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STRONG demand for the Shadwell Estates consignments has been a feature at sales this autumn and sales and their draft at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale on Wednesday proved no exception, providing six of the top 10 lots of the third session.
The highest of those was the Dubawi mare Nawassi, who was purchased by Yeomanstown Stud for 120,000gns.
Yeomanstown’s Robert O’Callaghan revealed plans for the mare: "I think she will go to Supremacy. Her Dark Angel was very good so it will be bred on the same lines, we’re trying to buy some nice fast mares for Supremacy and we’ve bought seven mares now.
"She’s a very good-looking Dubawi, from a very good family as a daughter of a Queen Mary winner – that was a big draw. Her foal who sold here the other day was a beauty and Philip Stauffenberg bought him, it makes it a lot easier to buy these mares when you can see what they’re producing. She was the one today that we wanted to buy and we’re very glad to get her."
Nawassi is carrying to Shadwell’s exciting young Group 1 Commonwealth Cup winner Eqtidaar and produced a filly by Exceed And Excel in 2020 and a colt by Dark Angel this spring.
Top lot
Topping the session was the Godolphin-consigned filly Bespangled, the headline act at 330,000gns, bringing the total number of fillies and mares to make 100,000gns or more to a record level and turnover to over 61 million guineas.
Bespangled was the subject of a flurry of bids from around the sale ring before John Davis and agent Billy Jackson-Stops settled into a protracted bidding duel with the latter, bidding from the stairwell, emerging triumphant with a successful bid of 330,000gns.
Jackson-Stops was acting on behalf of Elwick Stud and commented: "The team at Elwick Stud was very keen on her, she was an obvious standout in this session. They have had a lot of good horses along the way, they are revamping the stock and this is one for them.
"She is a very good individual, she is by Dubawi and there are some nice horses coming along behind her. The pedigree stands out and she will go to the straight to the breeding shed."
Elwick Farm belongs to the Turnbull family and notable successes include the two Grade 1 wins of young stallion Mondialiste and two Group 1 wins by the perennially popular Lord Glitters, who won the Group 3 Bahrain International Trophy as an eight-year-old on his most recent start.
An unraced daughter of the listed winner Pure Diamond, Bespangled is a half-sister to the promising two-year-old Symbol Of Light, an impressive winner of two of his three starts for Charlie Appleby earning an official rating of 91. Pure Diamond also has a yearling filly by Frankel and foaled a colt by Kingman this year.
Shamardal filly
The regally-bred mare Ragsah was another Godolphin consigned lot to find favour with buyers, with Hazelwood Bloodstock’s Adrien O’Brien seeing off the attentions of persistent underbidder Billy Jackson-Stops to secure the daughter of Shamardal for 130,000gns.
Ragsah boasts as exceptional page as a half-sister to the dual Champion and four-time Group 1 winner Dubai Millennium. The pair are out of the Group 2 winner and dual Group 1 placed Colorado Dancer, a daughter of the exceptional broodmare Fall Aspen who is the dam of four Group/Grade 1 winners, two further Group 2 winners and a Group 3 winner.
Recent representatives of the family in Europe include the Group 2 Lowther Stakes winner Threading and the Derby runner-up Dee Ex Bee.
A delighted Adrien O’Brien said: "She has been bought for an existing client, one of our greatest supporters. We are delighted to get a mare with that profile. She has not got a blemish-free breeding record, but she is a sister to an iconic horse."
He added: "It is brilliant, it bolsters the team at home fantastically well. We will take her home, regroup and make a plan. We have absolutely nothing in mind as yet."
Ragsah herself was runner-up in the Group 3 Firth of Clyde Stakes and fourth in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes and is the dam of the Grade 2 placed Richmond Avenue.
The sale concludes on Thursday.
DAY THREE STATISTICS
Current Year Previous Year Change %
Catalogued 318 286 +11%
Withdrawn 58 58 0%
Offered 260 228 +14%
Unsold 33 28 +18%
Sold 227 200 +14%
Total 4,374,000gns 5,312,500gns -18%
Median 11,000gns 14,000gns -21%
Average 19,269gns 26,562gns -27%
% sold 87% 88% -1%
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