A brother to ante-post Classic favourite Too Darn Hot became the most expensive yearling sold at auction this year when fetching 3.5 million guineas at Tattersalls in Newmarket on Wednesday.
The new record-holder (Pic – Tattersalls.com)
By Dubawi out of Dar Re Mi, the colt was consigned by Watership Down Stud and bought by David Redvers, on behalf of Qatar Racing.
www.raccinguk.com reports that the price of the youngster beat the previous best of 3.4m guineas for a Galileo colt, sold to the Coolmore operation on Tuesday.
Qatar Racing have enjoyed great success this season with multiple Group One scorer Roaring Lion, trained like Too Darn Hot by John Gosden.
Redvers told Tattersalls: “This is the sort of horse that Sheikh Fahad and his brothers want to own – they want to participate at the highest level and have had a taste of it this year with Roaring Lion.
“The colt is out of an exceptional mare and by an exception stallion. It is very hard to put a value on horse such as this – you can see lovely horses selling for good money and yet they still are not the best.
“We are looking to make commercial stallions – let’s hope that he goes out and lives up to all the potential that he has. He could look a cheap buy in future.
“I think you can guess where he will go into training.”
Too Darn Hot, brother to high-class pair So Mi Dar and Lah Ti Dar, is unbeaten in three starts, most recently in the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster.
Running in the colours of Watership Down’s owners Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber, he heads the market on next year’s 2000 Guineas and Derby and is expected to star in the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday.
Lady Lloyd Webber said after the sale: “We are so very lucky to have a mare such as Dar Re Mi, who is breeding horses who are put together with such perfection.
“This horse is very similar to Too Darn Hot, a little more mature if anything.
“The farm’s policy is to sell the colts and keep the fillies. We were unable to sell Too Darn Hot last year, in the end thank god – but we kept to the overall plan.
“It has been a nerve-wracking six months, but Terry (Doherty, stud manager) has produced him brilliantly, he looked amazing.
“The colt has dealt with everything here without issue, all of the mare’s offspring are so straightforward.”
She added: “Watching that sale was a little like an opening night with all the critics in – in fact, it is all very much like show business!”
