THE Tattersalls December Yearling Sale honour roll is particularly impressive given that it is a one-day sale, which generally offers horses who missed their first intended sales date.

Some vendors are rewarded for their patience, but not consignor Jamie Railton nor breeder Laundry Cottage Stud Farm, who received 5,000gns from Stephen Hillen for their Fastnet Rock filly in 2019. Hillen’s punty purchase rewarded him with wins at Group 3, Group 2 and Group 1 level, along with three placings at the highest level.

That star mare Via Sistina was then reoffered by Grove Stud at the venue’s December Mares’ Sale, when Zhang Yuesheng’s team revalued her at 2.7 million guineas.

What is she now worth with five more Group 1 victories to her name? I doubt we’ll ever see her again at public auction, and the same goes for last year’s December Yearling Sale cover boy Vandeek.

He was bought by Roderick Kavanagh’s Glending Stables for 42,000gns and, after a blistering breeze up the Rowley Mile, sold for a sales-topping 625,000gns at the Craven Breeze-Up Sale.

Kavanagh and business partner Cormac O’Flynn proved lightning can strike twice, when reinvesting 125,000gns of their earnings in a Galileo colt at last year’s December Yearling Sale, the May-born bay later topping the same breeze-up sale at a cool million.

Show us your money

He was one of 13 yearlings to fetch six-figure sums at the 2023 December Yearling Sale, when trade was topped by Lynn Lodge Stud’s Pinatubo colt at 200,000gns.

The most memorable aspect of the sale was the unorthodox bidding by Clive Washbourn - who provided said bid by standing from his seat and yelling: “Two hundred! Show us your money!” David Menuisier’s charge is unraced as of yet, but has been amusingly named Show Us Your Money.

Speaking of which, last year’s edition returned a record average price of 37,616gns, though the median fell to 20,000gns. 79% of the 162 lots offered sold.

Some 198 lots have been catalogued for Monday’s sale, which gets underway at 10am. Leading sires are well-represented, from Blue Point and Dark Angel, to Sea The Stars and Wootton Bassett.

Over a third of those catalogued are siblings of stakes winners, 11 of them siblings of Group 1 winners, while 32 lots are out of stakes winners.

Potential highlights

  • Lot 46: Sea The Stars colt out of a Group 3 winner. Cost 100,000gns as a foal
  • Lot 47: Half-brother to dual Group 1-winning sprinter Limato, from the first crop of St Mark’s Basilica
  • Lot 59: Lope De Vega colt out of a full-sister to Nunthorpe Stakes heroine Margot Did
  • Lot 63: Dark Angel half-sister to Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere victor Camille Pissarro and closely related to fellow Group 1 winner Golden Horde, himself a grandson of Dark Angel
  • Lot 68: Filly from the first crop of Palace Pier is a sister to Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup victor Regional and Group 1 runner-up Franz Strauss. She cost 105,000gns as a foal
  • Lot 102: Nathaniel half-brother to Irish Champion Stakes hero Economics, out of a dual Group 2 winner. He was bought by Midland Equine for just 19,000gns as a foal
  • Lot 122: Siyouni half-brother to two group performers, out of Kirsten Rausing’s homebred Group 1 winner Madame Chiang
  • Lot 137: Dark Angel colt is a full-brother to Mutasarref, winner of two group races and four listed races
  • Lot 145: Mehmas filly is a full-sister to Group 3 scorer Taj Dragon, out of a half-sister to Space Blues
  • Lot 146: From the first crop of Victor Ludorum (Shamardal), this May-born filly is a sister to dual Group 1 winner Pakistan Star (Shamardal)
  • Lot 158: Kingman colt out of the Group 1-winning Dark Angel mare Persuasive
  • Lot 175: Pinatubo half-brother to Group 2 winner Flight Plan.
  • Lot 179: Saxon Warrior (Deep Impact) colt is a brother to Group 1 winner and sire Study Of Man (Deep Impact), out of a half-sister to Kingmambo and East Of The Moon
  • Lot 185: Speightstown colt out of a Wootton Bassett half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner Dubai Honour