over in Europe."
Consigned by Wavertree Stables (Ciaran Dunne), agent, the colt is out of the Sea The Stars mare Onshore, who was purchased by Mike Akers for Adam Bowden's Diamond Creek Farm at Tattersalls.
"I'm a small cog in an operation Adam has created called Diamond Creek Farm," said Akers. "He is well-established in the Standardbred world, and we are up to 10 mares, five in Europe and five in America. We had these in the markets in Europe last year, but COVID hit them really hard. So it's a good step for Diamond Creek to establish a brand.
"Adam has been working 15 years developing a strong stallion base and a broodmare base sells yearlings in the Standardbred auctions every year. These were raised in Ireland. They were just so beat up with COVID last year their markets were a little weaker, so we didn't get the prices that we wanted so we took a gamble and brought them here.
"The Wavertree team and I have done business for many years. They are obviously very established and know what they are doing. Mr. Dunne told us in January that they were both nice horses and if we get there in good shape, they will represent the farm well."
During the under tack show, the colt worked an impressive eighth-mile in :10 flat. Guy said that while the horse's pedigree suggests he would like to go long, he was flabbergasted by his sheer speed and strength.
"It's the best family of Juddmonte. The third dam produced Hasili, who produced Dansili, who is probably Juddmonte's best mare. He (Hip 1209) is bred to go 1 1/2 miles, but he looks like he has quite a bit of speed. He did a grand piece of work. I couldn't believe it when I was clocking him. It was shocking."
During the earlier half of the sale on Friday, Wavertree also offered a Caravaggio colt (Hip 1000) out of Lap of Luxury (by Galileo), which was also bred by Diamond Creek Farm. Purchased by Brian Lynch for $180,000 and hails from the female family of group 1 winner Dutch Art and Monarch of Egypt, the first runner for Triple Crown hero American Pharoah , who finished second in the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes (G1).
While Thoroughbred racing in the United States continues to trend heavily toward dirt, Akers believes that the increased amount of turf options available for domestic and foreign runners as well as the lure of lucrative races and prizes such as those seen at Royal Ascot, are enough to entice American buyers into taking a chance on more European pedigrees in the future.
"The world is getting to be a small place," said Akers. "When I go to the markets in Europe I see the same group of agents that I see at Keeneland. And we all know how much fun it is to go and run at Royal Ascot. In America we are getting more and more turf races every year, and I think it's a trend that will continue. Hopefully, it becomes an international game and keeps getting healthier and healthier."
