EBN: Adlerflug's Hey little Boy tops second session

This is an industry sale, as the phrase goes, and there was certainly quite an industrial estate on view on the second day, with only the occasional green space to relieve a long day. The trade, however, was solid, with all indicators up, the aggregate markedly so with a larger catalogue, the exception being the clearance rate, which was pretty satisfactory all the same, given there were nearly sixty more generally modest lots than last year.

An international deal headed the sale, as Lot 141, Hey Little Boy, a three-year-old gelding by Adlerflug from Gestut Gorlsdorf, fetched €75,000 to the bid of Pierre Boulard, acting for Willie Mullins. As well as the sire’s success from small crops to recommend him, he was well enough bred, as the half-brother to the Champion German Stayer Hey Little Gorl (Sternkonig), winner of the Gr.3 Deutsches St Leger, and, significantly in this case, Hill Fairy (Monsun), winner of the Listed Lombardstown Chase at Cork. Add to that a second place on his third and most recent start behind a filly placed in the Gr.2 Oaks d’Italia and one had a package that made sense to the French agent. “He is by a stallion who we think will get jumping horses, as they stay, and he has the size and scope to jump. The form of his last race over 2400m at Cologne looks pretty good as well.”

Boulard also acted for Mullins’s agent Harold Kirk, purchasing Lot 192 for €15,000, a colt consigned by Gestut Etzean for owner Sandra Hallstein, by its resident stallion Jukebox Jury and out of the dual winner The Beauty (Dashing Blade), who has a French hurdle winner to show from five foals but is a half-sister to Sea Calisi (Youmzain), winner of the Gr.1 Beverly D Stakes and two Gr.2s, dual Gr.3 winner Tareno (Saddlers’ Hall) and Listed winner Timos (Sholokhov), as well as the dam of Gr.3 winner Theo Danon (Lord Of England). Boulard commented: “She will go to Ireland as well, where Harold will have a client for her.”

Agent Richard Venn, the BBAG British representative, invested in a slice of the Gorlsdorf family by securing Lot 209, Honey Pie, a four-year-old mare from the stud, in foal to its best known recent graduate, Sea The Moon, for €36,000. She is a half-sister to a winner, out of the winner Honeygorl (Medicean), a half-sister to Hey Little Gorl. “She has been bought for a new client. He was sweet on buying a mare in foal to Sea The Moon and there is plenty happening in the family.”

Daxios, Lot 166, a yearling colt consigned by Gestut Brummerhof on behalf of long-time boarder, Swede Mats Mullern, is heading to Budapest after Croatian exile Nikolas Serdar, who trained the winner of the Hungarian Derby this year, had the final nod at €22,000, placing the sale through Chris Richner Bloodstock. The colt’s dam Danila (Silvano) was Champion Two-Year-Old in Scandinavia and has bred two winners in Sweden.

Sea The Moon and Hungary became connected when Sandor Ribarszki, again through Chris Richner, purchased Lot 247, a filly by the sire from Gestut Romerhof, for €32,000. She is out of the winner Secrets (Anabaa), the dam of two winners and a halfsister to two British Gr.3 winners, Blythe Knight (Selkirk) and Morana (Alhaarth).

Ribarszki was the first trainer of the extraordinary Overdose (Starborough), the “Budapest Bullet”, and he handled him to all but one of his victories and when the mechanics of the stalls basically robbed him of glory in the Gr.1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp. He remains emotional about an animal who would for many trainers be the horse of a lifetime, a sensational rags to riches story. “It was like Seabiscuit, an extraordinary story of a little trainer from a little racing country. I wanted to retire him after his injury, with his record intact, even if many of the races were of no consequence, and I would not train him after that, so he went elsewhere and I was really sad to see him not be the same horse afterwards.” He did actually finish fourth subsequently in the Gr.1 King’s Stand Stakes and he won his final start, a Gr.3 in Italy. He only had one full season at stud before dying in his second.

Marlene Haller had a good result with a daughter of her sire Areion on the first evening and she made a sale of €18,000 when Lot 313, Arabino, a colt by the sire, was signed for by owner/trainer Otto-Werner Seiler under his banner Stall Steintor. He is a full-brother to a winner, out of the Listed-placed Arabella (Trempolino).

Lot 332, Sobah, a colt by Dabirsim from Gestut Eulenberger Hof, was signed for by Manfred Hofer for €34,000. He is the first foal out of the Italian winner Soudabeh (King’s Best), a half-sister to the useful Hong Kong horse Sacred Nuts (Sri Pekan) and a French Listed winner by the same sire, Arikaria. “I think he is for a client of Andreas Schutz, who is coming back from Hong Kong to train in Chantilly”, opined Hofer. “He is a strong, two-year-old type and a good walker.”

A colt from Haras de Saint-Arnoult by resident stallion Captain Marvelous, Lot 334, fetched €17,000 from Italian Elia Tanghetti, who has horses with Andreas Wohler. He is the first foal out of the unraced Tech Opera (Orpen), a half-sister to Technokrat, a Listed winner in Berlin and placed in a Gr.2 and Gr.3 in Germany.

The same stud also sold a filly by Manduro, Lot 354, the first foal out of three time winner Fee Revee (Doyen), for €22,000 toThomas Ickler. Fee Revee is a half-sister to Marseille Listed winner Joha (Johann Quatz), who has bred a Listed winner in Marseille as well and comes from the family of the dual Gr.3 winner and sire Kaldounevees (Kaldoun).

Borje Olsson was again in action for a Scandinavian client, buying Two Times, Lot 336, a colt sold for €18,000 by Gestut Etzean as agent, by Reliable Man out of Tiger Lilly (Tiger Hill). She won three times and is out of the German Listed winner Trinidad (Big Shuffle). He is to go to Are Hyldmo and Olsson jokingly boasted: “The Norwegian Derby winner of 2018.”

Five-year-old entire Red Hot Calypso (Art Connoisseur), Lot 351, is making the voyage from Hungary to Switzerland after being sold by Gabor Maronka of Stall Almodo to Michael Reichstein, an owner and occasional agent, for €24,000, again through the busy Richner and his assistant Uros Popovic. The old lad has won six races and has shown some of his best form this year, coming second in a Listed prize at Magdeburg over 2000m. He may head for the meeting on the snow at St Moritz and may jump, too, in the future.

Assistant Manager Klaus Eulenberger was understandably delighted at the end of the two sessions: “This sale has topped off a good year for us, both in the ring and on the track. We put this sale on for the sake of the industry in Germany, but it is obviously good for the BBAG that the larger catalogue has yielded a much larger aggregate, but it is also good for the business that the average has still risen by nearly 10% and the clearance rate has remained close to last year’s. The trade was more solid than last year and we have sold horses to people from no less than 18 countries, which shows the faith people have in German bloodstock. We would like to thank both the consignors and purchasers for their support and I think we have shown all year that we can do the job.”