The English Page - 2019 BBAG Yearling Sale

This year´s BBAG Yearling Sale, which takes place next Friday in the BBAG sales ring, just down the road from Iffezheim (Baden-Baden) racecourse, will attract its usual batch of national and international agents, breeders and owners, many of whom will be flying over in a specially commissioned plane on the Wednesday evening from the Goffs Doncaster Premier Yearling Sale. The German sale is now well established on the international scene and enjoys a strong reputation for well-bred yearlings at reasonable prices. There are no such stallion stars here as Galileo and Dubawi, but plenty of leading international sires such as Sea The Stars, Siyouni, Nathaniel or Kingman  are represented, as well as some highly interesting first season sires. Last year´s top two lots were knocked down for only 280,000 euros; one of them, Miss Yoda (Sea The Stars- Monami (Sholokhov))  has already shown considerable talent by winning in good style first time out for John Gosden.

Since the catalogue was printed some weeks ago, there have been numerous updates, the most dramatic of which was that of lot no. 56, a Golden Horn colt bred by Gestüt Brümmerhof, who are always one of the most successful consignors here. Brümmerhof have since sold the dam, but her yearling here, named Diamantis, is a half-brother to this season´s Group One Henkel Preis der Diana (German Oaks) winner Diamanta (Maxios). Golden Horn, who stands at Dalham Hall, has already made a good start with his first crop 2yo´s and had his first group race winner earlier this month. Diamanta´s victory could also spark more interest in her own sire Maxios, who stands at Fährhof, and who has eight yearlings in this sale. Golden Horn has another yearling in the sale, lot no. 64, a colt consigned by Gestüt Römerhof and whose dam is an own sister to top class racehorse and successful sire Rio de la Plata.

The above-mentioned mare Monami, herself a dual group race winner, also has a yearling in this year´s sale, an Amaron (Shamardal) colt (145) bred by Gestüt Etzean. The sire, one of the best German milers of recent years, has already got off to a good start with his first crop, with four individual winners from only a handful of runners so far. Monami has an exotic background , as her family has its roots in the former GDR, but this has not prevented its producing several stars, such as Group One winner Meridiana, dam of several stakes winners in the U.S.

Obviously there will be a lot of interest in the international sires, and Brümmerhof could have another potential sales topper in lot no. 164, named Santorini, a colt by Siyouni out of an unraced Galileo mare from a top Wertheimer family.  Brümmerhof are also offering one of the four Sea The Stars yearlings in the sale, lot no. 44, a filly our of a listed-placed Monsun mare from the famous Anna Paola family. Another Sea The Stars filly from a top German family is no. 162, bred by Gestüt Wittekindshof, who is a half-sister to a Group One Preis der Diana winner with a page dark with black type. The other two Sea The Stars are both colts: lot 52, from the Westerberg Consignment, is out of a listed winner whose dam was Germany´s champion two-year-old and was runner-up in the Prix Robert Papin, while lot 63, bred by Gestüt Fährhof, is also out of a listed winner (by Oasis Dream), whose dam was a group winner and from the extremely popular and prolific “Global” family tracing back to the influential Grimpola. Sea The Stars is now firmly established in the top tier of European stallions and his yearlings sold very well last week in Deauville, so these four yearlings here are of obvious interest.

Another stallion making waves at present is Juddmonte´s Kingman, currently the leading second season sire in Europe. He has one yearling in the sale, lot no. 174, a Gestüt Röttgen-bred colt who is the first foal out of multiple listed winner Weltmacht (Mount Nelson), a half-sister to 8 winners including Group Two winner Wild Coco, also runner-up in the Prix Vermeille. the colt has an excellent page and looks certain to be one of the top lots.  

Coolmore have dropped the fee for their Galileo stallion Gleneagles, but he has made a good start,  recently had a Group Two winner from his first crop and is in fact currently leading first season sire in Europe. He has three yearlings in the BBAG sale, lots nos. 42, 57 and 149. All three are out of black type mares and look very interesting, perhaps 57 most of all; this is a colt from the Westerberg Consignment out of Diamond Dove (Dr Fong), who was champion 2yo filly in Germany and also runner-up in the Group One Preis der Diana.

Newsells Park´s Nathaniel, yet another son of Galileo, is having another great season thanks to Enable, and is the sire of lot no. 148, a Fährhof-bred filly out of listed winner Nianga (Lomitas).  Other international stallions with just one yearling on offer include proven sires such as Holy Roman Emperor, Lope de Vega, Mastercraftsman and  Oasis Dream, to name just four, and younger sires such as Harzand or The Gurkha, whose first crop yearlings were a hit last week at Deauville. The Oasis Dream is a Brümmerhof-bred colt out of an unraced Monsun mare from a good family, while the Lope de Vega filly is also bred by Brümmerhof and is a three-parts sister to a German classic winner. Footstepsinthesand  has two yearlings in the sale, including a Fährhof-bred colt (lot no. 100) who is not only a half-brother to last week´s very easy winner Say Good Buy but is out of a mare who is a full sister to South African champion sire Silvano.

So far we have concentrated on the international aspects and the bloodstock business has become a worldwide phenomenon – there are buyers expected from all over the world, with a large Australian contingent due – but this is of course a German sale and the vast majority of yearlings on offer are German-bred. All leading German breeders are represented, some of them with their entire crop, and all the top German sires. Soldier Hollow, almost certain to be champion sire again this year and the most successful German stallion of recent years, has no fewer than 21 yearlings in the catalogue. Three of particular interest are lot no. 58, a filly consigned by Ronald Rauscher (who is going to have a very busy sale, both as consignor, vendor and possibly buyer as well), who is a half-sister to ten winners including this season´s  top 3yo Durance,  no. 161, a Fährhof-bred colt  who is a half-brother to listed winner Rumh, dam of multiple Group One winner Wild Illusion, and no. 173, a Röttgen-bred filly who is an own sister to German champion 2yo Well Spoken  from the family of the 2017 and 2018 German Derby winners.

Other German-based sires of interest are the proven Areion, Adlerflug and Lord of England; the most interesting here could be lot no. 68, consigned by Ronald Rauscher and an Adlerlug own brother to Germany´s dual Horse of the Year and multiple Group One winner Iquitos. First season sire Amaron´s first crop 2yo´s have already done well, and of the newcomers Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist, one of Monsun´s best sons, is arguably the most interesting. He stands at Röttgen and has 9 yearlings in the catalogue. He has been extremely well supported and they all look promising. Lot 172 is closely related to lot 173 (see previous paragraph), while lot 177, consigned by Ronald Rauscher, is a half-brother to this season´s group race winner Winterfuchs from the outstanding Ravensberg “W” family. Also of noted are lot 89, a filly out of a group race winner whose first foal was a 2yo winner only last week, and lot 97, another filly out of a group-winning mare from the top Wittekindshof “S” family.

Then we have some very interesting German-bred and –raced sires that now stand in other countries, notably Pastorius and Sommerabend in France, both of whom have done well despite some  relatively small books, and especially Sea The Moon, standing at Lanwades Stud near Newmarket.  Pastorius, one of the better German Derby winners of recent years, has five yearlings on offer, including no. 193, a Gestüt Karlshof-bred colt out of group winner Lady Jacamira, whose first foal was a listed winner only last week. Sea The Moon, an even more spectacular winner of the German Derby, was the first son of Sea The Stars to retire to stud, and as his fee has been kept at 15,000 GBP while his sire now commands a fee of 135,000 euros, many breeders regard him as a bargain and his first two crops to race have done very well. He has 16 yearlings in the catalogue, including several from top families. Lot no. 48 is a colt from Stauffenberg Bloodstock, whose third dam is the celebrated blue hen Fall Aspen, dam of 13 winners including no less than four Group One winners and three more at Group Two level. Lot no. 67, from the Westerberg Consignment, is a half-sister to this season´s Group Two winner Itobo from a top Schlenderhan family. Lot 170, a filly bred by Gestüt Auenquelle, ix a half-sister to Preis der Diana winner Turfdonna from the family of Group One winners Turfrose and Turfkönig. Quite a few of Sea The Moon´s yearlings come from his own home Gestüt Görlsdorf, such as lot no. 116, a colt from the family of German Derby winner and successful sire Adlerflug.

Obviously we are unable in this short space to do full justice to all 200+ yearlings that will go through the ring next Friday, and apologies are due to any future star that has been omitted. There are  siblings to five Group One winners in the catalogue (Doomden Cup, Grosser Preis von Baden and three winners of the Preis der Diana), as well  as another 23 siblings to Group Two and Three winners, and roughly half of the yearlings on offer are siblings to black type winners or out of black type mares. There is something for everybody in the catalogue, and there will be some high-priced lots that go on to glory on the racetrack as well as relatively cheap lots that prove to be wonderful bargains. The 2016, 2017 and 2018 winners of the German Derby could all have been bought here for very reasonable prices; this year´s winner was not a BBAG graduate, but the second-, third- and fourth-placed horses in the Derby all were. These lines have been based purely on the catalogue pages and the pedigrees, with no reference to physical appearance or conformation, aspects which could well be decisive next week. But it is a racing certainly that there will be plenty of group winners and possibly more classic winners going through the BBAG ring next Friday.