Michael Dods bids fond farewell to Mabs Cross at Tattersalls – but top-class mare goes unsold
SPRINT King Michael Dods bid a fond farewell to Mabs Cross at the sales on Tuesday. But the Group 1-winning mare will return to her owners’ stud after failing to spark a bidding war at Tattersalls. The five-year-old was the star attraction on day 2 of the December Mare Sale, and but bidding surprisingly ground […]
SPRINT King Michael Dods bid a fond farewell to Mabs Cross at the sales on Tuesday.
But the Group 1-winning mare will return to her owners’ stud after failing to spark a bidding war at Tattersalls.
The five-year-old was the star attraction on day 2 of the December Mare Sale, and but bidding surprisingly ground to a halt at 1.1m guineas.
It transpired that owners David and Emma Armstrong were behind that bid, and with the bloodstock big guns in attendance failing to get involved as expected, she will now head home to their Lancashire base.
However, her time in the north east with Durham-based Dods has come to an end.
He told Sun Racing: “With the fillies and their breeding potential, the day is always going to come when they go home to their owners’ studs or they go off to the sales.
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“They don’t go on forever these horses. The important thing for us is that they have a good career at stud and are well looked after, that is more important than anything.
“The owners had expectations about price which wasn’t met in the ring, so she will head home, and she will certainly be very well looked after.”
Dods, who has also enjoyed success with the likes of Mecca’s Angel and Dakota Gold in recent years, has plenty of highlights to look back on.
Mabs Cross scooped the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye in October 2018 – but the high of that victory came hot on the heels of an agonising second to Alpha Delphini in the Nunthorpe.
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He said: “It took almost 20 minutes for them to split them in the photo finish. I’ve never known a photograph take as long.
“If you keep blowing it up and blowing it up, I’m sure it would have distorted the photograph. But she went and set the record straight on her next start in the Abbaye.
“You don’t get many chances in Group 1s, and when we got beat in the Nunthorpe it was going through my head, was that our chance, was that our day.
“But how she bounced back on her next run, to go and win in France so impressively, it was a real testament to her.”
Dods’ only regret with Mabs Cross was not tackling top company over 6f.
He continued: “It was difficult last season because we wanted to try her over 6f, but the way the race program fell for her we couldn’t pass up any of the big 5f races.
“My one wish is that we’d run her in the Sprint Cup at Haydock, I think it would have been perfect for her.
“But she has been a great horse to train and she has been a pleasure to be around.”
He also reserved special praise for her owner-breeders, who have quickly established themselves as highly-respected players in the fiercely competitive bloodstock world.
Dods said: “The Armstrong’s perhaps don’t get the credit they deserve, they run a real professional operation with some lovely broodmares and they deserve all the success that they get.
“It’s not a big operation, but they’ve bred Mayson, Garswood, Ribchester and this filly, to have so many good horses in such a short space of time shows how well they’re doing.
“It would be lovely to train one of her babies, it would obviously depends who buys them at the sales.
“But the Armstrong’s have still got some of her relatives coming through, so there is always something to look forward to in this sport.”