LAST year’s track results highlighted the value that can be found at the Tattersalls February Sale, with the dams of Los Angeles, Facteur Cheval and Metropolitan sourced at previous editions of the sale for a grand total of 66,800gns.

The two-day sale returns next Thursday and Friday (January 30th-31st), with bidding getting underway following the Tattersalls Stallion Parade and the inaugural Retraining of Racehorses Showcase at 11am.

While all three of the above have proven excellent value, Stuart McPhee’s sourcing of Alianza from the Darley draft for just 800gns looks simply inspired. The Halling mare’s half-sister gained blacktype two years later, but it was Alianza’s fourth produce, French 2000 Guineas hero Metropolitan, who really boosted her value. One of her most recent matings was Romanised at €7,000, and the resulting colt sold for €150,000 last October.

Frequential, the dam of Los Angeles, also hailed from the Godolphin draft, bought by BBA Ireland for 48,000gns. The daughter of Dansili made a perfect start for Lynch Bages Ltd and Longfield Stud, by producing the listed and group-placed Hector De Maris, and all three of her runners are stakes performers.

Desirable drafts

McCracken Farms benefited from another major owner/breeder in Shadwell when purchasing the unraced Shamardal mare Jawlaat for 18,000gns. Three years later, her half-sister Tantheem had won three Group 3 sprints, while their half-brother Monumental was twice group-placed last season for Ballydoyle.

Like Alianza, it is Jawlaat’s own foals who have made the biggest difference to her value, namely her third foal, Facteur Cheval. Last year’s Dubai Turf victor sold as a foal for 145,000gns, while her latest produce, a filly by Wootton Bassett, fetched 410,000gns at the 2024 foal sales.

Shadwell consigned last year’s top lot Taqaareed, an own-sister to Taghrooda sold to Jill Lamb and Childwicksbury Stud for 200,000gns. They are absent from the consignors’ list at next week’s sale, but Godolphin are well-represented with 42 lots.

Of the fillies and mares in their draft, possible highlights include daughters of Group 1 winners Lady Marian (Lot 134) and Wuheida (Lot 135), and sisters of top sprinter Naval Crown (Lot 127) and French 1000 Guineas heroine Castle Lady (Lot 130). Lot 133 is the listed-placed Valdivara, a four-year-old by Blue Point, out of an own-sister to Territories.

Bluestocking relatives

Tom Blaine’s Barton Sales consign one of the most eye-catching lots in the catalogue, the Kingman mare Desirous (Lot 164). She is expected to cost upwards of 220,000gns, the price Faisal Bin Mishref al Qahtani paid for her at the venue’s December Mares Sale in 2020. Since then, her already attractive pedigree has improved considerably, thanks to the exploits of her half-sister Bluestocking

Desirous herself has made a promising start at stud, her Frankel filly selling for 425,000gns and, subsequently named Sand Gazelle, made a smart debut for John and Thady Gosden last month. Her Camelot colt fetched 340,000gns at the 2024 yearling sales, while her Saxon Warrior colt is catalogued as Lot 78 next week.

Barton Sales are also set to offer Divisimo (Lot 63), an own-sister to Bluestocking’s Group 1-winning dam, along with another two stakes winners. Her best performer to date is the 98-rated Alfaadhel and she has a full-brother to him in training, while their own-sister realised 475,000gns at the 2024 foal sales.

The blacktype Galileo mare Façade (Lot 18), in foal to Study Of Man, appears a standout in Far Westfield Farm’s 21-strong consignment. Another commercial prospect is Fresh Air from The National Stud, a few months after her Hello Youmzain colt sold to SackvilleDonald for €135,000. The Montjeu mare is out of a blacktype own-sister to Xaar, and her half-sisters have produced top-flight winners Close Hatches and Siskin.

Highly-rated highlights

Colts and geldings in and out of training accounted for seven of the top 10 prices at the sale’s 2023 renewal, those prices ranging from 50,000gns to 125,000gns, and account for just under half of the 331 lots catalogued next week.

Galashiels (Lot 124) boasts the highest Timeform rating in the catalogue at 104. Trained by André Fabre for Godolphin, the six-year-old Australia gelding finished second at listed level on his last two starts, his latest win coming in a listed race over a mile and a half at Longchamp last April.

The same connections are responsible for dual winner Guet Apens (Lot 125), who ran just twice last year, but comes with a Timeform rating of 100. The Charlie Johnston-trained Society Man holds the same rating, and an official rating of 91, following his promising second last time out - his first start since May.

Moving Force is the highest-rated of the three-year-olds catalogued, his mark of 91 earned by his eighth in the Norfolk Stakes and sixth (of seven) in the Prix Robert Papin. Richard Fahey’s charge has been gelded since his last run.

The same applies to Karl Burke’s well-bred four-year-old First Ambition (Lot 261), who made a winning, if belated, debut earlier this month. The Invincible Spirit gelding is the first foal out of multiple Group 1 winner Laurens.

Buyers will be encouraged by success stories as recent as early-January, when Uncle landed the valuable King Faisal Cup at Riyadh. The son of Harry Angel was sold by Richard Hannon to current owner Sheikj Abdullah Almalek Alsabah for 58,000gns two years ago.

A year earlier, Hurworth Bloodstock purchased Missed The Cut from Shadwell via Barton Sales. Sent to George Boughey, the 40,000gns buy went on to win at Royal Ascot, before returning to his native USA, where he has won three Grade 3 races.

Nine two-year-olds and 18 yearlings complete the upcoming catalogue of 331 lots, the smallest catalogue in 10 years. Of last year’s 379 lots, 273 went through the ring, 73% of which found a buyer. The average price rose slightly year-on-year to 14,315gns, while the median posted a marginal gain at 7,250gns.