'This one’s on me!' - Kia Joorabchian takes aim again as Amo Racing splash £2,000,000 on classy Royal Ascot runner

Amo Racing’s remarkable recruitment drive continued in Kensington Palace Gardens on Monday after the high-class Ghostwriter topped the Goffs London Sale following a £2,000,000 bid from Kia Joorabchian. 

The Group 2 winner and multiple Group 1-placed runner is expected to represent his new owner in the Hardwicke Stakes on the concluding day of Royal Ascot on Saturday. Despite the magnitude of his latest seven-figure investment, Joorabchian was in mischievous form after signing the docket. 

“To be honest, my son picked this horse out a little while ago and he said ‘We’ve got to buy this!’,” he told the assembled media. “He’s third favourite for the Hardwicke and I think he’s got a chance to go up to Group 1 level, so we’ll see.” 

Asked if his son, Maxi, was in attendance, Joorabchian looked in the direction of his bloodstock agent and said: “I haven’t got my son, but I’ve got my adopted son, Alex Elliott! Anyway, he didn’t want to buy it so he doesn’t have any pressure. This one’s on me!”

Ghostwriter previously ran in the colours of Jeff Smith for trainer Clive Cox. The Group 1-winning handler is not currently among Amo’s roster of trainers, but Joorabchian said plans were still to be finalised over where Ghostwriter will be trained. 

He said: “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 knows him a bit better, I’ll get to meet him and we’ll see what we do after that.” 

Kia Joorabchian with agent Alex Elliott and Amo's jockey David EganCredit: Edward Whitaker

Although Amo’s previous London Sale buys include subsequent Beresford Stakes scorer Crypto Force, Joorabchian suggested the auction had not always been a happy hunting ground.

“I’ve been extremely unsuccessful at this sale in the past years but listen, it’s a nice sale, a beautiful atmosphere to buy a horse in,” he said. “This horse is proven and we think he can have a huge future. Fingers crossed we’re right and we’ll go forward and see how it happens.” 

Ghostwriter did not appear until the August of his two-year-old season but quickly made up for lost time by rattling through a hat-trick of wins in a little over six weeks. An impressive debut success at Newmarket’s July course was backed up by a similarly decisive strike in an Ascot novice event. 

His biggest victory came on his third outing when he recorded a length-and-a-quarter success in the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes. Although he has been unable to add to his juvenile victories at three and four, he has shown consistently high-class form against top opposition. 

He came fourth in the Notable Speech’s 2,000 Guineas and filled the same position behind Look De Vega in the Prix du Jockey Club. He then twice finished third behind City Of Troy, first in the Coral-Eclipse and again in the Juddmonte International, with the latter effort allotted a Racing Post Rating (RPR) of 120. 

He hit the same mark on his next two starts, first when beaten just two lengths by Economics in the Irish Champion Stakes and then when a keeping-on fourth behind Soul Rush in the Dubai Turf on his seasonal reappearance this year. He was last seen finishing sixth behind Los Angeles in the Tattersalls Gold Cup.

Bloodstock agent Alex Elliott added: “Obviously he was a very good two-year-old and a lot of stallion farms were looking to buy him as a stallion prospect. At three he hit the crossbar and at four he came back and had a good start in Dubai. If you want to compete in the big races, which is what Kia would like to do, then he was an obvious one to buy and that’s why Kia bought him.” 

Ghostwriter was bred by Norelands Bloodstock and the Irish National Stud and is the second foal out of Moorside, a daughter of Champs Elysees who ran second in the Listed Cheshire Oaks during her time in training. Moorside hails from one of Juddmonte’s most acclaimed families, as her dam, the Gone West mare Marching West, is a sister to Zafonic and Zamindar. 

Ghostwriter was changing hands at public auction for the second time having been signed for under Smith’s Littleton Stud banner at 100,000gns at the December Foal Sale in 2021. 

David Bowe, manager of Smith’s Littleton Stud, was on hand to congratulate the purchaser and reflected on the transaction by saying: “I’m delighted. I think he fetched a fair price and I’m delighted he’s going to Kia. We think there’s huge potential left in the horse but we thought we’d test the water. He’s not a homebred, if he were we might’ve hung on a bit longer, but equally we enjoy our domestic racing and it looks like we’d be doing a lot of globetrotting with him. I’d like to thank Clive Cox, who’s done such a fantastic job of training the horse.”

The £2 million mark was hit again later in the sale when the hammer fell on Rafale Design, winner of the Group 3 Prix du Lys on Sunday. However, it subsequently transpired the son of Starspangledbanner had been retained by Ecurie Yann Barberot.

Tycoon heads for the Golden Gates

Amo’s name also appeared on the docket of the progressive Tycoon, who was signed for alongside Nick Bell at £600,000. 

Tycoon has won one of his three starts for John and Thady Gosden, with victory coming in a Windsor maiden on his first start at three. That success is sandwiched between two third-place efforts. 

On debut he finished behind Jonquil, who has advertised the form by winning the Greenham Stakes and finishing a head runner-up to Henri Matisse in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains. On Tycoon’s most recent start he was third to Amiloc when upped in trip and grade in the Listed Cocked Hat Stakes at Goodwood. 

“I thought he was very impressive at Windsor when he won, and then he didn't quite stay at Goodwood,” said Bell. “I'm very keen to run him in the Golden Gates on Saturday, and I think Kia is intending on leaving him with the Gosdens for that race at least. He's lightly raced and has a big pedigree, so he has the right profile to put in a big run this week.

“He’s going to be a single-figure price on Saturday. If he runs well in that he’d end up looking well bought at this sort of money, especially considering the different jurisdictions he could race in. I thought he was a fair price.” 

Kia Joorabchian also signed for Tycoon at the Goffs London SaleCredit: Sarah Farnsworth

Tycoon is the tenth foal out of Bufera, making him a sibling to six winners, including the Listed-winning and Group 3-placed Chartreuse and Gloria Mundi, who was second in a Newbury Listed contest. 

Plenty has happened in this family in recent years, as Bufera’s siblings include Group 3 winner and Group 1 runner-up Johnny Barnes, Prix de Flore scorer Albisola, granddam of Prix de Sandringham winner Purplepay, as well as the dams of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf victress Meditate and the Group 1-winning Ectot and Most Improved. 

Tycoon was making his second appearance at public auction, having previously been retained by his breeder, Bjorn Nielsen, at 500,000gns at Book 1 in 2023. 

Stewart snares ‘value’ with £625,000 Woodshauna

Another emerging force among the ownership ranks is John Stewart, and the Resolute Racing principal also made his presence felt in London by securing Woodshauna at £625,000. The three-year-old son of Wooded was last seen landing the Group 3 Prix Texanita for Francis Graffard and Al Shaqab Racing. 

Stewart said Woodshauna would remain with his current trainer, and suggested the price represented “good value” on account of the colt not holding a Royal Ascot entry. 

“Francis trains the horse, he told me he was going to be in the sale so I had my eye on him,” said Stewart, part-owner of the Graffard stable star Goliath. “We’ve stayed around waiting for him to go through and I thought he’d go a bit higher. I thought he’d go for around £750,000, so I feel like I’ve got good value there. I think because he didn’t have a Royal Ascot target I got a little value. I’m pretty happy with [the price].” 

John Stewart: 'I thought he’d go for around £750,000, so I feel like I’ve got good value there'Credit: Sarah Farnsworth

On the London Sale concept, Stewart added: “It’s interesting being able to buy a horse and then run it at Royal Ascot coming right of this. There’s some good horses here who’ve bought some good money; it’s really interesting and it’d be interesting to see this type of thing happen at other venues around the world.”

Securing Woodshauna might not be Stewart’s only big result this week as he is set to be represented by two well-fancied runners during Royal Ascot. 

“I own a leg of Believing with Coolmore, and she’s the favourite [for the King Charles III Stakes],” he said. “I also bought Rogue Legend, he’s favourite for his race [Windsor Castle Stakes] as well. We’re in a good position, we’ll just see how it goes.” 

A total of 19 lots sold from 28 offered for a clearance rate of 68 per cent. Those transactions saw turnover hit £7,720,000, which was down eight per cent year on year. The average was down 27 per cent £406,315, although the median went markedly in the opposite direction at £300,000, a 50 per cent gain. 

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