Lordships Graffalo made his five-star at Badminton this spring, finishing second. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
The team at The Sovereign Auction house successfully sold an embryo which is full sibling to Team GBR’s Lordships Graffalo (Grafenstolz x Cornish Queen) ridden by Ros Canter in their Supreme Sale on Friday 28 October. The embryo was part of an exclusive collection of just 10 lots all with either CCI5* eventing or 1.60m jumping genetics, and in selling this embryo the Sovereign Auction also became history-makers for being the first auction house in the UK or Ireland ever to sell an eventing embryo to the USA.
The embryo was sold after a fierce round of bidding between two buyers in the UK and a third one from the USA. Such was the competitive demand for the embryo that the auction clock over-ran and continued on into what is known as the bid-up process to allow extra time for bidders to conclude their final few bids. The embryo was ultimately sold to the buyer in the USA for an eventual hammer price of £21,500.
The embryo’s breeder and now former owner is Pennie Wallace, who also bred the CCI5* mare Pencos Crown Jewel, 11th at Burghley this year with Ros Canter and the maternal sister to Lordships Graffalo. Pennie commented on her engagement with the team at The Sovereign Auction who hosted the Supreme Sale: “You have provided a new and very much needed fresh approach for breeders in the UK to market the top quality foals and embryos that we produce. A huge step forwards for British breeders.”
Georgie Belton, Auction Director at The Sovereign Auction, says: “I cannot thank Pennie above all else for her investment in trust in The Sovereign Team and for allowing what we believe will be the first of many similar such as this in the future.
“Pennie can also take a huge degree of pride in the fact that her embryo was sold to an established breeder in the USA. This is a huge credit to Pennie and represents the much welcomed appreciation of the of world’s best eventing bloodlines at CCI5* on the world stage.
“I would personally like to thank Pennie for selecting The Sovereign Auction Team as her partner for this record-breaking sale price of an international eventing embryo and for allowing us to leverage our significant investment in technology and marketing platforms, which ultimately resulted in her embryo being purchased by one of the world’s wealthiest nations as buyers of sports horses – the USA.
“The Sovereign Team’s skills are unique in the global sports horse sales and marketing arena given our investment in data and technology, and we cannot thank Dr Geoffrey Guy and his team at Chedington Equestrian for their recent involvement with The Sovereign Auction.
“When we were first fortunate enough to speak to Pennie we gave her a guide price for her embryo, and we are thrilled for Pennie that the eventual winning bid was just £500 out on this figure….and thankfully £500 more! Lordships Graffalo’s CCI5* debut this spring was simply breathtaking and I felt very fortunate to witness this in person at Badminton this year. Based upon the performance metrics and breeding data that we have compiled on Lordships Graffalo, we believe that he is one of the most exciting International Eventing Championship horses in modern times.”
By selling embryos now for more than foals on the global market British breeders can now monetise their investments in sports horse breeding far earlier in the breeding cycle, which then allows them to re-invest more quickly in both the very best equine reproductive techniques and coverings from the best sires around the world.
It is fitting in writing this that the current Olympic Team Eventing Gold medal holders are Team GBR and now “Team GBR” have also become history makers in the production and sales of International Eventing embryos in global auction markets.
