They landed lot 72, the Staffordstown Stud-consigned daughter of Frankel who is a full-sister to Arc de Triomphe heroine Alpinista.
Bidding started at 1,000,000 guineas on the most talked-about yearling in the build-up to the sale and ended at 2,500,000 when she was knocked down to Joorabchian who is working with Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis.
And remarkably that was just over half as much as the Amo team paid four lots earlier for another daughter of Frankel. She was out of the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes winner Aljazzi and the Amo team had to go to 4,400,000 guineas to secure her, the second highest price ever paid at Tattersalls.
When asked if they were expecting to go that high, bloodstock agent Alex Elliott told Tattersalls: “No not at all, we didn’t see that, but Kia and Mr Marinakis who is partnering with Kia, were pretty determined to get her.
“It’s fantastic for British racing that two men want to buy fillies and racehorses at that level. The Japanese were the underbidders and I think we should all be cheerleading these two men in that they want to partner up and keep that filly on these shores, I think it’s fantastic.”
And when asked if the full-sister to Alpinista was for the same team Elliott added: “I think so, I haven’t really discussed the percentages or the dynamic of the partnership but it seems very much on. They do a lot of work in football, Mr Marinakis has taken a huge interest in racing and that’s off the back of Amo Racing, Kia and what Kia’s done and built up over the last few years.
“Kia realises to compete at the top table against Godolphin and Coolmore you need to have the pedigrees and they’ve gone and bought them there.”
They broke the seven-figure barrier again shortly afterwards when paying 1,100,000 for a Frankel colt from the family of Midday.
During Tuesday’s early exchanges Amo parted with 750,000 guineas for a Sea The Stars colt out of Zahratty, partnered with Al Shaqab Racing to land a Wootton Bassett son of The Tooth Fairy for 425,000 guineas, and landed other six-figure lots by Sioux Nation, Mehmas, Wootton Bassett and Sergei Profokiev.
More from Sporting Life
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
