"Staggering" result as filly tops half-million barrier

Features | 8th December 2021

“Staggering!” That was the reaction of part-owner Gary White after bargain buy Just Beautiful sold for 625,000 gns at the Tattersalls Mares’ sale in Newmarket on Tuesday (30th November).

The Ivan Furtado-trained filly went through the same ring for only 8,000 gns two years ago but won five of her seven career starts including a Listed race at Musselburgh and the Group 3 Sceptre Stakes at Doncaster.

Interest was always likely to be strong but White, who owned the filly in partnership with The Giggle Factor, didn’t expect to see the daughter of Pride Of Dubai top the half-million barrier.

“It was staggering,” he says. “We put a reserve of 250,000 gns on her and hoped for the best but to see the hammer go down at 625,000 gns was more than a dream. We’re all still buzzing.”

White, who lives near Middlesbrough and works in the construction industry, admitted he was sorry to see her go, however. “We all had mixed feelings to be honest. She was a special filly who took us to places we could only imagine.

“Ivan, who trained her so brilliantly, and the girls in the yard who looked after her all thought the world of her. She was a very straightforward filly who always wanted to please. A very nice person.

Big win for @ivanfurtado21! Just Beautiful shows serious guts and determination to land the Group 3 Sceptre Fillies’ Stakes under @SilvDSousa at @DoncasterRaces pic.twitter.com/TnyJkPunu4
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) September 8, 2021

"The best I've ever trained"
Great scenes of celebration as Just Beautiful provides @ivanfurtado21 with a huge Group Three success in the Sceptre Fillies’ Stakes @DoncasterRaces pic.twitter.com/5oUOx9Kz47
— Sky Sports Racing (@SkySportsRacing) September 8, 2021

“She has now joined Paddy Twomey in Ireland and we all wish them the very best of luck next year. No one would be happier than us to see her win them a Group 1,” he adds.

Furtado revealed that White and The Giggle Factor, headed by his business partner Nigel Sennett, had turned down “substantial” offers for the filly who began showing signs that she was much better than average late last summer.

“We turned her into the paddock for six weeks during lockdown and it was the making of her,” he says. “We knew we had something special even before she won on debut and ending the season by winning my first Group race with her at my local track was unforgettable.”

Just Beautiful, whose half-brother Fearless King gave her pedigree a boost by winning the German 2,000 Guineas last year, prepared for her racing career with an away day on the Newmarket gallops upsides George Boughey’s Mystery Angel.

Remarkably, she also turned out to be a Pattern-class winner, taking the Listed Pretty Polly Stakes at Newmarket after finishing second in the Cazoo Oaks back in June.

Unsurprisingly, she was also in demand at this week’s Mares’ sale, helping owners Nick Bradley Racing realise almost 2 million gns from the sale of three cheaply bought fillies.

Mystery Angel, who was snapped up at the Craven Breeze-ups for just 22,000 gns as a two-year-old, was sold to Haruya Yoshida for 500,000 gns to join the broodmare roster at Oiwake Farm in Japan.

Bradley also sold 22,000 euros yearling Dandalla – winner of the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot – to Japanese’s owners for 750,000 gns and £20,000 Goffs Premier purchase Fev Rover, who won a Group 2 in France after finishing third in the Quipco 1,000 Guineas, will continue her career in The States after being knocked down to Lincoln Collins for 695,000 gns.

“I’d like to think the success we’ve had this year isn’t just down to luck,” adds Bradley. “We’ve sold three fillies that cost an average of 20,000 gns for almost 2 million gns. I’ve studied, worked hard and learned and every year I get better.”