Galileo And No Nay Never All The Rage At Arqana
A trio of mares in foal to No Nay Never sold for an incredible total of €2.13million at the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale, helped largely by exciting broodmare Unaided, who sold for €1.25million.
The ten-year-old is a half-sister to two Stakes winners, one of whom is the dam of Group 2 winner James Garfield, and comes from the family of Rafha, Invincible Spirit, Kodiac and Pride Of Dubai. But her greatest achievement is producing triple Grade 1 winner Uni, who won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile just last month.
Uni is trained by Chad Brown and it was one of his owners, Peter Brandt, who secured her dam Unaided, carrying an April cover to No Nay Never.
Dean Hawthorne and Badgers Bloodstock, meanwhile, were the successful buyers of Fleeting Fancy (Galileo) at €480,000, herself carrying her first cover to the popular son of Scat Daddy. Her damsire was a major draw for New Zealand-based agent Hawthorne, who said, “We love Galileo mares; we’ve been accumulating them for a while. We’ve accumulated 10 to 12 Northern Hemisphere-bred mares, mainly by Galileo and they’ve all been covered by top sires Down Under. Galileo, like everywhere else in the world, has been a top broodmare sire down there. You can put anything to him and win big carnival races. We love him down there.”
Galileo mares sent to No Nay Never produced Listed winner and Group 1 fourth Tango, while a similar cross produced Group 2 scorer Shadn. It bodes well for the Galileo mare Broderie Anglaise, who sold in foal to No Nay Never for €400,000.
Six daughters of Galileo sold for six-figure sums during the sale, the highest price of €520,000 paid for Just Gorgeous, a full-sister to top race mares Magical and Rhododendron.
Just four mares in the catalogue boasted a covering to Mastercraftsman, three of which passed the €100,000 mark. Among them was the Group 2 winner Legerete, who fetched €250,000 from Hadden Bloodstock. Citation One, an unraced half-sister to two black-type horses, was knocked down to Blackstone Farm for €200,000, while Howson & Houldsworth went to €105,000 for Kylia, the dam of two Stakes horses.