Coolmore sell ‘future Melbourne Cup winner’ for record £1.4m – day after Jan Brueghel is scratched from race
COOLMORE yesterday sold a ‘future Melbourne Cup winner’ to Australia for a record £1.4 million a day after Jan Brueghel was scratched from the race.
The Jean-Claude Rouget-trained Delius smashed Tatts’ previous Autumn Horses In Training Sale record which was a mere £1 million.
He was brought in a joint venture between Australian trainer Gai Waterhouse and big Aussie owner Sir Owen Glenn of Go Bloodstock.
The latter has always wanted to win the ‘race that stops a nation’ and bloodstock consultant Hubie De Burgh reckoned he’d found the perfect horse to make his client’s dreams come true.
The Frankel colt was last seen coming eighth in the Arc De Triomphe, finishing eight lengths behind the recently retired Bluestocking.
However, the sub-par performance was excused by the fact the race was run in a quagmire.
And prior to the big’un at Longchamp, Delius came an impressive second in the Group 2 Prix Niel and won a Group 3.
While £1.4 million seems a lot, De Burgh was bullish about the figure and said: “I was looking up and could see the Australian dollar conversion and I was thinking wow – we are now getting serious.
“But with the Australian prize money the way it is, he could win that back quite easily, at the level we’re hoping him to get to.
“It’s painful to begin with because you’ve got to write a check for it. But in a years time or two years time – he’s only a three-year-old – with six runs, he could win $10 million.
“To get access to these kinds of horses is so difficult, so difficult and you have to pay for them.”
He added: “It’s a joint venture and he goes to Gai Waterhouse and the team. He’s been bought for Sir Owen Gleen of Go Bloodstock.
“He wanted a Cup horse for next year, and obviously Gai did as well, so it’s a joint venture between Gair and Sir Owen.
“What can I say? He’s a son of Frankel who’s only raced six times but he’s already run to a high rating, winning over a mile and two and a mile and a half.
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“He’s got the perfect profile for Australia. The only bad run of his life was the Arc, which was on ground he hated.
“It was a lot of money, but unfortunately that’s what they’re costing. We could look like geniuses in a year’s time, or we might not!”
De Burgh went on to say the horse has been on his radar for a long time and he previously tried to buy him after his second run.
The six-figure price is a boost to Coolmore who have had a complete disaster in the last couple of days after being informed the horse they spent £120,000 flying to Australia would not be allowed to run.
The Australian vets deemed ante-post Melbourne Cup fav Jan Brueghel at ‘heightened risk of injury’ – because of a phone app and forbade him to partake in the race.
Aidan O’Brien, who was absolutely furious and vented trackside in Del Mar, said: “Here in the USA, horsemen and women decide. In Australia a horse’s trot is filmed on a phone – and the phone app will decide if he can race or not.
“There comes a point when it just becomes ridiculous. They made a decision based on a phone app. Our vets didn’t agree.”
Things then went from bad to worse for the Ballydoyle trainer when another Coolmore horse Ylang Ylang was scratched from the Breeders’ Cup after another vet deemed her unfit to run.
The filly was 6-1 for the Filly and Mare Turf on Saturday, but like her stablemate, will not get the chance to have a go.
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