Summer Sands’ rags-to-riches tale took another dramatic twist during day two of the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale on Tuesday, as the high-class two-year-old sold to Joseph O’Brien for 625,000gns.
Remarkably, given his subsequent achievements, the son of Coach House was pinhooked by Robson Aguiar for just £2,000 at the Ascot yearling sale only 13 months ago.
The colt returned to that venue’s breeze-up sale in April and, after a bullet two furlong workout, went the way of Matt Coleman and the Cool Silk Partnership at £85,000.
Summer Sands – the son of Coach House (Pic -Tattersalls)
The Racing Post reports that Richard Fahey furthered the transformation, with the master of Musley Bank having prepared Summer Sands to win Beverley’s Brian Yeardley Two Year Old Trophy and the Listed Redcar Two Year Old Trophy. Sandwiched between those victories was a huge run in the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes, in which Summer Sands was beaten just two lengths into third by the undefeated Earthlight.
With O’Brien en route to Santa Anita to apply the finishing touches to his Breeders’ Cup squad, Bill Dwan was entrusted with bidding duties and had to see off a determined Alastair Donald to secure the talented juvenile.
“He’s been bought by Joseph, who asked me to bid for him as he’s gone to America,” said Dwan. “Hopefully he progresses as he’s an exciting prospect. He’s got very solid form and I think he’ll improve from two to three. He came very highly recommended by Richard [Fahey], who’s done a great job with him.”
With Group 1-placed two-year-olds scarcely seen at public auction, a sizeable crowd assembled inside the Park Paddocks ring to see how Summer Sands fared. Among the crowd was Chris Swann, son of the Cool Silk Partnership’s Peter Swann.
“It’s kind of bettersweet,” he said. “I think he’ll be a brilliant horse next year and I know he’ll be missed at Fahey’s, but we tend to buy two-year-olds and then look to reinvest. We’ll be keen buyers at next year’s breeze-up sales, especially at Ascot, which has been so lucky for us.”
Bred by the Koharu Partnership, Summer Sands is the second foal out of the Ishiguru mare Koharu, whose third foal, a colt by Fountain Of Youth, failed to sell at just 2,500gns at last year’s foal sales.
The mare, who is from the family of Hellvelyn, produced a colt by Pearl Secret earlier this year.
