Underestimate the ambition of Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing at your peril. That was the message during the space of ten minutes of frenzied trade at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale in Newmarket on Tuesday.
Many observers expected Kirsten Rausing’s homebred sister to Arc heroine Alpinista to take centre stage and while that Frankel filly went on to command 2.5 million guineas, it was another by the same stallion who silenced the ring on a valuation of 4.4 million guineas, enough to make her the most expensive yearling sold in the northern hemisphere this year and the second most expensive yearling to be sold at Tattersalls.
Standing with agent Alex Elliott, Kia Joorabchian traded fast-moving blows with leading Japanese trainer Mitsu Nakauchida for the filly, yet another feather in the cap for her consignor Newsells Park Stud who bred her out of the Group 2-winning Shamardal mare Aljazzi. Successful in the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot and Group 3 Atalanta Stakes at Sandown, Aljazzi came under the hammer at Tattersalls in autumn 2018 as the partnership between her owners Saleh Al Homaizi and Imad Al Sagar dissolved. It took a sale-topping bid of 1 million guineas for Newsells Park Stud to land the mare, a member of Blue Diamond Stud’s cornerstone Majestic Sakeena family, that day – a decision that with patience has now rewarded the stud in spades.
“We didn’t expect the filly to make that but we very much honed in on her,” said Elliott. “She’s a Frankel filly with that kind of physique from that kind of family. We’ve seen Ylang Ylang from the same farm on the same [Shamardal] cross – we just need history to repeat itself! I keep saying to people horses will pay you back. It was a good bit more than we thought we’d have to pay but when Kia and his partners decided that they wanted the filly, they wanted the filly. She is a spectacular filly, it is a spectacular price, and there’s a spectacular bunch of horses here. I’d like to say I was a cool customer when all that was taking place, but that would be a fib – I have never been in that rarified atmosphere before.
“A trainer hasn’t been decided yet but it’s great to that this filly is staying here – it’s great for British racing that there are these men around to buy these horses because we all understand how the difficult the product is to promote at the moment. So to have two men like that stand up and say we’re going to keep her here, kudos to them.”
Just four lots later, Joorabchian swooped in with a single bid of 2.5 million guineas to secure the sister to Arc heroine Alpinista.
“Kia wants to compete at the top level and he knows that to do that, you have to buy them at the top level,” said Elliott. “That’s the only way to compete at the top consistently. Amo has got to a level now where it’s ready to try and do that, and for that you need the best pedigrees and get into these types of families.
“It doesn’t get any better than being a sister to an Arc winner. A fine, big, scopey filly, she’s worth a lot residually. We’ll take our time with her – it’s a later developing family, she looks like that physically.”
As Elliott alluded to, it’s a fantastic family that pays tribute to the skill of Kirsten Rausing. The Lanwades Stud breeder has bred every name on the page, ranging from her champion sibling Alpinista, the winner of six Group 1 races overall, to her Listed-winning dam Alwilda, champion second dam Albanova and champion Alborada, who appears under the third dam Alouette.
By halfway through Tuesday’s session, Amo Racing had purchased close to 10 million guineas worth of stock. The team was also very active at the Keeneland September Sale, where it spent $5.71 million on eight yearlings led by a $1.35 million American Pharoah filly.
Several expensive breezers have also shown their hand in recent weeks for the operation, namely the €1 million Justify colt Angelo Buonarroti and €800,000 Too Darn Hot filly Cathedral.
“Angelo came out and won the Convivial at York,” said Elliott, “and Cathedral looked good at Lingfield. She’ll run in the Oh So Sharp on Friday. All the team are out there selecting the best horses.”
