PRIDE of place at this week’s Somerville Yearling Sale went to a daughter of Zoustar at 160,000gns. She was one of a pair of yearlings brought to the sale by the local Plantation Stud, owned by Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, and both were among the quartet of six-figure lots.

The sale-topper is the third produce of the young Fastnet Rock mare Fire Lily. Her first foal, and only runner to date, is the three-year-old Almanzor colt Unanimous Consent, a stakes winner in the USA. The filly’s purchaser Richard Hughes was delighted with his acquisition.

He said: “I loved her from the time I seen her; she will take a bit of time. This filly is very nice, good walker and has very good movement.”

Plantation Stud’s manager James Berney said: “We are over the moon, she deserves to make that type of money. She is a beauty. She has improved greatly through the year, and her brother’s form has helped as well. We are delighted she is going to Richard Hughes and pleased for the mare. She has got a Showcasing foal at foot and she is in foal to Pinatubo.”

Plantation also sold a Shalaa colt to Oliver St Lawrence for 120,000gns. “He is a lovely individual,” said the agent. “He is for Fawzi [Nass] and team and will probably end up in the red and white colours of Victorious Racing. The mare is two from two and are both rated up in the 90s. I think he will be going to Archie Watson.”

The colt’s second dam Lidanna was a dual Group 3 winner, dam of three blacktype runners, and is grandam of Wizz Kid, winner of the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye.

Watson has already enjoyed big-race success with a Somerville Yearling Sale graduate owned by Victorious Racing. He saddled Bradsell, a 12,000gns buy, to win Royal Ascot’s Group 2 Coventry Stakes.

THOUGH you have to go to the third dam to find blacktype, a colt by Mehmas, from a crop conceived when he stood for €7,500, was the best of his sex in the sale, and the hammer eventually fell at 135,000gns.

“He is a very nice colt and Robson [Aguiar], Richard [Hannon] and everyone thought so. Mehmas needs no introduction, the farm has done a great job prepping him, and he looks fantastic. He is a good mover, and Mehmas has already been a very good friend to a lot of people,” said Ross Doyle, after signing the purchase docket in the name of Peter and Ross Doyle Bloodstock and Aguiar Bloodstock.

The colt was homebred by Laurence Gleeson of Aughamore Stud, who bought the winning Exceed And Excel dam Classic Image for just 6,5000gns as a three-year-old in 2015.

“It has worked well and Mehmas had Minzaal win his Group 1 recently; he is a superb stallion,” said Gleeson. “We sent the mare as he was just about to have his first two-year-olds. We heard there was some good breezers. We took a punt and it has worked out.

The fourth six-figure lot was a half-brother to three winners, by Starspangledbanner out of a two-year-old winner from the family of Group 1 July Cup hero Sakhee’s Secret. He realised 130,000gns and was sold by Ballyhimikin Stud.

The colt was bought by bloodstock agent and Teme Valley Racing’s manager Richard Ryan.

“He was a slightly unexpected horse to find in this sale,” said Ryan. “He is from a real speed family and will make a lovely two-year-old. He is for Teme Valley and will probably go into training in Ireland. “He is a proper horse, and would be in any sale. He is pretty nice!”

TWENTY-ONE sons and daughters of Havana Grey went through the ring at Tattersalls on Tuesday, and just three failed to change address.

The strength of demand for them resulted in the 18 averaging 41,056gns, while the median, a more relevant measure, was not very different at 38,500gns. His stud fee in 2020 was £6,500. The most expensive of his yearlings was the eye-catching filly sold by Hillwood Stud for 85,000gns, bought by Middleham Park with Ed Sackville of SackvilleDonald.

“Obviously Havana Grey from this sale has been a recipe for us before, so we have tried to repeat it,” said Tom Palin of Middleham Park, referencing the Somerville Sale graduate and Weatherbys Super Sprint winner Eddie’s Boy who cost 45,000gns here last year. “Havana Grey is a more established sire now than this time last year so we have had to pay more!

Nice-moving filly

“She stands out, everyone loves a grey and she is a good, solid, nice-moving filly, and the nicest Havana Grey we have seen here. We will send her to Hugo Palmer. He can train sprinters and you could see her whipping around Chester in the Lily Agnes.”

The filly is a half-sister to the four-time winner Show Me Show Me, third in the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes and winner of more than £150,000 to date. Their dam is a six-time winning half-sister to Toocoolforschool, winner of the Group 3 Mill Reef Stakes.

A SPARKLING second edition of the Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale provided further evidence of a sustained appetite for yearlings, and it all happened in the midst of political uncertainty and change in Britain.

As Boris Johnson left Downing Street, to be replaced as Prime Minster by Liz Truss, the effects of increasing rates of inflation, an energy crisis and continuing conflict in Ukraine appeared to have no dampening effect on buyers, with pinhookers, believing in a continuation of demand for horses next spring, among the broad bench of buyers.

A marathon session of selling, lasting some 11 hours, saw plenty of heat generated in the sale ring, despite some inclement weather conditions outdoor as the evening wore on.

Nothing was going to prove a killjoy for the Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony and, at the end of the day’s trading, he summed up the proceedings.

“Today’s renewal has made further significant progress, with wide-margin gains in all the key indicators of average, median and turnover, as well as a new record top price for a Somerville yearling of 160,000gns,” he said.

“It was very apparent as we were inspecting yearlings in the spring that there was genuine enthusiasm for our newest yearling sale from both British and Irish consignors, and they have supported the fixture with exactly the profile of sharp, precocious, commercial yearlings which we were looking for.

“To see the average and median prices both rise by more than 40% and the sale turnover increase from under five million guineas to well in excess of seven million guineas demonstrates a sale of real vibrancy from start to finish.

“Equally impressive has been a clearance rate nudging 90%, and the number of yearlings selling for 50,000gns or more which has risen from 17 to 39, while six-figure transactions have increased from one to four.”