CONSIGNED BY YARRAN THOROUGHBREDS BOOKER SELLS FOR 1.6 MILLION AT THE 2020 CHAIRMANS SALE

The top Victorian lot in the 2020 Chairman’s Sale was 2019 Group 1 Oakleigh Plate winner Booker, which sold for $1.6 million to Coolmore’s Tom Magnier.

The mare was offered by owners Barrie and Midge Griffiths through Yarran Thoroughbreds whose John Doherty just happens to be their nextdoor neighbour.

The Griffiths also raced top mare Heatherley, a group 2 winner and sold her for $1.6 million through Yarran at the 2018 Magic Millions Broodmare Sale.

Booker was the most expensive yearling by Written Tycoon when she sold at the 2016 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale and Griffiths paid $260 000 for her.

Doherty said that although they expected to make seven figures for Booker and rated her in the top three in the catalogue, they weren’t sure about the market leading into the sale due to the Coronavirus.

“ We were hoping for seven figures and the fact that she went to $1.6 million was because there were two very good judges bidding on her, it was a genuine good sale” he said.

“Barrie is my next door neighbour and he buys fillies to race but is not a breeder. When they come to the end of their racing careers he sells them and we are just fortunate enough to have sold Heatherley a couple of years ago and now Booker.”

Doherty said Griffiths was just one of those ‘hugely’ successful owners who so far has had 14 Group 1 winners which he rates as comparable to some of the huge organisations who have raced thousands of horses.

He said Griffiths doesn’t deal in big numbers but has been successful in personally selecting horses that have gone on to win Group 1 races.

His normal spend is about $100 000 but he went to a lot more for Booker because he really liked her. SHe was a beauty and at the time Written Tycoon hadn’t kicked yet” Doherty said.

“But he picked her out as a diamond. In the end at the sale she ticked the three boxes - she was a good looker, had the pedigree and was a Group 1 winner. It’s the hard thing about this business to get them all aligned.”

Japan’s Katsumi Yoshida, who has one of the best broodmare bands in the world, was the underbidder on Booker.