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Sells to Harold Kirk and Willie Mullins for 320,000gns
Wildcard entry Ethical Diamond (Awtaad) was the star on the second day of the Tattersalls July Sale on Wednesday, selling to Harold Kirk on behalf of Willie Mullins for 320,000gnd and is destined for a dual-purpose career from now on. The three-year-old gelding was one of nine to realise 100,000gns or more.
Sold by Baroda Stud, Kirk saw off a number of agents including Blandford Bloodstock's Stuart Boman, Hurworth Bloodstock's Sam Haggas and French based agent Alessandro Marconi.
The three times raced son of Awtaad (Cape Cross) was an impressive winner of a maiden at Limerick by two lengths on his most recent start for trainer Michael O'Meara and owner Emma Kennedy, earning a Timeform rating of 90p.
Kirk, who flew in to England this morning from a rainy Northern Ireland, said: "He is going to Willie Mullins for an existing client to be a dual-purpose horse. He will run over hurdles, and then head back on the flat and be a good stayer. He is a 'new' horse, he has improved every run, he is a gorgeous horse, he stays well and won very well last time, and travels well. Hopefully he will make up into a Cup horse on the flat - take us one day to Royal Ascot and one day to Cheltenham!
"He was the one I came for, I can go home now! I knew we'd have big opposition from Australia and I think that is what happened. Australia can't get them all, and Willie likes taking horses to Australia!"
Kirk continued: "He looks an athletic type, so I can't see any reason why he won't take to jumping, he is just a beautiful individual. We are trying to build up a string of Melbourne Cup horses as well as jumpers. Even though we had the Royal Ascot winner this year, for a couple of years in Covid we missed buying a dual-purpose type of horse and there has been a bit of a gap for that sort of horse at Willie's."
Philip Kirby lands Anthem National for 210,000gns
The Joseph O'Brien-trained four-year-old sprinter Anthem National (Dark Angel) was the second highest priced lot on the day and was knocked down to trainer Philip Kirby for 210,000 guineas.
Owned and bred by Mountarmstrong Stud's Noel O'Callaghan and offered by the Castlebridge Consignment, Anthem National is officially rated 105 following his impressive second in the Listed Dash Stakes (6f) at the Curragh only ten days ago.
"That's a bit more than I usually spend!" laughed Kirby, who is based at East Appleton in North Yorkshire. "We lost Farhan, owned by James Cookson and who we bought here, just before Royal Ascot. James wanted to replace him with a horse capable of getting to the nice days and give some good days out.
"This horse was recommended by Joseph, and he looks as though he can run over 5f, 6f and 7f, which gives us plenty of options. He only ran a couple of weeks ago so we will get him home, give him a couple of weeks break and then get him out again."
Of the 195 lots offered on Wednesday, 173 sold for 4,059,700gns. The average finished at 23.466gns and the median was 13,000gns.