NEW record highs were the order of the week when the hammer fell on the final lot in Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale on Wednesday night.

The very last lot sold managed to nudge the aggregate ahead of last year’s record, while the average and median both got their noses in front of last year’s numbers. Only the clearance rate, down one percentage point, had a minus in front of it.

Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum’s Shadwell Estates was by far the dominant purchaser, splashing out over 8.5 million guineas on 51 yearlings, including the record-breaking sale-topper.

The auctioneers were smiling on the opening day when Croom House Stud’s son of No Nay Never sold for 900,000gns to M.V. Magnier, but Denis Brosnan’s stated hope of topping the sale was not realised.

Less than two hours later James Hanly’s Ballyhimikin Stud offered a Dark Angel filly on behalf of breeder Trevor Stewart and she was knocked down to Shadwell for 1,050,000gns, a record price also for a yearling by the Yeomanstown Stud stallion.

Celebrated family

Stunned and delighted with the price, Stewart later spoke about the filly, from a now celebrated family that has been so good to the breeder over more than two decades. The Dark Angel filly is the second foal of the unraced Pivotal mare Allez Alaia and she is the daughter of Cassandra Go. That Indian Ridge mare was purchased as a foal by Stewart for 82,000gns in 1996, one of the 20 top-priced foals of that year in Europe.

A half-sister in the year of her birth to the Coventry Stakes winner Verglas, Stewart’s original intention was to resell the filly at the Tattersalls Houghton Sale, but that was a plan that went awry. Stewart explained: “The idea was to pinhook her, so she came back to the Houghton Sale as a yearling. But I bought her back almost as a mistake; I was very innocent and thought I was being so cool.

“I then tried to sell a share after and no one was interested. The rest as they say is history – I am very lucky. I always say there are two women in my life, my wife and ‘Cassandra’.”

Cassandra Go won the then Group 2 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot and five other races and she was runner-up in the Group 1 July Cup. As fine a racemare as she was, she has been even more successful as a broodmare.

Cassandra Go’s three group-winning daughters are headed by Halfway To Heaven and that triple Group 1 and classic winner, in turn, is responsible for Magical and Rhododendron who have each won three Group 1 races. Another of Cassandra Go’s daughters to make her mark as a broodmare is Theann and she bred the dual Grade 1 winner Photo Call, set to be one of the stars of next month’s Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

Rarity value

With news that Allez Alaia is in foal to Galileo, Stewart also had some bad news for breeders who may wish to get into this immediate family, saying: “Even at lunchtime [Monday] I was wondering whether I should sell or not. I do have a lot of the family and something has to go at some point, and money, especially when it is a million guineas, does count. Who can refuse that? I think it will probably be the last filly from the family that I sell, so it does mean that there is a rarity value.”

Angus Gold acknowledged this when he commented afterwards: “She is from a great family, a great farm and a successful breeder. It is a family that is difficult to get into.”