Darley’s flagship sire Dubawi supplied three seven-figure lots during Tuesday’s opening session of Book 1 at the October Yearling Sale, including the session-topper, a half-brother to Barney Roy, sold for 3.6 million guineas.

After a sustained period of bidding that saw the Hazelwood Bloodstock-consigned colt’s price rise higher and higher, it was Anthony Stroud who saw off Coolmore to secure the yearling.

Stroud said: “He’s a really athletic horse. Sheikh Mohammed picked him out, and he was his favourite today. Of course, we stand the sire Dubawi and the colt is out of a Galileo mare.

“Night Of Thunder is turning into a useful stallion and we also now have Too Darn Hot – the sire line is becoming very important. It traces back to Dubai Millennium, who was so important to Sheikh Mohammed.

“He cost more than we thought, but you need to go so far to get these sorts of horses.”


Aidan O’Brien of Hazelwood Bloodstock was delighted with the result, having consigned the colt on behalf of his breeder Sun Bloodstock. “I’m blown away,” he said.

“He’s a beautiful horse and never missed a beat. It is an unbelievable figure and I am over the moon. I am so grateful to my clients for this quality of stock.”

Dubawi’s other headliners on Tuesday included his colt out of four-time Group 1 winner The Fugue, bought by David Redvers, and the half-brother to Tamarkuz and Without Parole, bred by John Gunther, and snapped up by Kevin Ryan on behalf of Sheikh Obaid Al Maktoum.

All told, Dubawi had six lots sell for a total of 6,860,000gns and an average of 1,143,333gns.

By the end of the first day, a total of 136 lots from 164 offered sold for a total of 35,408,000gns – a slight drop on last year’s aggregate of 35,505,000gns. The median increased 6% from 170,000gns to 180,000gns, while the average dropped just 2% from 266,955gns to 260,353gns.