- Prominent football agent has his sights set on finally winning the Epsom Derby
- Joorabchian drew gasps after completing £4.5m purchase for the yearling colt
- In total, Amo Racing bought 17 lots of their own, plus more in partnerships
Kia Joorabchian’s extraordinary week at Tattersalls ended in record-breaking fashion as he paid £4.5million for the most expensive yearling colt sold at a public auction.
Under the banner of Amo Racing, Joorabchian, the prominent football agent, and Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis have gone head-to-head with the most established bloodstock operations and left nobody in doubt about their ambition to become major players in the field.
Tattersalls, the famous auction house in Newmarket, stages the Book 1 sale each October — when the best-bred yearlings come under the hammer — and Joorabchian’s 4.3million guineas (£4.5m) investment for a son of leading sire Wootton Bassett drew gasps from the assembled crowd, as he outpointed MV Magnier, who was representing industry leaders Coolmore.
Aware of who he was selling to, auctioneer Alastair Pim — echoing a famous commentary from 1966 —said as he brought down the gavel with a thud: ‘They don’t make them like this too often, this is a chance of lifetime… they think it’s all over — it is now!’
Joorabchian celebrated with a little punch of his fist and the dream will be that the little colt will be the one to realise his ambitions of winning the Epsom Derby, having finished second twice with Mojo Star (2021) and King Of Steel (2023). If good enough, he will run at Epsom in June 2026.
The prominent football agent Kia Joorabchian paid £4.5million for the most expensive yearling colt sold at a public auction
King Of Steel, ridden by jockey Frankie Dettori (right), was one of two Joorabchian horses to finish second in the Epsom Derby
In total over the three days, Amo Racing bought 17 lots of their own, plus some more in partnerships, including with Qatar’s Al Shaqab Racing.
The total outlay was a staggering £23.5m and featured a £4.6m filly, whose father is the great Frankel, on Tuesday.
‘Who enjoys spending that kind of money?’ said Joorabchian. ‘But you have to do it. We’re trying to buy the best stock, that’s all we’re trying to do. We can’t compete unless we’re trying to get the best stock. How do you compete otherwise? It’s very hard.
‘We’ve been trying for the last few years but outwitting these people is very hard. This colt and the Frankel fillies were our main targets.’
