Sister To Blackbeard Becomes Highest Priced Yearling Of The Year

A full-sister to top-class two-year-old Blackbeard (No Nay Never) became the highest-priced yearling sold anywhere in the world this year when bringing €2.6million at the Goffs Orby Sale.

Aidan O’Brien’s Prix Morny victor doubled his Group 1 tally in the Middle Park Stakes just three days before the sale, but successful buyer Richard Knight declared the daughter of No Nay Never exceptional in her own right.

“I thought she was the absolute standout of the sale even without her brother on the page,” the agent said. “Just as an individual she had everything; she’s a lovely size, a lovely shape and a very athletic filly. Then you can add the brother and the sire into the mix too. I’m just delighted to get her.”

Knight did not reveal his client, but added, “It was at the top of where we were thinking she would be but we didn’t want to leave here without her. It’s very exciting. She’ll go back to Britain and be trained there, although no trainer has been decided upon yet.”

Bred by Newstead Breeding, the sales-topper was consigned by Glenvale Stud, whose Ciaran Conroy said, “You can never expect a price like that. That said, when you have an animal like that anything can happen. She’s by a top-class stallion who’s had a great year and she’s obviously a full-sister to the best two-year-old sprinter around.”

Blackbeard, along with this season's Group winning juveniles Aesop’s Fables, Little Big Bear, Meditate and Trillium, was bred off the back of No Nay Never’s outstanding first crop, and his meteoric rise through the stallion ranks saw his progeny sell for an average €256,391 at the Orby Sale.