Football super-agent Kia Joorabchian splashes £11MILLION in extraordinary 10-horse recruitment drive at Tattersalls – including three offspring of legendary Frankel

Amo Racing, the racing business of leading football agent Kia Joorabchian, has made a remarkable statement of intent with an £11.5m recruitment drive at Tattersalls.

The October Yearling Sale Book 1 sells the best bred young horses in the world every year and Joorabchain, who was joined by Nottingham Forest chairman Evangelos Marinakis at the historic venue, left no one in doubt of his ambition to become a major player . in the bloodstock industry.

Joorabchian’s biggest purchase was 4.4 million guineas for lot 68 – a daughter of super sire Frankel, whose dam was a winner at Royal Ascot called Aljazzi. He defeated Japanese trainer Mitsu Nakauchida and left the auction room gasping for breath as auctioneer John O’Kelly continued to invite bids.

It was the second largest sale of individual yearlings in Tattersalls history, falling just short of the 5 million guineas spent in 2013 on a sister of Epsom Oaks winner Was. If that wasn’t dramatic enough, Joorabchain then issued another 2.6 million. gns on plot 72.

This was another daughter of Frankel; a sister of Alpinista, the winner of the 2022 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, which had already attracted so much interest before the start of sales. Alpinista was trained by Sir Mark Prescott and he will have the privilege of looking after her sibling’s career.

His company’s releases include three offspring of the undefeated legendary horse Frankel

Sir Mark has done a fantastic job putting this family together,” Joorabchian said. ‘We never hesitated when he said he wanted to train her. There is no one better to train this filly than the man who has created so many wonderful moments for this (horse) family for over 30 years.’

On a tense day, when a whopping £42,680,000 was spent on pure promises, Joorabchian bought ten horses on his own and a further three in partnership with Qatar’s Al Shaqab Racing; his investment amounted to more than 12 million gns, which was equivalent to 28 percent of daily trading.

In addition to the two fillies, Joorabchian also paid 1.1 million gns for a son of Frankel who is related to a string of outstanding performers. There is no indication yet where he will be sent to start his career in 2025.

There were challenges for Joorabchian this summer, with his top performing King Of Steel suffering an injury that ruled him out of a number of high-profile races, but his love for racing in the UK is unquestioned and this investment illustrated his quest for success.

“We need fillies with a strong pedigree,” Joorabchian said. ‘We are going to cover many horses in the coming year. Bucanero Fuerte goes to stud, I don’t know this year or next year, and King of Steel goes to stud, I don’t know yet this year or next year. We will have to make a decision soon.

‘We have Persian Force to cover us and we just have to support them, otherwise we will just be left behind. We will have to change a little bit the kind of investments we have made in recent years and we have to support our stallions to have a chance of winning.

Joorabchian has represented some of football’s biggest names, including Philippe Coutinho

“It’s very difficult to buy those mares because Juddmonte, Coolmore, Shadwell, all the big guys, own all the big mares. We went after fillies with strong pedigrees. It is very difficult to buy them after they have won a Group One. You have to get them early and we hope they will do well.”

In total, Joorabchain bought 10 horses on a day when extraordinary amounts were invested. Sheikh Mohammed, whose public appearances are becoming increasingly rare, was on the scene and approved the purchase of a colt for 2.2 million guineas, whose sire is one of the best stallions in the world, No Nay Never.