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Ghostwriter makes £2million Amo Racing transfer

Ghostwriter makes £2million Amo Racing transfer

The four-year-old won the Group Two Royal Lodge Stakes as a juvenile and while he failed to get his head in front for owner Jeff Smith and trainer Clive Cox last term, he turned in a string of fine efforts in top company, including third-placed runs in the both the Eclipse and Juddmonte International.
Ghostwriter finished fourth in the Dubai Turf back in April and could step up to a mile and a half for the first time in Saturday's Group Two in the colours of Kia Joorabchian's Amo Racing outfit after changing hands at the Goffs London Sale.
Speaking at Kensington Palace Gardens, where the sale was held, Joorabchian told Nick Luck Daily: 'To be honest, my son picked him out a little while ago and he was like 'we've got to buy this'. He's third favourite for the Hardwicke and I think he's got a chance to go up to Group One level, so we'll see.'
When asked if the Invincible Spirit colt will stay in training with Cox, Joorabchian added: 'I don't know Clive Cox but I'm sure we will meet him and we'll see.
'At the moment I'm not buying horses to stay, I'm buying them to hopefully go into our own yard but this one, I don't know yet because he's done a good job with him so we will have a chat, Alex (Elliott, bloodstock agent) knows him a little bit better so I'll get to meet him and see what we do after that.'
Amo's name also appeared in conjunction with Nick Bell after Tycoon sold for £600,000. The three-year-old has won one of his three starts for John and Thady Gosden, most recently placing third in Listed company, and he is entered in Thursday's Hampton Court Stakes.
The Andrew Balding-trained Tropical Storm, winner of the Westow Stakes last time and declared for Tuesday's King Charles III Stakes, sold to Oliver St Lawrence Bloodstock for £500,000, while Resolute Bloodstock paid £625,000 for Jersey Stakes contender Woodshauna, who was a Group Three winner last time out for Francis-Henri Graffard.

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Kia Joorabchian splashes out £2million on horse the Amo Racing boss hopes will make his Royal Ascot dream come true
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Kia Joorabchian splashes out £2million on horse the Amo Racing boss hopes will make his Royal Ascot dream come true

Kia Joorabchian's ambition to be among the winners at Royal Ascot saw him make an eve-of-meeting swoop for a horse of immense potential. The Amo Racing boss is no stranger to making an impact at public auction and he was elated to finalise a £2million deal for Ghostwriter, a four-year-old trained by Clive Cox who last August got within four lengths of the outstanding City Of Troy in York's Juddmonte International. It was rated by experts as the best race run anywhere in the world in 2024. Ghostwriter was put up for sale by his former owner Jeff Smith and his name in the catalogue for the Goffs London sale — an occasion, held in the opulent Kensington Gardens, which has grown in stature since its inception in 2014 — caused a buzz. Former footballers Shay Given and Tom Cleverley were among the throng, as was Michael Owen. The London Sale is unique in that it offers big spending owners the opportunity to buy a ready-made horse for the Royal meeting and the action in the ring is always a fascinating spectacle. The evening started with the chance to buy a 1/60th share of the stallion Ace Impact, who retired in 2023 unbeaten in six races with his haul including the Prix Du Jockey Club and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. One bloodstock agent was prepared to pay £180,000 for it, valuing Ace Impact at £11million. But Lot 10 was the one the crowd had come to see and the bidding for Ghostwriter, who has been prepared by Cox for a crack at Saturday's Hardwicke Stakes, rose as steeply as a cable car in the mountains. Auctioneer Henry Beeby is a dab hand at providing a theatrical flourish to the bidding process and the pace of the back-and-forth ensured that it took just two minutes to go from the gasps of the £1million barrier being broken to the price being doubled. 'At £2million close to me,' said Beeby. 'At £2million, it's going now — make no mistake. Nobody else around the ring? I'm going to sell it… At £2million, get ready. At £2million, we are all done. Sold!' With that, the gavel was brought down with a bang. Joorabchian bought a two-year-old filly at the auction 12 months ago for £700,000 and tried to buy a mare called Sparkling Plenty for £7million but he was thrilled to get this deal done without a hitch. 'This is a nice sale and it's a beautiful atmosphere to buy a horse in,' said Joorabchian, who gave a no-holds-barred interview about some of the concerns he has about racing to Mail Sport last weekend. 'We think this horse has a huge future and fingers crossed we are right. To be honest, my son (Maxi) picked this horse out a little while ago and he said: 'We've got to buy this!' 'He's third favourite for the Hardwicke and I think he's got a chance to go up to Group One level, so we'll see. I don't know Clive Cox but I'm sure I'll meet him and we'll see. At the moment I'm not buying horses to stay [with their trainers]. 'I'm buying them to go into our own yard (with Raphael Freire at Freemason Lodge). With this one, I don't know yet because Clive's done a good job with him so we'll have a chat. Alex (Elliott, bloodstock agent) knows him a bit better, I'll get to meet him and we'll see what we do after that.' Joorabchian's finest moment as an owner at Royal Ascot came in 2023 when King Of Steel ran away with the King Edward VII Stakes; Amo will have three runners on the opening day with Power Blue (305), Mr Hampstead (500) and Crypto Force (610).

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LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - In the gardens of a royal palace, Swiss billionaires, Qatari royals and the odd former footballer gathered on Monday night for a one-off chance to bag a racehorse ready to run at Royal Ascot the next day. Over 7.5 million pounds ($10.2 million) changed hands as bidders vied to secure one of 28 thoroughbred horses, 18 of which are due to compete this week for a chance to win a portion of Royal Ascot's 10 million pound prize pot. The Goffs London Sale, now in its 11th year, is an exclusive auction held in the grounds of Kensington Palace where anyone, providing they have a minimum 150,000 pound credit clearance, can bid for front-row access to one of the world's most prestigious sporting events. "You could be standing in the grounds of Kensington Palace at six o'clock and by two o'clock the next day, you could be at the parade ring alongside the British Royal Family with your own runner and your own colours," Henry Beeby, chief executive at the 160-year-old Goffs auction house, told Reuters. Top lot Ghostwriter, who holds an entry for the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot on Saturday, went for 2 million pounds to football agent Kia Joorabchian of Amo Racing while the second most expensive horse, Woodshauna, sold for 625,000 pounds to John Stewart of Resolute Racing - two of the biggest buyers in the sport. Joorabchian, who is known to be a big spender after dropping over 24 million pounds at a single sale last year, said his son had picked out the horse and that it had a good chance in the Hardwicke Stakes, a prestigious Group 2 race held at Royal Ascot. Danish entrepreneur and hotelier John Christensen said he bought Super Soldier for 390,000 pounds so his friends would have something to cheer on at the races on Tuesday. Last year's sale turned over almost 8.5 million pounds ($11.54 million) though Beeby conceded that was an exceptional year. Most years the London sale raises 3–6 million pounds, he said. Horses bought at the sale have some history of success at Ascot, though this is by no means guaranteed. The last time a graduate of the London ring won at Royal Ascot was in 2021 when Oxted won the Group 1 King's Stand Stakes while others, like Givemethebeatboys, sold in 2023, have been well-placed. The most expensive horse ever sold there was the French mare, Sparkling Plenty, who had won a Group 1 in Chantilly just days before. She was sold outside the ring in 2024 for 5 million pounds, beating the previous top price of 1.3 million pounds. The sale acts as an unofficial curtain raiser for Royal Ascot where trainers and top horses from around the world will compete over five days in races worth up to a million pounds. Highlights include the marathon two-and-a-half-mile Gold Cup on Thursday as well as numerous top-grade races featuring some of the world's best racehorses. Horseracing may contribute 4.1 billion pounds to the British economy annually, but it's often a game of risk and chance. While jackpots, - like the 9,000-euro ($10,402) colt, Kodi Bear, who returned 500,000 euro when sold again around 9 months later - do happen, for most buyers, owning a racehorse is a luxury. And it can go badly wrong. An American-bred horse, St James Square, was sold for $2.4 million in 2018 and never finished better than sixth in five starts. "We're dealing in luxury items, nobody needs to have a racehorse," Beeby said. Like all commodity markets, thoroughbred sales are not immune to global trade headwinds and tariffs. And like many trading houses, Goffs is navigating trade tensions with the United States – Goffs' trade with the United States was around 10 million euro worth of horses last year --and the fallout from Brexit, which ended a tripartite agreement on the free trade of horses between Britain, France and Ireland. "We are indelibly linked to the worldwide economy but by the same token, this is an extraordinarily resilient global business," he said. "We could do without [tariffs], we're hoping they're a distraction rather than a barrier." ($1 = 0.8652 euros) ($1 = 0.7366 pounds)

Ghostwriter makes £2million Amo Racing transfer
Ghostwriter makes £2million Amo Racing transfer

Leader Live

time7 hours ago

  • Leader Live

Ghostwriter makes £2million Amo Racing transfer

The four-year-old won the Group Two Royal Lodge Stakes as a juvenile and while he failed to get his head in front for owner Jeff Smith and trainer Clive Cox last term, he turned in a string of fine efforts in top company, including third-placed runs in the both the Eclipse and Juddmonte International. Ghostwriter finished fourth in the Dubai Turf back in April and could step up to a mile and a half for the first time in Saturday's Group Two in the colours of Kia Joorabchian's Amo Racing outfit after changing hands at the Goffs London Sale. Speaking at Kensington Palace Gardens, where the sale was held, Joorabchian told Nick Luck Daily: 'To be honest, my son picked him out a little while ago and he was like 'we've got to buy this'. He's third favourite for the Hardwicke and I think he's got a chance to go up to Group One level, so we'll see.' When asked if the Invincible Spirit colt will stay in training with Cox, Joorabchian added: 'I don't know Clive Cox but I'm sure we will meet him and we'll see. 'At the moment I'm not buying horses to stay, I'm buying them to hopefully go into our own yard but this one, I don't know yet because he's done a good job with him so we will have a chat, Alex (Elliott, bloodstock agent) knows him a little bit better so I'll get to meet him and see what we do after that.' Amo's name also appeared in conjunction with Nick Bell after Tycoon sold for £600,000. The three-year-old has won one of his three starts for John and Thady Gosden, most recently placing third in Listed company, and he is entered in Thursday's Hampton Court Stakes. The Andrew Balding-trained Tropical Storm, winner of the Westow Stakes last time and declared for Tuesday's King Charles III Stakes, sold to Oliver St Lawrence Bloodstock for £500,000, while Resolute Bloodstock paid £625,000 for Jersey Stakes contender Woodshauna, who was a Group Three winner last time out for Francis-Henri Graffard.

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