THE WILD SALE OF SPARKLING PLENTY
Sparkling Plenty looked certain to be a highlight of this year’s Goffs London Sale from the moment she was added to the catalogue in the week before the auction in June. She was quite the spectacle, and there’s more to come! Sparkling Plenty will be back in the sales ring this December.
Martin Stevens, contributing writer
Jean-Pierre Dubois’ homebred filly was, after all, an impressive three-length winner of the Prix de Sandringham on her last start, and due to contest the Prix de Diane on the day before the sale.
She was also exceptionally well bred, being a Kingman full-sister to Jersey Stakes scorer and Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère runner-up Noble Truth, out of a Frankel half-sister to Dubois’ wonderful racemare Stacelita and to the dam of his Prix du Moulin heroine Sauterne, who was bought by Japan’s Grand Stud for $4.2 million at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale at the end of 2013.
But at that point no-one could have predicted the extraordinary scenes that would ensue at Kensington Palace on the eve of Royal Ascot.
Indeed, the reality of Sparkling Plenty winning the Prix de Diane and then selling for a sum that exceeded the European auction record for a thoroughbred by nearly £2 million, only for it to transpire that she had been bought back by her vendor, was stranger than fiction.
Goffs chief executive Henry Beeby, who conducted the bidding for Sparkling Plenty that day, calls it his “most surreal experience” on the rostrum in 40 years of professional auctioneering.
Looking back on the occasion, he says: “Getting Sparkling Plenty in the first place was all down to our French agent Amanda Zetterholm. She was sourcing entries for us and suddenly said the filly was a candidate, but was due to run in the French Oaks. We thought well, if she runs well at Chantilly that’ll be nice, she’ll be a nice prospect. And then she went and won. There were mixed emotions when Sparkling Plenty ran above our expectations and won the Prix de Diane. Obviously we were thrilled, as her value had increased substantially, but there was also some trepidation over whether the vendor would still want to sell. Fortunately, he did. We then received a wave of calls from prospective purchasers that day. People were asking what was happening; whether she would actually sell; what her reserve was, and so on. All we could tell them was put your best boots on and get ready, as she was definitely going to be offered.”
As usual, Goffs had assembled a United Nations of top owners, breeders and trainers for the London Sale, including Bobby Flay and John Stewart from the US, Gai Waterhouse from Australia and football stars Michael Owen and Álvaro Odriozola from closer to home. Kia Joorabchian of Amo Racing was also in attendance and had already signalled his intent to buy the best stock on offer, paying £650,0
...