The Australian love affair with German thoroughbreds was on full display at BBAG Yearling Sale at Baden Baden, which concluded with record figures across the board on Friday.
Not surprisingly, Australian Bloodstock, Brad Spicer, Justin Bahen and Blandford Bloodstock were front and centre.
It was Spicer Thoroughbreds Brad Spicer that signed for the equal most expensive lot heading to Australia.
He went to €120,000
in conjunction with Bahen Bloodstock for a colt (pictured ) by Sea The Moon out of the
winning Royal Applause mare Royal Aspen who hails from the family of Timber
Country, Hamas, Northern Aspen, Fort Wood, Bianconi and Colorado Dancer the dam
of Dubai Millennium.
"I thought he might make a bit more but I'm happy to snag him at that price," Spicer told The Racing Post. "He's a really nice Sea The Moon colt.
Spicer revealed the colt will head to the stable of Lindsey Smith in Victoria.
"He's coming back to Australia and will land in late October. Justin Bahen and myself bought the horse together, he has a couple of clients that he'll put in and I have my clients who will go into the horse.
"It's all about the staying races for us and we're trying to buy some nice stayers.
"The guys have been buying tried horses for the last 15 years, you see horses like Protectionist and Fiorente come down with those great bloodlines, and I don't think the yearlings have been explored that much. We're certainly going to concentrate on that over the next few years.
"It's the first time that I've actually been here and I've quite enjoyed it, even though I was only here for a couple of days. I'll be coming back next year for sure."
Later in the
session Bahen signed the docket for €120,000, for a filly (pictured ) by Coolmore sire
Mastercraftsman.
The filly is out of the Lando mare Dyveke, making her a half-sister to Group II winner and Group 1-placed Diamond Dove (Dr Fong) and stakes-winner Dangerous Gleam (Generous).
Dyveke is a sister to Group 1 winner Donaldson and Listed winner Daytona.
Blandford Bloodstock and Ciaron Maher chipped in when purchasing a colt by former Coolmore shuttler Camelot for €64,000.
The colt is out of four-time winner Al Queena, a half-sister to Listed winner Al Quintana and stakes-placed Albertville.
"David (Eustace) in particular, was very keen on the idea of targeting the BBAG Sale," Blandford's Stuart Boman told The Racing Post. "We've had a bit of luck with the tried horses up here over the last couple of years, we bought Lord Belvedere together and we're just looking into getting a few younger horses that can go straight into their system.
"He's a good first foal and the mare was quite well-performed. She was Timeform rated 99, won over 1,400 metres and had a bit of speed. She was actually fourth in a Listed race which is not on the page.
"Camelot has done particularly well in Australia and they seem to really suit the racing there. He shuttled for a few years (it was actually just one season in 2014) but couldn't get the local breeders to embrace him at that point, but they're now breeding to him to southern hemisphere time and targeting his stock with yearlings and tried horses up here. Lloyd Williams races a few with Joseph (O'Brien) and he's a stallion target for an Australian market for sure."
Some other stallions in the sale that were of particular interest to Australians included the champion Elvstroem , the first crop of Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist, a single lot by Exosphere , one lot by Cornerstone shuttler Free Eagle proved popular being knocked down for €125,000. Reliable Man had a big draft of nine while Scissor Kick had one lot on offer as did Sepoy and Sidestep while Helmet had three catalogued.
Australian Bloodstock purchased a Sea The Moon colt for €110,000, an Acclimation colt for €90,000, a Harzand colt for €58,000 and a Protectionist filly for €50,000.
Most of the big spending was done by Godolphin who went to a record €820,000 to secure the Sea The Stars filly out of the stakes-placed Monsun Anna Mia, while they needed €700,000 to secure the sale's only lot by Kingman , a colt named Wirko out of the Listed-winning Mount Nelson mare Weltmacht.
Godolphin completed the trifecta of top price lots when purchasing Lope de Vega's three-quarter sister to the German 1,000 Guineas winner Akua'da for €360,000.
Overall, 143 of 196 offered lots offered found new homes. The aggregate rose by 35 per cent on 2018's total to €8.175 million, the average rose by 49 per cent to €57,165 and the median was up by 47 per cent to €56,430, from €38,420 12 months earlier.
