WITH 41 lots bringing 250,000gns or more at this week’s Tattersalls December Mare Sale compared to 67 last year, it was inevitable that the final figures would record declines. As last year, the single six-figure mare was purchased by Coolmore, but the most startling gap was seen at the top of the market, with just seven transactions at 500,000 guineas or more, 20 less than 2019.
This was acknowledged by Edmond Mahony on Thursday. He said: “In addition to the obvious issues, we were conscious that this year’s December Mare catalogue lacked a little of the depth of recent renewals, but nevertheless quality consignments from Britain, Ireland and France have attracted buyers from throughout the world who have been active at all levels of the market, as ever demonstrating the enduring appetite for quality European bloodstock.”
He added: “Encouragement can also be taken from the consistent global participation, with buyers from America, France, Japan, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE all featuring amongst the leading buyers, alongside new and established British and Irish investors.
“Buyers from throughout Europe, the Gulf region, Australasia, India, Kazakhstan, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan and Turkey have also been active, and a particular feature of the sale has been the prolific use of the live internet bidding facility which has allowed so many buyers unable to attend in the usual manner to participate successfully. More than half of the lots offered this week have attracted internet bids and it has been notable that the online action has been at every level of the market, including the very top end.”
Thanking the many who have made the staging of sales possible, and acknowledging the cooperation of Goffs and Arqana when it came to making changes to sales dates, Mahony concluded: “The world has been thrown into turmoil, but every single participant at our 2020 sales should be applauded for the manner in which they have accepted the demands presented by the global pandemic. Few will look back on the 2020 Tattersalls sales season with pleasure, but they can look back with pride and our thanks go to each and every one who has contributed to a Tattersalls sales season of remarkable resilience.”
Top producer becomes a sale-topper
EXACTLY two decades ago John Warren went to the Tattersalls December Sale and invested 50,000gns in Miss D’Ouilly, a listed winner in France. Her price was just a fraction more than the average that year for mares at the sale.
The daughter of Bikala was then a 13-year-old and was carrying a filly by Night Shift, later to be named Night Frolic. Miss D’Ouilly was shared by Warren with Floors Stud. Night Frolic failed to sell as a yearling, was sent into training with John Hills and won at three. She returned to Highclere Stud and the Warrens and the late Duke of Roxburghe bred from her.
Among the five winners from Night Frolic were Bonfire and Joviality, both of whom were Group 2 winners and Group 1-placed. The partners retained Night Frolic’s Nayef daughter Beach Frolic and covered her at three. Her second foal, a filly by Invincible Spirit, sold to Shadwell for 650,000gns and won, and she was followed by a Kingman colt who realised 600,000gns.
Better was to come when the Kingman colt turned out to be Palace Pier, an outstanding miler in 2020 when he won both the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes and Prix Jacques Le Marois. Given his high profile, and a decision by Floors Stud to reduce their involvement in breeding and racing, Beach Frolic was sent to this week’s sale and proved to be the week’s outstanding offering.
Bidding opened at a million guineas, Julian Dollar from Newsells Park Stud perhaps dreaming of a successful ambush. There was no shortage of interested parties, Alex Elliott, Rob Speers and Japan’s Northern Farm among them, but it was a lone figure in the ring who was to have the final say, M.V. Magnier winning out when bidding reached 2,200,000gns. Beach Frolic is carrying a foal by Darley’s Blue Point, the four-time Group 1 winning sprinter who has just completed his first year at stud.
Magnier’s summation of Beach Frolic’s appeal included the observation: “She is a lovely mare and she has already bred an exceptional racehorse. She is a special mare; they don’t come up very often.” Magnier indicated that Galileo is likely to be her next mate.
Highclere’s Lady Carolyn Warren added: “I am not normally emotional, but she was such an amazing mare and it has been such a story and long journey. The family has given us so much pleasure; we just hope for Coolmore and the team that she will do it for them.”
Well-performed fillies in demand
TWO stakes-winning four-year-old fillies, daughters of Irish-based sires Dark Angel and Kuroshio, sold for 900,000gns and will now head to stud for breeders based in Ireland and Britain.
First to the mark was the Paddy Twomey-trained Sonaiyla and she fell to Fiona Craig, Moyglare Stud’s breeding advisor. The price paid was double what the Kildare farm received an hour before after the sale of Mia Maria, a Dansili mare in foal to Lope De Vega, to Brian Grassick Bloodstock.
A listed race at Cork was among the four wins for Sonaiyla and her placed efforts included finishing third in the Group 1 Flying Five Stakes. Her first three victories were achieved in the care of Michael Halford and last November she was sold at the Goffs November Sale for €110,000. Twomey said: “She is a nice filly; we enjoyed racing her. Ennistown Stud bought her last year at Goffs. Ruairi O’Coileain was my first owner. There was never a temptation to keep her – I am a trader; once a trader, always a trader!”
Charlie Vigors of Hillwood Stud was thrilled to get the Group 3 winner Kurious, a daughter of Compas Stallions Kuroshio, for 900,000gns on behalf of his clients. The four-year-old is a half-sister to a pair of Group 1 winners, Tangerine Trees (by Mind Games) winning the Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp, while Alpha Delphini (Captain Gerrard) captured the Nunthorpe Stakes.
Vigors said: “We are delighted to get her; she is a Group 3 and listed winner out of a fantastic mare. When you take into account the stallions that Easy To Copy has been to, like for like, she has to be one of the best producers of recent times. We are delighted to get her daughter and surprised that we have – we had to stretch a bit!”
Yoshida stocks up with quality
LEADING Japanese breeder Katsumi Yoshida spent 1,600,000gns on five lots, three of which were among the 15 that brought 400,000gns or more during the week.
Elysea’s World is a daughter of Champs Elysees and won seven times, the vast majority of her wins coming in the USA where she was successful four times at Grade 3 level. She also ran third in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita. Carrying her first foal by No Nay Never, she cost 450,000gns.
The five-year-old Bated Breath mare Breathtaking Look has brought great pleasure to owner Ralph Parry and trainer Stuart Williams. Bought as a yearling for 42,000gns, she earned almost £125,000 and won Group 3 races in England and France, running second too in the Group 2 Hungerford Stakes. She heads to Northern Farm after her sale for 400,000gns.
Earlier in the sale Yoshida paid 400,000gns for the best mare offered from the magnificent Juddmonte Farms draft. She was Calming Effect, an unraced daughter of War Front and the four-time Grade 1 winning Empire Maker mare Emollient. She had the added attraction of being in foal, for the first time, to Frankel.
Northern Farm paid 260,000gns for Nathanial’s Group 3 winner Tamniah, and 90,000gns for the unraced three-year-old Dark Angel filly Lady Angela, a sibling to Acclamation’s dual Group 1 winner Marsha who sold in the same ring for 6,000,000gns.
Twomey busy on both fronts
CO Tipperary-based trainer Paddy Twomey was in the thick of the action this week, selling and restocking. He sold one of the top three lots of the week, stakes winner and Group 1-placed Sonaiyla, for 900,000gns, and the Kodiac four-year-old Silk Forest, winner of the Listed Garnet stakes at Naas and Group 2-placed, to Mandore Agency for 260,000gns. The latter was purchased for the Tsui family’s Sunderland Holding.
On Wednesday he turned buyer and paid 310,000gns for the stakes winner Stormy Girl.
This was a fairy tale result for the sellers of the Night Shift three-year-old who comes from the family of this year’s leading two-year-old, Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac winner Tiger Tanaka.
Stormy Girl, bred by Naas racecourse manager Eamonn McEvoy, was bought as a yearling at the Tattersalls Ireland September Part 2 Sale by Compas Equine for just €22,000. This week she was sold by trainer Rebecca Menzies and owner Stonegrave Thoroughbreds to Twomey and she will stay in training.
Menzies said: “I can’t over-stress what a lovely horse she has been to train, a straightforward horse, a very tough, hardy filly and she is going to be very good next year. We only have a small yard and she will leave a massive hole, but I am really looking forward to watching her. I will get a lot of pleasure out of watching her. It is a brilliant result for the owners.”
Twomey added: “She is for an existing owner. She has shown ability, she has been unlucky an odd time and she is a nice, big strong filly and the winter might help her improve.”
Time Saver one year on
A YEAR after she was purchased in the same ring by Aquis Farm for 750,000gns, the unraced Frankel mare Time Save, now in foal to Kingman, reappeared from Genesis Green Stud and sold to Blandford Bloodstock for 850,000gns.
“I didn’t really think we’d get her,” said Richard Brown. “We went a long way on her last year, we thought she was a standout from the Juddmonte draft last year. Mares such as this they come on the market rarely. It is a phenomenal family.”
Brown added: “She has been bought for a partnership, and she will live at Fittocks Stud. We knew she was going to be hard to buy, so we put a partnership together made up of some British-based owner-breeders.”
Time Saver is a half-sister to the Group 1 winners Timepiece and Passage Of Time and from the immediate family of the multiple Group 1 winner and sire Twice Over.
Purchased by Sheikh Faisal Hamad Al Thani from the Darley consignment five years ago for 90,000gns, the winning Pivotal mare Dulkashe bred the Group 1 Coronation Cup winner with her first foal.
She returned to Park Paddocks with a Churchill covering and sold to David Redvers Bloodstock for 525,000gns. She was consigned through the Bennett family’s Miltown Park Stud.
European Sales Management sold nine lots this week for an average of just 280,000gns. Their elite draft was headed by Lady In Lights, a Dansili half-sister to Group 1 winners Magna Grecia and St Mark’s Basilica, who sold for 525,000gns. She was bought by David Cox of Baroda Stud. At this sale last year she was bought by Blandford Bloodstock for 250,000gns and was covered this spring by No Nay Never.
Dispersals generate huge interest
SILVER Horn, a placed two-year-old filly by Golden Horn, was part of the continuing Waddeson Stud dispersal and was sold through The Castlebridge Consignment to Haras d’Etreham for 500,000gns.
The filly is out of the wonderful Silver Hawk mare Magnificent Style, whose direct progeny and their offspring filled the whole catalogue page. Magnificent Style bred three Group 1 winners, the champion three-year-old and Enable’s sire Nathaniel, the champion two-year-old filly Playful Act, the champion three-year-old filly and Irish Oaks winner Great Heavens, as well as the Group 2 winners Echoes In Eternity and Percussionist, Grade 3 winner Changing Skies and a pair of listed winners.
The sale topper Beach Frolic was owned in partnership by Highclere Stud and Floors Stud. The part dispersal of Floors Stud which was conducted largely by Kiltinan Castle Stud, also consisted of seven other mares. They were headed by Redoute’s Choice’s daughter Deep Inside and she was sold in foal to Lope De Vega, realising 425,000gns when bought by Anthony Stroud.
The Galileo stakes-placed mare Hibiscus, a full-sister to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Line Of Duty, sold for 325,000gns and was bought through Hugo Merry Bloodstock by Mikey Roy, whose family was buying out their partners. She is in foal to Siyouni. Virginia, the Duchess of Roxburghe, and two of the late Duke’s children, George and Isabella, were at the sale to oversee the dispersal.
Not part of the dispersal, Contemptuous was another high-priced lot sold from the Lloyd Webber’s Kiltinan Castle Stud, and she cost Mags O’Toole 360,000gns. In foal to Siyouni, the four-year-old daughter of New Approach is a half-sister to dual Group 1 winner Lillie Langtry, the dam of Minding who won seven times at the highest level.
Grassick’s love affair with Moyglare family
YVONNE Jacques of Carisbrooke Stud was with Cathy Grassick as the ladies bought Mia Maria for 450,000gns.
Helped by a most attractive covering by Lope De Vega, the Curragh maiden winner was bred by Moyglare Stud and is a full-sister to the Group 3 Dance Design Stakes winner Carla Bianca.
“Lots to like about her: her page and that she is in foal to Lope De Vega. That means a lot as we are big fans of him. We are just trying to get quality, quality, quality with our broodmares. She is obviously one we hope will be very lucky for us over the years,” said Jacques.
Grassick added: “Fiona Craig of Moyglare was saying they have only ever sold four fillies from this family and Candle Lit, whom I bought for Clodagh McStay, is one of the four – so I have bought two of the four! It is a family you just can’t go wrong with.”
Fairy tale result for Italian breeder
THE Breeding Insights column of this paper brought to light the story of Sicilian-based owner and breeder Domenico Zammitti and his purchase of an Oasis Dream mare for 1,200gns.
She has gone on to become the dam of Group 2 Lowther Stakes winner Miss Amulet who was runner-up in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes and third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
Zammitti watched in awe this week as Shena’s Dream, not covered this year after producing a late-April filly foal by Haatef, sold for 280,000gns to Will Douglass on behalf of Al Wasmiyah Stud. Zammitti used the services of the Cumani’s Fittocks Stud and Luca Cumani takes up the story.
“When we were asked this autumn to sell her we wondered how average she must be as she made just 1,200gns last year. But when she came off the box she was perfect – she is absolutely straight, absolutely well-conformed. I am so pleased for Domenico. We have never met him. He is in Sicily and he is so distraught that he could not come over. He said that it would have been the greatest day of his life! We are absolutely delighted for him.”
No Nay Never and son are a desirable duo
MARES in foal to No Nay Never and his Group 1 son Ten Sovereigns were popular with buyers this week.
Norelands Stud reaped the benefit with a couple of excellent sales. Runner-up twice at Gulfstream Park, Can’t Buy Me Love is in foal to the Prix Morny winner No Nay Never and she heads to Japan following her sale to Lake Villa Farm for 330,000gns. Can’t Buy Me Love is a War Front daughter of Grade 1 winner Together. BBA Ireland spent 310,000gns to acquire the unraced Galileo four-year-old Lady Corsica and she is an own-sister to Grade 1 winner Deauville and Group 3 winner The Corsican.
That was 10,000gns less than the price paid by Anne-Sophie Yoh for Frisella, a winning daughter of Frankel, with a February covering by No Nay Never. Out of a half-sister to Kingman, Frisella was bought for 90,000gns last year from the Juddmonte consignment as a maiden mare.
A trio of mares in foal to Ten Sovereigns, who covered at €25,000 this year, his first at stud, sold for 300,000gns, 290,000gns and 260,000gns. All three are expecting their first foals.
Aperitif was bought by Matt Coleman of Stroud Coleman Bloodstock for 300,000gns. She is by Pivotal, out of the Oasis Dream mare Swiss Dream and is a half-sister to the Group 3 Hackwood Stakes winner Yafta. “I have bought her for Noel O’Callaghan of Mountarmstrong Stud,” said Coleman. “Noel likes to buy quality mares and good pedigrees, Pivotal mares are very hard to get hold of.”
Unplaced in nine starts, Four Leaf Clover, a four-year-old daughter of Galileo, had the redeeming feature of a top-class pedigree. Own-sister to the Irish St Leger winner Flag Of Honour, she cost Badgers Bloodstock 290,000gns and sold through John Troy as agent.
Meanwhile, Baroda Stud sold the three-year-old Galileo mare It’s Magic, an unraced half-sister to Group 1 Eclipse Stakes winner Mukhadram, to BBA Ireland’s Michael Donohoe for 260,000gns and the agent revealed that she may return to the farm on behalf of his Middle East clients.
Day one star benefits from Bolger magic
THE Group 3-placed juvenile Aunty Bridy was the best of the offerings on the opening day of the 2020 Tattersalls December Sale when selling for 410,000gns to Hurworth Bloodstock.
The two-year-old daughter of Camacho ran three times. After winning a maiden on her debut, she finished sixth in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes and was then runner-up in the Group 3 Park Stakes for Jim Bolger and owner David Granville. She was consigned at the sale by Ballylinch Stud.
Sam Haggas of Hurworth Bloodstock said: “She will stay in the UK for the short time. She may go on to the US; it is undecided as yet.
“She is a good-looking, lightly-raced filly. Her form is good and there should be more racing in her.”
Aunty Birdy was bred in partnership by Rathbarry Stud.
Broodmares with international appeal sell well
BROODMARES with exceptional performances, pedigrees and covering sires are always in demand.
Haras des Trois Chapelles will welcome the stakes-placed Teofilo mare Viviante after her purchase from The Castlebridge Consignment for 425,000gns. It will not be her first trip to France as she was there this year to be covered by the country’s leading sire Siyouni.
Another French farm stocking up was Ecurie des Monceaux. They paid 340,000gns for the stakes-placed Dansili mare Palmyre who is due her first foal in 2021 by Kingman. Her grandam was the champion and four-time Group 1 winner Peeping Fawn.
Consigned by European Sales Management, the French stakes winner Nisreen, a daughter of Raven’s Pass, was sold with a covering by Le Havre and knocked down to Mags O’Toole for 325,000gns. BBA Ireland bought the French group-placed Mastercraftsman mare Villa D’Amore, with a Siyouni cover, for 290,000gns.
Voute Sales will have been thrilled with the recent Breeders’ Cup win for Order Of Australia, a second win at the meeting for an offspring of Senta’s Dream. Last year her daughter Iridessa was successful. Their Equiano half-sister Tisa River, in foal to Blue Point, was bought by Tony Nerses for Blue Diamond Stud Farm and will visit Decorated Knight in 2021.
From the exceptional Swiss Lake family at Lordship Stud, the winning Oasis Dream four-year-old Swiss Air, in foal to Dark Angel, sold to Anthony Stroud for 390,000gns.
Sea The Stars is a possible mate for the Oasis Dream mare Firelight, from the family of Magical. In foal to Almanzor, she was bought for 330,000gns by Jill Lamb for Graham Smith-Bernal from the West Blagdon draft and she was sold on behalf of George Strawbridge.
David Howden bought three foals last week from Tweenhills Stud and this week spent 610,000gns on another couple of lots from there. He purchased the stakes winning Raven’s Pass mare Gorgeous Noora, in foal to Zoustar, for 250,000gns and spent the balance on the German-bred Amaron stakes winner Run Wild.
O’Byrne and White Birch active
CRESSIDA, a Dansili own-sister to the Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed Grand Jete, headed the trade at Wednesday’s penultimate session of the sale when she sold for 360,000gns from the Juddmonte draft.
“She is a very nice physical and a great walker,” said Demi O’Byrne who signed on behalf of White Birch Farm. Winner at two last year, she has been bought to visit the new Coolmore stallion Sottsaas, who is part-owned by Peter Brant of White Birch Farm.
Russian Camilla, a two-year-old Camelot filly from Sylvester Kirk’s Cedar Lodge Stables sold to Oceanic Bloodstock on behalf of White Birch Farm for 300,000gns. She is a full-sister to the dual Australian Group 1 winner Russian Camelot. Racing in the colours of Susie McKeever, Russian Camilla made a winning debut over a mile at Kempton in early November. She will now join Jean-Claude Rouget.
O’Byrne was back in action for Mascha, a daughter of Le Havre. A stakes winner in Germany and group-placed in France, she cost the Irishman 300,000gns. She was part of the European Sales Management consignment which also included the previous lot through the ring, the Group 1 German Oaks runner-up Night Of England. She also sold for 300,000gns and heads to Shadai Farm in Japan.
Also Japan-bound, this time to Big Red Farm, is the group-placed Muhaarar three-year-old Unforgetable. She sold from The Castlebridge Consignment for 320,000gns, while the same draft contained Hurworth Bloodstock’s 360,000gns purchase Queen Jo Jo. That daughter of Gregorian won the Group 3 Summer Stakes at York.
The Clive Cox-trained Shades Of Blue, a listed winner in France and multiple group-placed, sold from Baroda Stud to BBA Ireland for 320,000gns.