GROUP 1 winner Teona, in foal to Frankel, became the third highest-priced mare ever to be sold at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale when realising 4,500,000gns. Tuesday’s trade saw 10 lots sell for a million guineas or more. Turnover for the session topped 48 million guineas, the third highest turnover for a day in European auction history.

Teona fell to the bid of Juddmonte Farms’ Simon Mockridge, while underbidders included Paul Shanahan and Anthony Stroud. Consigned by Barton Sales for Rabbah Bloodstock, the daughter of Sea The Stars won the Group 1 Prix Vermeille and finished third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf for trainer Roger Varian and owner Ali Saeed. Teona is out of Ambivalent, winner of the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes.

“She is the best mare in the sale. She is a Group 1 winner out of a Group 1 winner, and they are very difficult to find,” said Mockridge. “She is a beautiful addition for us. She is by Sea The Stars, who has made a fantastic start as a broodmare sire and has had five Group 1 winners. She is an outcross to Frankel, which is ideal and what we are looking for, and yes, she will be going back to Frankel.”

Dream result

Via Sistina provided a dream result for Stephen and Becky Hillen when selling for 2,700,000gns to an online bid from Evergreen Equine, faced with determined efforts of Oiwake Farm’s Masashi Yoshida and JS Company’s Keisuke Onishi. The five-year-old by Fastnet Rock was consigned by Grove Stud, having been purchased by Hillen for just 5,000gns at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale.

Via Sistina’s price uplift is due to victories in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes and Group 2 Dahlia Stakes, as well as her unlucky second on her most recent start in the Group 1 Champion Stakes as Ascot. She is out of an unraced Galileo half-sister to Kingsgate Native, winner of the Group 1 Golden Jubilee Stakes and Nunthorpe Stakes.

Hillen said: “It was amazing to watch! It has been tremendous from day one. It has been a dream! I thought that she’d bring 2,000,000gns plus; that cross is sensational. It is nice now to see her almost certainly be retired sound and go to stud. I was fine watching her sell. I thought that if we don’t get what we want for her, we can still race her, so it was a celebration either way.”

Get Ahead

One of the most exciting pedigrees in the catalogue was that of the four-year-old filly Get Ahead, a listed winner and Group 1 placed daughter of Showcasing who is a half-sister to the Group 1 2000 Guineas and Dewhurst Stakes winner Chaldean, as well as an own-sister to the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes winner Alkumait.

Consigned by her breeder Whitsbury Manor Stud, she was knocked down to William Haggas, signing as First Bloodstock, for 2,500,000gns after he saw off the determined efforts of Oliver St Lawrence. “She is for a new syndicate and goes to Hillwood Stud to board,” said Haggas. Charlie Vigors added: “It is very exciting to have such good mares as Primo Bacio and Get Ahead coming to the farm, and that these top pedigrees are staying in Britain.”

Owners Andrew Rosen and Marc Chan have enjoyed some great days with their Group 1 winning fillies Prosperous Voyage and Lezoo. Both were offered for sale and realised 2,400,000gns and 2,200,000gns respectively. Both were consigned from Ralph Beckett’s Kimpton Down Stables. The Group 1 Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes winner Prosperous Voyage, who was also a narrow second in the Group 1 1000 Guineas behind Cachet, heads to Japan after her purchase by Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farm. She is a daughter of Zoffany.

Online bid

The Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes winner Lezoo was purchased online by Emmanuel de Seroux’s Narvick International after he saw off two separate parties of Japanese buyers. The three-year-old filly is by champion Australian sire Zoustar. De Seroux indicated that she would remain in Europe.

Jamie McCalmont, racing manager to Marc Chan and Andrew Rosen, discussed the sale of the pair: “I am very fond of both of them; they are lovely girls and they have given us some great days out. It is an expensive hobby owning horses in Britain and unless you have stallion income coming in you have to do this.”

Last year’s Group 1 1000 Guineas winner Cachet was the first to be offered as a filly in training at auction since Ravinella in 1988, and there were three separate Japanese buying groups who tried to purchase her, with Oiwake Farm’s Masashi Yoshida and JS Company’s Keisuke Onishi both being usurped by Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farm team who secured her for 2,200,000gns.

Something special

“Cachet is a 1000 Guineas winner, we felt something special from her, and we are really excited that she is coming back to Japan,” said Shingo Hashimoto of Northern Farm. “She might be covered in Europe, plans are not final yet.” The daughter of Aclaim provided her Highclere Thoroughbred Racing with a day to remember with her 1000 Guineas victory for trainer George Boughey, having been purchased by Jake Warren for 60,000gns at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale.

“It has been such a journey, the whole thing has been extraordinary,” said Harry Herbert, manager of Highclere Thoroughbred Racing. “From Jake saying, ‘Uncle H, I’ve found this breeze up filly and I can’t wait to show you’, through to this whole process.”

From a Rogue to a racing star

PURCHASED for only 35,000gns at the Shadwell part dispersal in 2021, Rogue Millennium went on to annex the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes and run second in the Group 1 Matron Stakes for trainer Tom Clover.

This transformation resulted in her value soaring to 1,650,000gns and she was purchased by David Lanigan with Ted Durcan on behalf of the Heider Family Stables. Clover said: “She is the most wonderful filly and it is great to see her sell so well for a terrific syndicate.” The filly will race next year from Joseph O’Brien’s yard with the aim of winning a Group 1.

David and Yvonne Blunt bred and raced Poptronic, and she enhanced her sale prospects after the publication of the catalogue when she won the Group 1 British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes at Ascot for trainer Karl Burke. Sanctuary Lodge bid for her online and had the final say at 1,400,000gns.

Bobby Flay Thoroughbreds took ownership of the four-year-old Dubawi filly Final Gesture, saddled by Paddy Twomey to land the Listed Vintage Tipple Stakes at Gowran Park. A daughter of the Oaks runner-up Secret Gesture, and from the immediate family of Japan and Mogul, she realised 850,000gns.

Racemares with top-class form sold well all week, and another to do so was the William Haggas-trained Relief Rally. This year the juvenile daughter of Kodiac won the Group 2 Lowther Stakes and was runner-up at Royal Ascot in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes. She was knocked down for 800,000gns.

Another stakes-winning daughter of Kodiac, the Listed Surrey Stakes heroine Olivia Maralda, was sold by Baroda Stud to Woodford Thoroughbreds for 725,000gns.

The same buyers secured another daughter of the sire, the supplementary entry Pipsy, for 700,000gns from Kilcarn Park. The two-year-old won the Listed Legacy Stakes at Dundalk on her third start.

Attractive coverings added special interest

CARRYING her first foal by Frankel, the dual listed winner and group-placed Geocentric, a daughter of Kodiac and offered from The Castlebridge Consignment, was the most expensive purchase of the week made by Charlie Gordon-Watson. She cost the agent 1,200,000gns. The mare’s third dam is the exceptional Sonic Lady.

Also from the same vendor, and again carrying her first foal by Frankel, the stakes winner and pattern-placed Primo Bacio sold to Charlie Vigors for 1,100,000gns, and he outbid Charlie Gordon-Watson to secure the daughter of Awtaad. Vigors said: “She is a commercial purchase and an exciting addition to the broodmare band at Hillwood [Stud].”

Gordon-Watson was on the mark when he bought Vida Amorosa, the Lope De Vega dam of Group 2 July Stakes winner and Tally-Ho stallion Persian Force, for 700,000gns. The Lacy family sold her through Norelands Stud.

Due in mid-January to Kingman and carrying her first foal, the unraced Frankel mare Helenium cost Emmanuel de Seroux’s Narvick International 625,000gns. She is a half-sister to the Group 2 Coventry Stakes winner Calyx who has made an impressive start at stud with three pattern winners in his first crop.

The unraced Galileo mare Golden Pelican, in foal to Lope De Vega, sold to Pursuit Of Success for 600,000gns. Roger O’Callaghan, standing with Chris Budgett, signed the docket. Budgett said: “She is for an American client. Roger recommended her to the team after he saw her Kingman colt foal, who was bought last week by Juddmonte.”

A winning daughter of Lope De Vega, and out of a half-sister to the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Peintre Celebre, Peinture Secrete was sold in foal for the first time to Camelot. Ballyhimikin Stud consigned her and she cost Chantilly Bloodstock Agency 600,000gns.

Callisto Star tops on the opening day

THE four days of selling for mares and fillies opened on Monday with Callisto Star topping the trade at 675,000gns, and saw the top 10 lots sell to buyers from Australia, France, Japan and the USA.

The top lot, Callisto Star, is the dam of the Grade 1 American Oaks winner Rhea Moon, and she was knocked down to Grant and Tom Pritchard-Gordon of Badgers Bloodstock. Consigned by Ballybin Stud, the daughter of Fastnet Rock was sold in foal to Starspangledbanner, and therefore carrying a full-sibling to both Rhea Moon and There’s The Door, who was placed in the Listed Cheshire Oaks.

“She’s to stay here in Europe,” said Tom Pritchard-Gordon. “She’s a beautiful mare and has already produced a Grade 1 winner with her first foal. Fastnet Rock is as good a broodmare sire as there is, and her dam is by Galileo, so it’s all the bloodlines you want. She’s the whole package. I haven’t decided who she’ll be covered by next year but Starspangledbanner is an obvious target. Fastnet mares work with so many different bloodlines that she could go anywhere.”

Callisto Star was bred and owned by Kevin Molloy, who was at the sale. “We bred Mohican Princess, her grandmother,” he said. “Callisto Star was injured and so did not race. We always liked her as an individual; she has a lovely head, very compact and very strong. We wanted to get her a faster horse and so we used Starspangledbanner. Rhea Moon was amazing - last St Stephen’s night the whole family watched the American Oaks.

“It was a big decision to sell today, but we have a lot of the family. We still have the mother and she is in foal to Starspangledbanner, and we have a half-sister by Zoffany.”

Mauiewowie

The Night Of Thunder filly Mauiewowie heads to Japan after being purchased by Lake Villa Farm for 625,000gns. Trained by Ger Lyons and consigned by Norris Bloodstock, the filly caught the attention of Lanes End Farm’s Will Farish and Steve McCann of Kia Ora Stud, but Yoshihisa Iwasaki, manager for Lake Villa Farm, prevailed. The stud has a broodmare band of 50 and is based in Hokkaido.

“She is a strong mare; we love her conformation and we love her attitude,” said Iwasaki. “We have not made covering plans yet, but she will go to one of the very best stallions in Japan.”

Mauiewowie won the Listed Curragh Stakes at two and is out of a half-sister to the champion older horse Ghaiyyath, winner of nine races including the Group 1 Juddmonte International, Eclipse Stakes and the Coronation Cup, and to Zhukova, successful in the Grade 1 Man O’War Stakes. Jenny Norris said: “She came to me through Katie Walsh, who recommended us to owner Eleanora Kennedy who is in the US. It is great to have mares of that calibre, and to have mares in the Sceptre Session and for a small consignor.

“She had a lot of lookers, 87 shows on the first day, and every time she just came out and marched up and down. You never know what is going to happen in the ring, but it is always nice when they are in the Sceptre Session; you kind of think they are special.”

Lots to cheer about, in spite of headwinds

WHEN the final lot at the 2023 Tattersalls December Sale was hammered down, the sales company’s chairman Edmond Mahony looked back on the past two weeks, and also the end of the year’s trading.

He commented: “International demand is the feature of so many sales at Tattersalls, but few can match the global appeal of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale, which annually draws buyers from every continent, united in a quest to acquire some of the finest bloodstock to be found anywhere in the world.

“In only their second year, the two showcase Sceptre Sessions again produced some spectacular theatre played out in front of a packed sale ring, with the highlight being the outstanding Group 1 winning sale-topper Teona who became the third highest-priced broodmare ever at the December Sale when selling for 4,500,000gns to Juddmonte Farms.

“The supporting cast of British-trained Group 1 winning fillies, Cachet, Lezoo, Poptronic, Prosperous Voyage and Via Sistina also provided memorable sales for their connections, averaging almost two million guineas apiece, and adding to a day which produced turnover exceeded only twice in Tattersalls’ history.

High demand

“Elite fillies and mares have been in high demand throughout the sale with an unprecedented six selling for more than two million guineas, and 29 breaking the 500,000gns mark, which is a number bettered only at last year’s extraordinary record-breaking sale. American, Australian and Chinese buyers have all made a huge contribution at the top end of the market, as have the impressive number of Japanese buyers who continue to prioritise the Tattersalls December Mares Sale above all other European breeding stock sales.

“As ever, they have all faced strong competition from British, Irish and French breeders who form the backbone of the December Sale, and there has been notable participation from throughout Europe as well as strong contingents of Indian and Turkish buyers, who between them have bought more than 60 fillies and mares.

Less commercial

“While we can reflect on a combined December Sale turnover of more than 100 million guineas for the second consecutive year, and sustained demand for quality stock, we must recognise that the appetite for less commercial mares and fillies has dwindled dramatically. The international bloodstock market is not immune from global economic pressures and certain sectors are facing a headwind, but we will continue, in association with our extensive network of overseas representatives, to explore every avenue to encourage as wide a participation as possible.

“In the meantime, we extend our sincere thanks to each and every individual who has contributed to a year which has seen our annual turnover exceed 350 million guineas for only the second time. Figures of this magnitude are a tribute to all involved, and to the consistent support from so many British, Irish and European breeders which all of us at Tattersalls are very proud to receive.”