THERE were mixed results, as always, for pinhookers, but a number of success stories this week were among the best-priced lots of the sale.

Barton Stud’s Sea The Stars colt was the only yearling this week by the sire, and he was purchased for 75,000gns as a foal. Helped by the fact that his three-year-old Roaring Lion half-brother Mohatu won twice this year, he caught the eye of trainer Richard Hughes, and cost him £160,000. Hughes said: “You don’t get many yearlings by the sire at this sale, and for this one to be out of a Frankel mare was an even bigger bonus.”

Minutes earlier, Barton Stud sold a son of New Bay, the first produce of a stakes-placed Intello mare, for £150,000. Richard Ryan, who knows a thing or two about the stallion, signed for the colt.

Tally Ho Stud brought 27 of the 28 yearlings they had catalogued to Doncaster, and sold every one of them. They grossed £1,552,000. Four of the lots sold for six-figure sums, and their best of the week was one of the last lots through the ring on Wednesday. A colt by Twilight Son and the stakes-placed Invincible Spirit mare Ice Gala, James Tate secured this racy type for £160,000, a healthy return on the 68,000gns he cost as a foal last December.

An athlete

Highflyer Bloodstock’s Anthony Bromley bought one of Tally Ho’s homebreds on Tuesday when he signed for a Mehmas half-brother to the listed-winning two-year-old Justifier for £145,000 on behalf of owner Phil Cunningham and trainer Richard Spencer. The agent said: “I just like buying an athlete, whether it’s over five furlongs or three miles. I’m especially keen on trying to win the Harry’s Half Million next year. It’s a great incentive.”

Havana Grey’s success as a stallion has been well documented and the best of his offerings this week was a colt out of a winning half-sister to the dam of this year’s sensational sprint star Shaquille. Bought for €52,000 at Goffs last November, his value soared to £150,000 on this occasion and he was another of the star lots bought by Oliver St Lawrence.

The agent also signed for another of the week’s best pinhooks, Mark Dwyer’s Oaks Farm Stables getting £120,000 for a Footstepsinthesand half-brother to three winners, out of a winning half-sister to Kodi Bear. The colt cost Dwyer 40,000gns last year.