It has been another action-packed week for Ardad with a new group winner, Eve Lodge, winner number 18 in debutante Sandbeck, and strong demand for members of his second crop of yearlings at the Tattersalls Somerville Sale.
Eve Lodge looked a smart filly in the making when winning at Lingfield back in May and she has progressed to win the G3 Sirenia Stakes at Kempton on Saturday, handing a first group win in Britain to her trainer Charlie Fellowes and giving Ardad his second group winner after G1 Prix Morny and G2 Norfolk Stakes hero Perfect Power.
With 18 individual winners to his name and three black-type performers, including the G2 Coventry Stakes third Vintage Clarets, Ardad is back out in front in the race to be champion first-season sire in Europe.
That 18th winner came on Wednesday when Tim Fitzgerald sent out Sandbeck to win the six-furlong novice stakes at Carlisle on her first start. An assured performance saw the Houghton Bloodstock-bred filly race prominently throughout before running on gamely in the final furlong to claim victory in the shadow of the post. Sandbeck was bought from her breeder as a foal for just 1,500gns.
Ardad’s consistent level of success since the start of this turf season has also seen the demand for his yearlings rise. At a roasting hot Somerville Sale at Tattersalls on Tuesday, his seven youngsters offered were all sold for an average price of 36,286gns.
The top-priced yearling of the group was a filly from Scarlett Knipe’s Cobhall Court Stud out of Sparkling Eyes, who sold for 85,000gns to leading breeze-up consignor Robson Aguiar, a man who has had more experience than most both with Ardad himself and his offspring.
Aguiar told Tattersalls Sales Live reporter Sally Duckett, “I bought a few by Ardad last year and I breezed Perfect Power, and Ardad himself. This sale is a good investment as I pay the price they are worth, and if they are good you can sell them on.
“I also purchased lot 112, a Cityscape filly, she is very athletic, a nice filly, I like the way she walked and the way she behaved. I am happy with my purchases – I don’t mind if I buy fillies or colts, I like to buy horses that I think will be good racehorses. I look at everything in the catalogue and make a short list of five or six.”
Knipe added, “This filly was never really in the box here, and she has been as good as gold, a joy to deal with. I like to go for good-looking sires, ones that I hope are going to come out straight and correct.”
Cobhall Court Stud’s Ardad yearling was the most expensive filly of the sale and the second-top lot of the day, while the third-top lot, an Expert Eye colt out of White Cay, was bred by Overbury Stallions and Dukes Stud, and sold as a foal for 41,000gns before being brought back to the ring on Tuesday by Michael Fitzpatrick to sell for 80,000gns. We wish his new owners much success.
