DUAL Group 1 winner Venetian Sun and Irish Oaks heroine Johanna Walsh will be offered as part of the Sceptre Sessions at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale, joining previous additions Tiffany and Raybiya.

The news comes a month after Karl Burke revealed that Venetian Sun would miss the rest of the season and possibly retire from racing due to a tendon injury. The daughter of Starman was last seen finishing second to Comanche Brave in the July Cup, with the winner subsequently taking the Flying Five Stakes in smart fashion.

Tony Bloom and Ian McAleavy’s filly won the Commonwealth Cup on her previous start, following up on a three-length win in the Sandy Lane Stakes. The 240,000gns yearling won her first four starts as a juvenile, including the Group 1 Prix Morny, Group 2 Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes and Albany Stakes.

“Venetian Sun is a genuine superstar,” Burke commented. “I’ve never had another horse who worked like her. Even at two, she worked with my very best older sprinters and pulverised them one by one. She is a beautiful specimen and as good a racehorse as I have ever trained.”

Johanna Walsh becomes the second Irish Oaks winner to be offered at the December Mares Sale, two years on from You Got To Me bringing 4,800,000gns from Amo Racing.

O’Brien described his four-length classic winner as ‘an immensely talented filly,’ adding: “She is a beautiful athlete and has been from the first day she entered our yard and should only improve as a four-year-old.

“She gifted us our first win in the Irish Oaks and should attract plenty of interest from the world’s leading racing and breeding operations.”

A €460,000 yearling, Johanna Walsh is by Sea The Stars and out of a half-sister to Prix d’Ispahan Mekhtaal (Sea The Stars).