6 hours ago
1
Lot 90 is blissfully unaware of the commotion he is about to cause but the theatre of dreams impatiently awaits his arrival.
The opening day of the October Yearling Sale, Book 1 at Tattersalls, in Newmarket, is underway and everyone is here: the ruler of a nation (Sheik Mohammed), a former World Cup winner (Ossie Ardiles), a one-time Ballon d’Or winner (Michael Owen), to curious members of the general public.
What makes Tattersalls so fascinating? The sales were established by Richard Tattersall in 1776 at Hyde Park Corner. It had spells in Knightsbridge Green and Doncaster but, since 1958, its Yearling Sales have taken place in Newmarket. Stand outside its stables and you can see all the way up to the famous Warren Hill gallops.
This is horseracing in a nutshell, the one sport where every facet of society can mix together, all believing that they are about to see something magical happen. So when Lot 90 prowls quietly into the sales ring, the captivation is universal.
His breeding screams potential superstar. His father is Sea The Stars, the winner of the Epsom Derby in 2009, who has gone onto be a prolific sire of high-achieving horses. Last Sunday in Longchamp, one of his sons, Daryz, emulated his greatest achievement and won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
As for his mother, Crystal Zvezda, she comes from a line that was curated over many years by the Rothschild family. Lot 90 has some exceptional relatives and the belief among everyone is that he has inherited some of that ability.
Lot 90, the son of Sea The Seas, fetched a staggering £3.88m at the Tattersalls auction
Sea The Stars, right, won the Epsom Derby in 2009 and has been a prolific sire of high-achieving horses
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum (above), the ruler of Dubai, had the winning bid of £3.88m to make the horse the most expensive yearling sold in the world in 2025
So the bidding begins, the numbers going up faster than a malfunctioning supermarket till. It doesn’t take long for the giant blue screen behind auctioneer John O’Kelly’s rostrum – which shows currencies in guineas, Euros, US dollars, UAE dirhams and Japanese yen – to blast past seven figures.
You are reminded that earlier in the day, we are told no horse will be sold for less than £5,000.
One million quickly becomes two; on it goes, 2.2, 2.5, 2.7; the background hubbub quickly becomes a hush as the toing and froing continues and eventually three million is surpassed.
‘Come on now,’ O’Kelly urges, with typical flamboyance. ‘He really is spectacular.’
As is the final price. The winning bid comes from Anthony Stroud on behalf of Sheik Mohammed at 3.7million guineas (£3.88m) – he becomes the most expensive yearling sold in the world in 2025; two hours earlier, Amo Racing, the venture of Kia Joorabchian, had paid 3.6million for a Frankel colt.
Joorabchian, the successful football agent who is becoming increasingly influential in racing, was underbidder on Lot 90 and his disappointment at not being able to double up is obvious; O’Kelly tries to soften the blow by telling him: “thank you for trying” but it cuts no ice.
‘He was majestic,’ says Stroud. ‘He was an extremely lovely horse. He really stood out for us. Sea The Stars is an unbelievable stallion. You have to pay more for the ones that you want and valuations are difficult. It’s like a priceless work of art. We’ll have to see if he is a Monet or a Matisse.’
The significance of the moment is increased as Dubai’s crown prince, who is never sighted on British racecourses these days, is standing by the pre-parade ring. He arrives at Tattersalls in a private car with diplomatic number plates and stays with entourage at all times.
Daryz, another son of Sea the Stars, triumphed at the Arc de Triomphe last weekend
He is 76 now and, to stand next to him, you wouldn’t think this was one of the world’s richest men, dressed in a black tracksuit and trainers, but his power and influence in the sport is enormous. The landscape of racing, for so many in this industry of 85,000, would be wildly different without him.
Over the first two days of the three-day sale, Godolphin – the global racing venture of Sheikh Mohammed – spend more than 13million guineas and it is quite an incredible sum to digest when you take the wider world into account.
When you turn up the road to Tattersalls, one of the things you see if an old Turkish restaurant that has been abandoned. Newmarket, like so many areas in the UK, has economic challenges and some will find it hard to correlate that the average price of a horse at Tattersalls (342,778) is almost identical to the average price of a house in town (£347,476 according to Right Move).
But this, essentially, is stepping into another world where reality has been suspended. You know you have been around the sale ring for too long when you hear a filly related to Battash – a sprinter whose gears were flat out or Mach 1 – has “only” been sold for 600,000 guineas.
It is a remarkable situation and when you think it is less than month since the decision was taken for the first time in 250 years to voluntarily not race, to send a message to the Government about what damage betting tax rises would do to the industry, you would think everything is fine again.
‘All we see on a yearly basis is CEOs and the owners of betting companies getting wealthier and wealthier and wealthier,’ Joorabchian explains. ‘We see our prize money, especially in racing, getting worse and worse and worse. We are the people that are really financing this sport.
‘So for us to go on strike about the betting companies having to pay more taxes is ridiculous. I don’t know why we need to be getting involved in that fight – personally speaking. The betting companies are making fortunes. They don’t give nearly enough back to the industry of sport.’
Joorabchian makes a valid point about prize money. At Tattersalls last year, he spent more than 23million guineas – almost a fifth of the final total of 129.6million. One of those buys, a colt called Poker, cost 4.3million guineas. He’s only run once since, finishing sixth at Haydock, and never collected a penny for his efforts.
Kia Joorabchian was the underbidder on Lot 90, much to the football agent's disappointment
The racetrack, though, is just a small part of what this is all about. These bloodstock empires are spending to try to find the next super sire, like Sea The Stars or Frankel or Dubawi, who will shape the breed for years to come – and make their owners small fortunes.
Coolmore, who are based in Count Tipperary and are the shrewdest operators in the business, recently lost a stallion called Wootton Bassett after he contracted pneumonia; he stood for £300,000 and in studs alone he was worth more than £50million a year.
‘What you have to do is start the process,’ says Joorabchian. ‘We have to create our own stallions. Frankel and Dubawi are getting older, Wootton Bassett is sadly no longer with us. The sales are a little skitter-skatter. Everyone is after the next one. The big colts are making the big numbers.’
And none came bigger than Lot 90, who will carry such hopes and dreams.
