CATALOGUED at Lot 1784 in the Sceptre Sessions of the Tattersalls December Sale, the Karl Burke-trained four-year-old Poptronic (Nathaniel) added to her potential sale price when she won the Group 1 British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot.

Prior to the weekend Poptronic had put together a smart record, both on the grass and on the all-weather, winning the Group 2 Lancashire Oaks on turf and the Group 3 Hoppings Stakes on the sand. She has now amassed some £460,000 in winnings for her owner-breeders, David and Yvonne Blunt, and this year the couple also enjoyed a minor race win with Poptronic’s three-year-old half-sister Beautron (Brazen Beau).

Having kept both of these fillies to race, the breeders are also offering Beautron at the December Sale, and this month they sold the third offspring of Alpine Dream (Dream Ahead), a yearling filly by New Bay (Dubawi), for 80,000gns to Stroud Coleman Bloodstock for KPF Racing. They have retained Alpine Dream’s filly foal by Zoustar (Northern Meteor), and the mare is in foal to Too Darn Hot (Dubawi).

Asked about their decision to sell Poptronic, David Blunt explained: “I’ve been owning [thoroughbreds] for about 15 years and breeding for around five years. We have three mares which are now in Newmarket with Dwayne Wood at his stud, Brook Farm.

“Poptronic is in the Tattersalls Sceptre Sale. She deserves a decent covering and we want to give her the best chance as a broodmare. If she doesn’t achieve what we think she’s worth, we’ll keep her and breed from her. It just seems a sensible thing to do.”

The Blunts bred and raced Alpine Dream, and she won three times for them. She was one of six winners out of the Group 2 Lowther Stakes winner Infamous Angel (Exceed And Excel) who sold at three for 270,000gns.

What a come down it was for Infamous Angel to be sold last December in an online sale for a mere 3,800gns, and last weekend her two-year-old daughter Royal Grey (Havana Grey) won the Listed Premio Eupili in Milan, her third success.

Mockery

That, in addition to being grandam of a Group 1 winner, makes a mockery of her sale price last year.

The foal she was carrying then, a filly by Aclaim (Acclamation), will be one of the early lots to sell at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale, from Byerley Stud. One for the notebook.

What a week it has been for Nathaniel (Galileo). The better of his two Group 1-winning sons, Desert Crown, died just days after Poptronic became his eighth winner at the highest level on the flat.

The Goodwood Cup winner Quickthorn is his other top level-winning son, while his exceptional daughters include Enable, Channel and Lady Bowthorpe.